Partitions - Optimal setup? (win7-64 on SSD)

I'm building a new PC with Windows 7 64-bit, 2 SSDs, and 3 SATA disks.  I'm trying to decide how I will setup my partitions.

If I want to stick with the same partition setup I use on my other PCs, I'd end up with this:

  disk 1: 60GB SSD
 ?  C1: BOOT     FAT32 primary    1 GB - hidden boot partition
    C2: SYSTEM    NTFS primary   59 GB - win7, all apps except games
 
   disk 2: 120GB SSD
     F: FAST      NTFS logical  120 GB - sonar plugins, samples (dim pro, etc.)
 
   disk 3: 2TB 7200RPM SATA
     D: MUSIC     NTFS logical  900 GB - my sonar projects, audio files
     M: MEDIA     NTFS logical  900 GB - downloaded/ripped mp3s, cds, movies...
     P: PRECIOUS  NTFS logical  200 GB - my docs, images, small videos, www...
 
   disk 4: 2TB 7200RPM SATA
     G: GAMES     NTFS logical  200 GB - games (civ5, flight sim, etc.)
     H: GHOSTS   FAT32 logical  120 GB - drive images
 ?   S: SWAP      NTFS logical   30 GB - swap file
     T: TEMP      NTFS logical  650 GB - temp files, downloads, compressed videos
     U: BACKUP    NTFS logical 1100 GB - backups for this and other pcs
 
   disk 5: 1.5TB 7200RPM SATA
     V: VIDEO     NTFS logical 1500 GB - my uncompressed input video files

Do I need the boot partition if I don't intend to multiboot?

Do I need the swap partition, or can I leave the swap file in the system drive (keeping in mind that it's SSD)?

Is there any other obvious problem, in terms of Sonar performance?

absolutely no need to partition anything

Although technically there's no need, I've always created partitions for different types of files (some backed up, some not) so that I don't have to change my batch files (and apps) if I move a partition to a bigger disk.

For example, by creating a games partition (G), if I want to move the games to a new drive (e.g., SSD), I can copy the partition over, change the drive letters, and not have to reinstall any games.  If instead the games were in the same partition as the temp and backup files, I'd probably have to reinstall them if I moved them over w/o moving the rest of the stuff over too.  Ditto for my temp files, mp3 and cd libraries, etc.

back ups/ghost image should be on an ext drive.

Sorry, I should clarify: the partitions above are only for this one pc.  I have other pcs on my network, and backup each pc to at least 2 others, so I end up with plenty of redundancy in terms of backups.  I also backup to external drives and have offsite backups (on both hard disk and dvd) and online backups.  I'm obsessive when it comes to backups.

How would you organize those 5 disks?

Tripecac

absolutely no need to partition anything

For example, by creating a games partition (G), if I want to move the games to a new drive (e.g., SSD), I can copy the partition over, change the drive letters, and not have to reinstall any games.  If instead the games were in the same partition as the temp and backup files, I'd probably have to reinstall them if I moved them over w/o moving the rest of the stuff over too. 

you can simply copy the game files (or any other files) to any drive. (samples have to be reprofiled)
you can create a FOLDER called games does not require a partition.
 
when you partition a drive the first part is faster the last part is much slower. so the later is at best good for storage.
 
on my office computer i have games (yeah like i have time) 2 full suites of video editing software and numerous audio stuff.\
never mind office junk.... i have not patitioned drives in at least 5 yrs
 

So would you organize it like this:

disk 1: 60GB SSD 
   C: SYSTEM  NTFS primary   60 GB - win7, all apps except games 
 
 disk 2: 120GB SSD  
   F: FAST    NTFS logical  120 GB - sonar plugins, samples (dim pro, etc.), 
                                     maybe a game or two (if it doesn't decrease 
                                     the performance of the SSD)   
 disk 3: 2TB 7200RPM SATA 
   D: DATA    NTFS logical 2000 GB - my creations (sonar projects, wav files, 
                                     docs, images, videos, web sites, etc.)  
                                     and collections (music, movies, apps, etc.); 
                                     this stuff gets BACKED UP 
 disk 4: 2TB 7200RPM SATA 
   O: OTHER   NTFS logical 2000 GB - games, backups, drive images, temp files; 
                                     this stuff does *NOT* get backed up 
 disk 5: 1.5TB 7200RPM SATA 
   V: VIDEO   NTFS logical 1500 GB - my uncompressed video files

If I get rid of the FAT32 partition for drive images, I guess that means I can't use my ancient version of Ghost anymore.  What (free) drive image program do you recommend for use with Win7-64?

+1

NTFS for performance, and Acronis True Image for backing up system drives.

Well DriveImage XML looks interesting: http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

My only experience is with Ghost, Paragon, and Acronis, so I can't comment. If I were to try it, I would probably use to backup and restore a less important PC and see how it goes.

swap file on the SSD is one of the reasons to have an SSD (assuming you have enough space left over)

Tripecac


If I get rid of the FAT32 partition for drive images, I guess that means I can't use my ancient version of Ghost anymore.  What (free) drive image program do you recommend for use with Win7-64?

Good news for you, all versions of Window 7 now have a Backup and Restore utility included by Microsoft. I upgraded to Win7 64-bit 2 weeks ago and have both full image and data backups from all my internal drives to an external 2TB drive. The initial backup is very slow but ignore any negative comments floating about the various forums about this. Its incremental and subsequent backups are very quick as a result.
 
I have been an Acronis user for a couple of years, but having tested this new Win 7 feature out I am going to refrain from upgrading this year