Topic: HOW DO YOU DO YOURS..HDD that is

[Tony]

OK I'm at that stage with a new 60GB HDD, to partition or not to partition that is the question.

Right, I have loaded W2K Pro, IE:6, ZoneAlarm, Spybot,SpyBlaster,Emptemp,Diskeeper. I have also downloaded all the latest Service Packs, security patches etc [downloads took 2 hours 22mins at 128K, so double that for 56K dial up]

Right that 2G's worth is saved as a platform for any new PC builds or replacement hard drives that come along in the future. it is stored on a hidden partition on my standby HDD in my PC. It will copy over to a new hard drive in about 3 mins, by popping that HDD into my PC as  Slave with my Standby HDD acting as Primary Drive.

So lets assume I make a 2GB  Primary Active Partition on new HDD's so that basic setup can be reinstalled if need be.

Then how about a seperate extended logical partition for any programs added afterwards.

And another logical parition for personal inputted data.

And last but not least another hidden logical partition on which to store a copy of the 2GB basic recovery set up.

Any input will be appreciated, if it has holes in it as a sensible solution to HDD partitioning, please point em out. Or just your personal view either way regards partitioning or no.

Thanks

[Sandra]

Any installed programs install to the primary active partition Tony so its no good having that partition only the same size as your existing OS,necessary updates and additional progs on as you have them now,otherwise you wil find that you cant install any more programs that you may require later or even any big updates that come along in the future for 2K.
On a 60 gig drive I would have 10 gig or even 20 as my primary active partition.Then the rest as a partition to store your other data.
If you have multiple partitions,(over the 2 that I suggest),then you run the risk of having a total spare capacity of say 20 gig,(once you have lots of stuff on),but spread over a few partitions leaving you with insufficient space in one of them to add something you wanted while there are lots of gigs available elsewhere which you can store on but not in the most convenient place.
Much better to have just the 2 partitions and have lots of folders which can be any size that you want :doggie:

[Tony]

Fair points them Sandra, so it is pointless installing programs on any partition other than the Active Primary one, as that is where they need to be to work, right ?

By the way, I was going to make the Primary Active bigger than 2G, it is just that I had to reduce it to 2 G so as to be able to copy it to 2G's worth of 'unallocated' space on my standbye HDD.

I'm sure having fun with this Partition Magic, it is virtually idiot proof  

Just for arguments sake, and without me reading up Sandra ......blokes Huh, lets say you had a 15G, C: drive Active Primary Partition and two extended Logical partitions. Lets say one at 30G for personal data, and a 15G [hidden] one to store a copy of C: Drive on, not an Image, a Copy.

Could you reformat the Active Primary Partition, whilst leaving the Data and Hidden logical Partitions intact, so as to then  be able to reinstall C: Drive by copying it from the hidden partition. Or would the two logical partitions go when you reformated the Active Primary Partition.?

I suppose I could try it realy on the 58G unallocated space I have at this moment in time

[Tony]

I tried it,

Deleted H: Primary, and the Extended Primary was still there, with the two logical partitions H: and I:  intact.

[Simon]

Well, I know it's not the 'professional' approach, but I've just left everything on one partition - partly because I can't be buggered to mess about, and partly because I haven't yet used Partition Magic, but I'm sure it must be dead easy, if Tony can manage it!  

[Sandra]

Deleted H: Primary, and the Extended Primary was still there, with the two logical partitions H: and I:  intact.

I assume you meant you formatted the Primary active partition and didnt delete it ?

Tony the whole purpose of having the OS on its own partition is so that you can wipe it and then reinstall the same or a different OS again without losing all your data completely from that drive.
Of course you have to reinstall your programs again as they have gone along with the OS when you wipe the active partition  

[Tony]

So what happens when you have two operating systemsyou can use on one PC. Are you saying you have to load the programs twice, once on each Primary partition with each OS ? Just keep your data on a logical partition seperate to either of those two Primary Partitions ?

Simon you bugger, you know, I actually wrote 'it's idiot proof, I reckon even Simon could use it' but because your my 'Pal' I deleted it, then you go say that about me  :'( :'( :'(................

[Simon]

Simon you bugger, you know, I actually wrote 'it's idiot proof, I reckon even Simon could use it' but because your my 'Pal' I deleted it, then you go say that about me  :'( :'( :'(

Just getting you back for when you said about PC building, "If Simon can do it, it must be easy", or something like that.  

[Sandra]

Yes Tony if you have 2 OSs then you need to install the programs to each one  
The thing to be careful of,if you dual boot,is to make sure that both OSs can use the same file system.
If you have win 98 and XP on then they have to be using FAT 32 or else the files stored on an NTFS drive by XP will not be accessable by 98 :doggie:

[Dack]

At least not without using a utility like ntfs for win98

http://www.bluechillies.com/details/9895.html

They way I usually split a disc is I have about 20-25% of the drive space or 10G (whichever is the bigger) for the main partition as a lot of Windows applications install files in the Windows system directories even if you have installed the application on another drive. I then take the remaining space and split it into either 2 or 3 as they can then use one partition for games install and the other for applications/data. Depending on the target user I alter the percentages.

After installing I usually ghost the disc image to CD.