harddrive partitioning

[spoma]

I have an asus a7v mobo with 256mb ram and an athlon 750 inside. I am installing a 45gb western digital 7200 HD. Performance wise is it better to install it as one big partition or as two (one for the OS and one for everything else). I will prob be running WinME unless I decide to go back to Win98SE. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[mgc]

I like to create 3 partitions. 1 for OS, 1 for apps and 1 for data. Just a preference.

 

[TomBilliodeaux]

I agree with mgc.
You can always delete a partition, but once you have everything on 1, its hard to seperate things.

Also if you keep only your o/s on 1 partition, you can clone it once everything is installed and setup using cdr's and Norton Ghost.
You can even reformat your o/s and replace all in 15 minutes if you screw something up. That is if you keep all your applications & data on seperate partitions.
You can also install other o/s's to play around with.

 

[Davegod75]

I have 45gb drive too.

One partition for OS with all programs on there too. ~10gb
The other i use for all my data/files/mp3s/movies/etc. ~35gb

this way you can wipe the os without loosing all your data etc.

 

[dudleydocker]

If all of your apps are in a separate partition, they still have to point to the OS partition,correct?

So, if you reformat/reinstall the OS partition, how do your apps know where to point to, post-reformat/reinstall?

What maintenance needs to be done to each app to get it linked up to the os correctly?

 

[kingz]

will apps run ok if you decide to format the OS partition and install a new one? Most require the registry, which is located on the OS partition.

 

[pudcox]

I would say split it up into 2 or 3 partitions...I am not sure what dudleydocker is talking about. Just delete your current setup...run fdisk...format partitions...reinstall...and make a backup image of your OS partition using ghost or whatever...just a suggestion but I usually put all my core software (office suite, photoediting, etc) on same partition as OS so I can lump it in with my image and do not have to reinstall all of that if the time comes that I need a clean start.

have fun - pudcox

 

[dudleydocker]

kingz did a better job of stating the question.....

if your apps are in a different partition that the os, and you delete/reload the os, will the apps work without having to tinker with the registry in the new os installation?

 

[FirmPete]

Dudlydocker: If you wipe the os, you'll wipe also the registry. Any program that relies on the registry won't run. Programs that don't use the registry will.

 

[CQuinn]

That's the reason to use a clone utility like Ghost or Drive Image.

Instead of reformatting/reinstalling the OS, you just restore from the last
stable image you made. The only thing you might lose are the links to apps
that were installed after the backup image was made.

 

[GTdrew]

I was just trying to figure out the same problem. Im going to be running win98se on a 30 gig Maxtor. Think ive decided to go with one ~10 gig partition for OS and apps and games. Then the remaining 20 gig for storage. Ive got my old 10 gig maxtor that im just going to throw in as a separate MP3 drive.

I definetly plan on ghosting the C partition after I get a fresh install of win98se with all my drivers, Office 2000, Adobe PS, and other apps that I always use. How big are the images usually. Does it compress them at all??

Drew

 

[dudleydocker]

<The only thing you might lose are the links to apps
that were installed after the backup image was made.>

so would these apps also have to be reloaded or could the links be fixed? sorry i'm so dense on this.

 

[caballo]

Dudleydocker question is valid. If you reinstall OS you will have to reinstall Aplications (the ner registry does not have the entries for all those appl. (am I missing something?)

 

[yugpatel]

I worked with Win95 but not with Win98. I still guess registry works the same way. So my suggestion is, before you reformat hard drive create a back up copy of registry on floppy or some where and re load it back once U R done reinstalling OS. This way your app on the other paritition still have registry entry and you do not have to reinstall all apps. Correct me if I am wrong but I have done this for WIn95 successfully.

 

[SGtheArtist]

I personally think 2 partitions is best. Put the OS &amp; Programs on one and all your data on the other, this way if something goes wrong u can just reformat the OS/Program partition and reinstall everything. Reformatting is also good for cleaning out the system of left over files from programs you might have uninstalled. I do it every once and a while or &quot;when thinks go wrong&quot; (sounds like a TV special huh) And I use my second hard drive for my data so I can just reformat the OS &amp; Programs. Of course if you have a lot of programs it may take a while to reinstall everything. I can't speek for using Ghost programs or having a 3 partition and just formating the OS then reinstalling it (personally I think that it wouldn't work because the Programs when installed dump a lot of files in the system folder under the Windows folder so Unless the program just creates what it needs if its not there then I'd say it wouldn't be pretty ) Good Luck.

 

[GTdrew]

So if I have a 30 gig HD, what is a good size for the OS and applications partition. I play some games so those folders and the such can get pretty big. Right now my program files is ~2 gigs, Windows directory is ~1 gig, and Sierra (half-life) is ~1 gig. Thats only 4 gig of space but to be on the safe side im thinkin that 7 gig on the first partition will be adequate. Hell I dont think ill ever fill up the remaining 23 gigs.