I have a Maxtor hard drive with 41 GB of free space and 16GB of used space.It never really differs from this. Should I compress the drive which is a option in the Properties folder for the drive or partition and if so how?
Thanks

With stats like that I wouldn't do either.
As space doesn't seem to be an issue there's no need to compress.
All that compression would really do is slow your system down.
You could partition if you wanted as a learning experience, but again, unless there is a pressing need, I wouldn't bother.

Thank you for such a fast response.