Partitions, Backup and External HD Storage

[GJP]

I have read most of the previous posts here on the subject matter and
first let me say thanks to all those who took the time to answer all the
previous questions from other NG posters about these subjects...your
time and efforts are much appreciated.
Now my questions.(G)

I have a 160 gig hard drive, currently partioned as C: at about 146 GB
NTFS and 102GB free, D:at about 4.5GB Fat32 containing some Ghost files
on drive when purchased and with 2.30GB free.

I plan on changing the partions to provide WinXP a home of it's own, say
of 50GB NTFS, leave D: as is and make the rest as a NTFS partion.

I plan on using Partition Magic 8 to do this, but first I want to backup
all of C:HD with Acronis to a USB external HD.

I guess I had best shut off all antivirus and firewall activity before I
do this , right?

Should the external HD be formated as NTFS, Fat32 or does it matter?

What will happen to the current drive designations I currently have C:
HD, D:HD , E:CD-RW, FVD and G:is a CD/DVD created by Nero, and of
course the external USB HD which I don't have installed yet?

Also is there anything I'm missing in my plans as I have them laid
out,or in the software I plan on using or is there something else I
should be aware of, any comments would be most appreciated.

TIA

GJP

 

[Alex Nichol]

I plan on changing the partions to provide WinXP a home of it's own, say
of 50GB NTFS, leave D: as is and make the rest as a NTFS partion.

I plan on using Partition Magic 8 to do this, but first I want to backup
all of C:HD with Acronis to a USB external HD.

I guess I had best shut off all antivirus and firewall activity before I
do this , right?

Should the external HD be formated as NTFS, Fat32 or does it matter?

What will happen to the current drive designations I currently have C:
HD, D:HD , E:CD-RW, FVD and G:is a CD/DVD created by Nero, and of
course the external USB HD which I don't have installed yet?

The external drive could be either file system. If setting up from XP,
that will not make a FAT 32 partition bigger than 32GB though and in
general terms NTFS is the better when you are up in that size.
Disadvantage might be in restoring from NTFS if this had to be done from
a DOS boot. I'm not sure what Acronis does for that: for myself I would
use BootIT NG for the purpose (and for the partitioning); that handles
things direct needing not even DOS, and is entirely happy with either
system, and with USB devices

If you shrink C and expand D into the space then drive letters will not
be affected. You may though find that on booting XP it says 'New
Hardware found' and want a restart - that is a reaction to the changes
in size.

Comment; I would make the C big enough for the system and installed
programs only, making sure all data goes on the other partition; at that
50GB is far more than you need - around 16 to 20 should be plenty. And
the smaller size makes for easier defrag and easier imaging

 

[GJP]

---big snip here--->
The external drive could be either file system. If setting up from P,
that will not make a FAT 32 partition bigger than 32GB though and in
general terms NTFS is the better when you are up in that size.
Disadvantage might be in restoring from NTFS if this had to be done
from a DOS boot. I'm not sure what Acronis does for that: for myself
I would use BootIT NG for the purpose (and for the partitioning); that
handles things direct needing not even DOS, and is entirely happy with
either system, and with USB devices

If you shrink C and expand D into the space then drive letters will
not be affected. You may though find that on booting XP it says 'New
Hardware found' and want a restart - that is a reaction to the changes
in size.

Comment; I would make the C big enough for the system and installed
programs only, making sure all data goes on the other partition; at
that 50GB is far more than you need - around 16 to 20 should be
plenty.And the smaller size makes for easier defrag and easier imaging

Thanks Alex for the reply I was hoping "you" might respond.(G)

Am I reading you correctly, I can totally backup my existing HD by
ceating an image file using BootIt NG?
In other words I would have no use for Acronis or would I still need
that for any ongoing backup duties?

As far as the size of C: is concerned my idea was that it would be best
to keep it at least what the size of the operating system is plus all
the other files currently residing on C:, if it would create no harm I
would gladly make C: smaller as you suggest.
But what happens if there is a foulup after the new partitions are
created, how can the image of C: which would be at least 40 odd GB
uncompressed be restored if the partition is now only say 20GB...or am I
missing something?

Your comments are most welcome and appreciated.

