Drive partitions for windows xp installation

I'l be installing the windows xp on a clean formatted drive. I read in
PCWorld that it's beneficial to create separate partitions on your drive.

Partition 1 - Windows XP operating system (so you can reformat if the OS
gets buggy)
Partition 2 - Other files
Partition 3 - windows swap file (prevents fragmentation of the drive)

What are your views on the subject and if you agree what size do you
recommend for the OS and swap file parititions?

Thanks

Ryan

--
Ryan A. Saravanja

Windows XP runs best on a single partition formatted NTFS.
It is not wise to move the Page File to another partition on=20
the same hard drive.

NTFS Preinstallation and Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/...preinstall.asp

Benchmarking on Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platf...nchmark.asp=20

--=20
Nicholas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
----------------

"Ryan A, Saravanja" wrote in message: =20
...

| I'l be installing the windows xp on a clean formatted drive. I read =
in
| PCWorld that it's beneficial to create separate partitions on your =
drive.
|=20
| Partition 1 - Windows XP operating system (so you can reformat if the =
OS
| gets buggy)
| Partition 2 - Other files
| Partition 3 - windows swap file (prevents fragmentation of the drive)
|=20
| What are your views on the subject and if you agree what size do you
| recommend for the OS and swap file parititions?
|=20
| Thanks
|=20
| Ryan
|=20
| --
| Ryan A. Saravanja
|

On partition 2 he said other files....... not program files. If by other
files he means data files, music, videos, pictures, spreadsheets, word docs,
txt docs, .iso's, personal my documents stuff, etc.... then it is a good
idea to have two partitons. I agree with the swap file, don't move that. Two
partitons will do fine.


"john dingley" wrote in message
...
First doing what you propose doesn't really work in the way that you have
suggested.

If you install your O/S in one partion and programs in another,. And then
you format the O/S partition and reinstall the O/S none of your programs
will probably work has the new O/S has no record of their installation.

snip

IMHO, format your hard drive as one NTFS partition and let XP function as it
is designed. The most important consideration for data and application files
is to implement a disaster recovery plan. That is to say, how do you recover
when your hard drive craps out?

"sqr" wrote in message
...
As you are new to XP here is my advice regarding the partitions. Having
multiple partitions will protect important files and the like from the OS.
So place XP in the first partition and in the second the data files, but
leave the windows pagefile alone and let the OS control it until you
become
more familiar with it.

When you have Windows installed and running the way you want create an
Image
file and place it on a CD. Also backup the data files and programs and
place
them on a CD as well. When the computer goes south you can get the machine
up and running much quicker then re-installing.

--
Sqr
Overseer: alt.os.windows-xp
--

http://sqr.servebeer.com
ftp://sqr.myftp.biz


"Ryan A, Saravanja" wrote in message
...
I'l be installing the windows xp on a clean formatted drive. I read in
PCWorld that it's beneficial to create separate partitions on your
drive.

Partition 1 - Windows XP operating system (so you can reformat if the OS
gets buggy)
Partition 2 - Other files
Partition 3 - windows swap file (prevents fragmentation of the drive)

What are your views on the subject and if you agree what size do you
recommend for the OS and swap file parititions?

Thanks

Ryan

--
Ryan A. Saravanja

"IMHO, format your hard drive as one NTFS partition and let XP function as
it
is designed. "

What do you mean? XP is designed to be able to access multiple partitons,
drives, mapped/network drives/partitions. XP itself should be on its own
single partition, but it is designed to work with multiple partitions and
IMHO putting your data files on another partition is the best way cause it
saves lots of time when reformatting and protects that data if the os dies
and you need to format. If the hard drive dies, well then you hope you
backed up the important stuff to another drive or cd-rw's.

"Danny Blue" wrote in message
...
IMHO, format your hard drive as one NTFS partition and let XP function as
it
is designed. The most important consideration for data and application
files
is to implement a disaster recovery plan. That is to say, how do you
recover
when your hard drive craps out?

