XP Home on multiple partitioned drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard
  • Start date Start date
R

Richard

Newbe here. I was told by Tech that I wouldn't be able to
install and run XP-H on a single drive with multiple
partitions. Reading through your group's questions -
answeres it appears I should be able too?. Any comments
might just save me some money (no need for second drive).
I want to partition one drive three ways. XP / Downloaded
Programs, Complete but not installed / and Storage for
Video etc. The drive is 120 gigs. If I can, how many gigs
would be more than ample for the XP that will have gobs of
programs loaded?. Thanks for any comments. Richard
 
Richard said:
Newbe here. I was told by Tech that I wouldn't be able to
install and run XP-H on a single drive with multiple
partitions. Reading through your group's questions -
Click to expand...

You sure can.
Video etc. The drive is 120 gigs. If I can, how many gigs
would be more than ample for the XP that will have gobs of
programs loaded?. Thanks for any comments. Richard
Click to expand...

Only you can really answer this. I typically install the OS
on its own partition, and then install all programs to a separate
partition.

In your case, I would do something like:
1: OS 10 gigs
2: Apps and downloads 30 gigs (adjust if necessary)
3: video 80 gigs (depends on what type of video)

Tom
 
If it is a brand name computer (HP, Dell etc.), it didn't come with a "pure"
XPh CD, only a recovery CD. The recovery CD restores your HD to factory
state, ie. 1 partition of 120GB with XP pre-installed ......To get the
multiple partition functionality, you have to buy a retail XPh package (or a
cheap peace of h/w with an OEM XPh) and install from there. With that you
can partition to your minds lust...



--
=================================================
Most learned here on nntp://news.mircosoft.com
Helsinki, Finland (remove _SPAM)
(translations from FI/SE not always accurate)
=================================================
 
Richard said:
new machine). I've spent conciderable time getting the
system some what the way i like it, with some new programs
as well. It's likely a 120 gig NTFS partition now. Are you
saying I can set C: partition to what ever gigs I want and
Click to expand...

No. You would need a 3rd party program which does
non-destructive partitioning. One such program is called
Partition Magic. Partitioning a drive with XP's Disk
Management wipes out the contents of the drive.
I had originaly planed to use Win 98SE to boot Dos up and
set the partitions (as NTFS) before setting all my goodies
in XP but I was told that wouldn't work???
Click to expand...

It won't. Win98 can't read or create NTFS partitions.

Tom
 
<<buy a retail XPh package (or a
cheap peace of h/w with an OEM XPh)>>

Yup, just got through with the Tech Guy and you hit it
right on the nose. Recovery only disc and it will auto to
one large (120 gig)partition prior to any re-install of
XP.

Did you mean "OEM" discs have a complete XP with no hooks
tied in with them like my recovery disc has?. If so,
I guess I could do that but it may be less expensive if I
buy a small HDD to put my own XP on and use the 120 gig
for programs and storage. Plus My recovery disc has all
the new drivers for DVD etc.
It would be neat if I were smart enough to reprogram the
disc with out the hook in it.I be in FAT city :-)
Thanks again,Richard
 
I'd go for a small ( ~20GB, as it could be hard to find a smaller) disk for
the OS and install XP with _only_ that one installed. (bevare, if the
recovery disk checks disk size....). Then install the bigger one. The OEM
disk sold with mice etc. are not BIOS locked so, but if course there is no
machine-specific drivers in them. Usually the manufacturer's homepage has
some for download (just have to identify what pieces there is in the
machine).



--
=================================================
Most learned here on nntp://news.mircosoft.com
Helsinki, Finland (remove _SPAM)
(translations from FI/SE not always accurate)
=================================================
 
Make one partition of about 10Gb for XP Home and
leave the pagefile.sys on that drive and fix its amount at say 700Mb.
XP Pro takes up about 3Gb so home should be less.
Then split the rest of your drive into 2 partitions.
Format all three partitions to win98 Fat32 and then when installing
XP it will ask whether you want to change first partition to NTFS
say YES and leave the other two partitions as FAT32.
The extra space is for things like Nortons Antivirus which allows
you to select another drive for installiung BUT always puts
n:\symantec stuff on the C: drive. Painful so leave space for some
other things that wont let you select where you want to install them.
Freda
 
Back
Top