GJP

 

[Alex Nichol]

Am I reading you correctly, I can totally backup my existing HD by
ceating an image file using BootIt NG?
In other words I would have no use for Acronis or would I still need
that for any ongoing backup duties?

Yes you can. I have looked at Acronis, and not seen any benefit worth
having from its higher price, other than 'incremental' use, which I
consider inappropriate for this sort of use

As far as the size of C: is concerned my idea was that it would be best
to keep it at least what the size of the operating system is plus all
the other files currently residing on C:, if it would create no harm I
would gladly make C: smaller as you suggest.

Make sure you move My Documents and similar folders across; do it
between a My Computer window on D and one on C:\Documents and
Settings\you - then right drag My Documents over, taking Move here.

I regard it as important to separate documents/data from
System/Programs. Then if you *have* to restore C you need not worry
about losing data changed since the last image

But what happens if there is a foulup after the new partitions are
created, how can the image of C: which would be at least 40 odd GB
uncompressed be restored if the partition is now only say 20GB...or am I
missing something?

Shrink first, image the smaller size. You restore not into an existing
partition but into free space made by deleting the old one, and if
necessary making enough space by resizing others. But much easier,
whatever software to use, to be working with the final size

 

[GJP]

GJP wrote:

---Big Snip Here------
Make sure you move My Documents and similar folders across; do it
between a My Computer window on D and one on C:\Documents and
Settings\you - then right drag My Documents over, taking Move here.

I regard it as important to separate documents/data from
System/Programs. Then if you *have* to restore C you need not worry
about losing data changed since the last image


Shrink first, image the smaller size. You restore not into an existing
partition but into free space made by deleting the old one, and if
necessary making enough space by resizing others. But much easier,.
whatever software to use, to be working with the final size

Thanks for the reply.

Okay move the documents and I guess anything else I have that is not an
installed program..right.

Your comment to shrink first, then image the smaller size ...do mean as in
move the docs and other things not installed as programs and then make an
image of what is left?

Guess I sound a little dumb on all this, but I do appreciate your patience
and assistance.
The external hard drive arrived today, it's 80 GB and formated as Fat32, so
I guess things will start to move tomorrow.(G)

 

[GJP]

Yes you can. I have looked at Acronis, and not seen any benefit worth
having from its higher price, other than 'incremental' use, which I
consider inappropriate for this sort of use

-----Big Snip Here-----

Hi Alex;
Well here I am after a bit of disaster trying BootIT NG this past
weekend, I downloaded the program from the web site, didn't install it
but created a "bootdisk" to work with. BootiT Ng first would not make an
image file to fit on my external HD , I had 40 GB available on the
external HD but I guess BootIT NG could not compress the approximate 40
GB NTFS used space from my C: to an image file small enough to fit on
the 40GB Fat32 available on the external drive.
I ended up getting Acronis and it did the job, created a 20 GB image
with normal compression which was written to the external HD space
available with no problem.
I then tried to resize the 144 GB NTFS partition down to 40 GB with
BootIt NG...that too produced error messages, by this time I had had it
with BootiIt NG and got Partition Magic 8, which did the job with no
problems.
Any problems I had with BootIT NG may have been just me ...I don't know,
so I'm not bad mouthing the program just saying it didn't work for me.
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, the help received by all
in these NG's is much appreciated.


GJP

 

[Alex Nichol]

Okay move the documents and I guess anything else I have that is not an
installed program..right.

Your comment to shrink first, then image the smaller size ...do mean as in
move the docs and other things not installed as programs and then make an
image of what is left?

That's it, plus using the software I suggested to resize the partition
to what you will use long term before imaging. That way if you ever
have to restore the image it will find space that fits

Guess I sound a little dumb on all this, but I do appreciate your patience
and assistance.
The external hard drive arrived today, it's 80 GB and formated as Fat32, so
I guess things will start to move tomorrow.(G)

You might think it worth while starting off by deleting that partition
and making a new one in NTFS - 80 GB is really too big for using FAT32
except for some special purposes - indeed XP will not make one bigger
that 32GB in FAT 32. In XP, before doing anything else, Control Panel -
Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk Management and look lower
right for the graphic of the drive. R-click the 80 GB FAT, Delete
partition, then r-click the Unallocated space and Create Partition, this
time using NTFS and following through to Format it