"sqr" wrote in message
...
As you are new to XP here is my advice regarding the partitions. Having
multiple partitions will protect important files and the like from the
OS.
So place XP in the first partition and in the second the data files, but
leave the windows pagefile alone and let the OS control it until you
become
more familiar with it.

When you have Windows installed and running the way you want create an
Image
file and place it on a CD. Also backup the data files and programs and
place
them on a CD as well. When the computer goes south you can get the
machine
up and running much quicker then re-installing.

--
Sqr
Overseer: alt.os.windows-xp
--

http://sqr.servebeer.com
ftp://sqr.myftp.biz


"Ryan A, Saravanja" wrote in message
...
I'l be installing the windows xp on a clean formatted drive. I read
in
PCWorld that it's beneficial to create separate partitions on your
drive.

Partition 1 - Windows XP operating system (so you can reformat if the
OS
gets buggy)
Partition 2 - Other files
Partition 3 - windows swap file (prevents fragmentation of the drive)

What are your views on the subject and if you agree what size do you
recommend for the OS and swap file parititions?

Thanks

Ryan

--
Ryan A. Saravanja

"purplehaz03" wrote in message
...
On partition 2 he said other files....... not program files. If by other
files he means data files, music, videos, pictures, spreadsheets, word
docs,
txt docs, .iso's, personal my documents stuff, etc.... then it is a good
idea to have two partitons. I agree with the swap file, don't move that.
Two
partitons will do fine.

I meant the program files. It seems people still se the need to reinstall
WinXP once a year (i thought that was over) so this just seems easier. Will
this setup result in a performance hit or will other more serious problems
result?

And does PCWorld not know what they are talking bout?



"john dingley" wrote in message
...
First doing what you propose doesn't really work in the way that you
have
suggested.

If you install your O/S in one partion and programs in another,. And
then
you format the O/S partition and reinstall the O/S none of your programs
will probably work has the new O/S has no record of their installation.

snip

Ryan A, Saravanja wrote:
|
| And does PCWorld not know what they are talking bout?


PCW and PC Pro are both fine magazines.

ss.

Ryan A, Saravanja asked wistfully...

|| I'l be installing the windows xp on a clean formatted drive. I read
|| in PCWorld that it's beneficial to create separate partitions on
|| your drive.
||
|| Partition 1 - Windows XP operating system (so you can reformat if
|| the OS gets buggy)
|| Partition 2 - Other files
|| Partition 3 - windows swap file (prevents fragmentation of the drive)
||
|| What are your views on the subject and if you agree what size do you
|| recommend for the OS and swap file parititions?
||

There are numerous ways to set a computer up, many people have no idea how
to do things properly and some people have extra expectations or needs from
the way they have theirs configured.

Anyone who suggests you use a single partition on a single disk is
brain-dead and can be ignored. The use of a second HDD in many ways is
preferable to partitioning a single disk but ultimately the best set-up will
include several disks each with several partitions. Each partition tailored
specifically to its contents/use.

For example I use a 10GB HDD which is split into 3 primary/bootable
partitions and only contains my operating systems.

Another disk is partitioned into 4 and is for data, programs which do not
need installation, temporary internet files and images of my OS.

Another disk has a small partition at the beginning of the disk which is
where the pagefile resides (on its own) the rest of the disk is used for
data, images, backups etc. which do not need to be accessed very often.

Your scheme is sound although having the pagefile in its own partition at
the end of a single drive could prove to be more of a performance hit rather
than a benefit. However that wont be an issue because you are going to
install plenty of RAM, right?

At the end of the day there are several things that need to be considered to
quantify how you can best configure your machine. Example uses, equipment
installed, CPU, RAM, PSU, number/type/size of HDD's.

Perhaps some of the considerations have already been made and that was the
reason you were researching this in the first place.

