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Windows XP: Good idea or bad?
Good idea or bad?
by alzed - 4/30/09 12:03 PMI use a Compaq Presario V2000 laptop, with an AMD Turion 64, windows xp.
I'm wondering if partitioning would really do me any good. I've never done that before and don't want to mess up my laptop.
I use the computer mostly for email and browsing the web. I do however also use it for a very small business I started. For the business I do video editing using 4 different programs.
I'm really new to this whole partitioning thing and have never seen someone use a partitioned computer before. So how to switch between partitions when using the computer is beyond my knowlage.
It just seems, from what I've read, that I could possibly speed up my computer some and have less risk of loosing videos in case of a need to reinstall XP.
I'm also wondering if doing a backup image of my hard drive is a good thing to use another partition for. Again, I've never done it before, but it sounds like it might be a good idea.
Any thoughts you'd care to share?
And thank you!
Re: partitioning
by Kees Bakker
- 4/30/09 12:30 PM
In reply to: Good idea or bad? by alzed
Let's assume you've got a laptop with a 120 GB c-drive. Partitioning means you chage that in, say, a 90 GB c-drive and a 30 GB d-drive. Or with other capacities, or into 3 or 4 drive letters, as long as the total amount of GB isn't more than 120, of course. No magic in that. Just more drive-letters. No need to switch between anything.
One of the possible uses is to have multiple operating systems on it, say XP and Vista, or XP and Linux. Then you boot into one or the other. But I don't think that's what you need, so let's forget about that.
The 'normal' case is having one OS (XP) and using the c-drive for Windows and Program Files and some data, and using the d-drive for some other data. The advantage is - indeed - that you can do a clean install of your OS without touching the data on the d-drive. But;
- That's not sure for the System Recovery using the Compaq Recovery CD. I can't guarantee that it will only recover the c-drive. Possibly it erases everything and brings the system back to one partition.
- A repair install from your Windows XP disk won't touch any data, not even the data on the c-drive
- Partitioning doesn't help against data loss because of a failing disk or the laptop being dropped, lost or stolen. Therefore you still need to backup all the data you don't want to lose to another device like two different external hard disks, or a hard disk and burning to a DVD).
And if you DO have the necessary good backup scheme, you won't loose any dataven with one partion if you have to format it during a clean install of XP.
My advice: don't bother about partitioning, but spend the time backing up.
Kees
I agree entirely, and...
by MarkFlax - 4/30/09 12:45 PM
In reply to: Re: partitioning by Kees Bakker
think of this.
In effect you are parceling up the hard drive into different sections, for your own benefit. Don't folders do this anyway?
As Kees says, different partitions may be useful if a re-install of XP is needed. But if that Compaq arrived with XP already installed, (an OEM or Original Equipment Manufacturer system), then any recovery disks or hidden recovery partitions are likely to wipe the whole hard disk clean and return it to factory state, ie just the one C Drive.
So, back up is the key.
Mark
Ok then...
by alzed - 4/30/09 1:41 PM In reply to: I agree entirely, and... by MarkFlax
Glad I asked! It'd be a bad thing if I reinstalled xp thinking that my data was safe, and then found that the reinstall wiped out the partition with the data on it.
Thank you!!!
Guess I'll work on getting my backside covered with good backups.
Again, THANK YOU!
Say "Yes" to Partitioning
by DOSpower - 5/1/09 10:48 PM In reply to: Good idea or bad? by alzedI may be confusing the issue here but I would wholeheartedly recommend partitioning. I am a habitual partitioner for the following reasons and configurations.
- The C: partition is dedicated to the operating system and applications, while the additional partition is dedicated to my working files (i.e. video, text, audio, etc.)
- Once I have installed the OS, drivers and applications to a point that I feel is a good, stable configuration I take an image of the C: drive. I keep a copy of the image on the other partition and burn one to DVD as a minimum.
- From that point on if I install a conflicting application or driver I can recover my system to a stable configuration in under 10 minutes using either the hard drive stored image or the bootable DVD image. As my other data is on the other partition I don't risk my data.
- Also as noted in the other posts, having a dual/multi-boot system mandates a second partition/drive unless you go down the path of virtual machines.
You gain the advantage that the partition with your files doesn't suffer much in the way of file fragmentation while the OS partition will experience its usual (high) level of fragmentation. Defrags tend to run a good deal faster on the partitioned drive than with a single large drive.
On that note I would agree without hesitation that you should always back up your data to a location other than your system partition.
I have saved myself a tremendous amount of time and heartache by using partitioned drives and unless given good reason will continue to do so well into the future.
If you choose to do make sure you have the system recovery disks or OS install disks. You may want to investigate some non-destructive partitioning and imaging software if you choose to go down that path.
Good luck.
patritioning
by alaskagram - 5/2/09 6:56 PM In reply to: Say "Yes" to Partitioning by DOSpowerI'm still confused.Are you saying,for example, you partition the drive just big enough for the OS so that it lives in it's own little space.Is this a way to deal with big drives,so defraging goes faster?I'd like to know as I do video work which requires big drives and it takes awhile to defrag them.
OS alone
by DOSpower - 5/2/09 11:40 PM In reply to: patritioning by alaskagramYes indeed your summary is fundamentally sound. I also do a lot of video rendering/editing and my working files are on the secondary partition while the C: partition houses my OS & applications. If you get hit with a virus, your system can be reimaged quickly and you can be back up and running again with minimal loss of your personal data (items like favourites and outlook records might be lost if not backed up).
Defragging will almost certainly run more rapidly on the partition used for your personal data as it suffers less fragmentation than your OS and applications. You may want to 'move' your My Documents folder across to the secondary partition and tweak your default save folders for your applications to the secondary partition and once done your peace of mind can rest a little easier if you need/want to reimage.
Virtual memory
by DOSpower - 5/2/09 11:43 PM In reply to: patritioning by alaskagramI forgot to mention, you need to make sure you leave enough space on the C: drive for virtual memory, which as a rule of thumb is 150% of your installed system RAM. My desktop configuration has 2GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive. The C: partition is 25GB, which still has approximately 10GB of free space. You need to have a minimum of 15% free space to be able to perform a defrag.
The problem with that.
by MarkFlax - 5/3/09 2:53 AM
In reply to: patritioning by alaskagram
We often see posts here where users have partitioned a hard drive as has been suggested to give a C Drive just large enough for the OS.
The difficulty there is that, over time, the OS gets larger, and some software installations will 'only' install on the C Drive where the OS resides, (Adobe is an example). Then these users start to hit up against low disk space issues. By then there is little that can be done except to repartition to make that partition larger, a process that usually is destructive to the OS, and it also puts all other data at risk. Repartitioning is not for the faint hearted and its not something I have ever attempted.
So such things need careful thought beforehand.
Mark
Hard Drive
by sirpaul1 - 5/4/09 7:36 PM In reply to: patritioning by alaskagramHeck! With the price of hard drives, I'd just buy a 40-80 GB hard drive and use that for the operating system and programs. You could probably get one for about $20.00. Then use your existing hard drive for file storage and backup. (assuming you're not using 3 optical drives).
As far as partitioning goes, if you don't want a dedicated hard drive, it's the only way to go. Saves so much time and effort.
One more thing to consider. You can download programs to partition your hard drive, but your file system must be NTFS. You cannot partition FAT32 on the fly. Don't forget to backup your files first!
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