MySQL table architecture Background information:

I have a table containing upload information, every day I get more and more uploads but most of the queries I run center around information gathered within the last 12 months; frequently it uses an even tighter time scale and queries are restricted to information gathered in the last 30 days

This system has been in existence from 2004 when there were 400 uploads, today there are 2+ million 

Table structure:

CREATE TABLE `data_mediagallery` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `status` tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `contenttype` char(40) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `filename` varchar(100) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `injector` char(40) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `hits` int(11) DEFAULT '0',
  `message` longtext,
  `date` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  `title` varchar(80) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `tags` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `metadata` blob,
  `location` char(8) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `uid` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `filesize` bigint(20) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `upload` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  `privacy` tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `width` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `height` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `offensive` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `sourcelocation` char(8) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `autoblog` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `extension` char(10) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `filetype` tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `conversiontime` float NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `converttime` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  `sender` varchar(100) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `vhost` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `channel` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `rotation` tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `ofilesize` bigint(20) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `moderationstatus` tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `rating` decimal(8,6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `votecount` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `url` varchar(150) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `geo_latitude` double DEFAULT NULL,
  `geo_longitude` double DEFAULT NULL,
  `length` decimal(8,2) DEFAULT '0.00',
  `parentid` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `language` char(2) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `author` varchar(100) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `context` tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `externalid` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `originalsaved` bit(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT b'1',
  `hidden` tinyint(4) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `commentcount` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `approvedcomments` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `notdeniedcomments` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `lastupdatetime` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
  `channelleft` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `originalLocation` char(8) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
  KEY `upload` (`upload`),
  KEY `vhostupload` (`vhost`,`upload`),
  KEY `vhostmodstatus` (`vhost`,`status`,`moderationstatus`,`uid`),
  KEY `complexfiletype` (`vhost`,`status`,`moderationstatus`,`filetype`,`channel`),
  KEY `vhostcontext` (`vhost`,`moderationstatus`,`context`,`parentid`,`status`,`filetype`),
  KEY `externalid` (`externalid`),
  KEY `externalcomments`.
  KEY `vhostchannel` (`vhost`,`status`,`moderationstatus`,`context`,`channelleft`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB;


Questions

Is there a way to partition the table that would make the most sense?
Does partitioning even make sense?
How do I deal with new data if I do partition?
Why do you want to partition? Is you performance not good, or do you have other reasons? 

I don't see an index for the lastupdatetime column, and you wrote that you query for it a lot. 

An alternative to partitioning could be creating tables for each year, and use merge tables to access the subsets you need. 

Would have just left a comment, alas, not enough reputation.