--

Gazwad

Freelance scientist and people tester.
Guardian: alt.os.windows-xp
Moderator: alt.warez.uk

http://angry.at/gazwad
http://gazwad.servebeer.com

john dingley asked wistfully...

|| The way you probably want to use your system one partition is fine.
|| Splitting it has no benefits whatsoever.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

aside to Relic: which one of the crossposted groups are all these ****ing
idiots coming from?

--

Gazwad

Freelance scientist and people tester.
Guardian: alt.os.windows-xp
Moderator: alt.warez.uk

http://angry.at/gazwad
http://gazwad.servebeer.com

Xref: 127.0.0.1 alt.os.windows-xp:257603 microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics:98691 microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:536416 microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardwa119860

relic asked wistfully...

|| As predicted, Gazwad wrote this:
||| john dingley asked wistfully...
|||
||||| The way you probably want to use your system one partition is
||||| fine. Splitting it has no benefits whatsoever.
|||
||| BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA
|||
||| aside to Relic: which one of the crossposted groups are all these
||| ****ing idiots coming from?
||
|| That's why I encourage disenters to go try them. Too bad
|| 24hoursupport was ommitted.

Omitted or committed?

--

Gazwad

Freelance scientist and people tester.
Guardian: alt.os.windows-xp
Moderator: alt.warez.uk

http://angry.at/gazwad
http://gazwad.servebeer.com

IMHO -- putting programs on another partition serves no purpose really
except for organization. If it's programs and not data you want to put on
the second partition, if you ever need to format the xp partition or
re-install xp, the programs on the second partition would need to be
re-installed as well, so I don't see the point of putting programs on
another partition. Data on another partition is smart. If you still want to
put the program on another partition you won't get any performance hit, it's
just not needed. As for PC world, they are a magazine that gives it's
opinions based on the facts and experience they know, just like we all give
our opinions here. You decide which way is best for you depending on your
situation.


"Ryan A, Saravanja" wrote in message
...

"purplehaz03" wrote in message
...
On partition 2 he said other files....... not program files. If by other
files he means data files, music, videos, pictures, spreadsheets, word
docs,
txt docs, .iso's, personal my documents stuff, etc.... then it is a good
idea to have two partitons. I agree with the swap file, don't move that.
Two
partitons will do fine.


I meant the program files. It seems people still se the need to reinstall
WinXP once a year (i thought that was over) so this just seems easier.
Will
this setup result in a performance hit or will other more serious problems
result?

And does PCWorld not know what they are talking bout?

If you have to re-install xp then putting data files on another partition is
very useful. This way you just format and re-install on the one partition,
leaving your data files on the second partition in tact and you don't have
to spend hours transfering the data back. Separating by folders makes you
reload the data after a format, re-install, second partition doesn't.


"john dingley" wrote in message
...
The way you probably want to use your system one partition is fine.
Splitting it has no benefits whatsoever.

You only really need to partition if you are using more than one operting
system or your disk is so large your bios cannot handle it correctly.

Folders are the way to separate your data etc if you need to.

"Ryan A, Saravanja" wrote in message
...

"purplehaz03" wrote in message
...
On partition 2 he said other files....... not program files. If by
other
files he means data files, music, videos, pictures, spreadsheets, word
docs,
txt docs, .iso's, personal my documents stuff, etc.... then it is a
good
idea to have two partitons. I agree with the swap file, don't move
that.
Two
partitons will do fine.

I meant the program files. It seems people still se the need to
reinstall
WinXP once a year (i thought that was over) so this just seems easier.
Will
this setup result in a performance hit or will other more serious
problems
result?

And does PCWorld not know what they are talking bout?



"john dingley" wrote in message
...
First doing what you propose doesn't really work in the way that you
have
suggested.

If you install your O/S in one partion and programs in another,. And
then
you format the O/S partition and reinstall the O/S none of your
programs
will probably work has the new O/S has no record of their
installation.

snip

purplehaz03 asked wistfully...

|| IMHO -- putting programs on another partition serves no purpose
|| really

OK, who left the door open?

