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Should I get my new laptop with hard drive partitioned?

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tinjaw:
And as far as the other point, I mean install the OS and applications to one partition, and store the data on the other partition.  The only apps I store on my separate partition are ones that are portable...-wraith808 (February 19, 2008, 01:14 PM)
--- End quote ---

Yes, that is a good strategy that has many advantages. I am about to do that when I rebuild my desktop computer.

tomos:
I don't think he's suggesting that one install the OS on one partition and apps on another? I've seen this mentioned elsewhere and, like you, have never understood the point, beyond a possible benefit to be derived from having a very small windows partition that would be good for... what?
-Darwin (February 19, 2008, 12:13 PM)
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for very small image backups?
guess you'd have to backup the software partition too but not so often

Fedorov:
I've setup my partitions in the same way for over 10 years now, ultimate speed..

This is on 2 x Western Digital 10,000 rpm Raptor drives

Hard drive 1:
C: Windows (20gb)
D: Games - also save email attachments and all browser downloads on here
E: Apps - I custom install every application here and keep my docs/data here as well

Hard drive 2:
F: BACKUP (1 huge partition)

I use Acronis Trueimage every night to take an incremental image of my C/D/E partitions onto the F drive, only takes < 2 minutes

The Windows paging file is on this 2nd drive fixed at min 2gb max 2gb so it is NEVER dynamically resizing itself and being on a separate drive, while the operating system is busy with it's own windows files, if it needs to use the paging file they do not impact on each other.

InternetExplorer and Firefox browser cache files are forced onto the F: 2nd drive to not clutter up my 1st drive.

Windows temp files are all forced to F:\WinTemp instead of the default c:\windows\temp or c:\user\....

In other words, all the temporary/cache crap stays out the way of the operating system C drive.

If/when I install new drivers and anything goes wrong I normally only need to restore the C:Windows partition - so I can restore a completely wrecked machine in < 5 minutes every time.

Splitting everything up sensibly across drives and partitions makes the maintenance of it so much easier when you have problems. My WindowsXP machine was NEVER clean installed since it was released, I think I ran the same install for 5 years solid and all my friends with CLEAN installs still wondered how my system was so much faster than theirs.

I use this strategy on all PCs I work with, people never believe me when I tell them I can restore with Acronis in under 5 minutes, it's easy when you only have the OS on the small C: partition.

wraith808:
Thats a lot like how I have my desktop setup, other than the fact that my C drive is a bit larger since I keep all of my permanent, non-portable apps on that drive also.  Since you have problems keeping the bits of the application intact, I figured it was better to keep them here.  My D drive has my documents and such, and E has portable software and games.  My downloads I keep on F, since I have to defrag a lot with bit torrent and such.

40hz:
Bravo Fedorov!  :Thmbsup:

I was mentally composing a reply when I saw yours. You beat me to the punch.

In a former existence I was responsible for the upkeep of a large number of laptops in the hands of some financial types. Financially brilliant to the bone they were - but utterly clueless when it came to tech. The most workable solution was to have 3 partitions. Partition 1 was the OS and application suite. Partition 2 was a 20Gb recovery repository. Partition 3 was the userdata & tempfile area. We did a clean install of the OS; added the SP's; updated any drivers; added the apps suite and updated those - and then ran Trueimage to create a "genesis" image which was stored on Partition 2. That way (come heaven, hell, or Hollywood) we could have anybody back in business in ten minutes no matter what hit them.

This approach also works great for software testing. Load up your test applications. Do your evals Then just restore your previous image when you're done and your machine is clean for the next time. No risk of weird DLLs, registry entries, or alien lifeforms lurking about. And best of all - no more raw reinstalls of everybody's favorite OS!  Sweet... 

BTW - a buddy e-mailed me this link http://www.acronis.co.uk/mag/pcpro/ati8pe that will let you score a free copy of Acronis TrueImage v8.0. Not the latest, but it works with XP. Gotta love that!

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