XP partition size

[Michael]

Hi,
I want to (re re..) install XP Pro on a 40GB HDD (Seagate Barracuda
7200RPM). I want to make 2 NTFS partitions on this HDD - one partition, say,
"XP Pro" for XP, and another partition, say, "My Files" for files etc.
Questions:

1. What size should the XP Pro partition be? Some say anywhere between 6 to
8GB.

2. What is the better partition to install "Program Files" folder - the "XP
Pro" partition or the other "My Files" partition? In other words, is it
better to leave XP Pro alone on its own dedicated partition amnd to install
programs on the other partition?

3. Is there any way to move the "Documents and Settings" folder on the "My
Files" partition - since, by default" XP does not allow it?

Thank you,
Michael

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I want to (re re..) install XP Pro on a 40GB HDD (Seagate Barracuda
7200RPM). I want to make 2 NTFS partitions on this HDD - one partition, say,
"XP Pro" for XP, and another partition, say, "My Files" for files etc.
Questions:

1. What size should the XP Pro partition be? Some say anywhere between 6 to
8GB.

2. What is the better partition to install "Program Files" folder - the "XP
Pro" partition or the other "My Files" partition? In other words, is it
better to leave XP Pro alone on its own dedicated partition amnd to install
programs on the other partition?

3. Is there any way to move the "Documents and Settings" folder on the "My
Files" partition - since, by default" XP does not allow it?

Michael,

before answering the questions, I keep seeing people creating
more than one partition for no good reason. So the question
coming back to you is, are you certain that it is a good idea to
hack the free space on the disk into pieces by creating more
than one partition? If you run just one operating system, it is
almost always better to have only one partition.

Hans-Georg

 

[Michael]

Yeah,
tried that a few times but I really do not have enough time to run regular
backups or copy to CD-R or to another HDD - except for some files I really
want to keep. Hence, whenever something goes wrong w/ XP and I have to
reinstall - because it takes less time than 'fishing' for some obscure
registry setting or whatnot - it is easier to have XP on its own partition
since all the files on the partition would be deleted.

I know: Sytem Restore, XP Recovery/ Repair, Disk Image, regular backups and
all those tools. In my case, w/ a stand alone, acceptably fast rig (P4
3.0MHz, 1G RAM, RAMDisk, 40xCD-RW... blah blah) it is simply more feasable
to clean reinstall OS and programs - it takes about 30 mins for XP SP1 +
WUpdate CD.

Just as an example, my Nvidia GEForce drivers were updated twice in the last
couple of months; that is, four updates (2 from ASUS, 2 from NVidia). I
tried all four, of course , but that leaves some clutter on the HDD. All
in all, these are my "good reasons" for partitioning. I could add more:
CDRW's are not very reliable, get lost, clutter the desk etc etc.

Michael

 

[Shenan Stanley]

tried that a few times but I really do not have enough time to run
regular backups or copy to CD-R or to another HDD - except for some
files I really want to keep. Hence, whenever something goes wrong w/
XP and I have to reinstall - because it takes less time than
'fishing' for some obscure registry setting or whatnot - it is easier
to have XP on its own partition since all the files on the partition
would be deleted.

I know: Sytem Restore, XP Recovery/ Repair, Disk Image, regular
backups and all those tools. In my case, w/ a stand alone, acceptably
fast rig (P4
3.0MHz, 1G RAM, RAMDisk, 40xCD-RW... blah blah) it is simply more
feasable to clean reinstall OS and programs - it takes about 30 mins
for XP SP1 + WUpdate CD.

Just as an example, my Nvidia GEForce drivers were updated twice in
the last couple of months; that is, four updates (2 from ASUS, 2 from
NVidia). I tried all four, of course , but that leaves some clutter
on the HDD. All in all, these are my "good reasons" for partitioning.
I could add more: CDRW's are not very reliable, get lost, clutter the
desk etc etc.

All decent reasons.. But even better reasons to get a secondary hard drive
and install it. Put your OS on one drive, its swap file and all your files
on the second hard drive.

If the OS drive completely dies, who cares at that point? heh

You might want to buy two 80GB secondary drives, a RAID IDE card to mirror
the data drive automatically for you to the second 80GB drive then you would
have to have all sorts of failures in order to concern yourself.

