Windows & 2 paritions

Rytron

Rytron

New Member
Hi,
I have installed windows xp pro on my pc. I have one hard drive of 500GB.
I have managed to break the main c drive into two partitions - my documents have been to moved to e drive.
Windows is fundamentally flawed in that the windows directory is installed into the same drive as 'my documents' files.
Therefore if someone has to reinstall windows they need will loose all their personal data.

Now I am still learning about partitions but if I reinstall windows(which I need to do)onto drive c, I presume windows once installed will recognize any ntfs/fat32 drives on the pc.

I'd really appreciate any input.

Thank you.
 
Windows is fundamentally flawed in that the windows directory is installed into the same drive as 'my documents' files.
Therefore if someone has to reinstall windows they need will loose all their personal data.
Click to expand...

While I agree that Windows is fundamentally flawed ;) there is a way around this, and you already tap-danced around it - it has to do with partitions. You said you created two, which is fine, but why not save yourself of potentially losing your personal data and create three?

This is how my Windows HDD is laid out:

Partition 1: 15GB, Windows OS
Partition 2: 10GB, Windows Software (Quicken, RealPlayer, Adobe, Office, etc.)
Partition 3: 51GB, My personal partition.

The only thing that will ever touch Partition 1 is the actual OS and all patches, upgrades, and service packs. Only software *I* install goes on Partition 2, and Partition 3 is reserved for anything and everything of mine (files, music, movies, etc.). This negates the purpose to use 'My Documents' since all of your stuff is self-contained in a separate area. It makes backing up your personal data extremely simple to, as you just copy your entire partition to another HDD (no more opening folders and doing individual areas). Also, since your OS is self-contained and separate from your personal partition, if you ever need to reinstall Windows, you can do it without losing any of your files. Granted, the software will need to be re-loaded afterwards, but once it is, all your files will be recognized by their respective program.

Now I am still learning about partitions but if I reinstall windows(which I need to do)onto drive c, I presume windows once installed will recognize any ntfs/fat32 drives on the pc.
Click to expand...

Since it is a partition tool that scans the drives and not the Windows OS, it will recognize all *disks*. Certain filesystem extensions (partitions) may show up as unavailable space, but it's nothing a format can't fix.
 
You never need 3 partitions. With the two there the second would simply be used as a storage and backup partition wihile Windows and softwares would be installed on the C primary. Personal documents and other files can be stored for safe keeping on the second in the even the first needs to be reformatted.

You don't always have to reformat a partition in order to see Windows reinstalled unless suspecting or knowing of a virus infection. Removable media is another means of backing any important files of various types. That can be a life saver if a drive fails entirely.
 
You never need 3 partitions. With the two there the second would simply be used as a storage and backup partition wihile Windows and softwares would be installed on the C primary. Personal documents and other files can be stored for safe keeping on the second in the even the first needs to be reformatted.
Click to expand...

No, you don't need three partitions, but it makes organization and recovery a hell of a lot easier than having one or two. Another reasoning for having three is that by keeping the OS and installed software separate, there's less of a chance to 'pollute' the C: drive by mucking around in it. Most installed software's default destination is C:\Program Files - it doesn't take much to inadvertently erase something there if you're not familiar with things; it's hidden by default for a reason.
 
And once Windows is reinstalled for some reason you end up seeing clutter on the extra partition as well as the need to see everything reinstalled all over again due to a brand new system registry. That excludes small programs where only a desktop shortcut is seen with nothing added to the registry itself.
 
Define 'extra clutter'.

And (most)/all the software would have to be reinstalled anyway, regardless of what partition it was loaded on, so I fail to see the validity of that point.

I never said 'you must' have three partitions, simply that if you were going for two, three actually made it easier/more organized when all was said and done.
 
You seem to be unaware how installers, uninstallers as well as Windows create temp folders left behind even after removing a program. It's called "now useless temp" folders since they remain buried in sub folders usually under the user name unnoticed. Dig deep in the DocumentsandSettings>user name in XP or users>user name in Vista and you'll find them where nothing is inside often.
 
No, I'm quite aware. Simply install, do a disk cleanup, then Defrag. Anything worth getting rid of/organizing is taken care of. The relatively little stuff left (temp files, empty folders, partition information, etc.) is hardly enough to make an issue for the rest of the system. Many years ago, yes, with smaller HDDs, but for all intents and purposes, unnoticeable today.
 
Well that's the big promo for CCleaner about freeing up drive space from acumilated clutter over a lengthy period of time. It's totally useless when first seeing Windows go on since the only thing there is installation logs for the most part.

What is now seen in Vista however unlike XP's automatic demise of the DocumentsandSettings and Program Files folders along with the Windows directory is to roll those up into a "Windows.old" folder.



That's one plus for Vista, one minus for XP im that regard of preserving the MS created main foldeers if a drive or partition doesn't see a reformat but simply a reinstallation of the new version. But despite the small amount of drive space taken up with a mountain of empty folders on newer larger capacity drives they can slow things since those are additional items to go through when browsing or running search for files or folders.
 
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