How do you have XP installed on your HD(s) ?


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let see if i can get this question right..

How many have partitioned a drive and devoted the recommended 1.5 - 2G to WinXP and then have the xtra for swap/temp/programs etc...

Ex:

I have a WD20G, 18G avail. Partition it at 2G and 16G. Install Xp to the 2G.... then install programs to the 16G partition ??

hopefully that came out correct..

is there any benefit to this ?

any other recommendations ?

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I don't recommend 1-2 GB (for example I am using 2.17 right now) I recommend between 3-5.

The benefits are these:

First if your OS partition has problems the other partition will still be intact if you reinstall, most problems happen on the os partition, unless it's an actual physical failure.

It's nice not to loose all of those downloads, saved games, music files etc.

Also not installing alot of files on your os partition will keep it less fragmented.

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but then do photoshop etc install onto the say D: partiton ? and if i have to reinstall XP onto C: how does the start menu program file association work out ??

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2 Drives

Drive 1: 60 GIG

Partition 1: 10 GIG --> OS, Docs, Downloads

Partition 2: 50 GIG --> Music, Games, Movies

Drive 2: 20 GIG

Partition 1: 20 GIG --> Dump Drive (Shared)

Thats the best, Well I think so

.......

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I don't like partitioning drives. I have had experiances where they forget that they are there and everything is somewhat lost. I setup my server with two drives. One smaller 20 gig to install my os. Then a larger one (60 gigs) to keep all my important stuff. Works well.

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For me, I have a 1.5 Gig partition for WinXP only and the rest of the drive is another partition for my program files. However, I think that the NTFS in XP does optimizations that only happen if there is only single partition on a drive:

"Disk-Layout Optimizations

Microsoft implemented certain disk-layout optimizations in Windows XP. To perform this optimization, during idle time Windows XP moves pages used for booting the system and launching frequently used applications to ensure these files are laid out contiguously on the hard disk. The contiguous disk layout of these pages results in reduced disk seeks and improved disk I/O, contributing to improved boot time and application launch time.

Windows XP does not perform these optimizations across volumes. Therefore, for this optimization to be available to users, the hard disk must be partitioned as a single volume."

Therefore, the best is to have more than one hard drive and to dedicate the OS to one of the hard drives. I would then recommend placing the swap file on your fastest hard drive.

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I have a 40G and a 20G. I have the 40G in 1 full fize partition, it has my OS and all the progs and files on it. My other 20G is used for games, file backups and photoshop scratch disk. If either one of them should fail, I have all the files that I can't reinstall on the other drive. (music, downloads, etc...)

I install games on the 20G because it's a little faster than the 40G.

I only have to worry about losing stuff if both drives fail and something happens to all my CDs.

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I have 3GB for my Windows XP partition. My swap file is on another partition and I recommend doing this (same HD, different partition). 3GB is plenty... I constantly have 700mb free which is used for nothing (I install all programs onto my other partition).

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thanx. i formatted my 20G as NTFS but it seems alot slower than FAT32 when im running photoshop/dreamweaver and all my other apps. so ive been thinking of switching and setting my drive up this way.. and having swap for PS6 and the OS. i may get another WD drive for mp3's but i have my server for that. so many options

mortensen - manson was one of the best shows ive seen. even way back to the spookykids

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Originally posted by psw

coo. how did he/she hook up with that ?

If you are asking me about MM I don't really know.

I just know he was showing me this flash he was working on and then a couple of weeks later he sent me a link to the MM site and there was his flash.

Oh wait, actually he had done one before for an MM fan site, and someone from MM saw it and asked him to do one for the official MM site.

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C: = 8GB (OS, Apps+ Docs)

D: = 31GB (Downloads)

E: = 28GB (Games)

F: = 28GB (Vids + mp3's)

G: = 8GB (Work In Progress / Dump)

H: = 8GB (FTP + Web)

I: - M: = 703MB (Various CD Compilations)

S: = 2GB (Swap)

Partitions.png

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I have one hard drive in my system, and Windows configured it as Drive F:. I found that I had to make one of my CD-ROM drives take the C: spot, otherwise Explorer wouldn't show any icons for folders, etc. Weird.

Anyway, I would like to know just how the hardware physically lays partitions. If I have a 100GB drive and make it a 50/50 split into two partitions, are the contents of each partition literally mixed on the drive platters, while the drive controller and file system keep track of where things are? Or does the drive literally get segregated into divisions whereby the drive heads don't even use certain portions of the platters without calling those "drive" letters?

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I keep it simple.

c: OS & Installed Apps (20GB)

d: Resources drive (40GB);

Includes all software, project files, themes and documents (zipped)

e: Multimedia drive (40GB)

Includes all TV, internet & theatrical multimedia (zipped)

I have about 5GB left across all 3 drives.

Too many mp3's, movies and photoshop projects...

This config is easy to wipe c:, format & reinstall everything in about 3 hours to be fully operational.

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I like to have a 2gig partition for Downloads and Documents.

A 14gig partition for OS and all programs including games and paging file. Also a 4gig partition for a Ghost of my OS with all my needed programs and basic tweaks.

It's great when it only takes 18mins to format C: and Ghost it back.

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c: 9.27 GB (win2000, programs)

d: 9.32 GB (swap, saved settings, registry exports, etc.)

e: 9.27 GB (anything from the net gets downloaded here)

f: 9.27 GB (Blank)

g: 9.43 GB (Blank)

h: 9.32 GB (mp3s)

i: 9.32 GB (anything im going to burn gets stored here for temp)

j: 9.31 GB (anything i record with my all in wonder card gets put here)

k: DVD drive

L: cd-rw

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I have a 40GB and a 20GB drive. The 40GB is split into two partitions, one for the OS (8GB) and one for programs (32GB). The other drive is not partitioned and is used for all my document storage needs (I have a sh*t load of MP3 and Photshop files).

Why 8GB for my OS partition? Well it may be true Windows XP only needs 2GB (or is it 3GB?), but there are all those OS additions and upgrades, plus I use the extra space for logs files and the system page file. Sure there's some wasted space, but what the hell I've got plenty to spare. :D

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c: ->OS (windows xp pro) + swap file (4 gb)

d: ->programs (8 gb)

e: ->games (15 gb)

f: ->data1 (5 gb)

g: ->data2 + new downloads (5gb)

h: ->media (mp3+ videos) (8 gb)

i: ->backup (5 gb)

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