If you were starting from scratch with Windows XP how woul..

[mick]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi

As with most things to do with Windows XP there are many different views on
which is the best way to start off. To explain.......
I have over the years tried several different ways in which to load
WindowsXX on a new PC. I.E. One large partition on a large hard drive or a
smaller partition for just Windows and/or all the programs and another
partition for all the files etc.

From the ease of maintenance point of view, I am extremely interested to
hear (read) the views of others, as to what is considered to be the ultimate
way to load Windows and partition the hard drive, so that in the event of a
disaster, it is easy to either do a System Restore or restore from a backup
file.

So.............How would you do it?

Regards

Mick

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I really like this question, but you'll never get a consensus opinion
because everybody works differently on their PC.

First I prefer to use two or more physical drives. This helps make
the overall workload easier. The single biggest bottle-neck in any
PC is the drive(s). The key is to partition the drives so that the
partitions are arranged in descending order of use. In other words
on Disk 1 the 1st-partition is XP, the 2nd partition might be your
Pictures or Video and the last partition could be used for storing
Images or other non-frequently accessed data. Then on the 2nd
drive the 1st partition would be your User data (My Docs, email
and frequently used items like IE Favorites. Next create a partition
for your music collection. Finally a partition to hold your Video.
The key for all this segmentation is backups. Keeping XP and user
data apart you can use differing schedules and methods to backup
each. Also keeping User data away from the XP partition allows
you to restore Images and not affect your data. It does require you
to make some folder redirections - but Tweak-UI for XP can
help with that.

On my own machine I have two SATA drives and a total of 6
partitions. I also have an External Maxtor USB that gets used for
storage and the "Suspenders-and-Belt" type of data backup.

Some users just like the convenience of a single partition with all the
content on one drive and there's nothing wrong with that.

It's all got to fit somewhere and what and how much segmentation
you want is the key


"Mick" <solutions@sherwood.e7even.com> wrote in message
news:de0clp$ibe$1@news.e7even.com...
> Hi
>
> As with most things to do with Windows XP there are many different views
> on which is the best way to start off. To explain.......
> I have over the years tried several different ways in which to load
> WindowsXX on a new PC. I.E. One large partition on a large hard drive or a
> smaller partition for just Windows and/or all the programs and another
> partition for all the files etc.
>
> From the ease of maintenance point of view, I am extremely interested to
> hear (read) the views of others, as to what is considered to be the
> ultimate way to load Windows and partition the hard drive, so that in the
> event of a disaster, it is easy to either do a System Restore or restore
> from a backup file.
>
> So.............How would you do it?
>
> Regards
>
> Mick
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Mick wrote:
> I have over the years tried several different ways in which to load
> WindowsXX on a new PC. I.E. One large partition on a large hard drive or a
> smaller partition for just Windows and/or all the programs and another
> partition for all the files etc.

Multiple partitions, at least two...

> From the ease of maintenance point of view, I am extremely interested to
> hear (read) the views of others, as to what is considered to be the ultimate
> way to load Windows and partition the hard drive, so that in the event of a
> disaster, it is easy to either do a System Restore or restore from a backup
> file.

Not just disaster, but backup and searching and data/program migration.

But first, some look into "The Windows Way"... which is, one huge file
system and spread your data out a little here, a little there, more
over here.... some somewhere in C:\WINDOWS\..., some somewhere in
C:\PROGRAM FILES\, some in MY DOCUMENTS.... everywhere.

Not just Windows does this. Some 3rd party programs do. Just try and
track down where Netscape/Mozilla stores *its* data!

Let's say you want to backup your "Favorites" (or your "Bookmarks"), or
your e-mail. How do you do it? Look for some sort of Export function, I
guess. Outlook has an add-on for backing up. But does IE? Firefox?
Netscape? Thunderbird?

Backing Up

Let's say you want to automate backing up somehow. Wouldn't it be
*really nice* to just task a batch file that does this: XCOPY
D:\DATA\*.* \\BACKUP\DATA /S

Of course, setting up all your programs to point their folders to
D:\DATA\ rather than their defaults is sometimes not too easy, but
generally one can.

But also, one can create a batch file that backs up each program's data
files individually but that is definately not easy.

Data Migration

And with Programs on CD, if there was a crash, it is easy, on a new
system, to install the program, and then restore its data, to get back
to exactly where you left off. (This is really nice when your new
system is a different OS!)

Or, say you upgrade to a new computer. Again, I just install the
program and then copy all of the program's data files over -- like game
save files.

Searching

I write code. And searching for files and data in files needs to be
done. Now with MS's wonderful new Explorer feature of "I will annoy
every XP user in the world by slowing down their searches 200% by
searching inside every ZIP and CAB file", it is -- to me -- an absolute
to have all my data as far away from the C: drive as possible.

Explorer also has that horrible tendency to search all Recycle and
Temporary folders.

Actually, I would recommend not being too anal about data seperation as
I am, but to have two disk drives, C: for all (as much as possible) OS
and PROGRAM files and D: for all DATA files (again, as much as
possible).

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

2 physical drives also. Boot with OS and programs (40 gB), 2nd with data and
settings (80 gB). I have a 3rd physical drive (USB type- 120 gB) for backup
images.

Image (I use Acronis) as soon as you install XPSP2,
another image after motherboard drivers,
another image with hardware drivers.
Install firewall and Anti-Virus (updated)
Connect to web and go to Windows Update
Activate online.
another image.
Install essential programs (and custom settings)
another image.

All these images are so that you can restore to a given point whenever you
want to. Say that you change your hardware and want to start fresh - just
load the image done just prior to the hardware drivers and you're set to go
from there (20 minutes to restore).

Then, you'll need images of both drives periodically so that you don't lose
anything. The 2nd drive can be a backup instead of an image - that's your
choice. I rotate my periodic backups - I image the boot drive to the other
drive and keep as many images as the drive can hold (without restricting my
space for data) - then I image that drive to the USB drive and put on as many
images as it can hold. Then, when full, I use FIFO (first in, first out)
when choosing what to delete. BTW - the original images are always saved.


"Mick" wrote:

> Hi
>
> As with most things to do with Windows XP there are many different views on
> which is the best way to start off. To explain.......
> I have over the years tried several different ways in which to load
> WindowsXX on a new PC. I.E. One large partition on a large hard drive or a
> smaller partition for just Windows and/or all the programs and another
> partition for all the files etc.
>
> From the ease of maintenance point of view, I am extremely interested to
> hear (read) the views of others, as to what is considered to be the ultimate
> way to load Windows and partition the hard drive, so that in the event of a
> disaster, it is easy to either do a System Restore or restore from a backup
> file.
>
> So.............How would you do it?
>
> Regards
>
> Mick
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Mick

I have two 40gb drives partitioned into 20gb blocks.. the primary partition
C contains the OS and all major programs and utilities.. the second
partition is for games and the saved levels..

On the second drive, the first partition contains all of the programs
downloaded where I do not have original installation media.. an example..
latest video drivers, keyboard and mouse.. in this partition are all of the
free utilities collected over time.. I also sometimes copy CD files where
the original CD might be a little problematic.. the final partition hold
photos, generated documents etc, photos, and just general items of this
nature that I have downloaded or saved from e-mails sent to me..

Generally, I would replace a failed drive within the hour, and have it up
and running within three (all major applications back on).. and I always
clean install.. if for some reason, I can't get out, there is enough space
for me to do an entire XP installation onto the slave drive..

I backup stuff to re-writable CDs too..

The reason for using 20gb partitions comes down to ease, and to give enough
room for expansion, especially C..

One thing that I learned very early on is never to rely on just one drive..
that can and does lead to tears for many.. boot drives get a much harder
workout than slave drives, and chances of complete failure are higher than
you might think..


--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User


"Mick" <solutions@sherwood.e7even.com> wrote in message
news:de0clp$ibe$1@news.e7even.com...
> Hi
>
> As with most things to do with Windows XP there are many different views
> on which is the best way to start off. To explain.......
> I have over the years tried several different ways in which to load
> WindowsXX on a new PC. I.E. One large partition on a large hard drive or a
> smaller partition for just Windows and/or all the programs and another
> partition for all the files etc.
>
> From the ease of maintenance point of view, I am extremely interested to
> hear (read) the views of others, as to what is considered to be the
> ultimate way to load Windows and partition the hard drive, so that in the
> event of a disaster, it is easy to either do a System Restore or restore
> from a backup file.
>
> So.............How would you do it?
>
> Regards
>
> Mick
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 18:36:59 -0400, R. McCarty wrote:

