data backup, hard drive partitioning

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Guest

BACKING UP DATA TO A HARD DRIVE PARTITION MAKES SENSE.
CAN I ALSO INSTALL NEW SOFTWARE ON A SEPARATE PARTION, THE PURPOSE BEING
IF I HAVE TO DO A SYSTEM RESTORE ON THE C DRIVE ( OPERATING
SYSTEM), THE SOTWARE WILL STILL WORK, SAVING ALOT OF REINSTALLATION TIME?
 
In theory, installing software on a seperate partition should be a good idea.
However, due to the design of the Windows Operating System, most software
that you will install to that partition will probably have many registry keys
and also maybe some files that still reside on your main partition. When you
restore your system (like if you are using a manufacturer restore CD),
frequently the only option is to completly wipe out your hard drive (which
will include your partition that you install to). Even if your restore CD
does just let you restore your system partition, most of your apps that you
have installed will not function until reinstalled due to the registry keys
and other system files that reside on your system partition.
 
In
BACKING UP DATA TO A HARD DRIVE PARTITION MAKES SENSE.
Click to expand...


Please don't yell at us. We can hear you if you type normally, in
mixed case.

Actually it does *not* make sense. It's better than no backup at
all, but just barely. The problem is that many, if not most, of
the things that will cause the loss of your primary partition
will simultaneously casue the loss of the backup. These include
hard drive crashes, virus attacks, severe power glitches like
nearby lightning strikes, fire, theft of the computer, etc.

Secure backup needs to be on removable media, not stored in the
computer. For *really* secure backup (for example if the life of
your business epends on your data) you should have multiple
generations of backup, with at least one generation stored
off-site.

CAN I ALSO INSTALL NEW SOFTWARE ON A SEPARATE PARTION, THE
PURPOSE
BEING IF I HAVE TO DO A SYSTEM RESTORE ON THE C DRIVE
(
OPERATING SYSTEM), THE SOTWARE WILL STILL WORK, SAVING ALOT OF
REINSTALLATION TIME?
Click to expand...


Although you *can* install software on a separate partition, it's
not a particularly useful thing to do The problem is that what
you propose won't work. If you ever reinstall the operating
system, all your software will also have to be reinstalled,
regardless of what partition it's on. That's because all software
(with an occasional trivial exception) has many references to
where it's located all over Windows, in the registry and
elsewhere. If Windows is reinstalled, all those references are
lost and the software will no longer work.
 
Or...

you can have dual hard drives set up to use raid.
As well as backing up to CD/DVD.
 
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