Partitioning

[John and Mary Cook]

I now have XP Pro on a large150Gb partition. Is there an advantage, or is
it personal preference, to puting XP and upgrades etc. on a small partition
and data, documents and apps. on the remainder of the partition?

Thank you,

JT Cook

 

[peter]

It usually is a personal preference to place XP et al on one partition and
everything else on another.
Having said that ...it is also an advantage in case something goes wrong
with XP and you need to format and reinstall.At which point you will take
less time if XP is on a seperate partition vs the time it will take to
install XP plus all of your programs.
Some people..me included also Image the XP partition for faster fixes.

peter

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

The main advantage to putting data on another partition/volume is that you
don't need to worry about it if you decide to wipe the installation
partition and perform a clean installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Ron Martell]

It usually is a personal preference to place XP et al on one partition and
everything else on another.
Having said that ...it is also an advantage in case something goes wrong
with XP and you need to format and reinstall.At which point you will take
less time if XP is on a seperate partition vs the time it will take to
install XP plus all of your programs.

Wrong. If you have to do a clean reinstall of Windows XP (not restore
a backup image or do a repair install) then all repeat all of the
applications will have to be reinstalled. Just having the files on
another partition is not enough, not by a long ways.

Some people..me included also Image the XP partition for faster fixes.

That does work, and is an advantage of partitioning because the backup
images are smaller.

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Bill Ridgeway]

Some will argue that, if you keep all your personal stuff on a separate
partition you can get away with being able to safely re-format and
re-install the OS (true). Some will also argue that by doing so you don't
need a backup. This is true (as far as it goes). What about the Window
address book, emails and any other bits of stuff which, by default, goes
onto the main partition. The "I didn't I'd loose that" is a hardy
perennial! Also this doesn't secure such information in the event of a fire
or theft.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

 

[Jonny]

I now have XP Pro on a large150Gb partition. Is there an advantage, or is
it personal preference, to puting XP and upgrades etc. on a small
partition and data, documents and apps. on the remainder of the partition?

Thank you,

JT Cook

I can see no advantage in putting applications on another partition. The
installation of these put pointers to the alternate partition in various
locations. If XP has to be clean installed, you have to reinstall the apps
to get the pointers corrected again.

Personal data/files, yes, another partition is fine. As are source files
for MS and 3rd party application installations, and internet downloads.
Just be sure these are backed up in event of hard drive failure, or failure
of the second partition or its filesystem. The partition would be
relatively large if used properly compared to the XP system partition.

I don't use it for personal data safety purposes or XP installation
smallness. Rather, its easier for me to find everything if stored in
another partition in a folder/subfolder system developed by myself. Am a
big fan of KISS, the rock music group is not meant here.

 

[Mike Hall, MS-MVP]

XP is best installed on a partition of around 20gb.. this allows for the
pagefile, updates, and program suites like MS Office and those that only
want to install to C drive, while still leaving enough free space for the
drive to work well and utilities like Defragmenter to work easily..

The OS and programs may as well sit in the same partition because if you
have to re-install the OS, you will have to re-install all of the programs..
they are too inextricably linked to folders within the OS these days..

If, like me, you have games, eg Age of Empires III, CFS 3 etc, you might
want to separate these from the more sensible programs and create a
partition especially for them.. my reasoning for this is simple enough.. I
know where they are immediately, and in the event that I remove saved
scenarios, defragging doesn't take as long to do..

The rest of the drive can then be used for your important data..

Note that, while it is convenient to have important data stored on the hard
drive, one should always have a backup on CD or DVD, and that the backup
should reflect a reasonably current date.. a re-writable CD/DVD is useful
for this purpose as it can be re-used multiple times..

Partitions should be created in enough numbers such that you feel you can
easily manage the backup process.. I work with four.. OS and sensible
programs - Games - Installation media (freebie programs, drivers, etc) -
Archived data (the important stuff that can't be downloaded from the
internet)..

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I now have XP Pro on a large150Gb partition. Is there an advantage,
or is it personal preference, to puting XP and upgrades etc. on a
small partition and data, documents and apps. on the remainder of the
partition?

This is not a question to which everyone has the same answer, and you'll
find different points of view. My view is that most people's partitioning
scheme should be based on their backup scheme. If, for example, you backup
by creating a clone or image on the entire drive, then a single partition
might be best. If, on the other hand, you backup only your data, then the
backup process is facilitated by having all data in a separate partition.

Except for those running multiple operating systems, there is seldom any
benefit to having more than two partitions.



Note that some people recommend separating the operating system and
installed applications on different partitions because think that if they
ever have to reinstall Windows, their applications will remain. They are
wrong. Even if your applications are installed on a partition separate from
that the operating system is on, you can *not* reinstall the
operating system without losing the applications. The reason is that all
applications (except for a very occasional near-trivial one) have entries
and pointers to them within Windows, in the registry and elsewhere. With
Windows gone, all those entries get lost, and the applications get broken.
So that benefit goes away.



Also note that no version of Windows provides any way of changing the
existing partition structure of the drive nondestructively. The only way to
repartition is with third-party software. Partition Magic is the best-known
such program, but there are freeware/shareware alternatives. One such
program is BootIt Next Generation. It's shareware, but comes with a free
30-day trial, so you should be able to do this within that 30 days. I
haven't used it myself (because I've never needed to use *any* such
program), but it comes highly recommended by several other MVPs here.

Whatever software you use, make sure you have a good backup before
beginning. Although there's no reason to expect a problem, things *can* go
wrong.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Some will argue that, if you keep all your personal stuff on a
separate partition you can get away with being able to safely
re-format and re-install the OS (true). Some will also argue that by
doing so you don't need a backup. This is true (as far as it goes).

I disagree with that, and very strongly. Putting data on a separate
partition is far from an adequate substitute for a backup. The problem is
that you are always vulnerable to loss of the entire hard drive by many of
the most common dangers: head crashes, severe power glitches, nearby
lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.

If your data is important to you, the only secure backup is on external
media not stored in the computer itself.

What about the Window address book, emails and any other bits of
stuff which, by default, goes onto the main partition.

Also a factor, but that is usually less important to most people than the
actual data files.

The "I didn't
I'd loose that" is a hardy perennial! Also this doesn't secure such
information in the event of a fire or theft.

Yes, here you're saying much the same thing I say above, and we're clearly
not very far apart on this. But I wanted to stress that I don't even agree
"as far as it goes." I think using a second partition as backup is very
close to having no backup at all.

 

[Bullwinkle Moose]

There are as many opinions as there are users. Let me give you my take, but
remember this is only my opinion.

I have several disks especially now as there are USB disks available.

My original hard drive was/is a 40 gig drive. I have partitioned it as c:
system E: program-1 and F: Program -2.

My main program partition is on another hard drive. I have partitions setup
for data, pictures, movies etc.

I use Norton Ghost to backup my 40 gig hard drive and its partitions. That
way if I have a breakdown as we all do, I can restore my hard drive
partitions with ease.

I also use a backup program to backup my data onto one of the other hard
drives and to DVD disks.

Obviously there are other and probably better methods but this one works for
me.
:
Good luck and remember to backup on a regular basis.

Regards,

 

[Bill Ridgeway]

<<There are as many opinions as there are users.>>
and <<there are other and probably better methods but this one works for
me.>> That about sums it up. If you are content with the solution that's
possibly (not probably) the right one! There is one flaw and it's a bit
like choosing a wife. How do you know that today's solution will be the
right one way down the line? In other words never be complacent and drop
into the trap of "Everything's all right so there's nothing more to do" You
should be thinking "Everything's all right but there still might be
something to do".

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions