disc partitions

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Whos Next?

Whats the advantage to having my HD partitioned when I
bought my computer it was partitioned and then my HD
failed so they installed a new one under warinty but it is
no longer partitioned Im wondering what the differnce
 
Whos Next? said:
Whats the advantage to having my HD partitioned when I
bought my computer it was partitioned and then my HD
failed so they installed a new one under warinty but it is
no longer partitioned Im wondering what the differnce
Click to expand...

If you partition an HD, it becomes C and D.. as long as you back up
important files to D, in the event that C fails and requires reformatting,
files on D will be safe.. unfortunately, severe HD failure will take both
partitions out.. consider buying a second drive and installing it as a
slave..
 
The main advantage of having multiple partitions is in the protection of
your data, music, picture,etc. files in the event of a system drive problem.
You can even re-install the OS, if needed, without losing your files. There
are other advantages such as, system maintenance, search, etc. takes less
time to perform. Another consideration is the type of programs you use. Some
programs, PhotoShop for instance, should be installed on a drive that is
separate from your OS.

Without re-formatting the drive, the only way to create another partition is
with a 3rd party software like Partition Magic. There are others but, that
is the only one that comes to mind.

HTH, JAX
 
Whos Next? said:
Whats the advantage to having my HD partitioned when I
bought my computer it was partitioned and then my HD
failed so they installed a new one under warinty but it is
no longer partitioned Im wondering what the differnce
Click to expand...


They will tell you that with a partition, you can have your xp on one
partition and your data & apps on another. The supposed advantage of this is
if you OS crashes, you only have to reinstall the OS and not the data &
apps. But you will still have to reinstall all apps cause you new xp install
will not know anything about your previously installed apps. Your data,
pictures and music will be ok, but will have to tell the apps where the data
is. I would not use partitions, but it is a option and that is what it is
for to use or not to use. Later on.
 
-----Original Message-----



If you partition an HD, it becomes C and D.. as long as you back up
important files to D, in the event that C fails and requires reformatting,
files on D will be safe.. unfortunately, severe HD failure will take both
partitions out.. consider buying a second drive and installing it as a
slave..

Thanks for your time
.
Click to expand...
 
-----Original Message-----




They will tell you that with a partition, you can have your xp on one
partition and your data & apps on another. The supposed advantage of this is
if you OS crashes, you only have to reinstall the OS and not the data &
apps. But you will still have to reinstall all apps cause you new xp install
will not know anything about your previously installed apps. Your data,
pictures and music will be ok, but will have to tell the apps where the data
is. I would not use partitions, but it is a option and that is what it is
for to use or not to use. Later on.

Thanks for your time
.
Click to expand...
 
-----Original Message-----
The main advantage of having multiple partitions is in the protection of
your data, music, picture,etc. files in the event of a system drive problem.
You can even re-install the OS, if needed, without losing your files. There
are other advantages such as, system maintenance, search, etc. takes less
time to perform. Another consideration is the type of programs you use. Some
programs, PhotoShop for instance, should be installed on a drive that is
separate from your OS.

Without re-formatting the drive, the only way to create another partition is
with a 3rd party software like Partition Magic. There are others but, that
is the only one that comes to mind.

HTH, JAX




.Thanks for your time
Click to expand...
 
Whats the advantage to having my HD partitioned when I
bought my computer it was partitioned and then my HD
failed so they installed a new one under warinty but it is
no longer partitioned Im wondering what the differnce
Click to expand...

You've already received plenty of answers about multiple partitions. Just
want to bring up another point. Many of the OEMs place the means to
reinstall Windows or to "restore the system to factory state" on that
second hard drive.

Check your system documentation and OEM supplied media to be sure that you
still have a method to restore Windows if the need arises.
 
They will tell you that with a partition, you can have your xp on one
partition and your data & apps on another. The supposed advantage of this is
if you OS crashes, you only have to reinstall the OS and not the data &
apps. But you will still have to reinstall all apps cause you new xp install
will not know anything about your previously installed apps. Your data,
pictures and music will be ok, but will have to tell the apps where the data
is. I would not use partitions, but it is a option and that is what it is
for to use or not to use. Later on.
Click to expand...