> I really like this question, but you'll never get a consensus opinion
> because everybody works differently on their PC.
>
> First I prefer to use two or more physical drives. This helps make
> the overall workload easier. The single biggest bottle-neck in any
> PC is the drive(s). The key is to partition the drives so that the
> partitions are arranged in descending order of use. In other words
> on Disk 1 the 1st-partition is XP, the 2nd partition might be your
> Pictures or Video and the last partition could be used for storing
> Images or other non-frequently accessed data. Then on the 2nd
> drive the 1st partition would be your User data (My Docs, email
> and frequently used items like IE Favorites. Next create a partition
> for your music collection. Finally a partition to hold your Video.
> The key for all this segmentation is backups. Keeping XP and user
> data apart you can use differing schedules and methods to backup
> each. Also keeping User data away from the XP partition allows
> you to restore Images and not affect your data. It does require you
> to make some folder redirections - but Tweak-UI for XP can
> help with that.
>
> On my own machine I have two SATA drives and a total of 6
> partitions. I also have an External Maxtor USB that gets used for
> storage and the "Suspenders-and-Belt" type of data backup.
>
> Some users just like the convenience of a single partition with all the
> content on one drive and there's nothing wrong with that.
>
> It's all got to fit somewhere and what and how much segmentation
> you want is the key
>
>
> "Mick" <solutions@sherwood.e7even.com> wrote in message
> news:de0clp$ibe$1@news.e7even.com...
>> Hi
>>
>> As with most things to do with Windows XP there are many different views
>> on which is the best way to start off. To explain.......
>> I have over the years tried several different ways in which to load
>> WindowsXX on a new PC. I.E. One large partition on a large hard drive or a
>> smaller partition for just Windows and/or all the programs and another
>> partition for all the files etc.
>>
>> From the ease of maintenance point of view, I am extremely interested to
>> hear (read) the views of others, as to what is considered to be the
>> ultimate way to load Windows and partition the hard drive, so that in the
>> event of a disaster, it is easy to either do a System Restore or restore
>> from a backup file.
>>
>> So.............How would you do it?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Mick
>>

All users have their favorite. Personally, my favorite is a
partition for each major type of data (music, videos,
textdocs), then another still for the PAGEfile (you can
redirect that too.) If you change the PAGe location (in
System CPL), remember to restart right after change. Close
all windows open though.
The partition should be a second primary type for the page
file. All others should be "logical". Just moving the page
will stabilize the file table of the OS partition, and
stabilize the performance to a great degree. Moving the data
to other logicals will finish the performance boost by
getting the data out of the OpSys area. Both the pagefile
and the user data expand with time and relocate the critical
files further apart if all is left on the same drive.
--
Lester Stiefel
In Romans 1 there are qualities of Unregenerate man listed
which describe him in the last days.
Is your quality found on this list??

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

In article <de0clp$ibe$1@news.e7even.com>, solutions@sherwood.e7even.com
says...
> Hi
>
> As with most things to do with Windows XP there are many different views on
> which is the best way to start off. To explain.......
> I have over the years tried several different ways in which to load
> WindowsXX on a new PC. I.E. One large partition on a large hard drive or a
> smaller partition for just Windows and/or all the programs and another
> partition for all the files etc.
>
> From the ease of maintenance point of view, I am extremely interested to
> hear (read) the views of others, as to what is considered to be the ultimate
> way to load Windows and partition the hard drive, so that in the event of a
> disaster, it is easy to either do a System Restore or restore from a backup
> file.
>
> So.............How would you do it?

We setup workstations in a SECURE environment first - that's the start.
If you are a home user, you really need some form of barrier device
before you consider anything else - you need the NAT router or some
other device to block inbound while you get your updates and such.

For workstations in a shop there all files for the user are stored on a
server (all My Documents, profiles, etc... are mapped to shares), we
create a single partition with just the OS and applications. Since no
user files are stored on the local computer it makes life simple and
easy to image/restore

For home computers, laptop users, or systems where files are stored
locally on the computer we always setup a single drive system as two
partitions: C for OS/Applications and about 20GB, D for data and non-OS
applications and 60GB+.

Just remember to setup/install behind some barrier device so you don't
get compromised during the installation/setup.


--

spam999free@rrohio.com
remove 999 in order to email me

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

begin  trojan.vbs ... On Wednesday 17 August 2005 03:13 pm, Mick had this
to say in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

> Hi
>
> As with most things to do with Windows XP there are many different views
> on
> which is the best way to start off. To explain.......
> I have over the years tried several different ways in which to load
> WindowsXX on a new PC. I.E. One large partition on a large hard drive or a
> smaller partition for just Windows and/or all the programs and another
> partition for all the files etc.
>
> From the ease of maintenance point of view, I am extremely interested to
> hear (read) the views of others, as to what is considered to be the
> ultimate way to load Windows and partition the hard drive, so that in the
> event of a disaster, it is easy to either do a System Restore or restore
> from a backup file.
>
> So.............How would you do it?
>
> Regards
>
> Mick

I would (and do) run XP within a virtual machine in VMWare with Linux being
my OS. Makes it very easy to do a complete restore if necessary to the
virtual machine. Also, no matter how scrambled up XP might get or plagued
with malware, I never have to worry about it directly impacting my OS.


--
Have you been MicroShafted today?
To mess up a Linux box, you need to work *at* it.
To mess up a Windows box, you need to work *on* it.