 

[Zer0Cool]

i tend to try at least 10 gigs on C (windows xp
partiton)..i personally make it 20gig on a 80gig drive
i do this bc of all the program files and such that make
files in ur os drive regardless of were it is installed,
win xp is about 1.5gig i believ, but ud be surprised how
quickly that 1.5gig becomes 6, 8 - higher

MS is very picky it seems about were folders like, my
docs and program files go, but u could install programs
such as office, games etc on ne drive, i use C drive for
windows and small things like direct x, mouse keyboard
software, dvd player software etc...i would not however
try to force windows to move folders such as my docs or
program files to another drive

the only way i have been able to find to do what u ask
about my docs on another drive is to setup a shortcut or
mirror to the normal my docs, this is not the most
favorable choice for many (im with u i want my docs in a
dif partition) bc u still are taking up space in the c
drive with docs, ur just linking to that folder from
another icon...but what happens is if u take say a mp3
and put it in the original my docs after doin this, the
shortcut will not show it, u must place it in the
shortcut for it to b visable in both places...this is
annoying

hope that helped

 

[Michael]

Mmm, I run on an Asus P4C800ED - SATA/Raid ready including the Zalman PSU. I
could do a 2x80GB Sata + 1x160GB Sata in Raid 0,1 for some speed and safety.
But, I want this rig to be quiet!

One/two more drives would make more noise and heat and ad even more noise
from the chasis and CPU fans - even though they run in a Cooler Master -
Wave Master aluminium case. I guess I'll wait till some affordable 3-4 GB
Flash Cards will be available
Michael

 

[Michael]

Thx. for your words.

I tried 6GB but seems a little bit short (w/ OfficeXP and some other
programs it's 5GB+). I'm trying to get the smallest manageable size for XP
partition to avoid long read/write head access times (well, milliseconds
on the HDD. Of course, I set the XP kernel (5MB) to run in RAM, but still I
want to avoid too much movement of the read/write heads between
tracks/partitions; I might be dead wrong here if the heads have to access
the FAT too often. Sure, for everyday usage, I don't think the size of the
XP partition makes any noticeable difference. I'll try 8 GB next, though

As for "Documents and Settings," I'll have to leave it on the XP (root)
partition and just back it up for easier recovery.
Thx. again
Michael

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Yeah,
tried that a few times but I really do not have enough time to run regular
backups or copy to CD-R or to another HDD - except for some files I really
want to keep. Hence, whenever something goes wrong w/ XP and I have to
reinstall - because it takes less time than 'fishing' for some obscure
registry setting or whatnot - it is easier to have XP on its own partition
since all the files on the partition would be deleted.

Michael,

reinstalling XP does not delete any files. It only overwrites
the files that belong to XP.

Hans-Georg

 

[Michael]

Sure, if you can reinstall. However, recently it just happened that System
Restore could not restore to any previous restore point *and* that XP
reinstall will lock somwhere in the process. On the other hand, I prefer a
clean reinstall becuse I try a lot of software on this machine. FYI, I use
this rig more like a toy which I want to make fast and quiet. I have really
no essential files that I would be desperate to save, although I do not want
to lose all this work either.Of course, I have another XP machine that I
never had to reinstall or repair exactly because I do not test programs or
other tools on it.
There are other regular upgrades as well that I prefer on a clean install -
SP2 final is due soon, for example.
I would not go in that much detail, but I hope it might help others in
deciding about partitioning or not.
Michael

Michael,

reinstalling XP does not delete any files. It only overwrites
the files that belong to XP.

Hans-Georg

..

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Sure, if you can reinstall. However, recently it just happened that System
Restore could not restore to any previous restore point *and* that XP
reinstall will lock somwhere in the process. On the other hand, I prefer a
clean reinstall becuse I try a lot of software on this machine. FYI, I use
this rig more like a toy which I want to make fast and quiet. I have really
no essential files that I would be desperate to save, although I do not want
to lose all this work either.Of course, I have another XP machine that I
never had to reinstall or repair exactly because I do not test programs or
other tools on it.
There are other regular upgrades as well that I prefer on a clean install -
SP2 final is due soon, for example.
I would not go in that much detail, but I hope it might help others in
deciding about partitioning or not.

Michael,

a clean reinstall doesn't have to delete any of your files. You
can install a fresh Windows XP into an existing partition with
existing data.

I don't want to convince you, really. I keep replying only
because I want to find out whether there is anything I have
overlooked when I stated that most people who create more than
one partition do so for no good reason.

Hans-Georg

 

[John R Weiss]

Hi,
I want to (re re..) install XP Pro on a 40GB HDD (Seagate Barracuda
7200RPM). I want to make 2 NTFS partitions on this HDD - one partition, say,
"XP Pro" for XP, and another partition, say, "My Files" for files etc.
Questions:

1. What size should the XP Pro partition be? Some say anywhere between 6 to
8GB.

8 GB may be big enough for the OS, but if you will install apps on the C:
drive you will need much more -- 15-20 GB.

2. What is the better partition to install "Program Files" folder - the "XP
Pro" partition or the other "My Files" partition? In other words, is it
better to leave XP Pro alone on its own dedicated partition amnd to install
programs on the other partition?

Matter of preference in many cases, but I prefer to restrict the boot
partition to the OS only, as much as possible.

Many apps store data in subdirectories in the installation folder. If you
have to format the boot partition, you may lose that data.