Dermot said:
Hi John
Thanks for the interesting reply....some I understand and some I don't.
Can you explain a few issues within your posting a little further?
Below I have quoted you and then asked relevant questions on each quote.....
To Quote You 1
Put the OS on the fastest drive. 25 to 30 GIG is plenty for XP now and
most likely 5 years down the line, it does tend to grow. Putting your
applications on another drive or partition doesn't do anything for you.
That is where you're backups go.
Question 1
Please confirm....are you saying I am just as well to install all the
Applications on the same drive and partition as XP Pro?
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Yes, that is what I meant. Storing data produced by your applications
(word processor files for example) on a separate drive or partition may
be convenient for backup purposes but otherwise I see no real advantage.
As you mentioned a re-install of Windows requires that all its apps be
reinstalled anyway to repopulate the registry. If you ever step out of
the Window's world you will quickly find that is a just a Windows' thing.
To Quote You 2
Personally I like to make C: just a bootstrap partition and install the
OS(es) elsewhere, but that is just me, and if one OS will do for you
then unnecessary. But I will say that a backup OS sure comes in handy if
the one you normally use goes tits up and you don't have a spare comp
about to Google for a fix or download a replacement for a corrupt file.
Question 2
Can you explain a "Bootstrap Partition a little further" and where you might
istall your OS's?
A bootstrap partition is one that contains boot loader code. Most any
preloaded Window's machine ever shipped had/has a bootstrap partition
called C: drive. NT4, W2K and XP for example need three files (boot.ini,
ntldr and NTDETECT.COM) to bootstrap (initial load of) the OS. The rest
of XP (the Windows folder or whatever you chose to call it) can be
located on any other drive or partition, primary or logical. The
bootstrap partition, for Window's OSes at least, must be an active
primary partition. I just use the the C: drive for that purpose because
the various Window's installers want to do it like that anyway.
That is not to say that an OS can't be installed on the bootstrap
partition, I just prefer keeping that partition a dedicated small one.
Just my choice and certainly not the choice of most Window's users. A
500 MB (not GIG) is plenty large enough for that purpose and if you ever
get the itch to tinker with multi-booting it just makes things easier.
Hey you could even install old DOS there if its formatted FAT16 to
reminisce - hehe.
Obviously to accomplish this type of setup you must have a real XP CD,
not a recovery partition or PC vendor supplied proprietary CD.
By the way, with the release of XP, MS in their infinite wisdom, decided
to start calling the bootstrap partition the system partition and the
partition where the bulk of the OS is stored the boot partition. I have
no idea why they would go against long standing convention.
Where to install the OSes? Anywhere you want.
To Quote You 3
Since you have more than one drive I would recommend using a dedicated
swap file (pagefile) on a drive that does not contain an OS and is
otherwise only used occasionally for backup. And in fact prefer a
dedicated smallish partition for the swap file so that it doesn't
intermingle with other data and get fragmented who knows where on the
drive. The reduced head movement to access a swap file guarantied to be
in a limited area and two drives running in parallel may only speed
things up a small amount, but every little bit helps. And since you have
the resources you may as well use them to you're advantage.
Questions 3
Can you explain a swap file a little further and how I would create it?
I assume when you say create the swap file on a drive that does not contain
contain an OS....would it be okay to create the swap file on the backup drive
on a dedicated partition.?
What type of partion should be used for the swap file..Primary or logical?
A swap file is just a generic term for a file usually located on a hard
drive that the OS uses to swap out memory resident code or data that
hasn't been recently accessed. Windows' calls this the 'pagefile', which
by the way gets re-written every time you re-boot. MS claims that XP's
pagefile doesn't fragment but I don't always trust what MS says and if
you have any idea how a file system works I question how that is even
possible without restricting the file to a specific area. This also has
the advantage that all the OSes on your comp can use the same partition
- assuming all of them can read the given file system. I have two Xp's
and a W2K currently on this comp that use the same partition for their
pagefile. Obviously, Linux that I occasionally tinker with, is better
served to use its native file system on a different partition.
If you use a dedicated partition for the swap file, the partition
doesn't need to be any larger than the swap file itself. Two to three
times the RAM you have installed should be way more than enough for any
Windows OS.
It can be primary or logical, it doesn't matter.
If you could recommend any further links /reading material that would be
appreciated.
Google - just ask for what you want.
