For PCs, aim for 2–3 total partitions maximum (OS, Data, Recovery). For databases, merge partitions only when query patterns show that smaller partitions hurt more than they help.

Mastering Storage: When and How to Combine Partitions Safely

ALTER TABLE Sales MERGE RANGE ('2024-01-01') AND ('2024-04-01') INTO ('2024-01-01'); This combines two partition ranges into one, reducing metadata overhead.