--

Gazwad

Freelance scientist and people tester.
Guardian: alt.os.windows-xp
Moderator: alt.warez.uk

http://angry.at/gazwad
http://gazwad.servebeer.com

i guest this thread can go back-and-forth forever, but engaging in battles
of one-upsmanship hardly serves the purpose of these newsgroups, which are
to help, not confuse. using newsgroups as platforms to pontificate one's
"knowledge" and degrade others only serves to confuse the most important
person in the thread: the original poster.

the bottom line about the pagefile in windows xp is that, if the machine is
used as a regular business client or home machine (in other words: not a
high-end workstation), then placing the pagefile on its own partition
probably is not worth it, as you will likely never see a noticable or
appreciable performance boost or hit either way. i have managed to find
conflicting reports on the ms kb - one article stating that even with a
single drive it is good to have a separate partition for the pagefile so
that it does not become fragmented, then another article stating that one
should not place the pagefile on its own partition on a system with a
single, physical hdd - so this would justify the debate at hand.

there are more reasons than not to keep a single pagefile and leave it set
to its default sizes:

1. the fragmentation argument will not provide enough of a performance boost
to be noticable. and, pagefile fragmentation is mitigated by xp's dynamic
file placement, which optimizes the placement of files on the hdd and will
arrange optimized files in contiguous clusters, which defragments it;
benchmark results bare this out.
2. the less partitons, the less complex the installation.
3. though windows should select the pagefile on the non-boot partition,
testing has shown that, rather, xp will use both pagefiles. plus, in order
for xp to be able to create a crash-dump report, there must be a pagefile on
the boot partition.
4. having just the single boot-partition os will free up hdd space.

note: i usually create a separate pagefile partition for windows
installations, mainly for nt and 2k, but, in xp, i normally do not use the
single, default pagefile when using just a single hdd.

if you would like to limit pagefile usage (i recommend against turning
virtual memory off, as this can cause instability in both windows and
applications - some apps need a pagefile), then just limit pagefile usage by
opening the system.ini file in notepad [%systemroot%\system.ini, where
%systemroot% refers to the os files (boot partition), which is usually
c:\windows], and doing the following: place the cursor at the end of the
"[386enh]" heading, hit enter to create another line underneath, then type
"ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" exactly like it appears (case-sensitive),
without the quotes. this will force windows to prefer physical memory over
virtual memory, just make sure you have at least 256mb of physical memory.

all that being said, it is a great idea to create a separate partition for
your data, then assign a volume label to this partition to be able to easily
identify it (a volume label of "data" should be fine). this will enable you
to format/reinstall the system/boot partition to your heart's content, while
not disturbing your data. this will not be any help if your hdd suffers a
physical failure, but it will enable to you more easily recover from file
system corruptions on the system/boot partition. depending on the amount of
programs you intend to install and the size of your hdd, the system/boot
partition should be approx 7-20gb in size.

i hope this helps you, ryan. please let me know if you need more
clarification or justification for these suggestions.

Dan DeStefano



"Ryan A, Saravanja" wrote in message
...
I'l be installing the windows xp on a clean formatted drive. I read in
PCWorld that it's beneficial to create separate partitions on your drive.

Partition 1 - Windows XP operating system (so you can reformat if the OS
gets buggy)
Partition 2 - Other files
Partition 3 - windows swap file (prevents fragmentation of the drive)

What are your views on the subject and if you agree what size do you
recommend for the OS and swap file parititions?

Thanks

Ryan

--
Ryan A. Saravanja

Looks like PCworld is trying to advise people to do what linux users have
always been doing:

In linux you can have the following arrangement for partitions;

/swap (linux equivalent of Pagefile)
/ root (boot, bin, var, etc, tmp, media ....)
/usr Programs and applications.
/home data and personal settings.


The best you can do in M$ environment is to make 2 partitions. One for data,
(i.e. music, pictures, movies, word documents, spreadsheets, etc). The
other partition would be for everything else, (including OS, programs,
pagefile, tmp, etc. ).

Any other configuration would not make sense and would be unnessacary as far
as XP is concerned.