Nick, good point about a clean install not having the needed registry info
for programs. There is a scenario where a separate partition for programs
makes sense though:

If your backup practices include creating images of the operating system
partition (and keeping them current as the system changes), restoring from
one of those images would include a registry that has the program
information.

A disk image for just the operating system will be much smaller than a disk
image that includes operating system and programs. This is why I keep my
programs on a separate partition. Other drives and partitions are data
only. My XP partition fits on a single DVD. Restoring the system to "last
good" image takes about 10 minutes. No program reinstallation required.

So many choices, so little time ;^)
 
That is shear stupidity. If a system drive problem occurs what makes you think
one partition will work and the other not?
If the drive fails 99.99% of the time both partitions are kaput.
 
JAX said:
The main advantage of having multiple partitions is in the protection of
your data, music, picture,etc. files in the event of a system drive problem.
You can even re-install the OS, if needed, without losing your files. There
are other advantages such as, system maintenance, search, etc. takes less
time to perform. Another consideration is the type of programs you use. Some
programs, PhotoShop for instance, should be installed on a drive that is
separate from your OS.
Click to expand...

Why?

snip>>>>>>>>
 
Zulu,

Why what? Most of what I had to say, is pretty much, explained in my post.
If your question is about some programs needing to be installed on a
different partition, the way I understand it, they use their own "page file"
and it causes a problem with the OS. What I can tell you for sure is,
install PhotoShop on the OS partition and you will get a notification from
the program during installation.

JAX
 
JAX said:
Zulu,

Why what?
Click to expand...

Wasn't that obvious from the positioning of *Why*?
Most of what I had to say, is pretty much, explained in my post.
If your question is about some programs needing to be installed on a
different partition,
Click to expand...

Now you have it...
the way I understand it, they use their own "page file"
and it causes a problem with the OS. What I can tell you for sure is,
install PhotoShop on the OS partition and you will get a notification from
the program during installation.
Click to expand...

I got no such notification...
Photoshop works fine. <shrug>
What problems could *be caused*?
 
My program is Adobe PhotoShop 7. Each time I have installed to the OS
partition I have received a warning that the program may not function
properly. I use multiple partitions and It could be that the program senses
that, I don't know.
*Based on what I have read*,
Some programs use their own internal "page file" and this can cause
corruption and excessive fragmentation of the drive.

JAX
 
Unknown said:
That is shear stupidity. If a system drive problem occurs what makes you think
one partition will work and the other not?
If the drive fails 99.99% of the time both partitions are kaput.
Click to expand...

If a problem occurs in the operating system, a reformat of the active
partition will allow a re-install of the OS.. all other data contained on
the second partition will be safe.. however, if the heads land on the disc,
the whole drive will fail.. failure within the OS is way more common than HD
failure..
 
Interesting...
I have 2 drives, a 60 gig one partitioned 20/40 with Win98SE and XP pro.
The original 20 gig drive I now use only for archived pix & mp3's etc.
I installed Photoshop7 in XP and did not get that warning, and your post was
the first I've heard of it, hence my curiosity.

rgds
 
After thinking about it, I'm not sure if I got the "notification" during
install or when I first ran PS. As best I recall, it suggested installation
to a separate HD or, at least a separate partition and may have given me the
option to ignore. I have no Idea why I would get the notification and you
wouldn't.

I, more or less, "stumbled" into the information that said what I repeated
about the "page file". According to what I read, a lot of animation and
"hi-end" graphic programs have the same issue. I don't have any such
programs so, I can't say for sure about them.

None-the-less, I will stand by my guns on my response to the OP and, having
multiple partitions would give them an option if they were to run into a
situation where a program did request to be installed to a partition other
than the OS.

Since you use multiple partitions, you must agree with me, at least to a
point!

Cheers, JAX
 
Unknown,

Your post was rather abrasive, so was my response. A hardware failure was
not what I referred to when I said, "The main advantage of having multiple
partitions is in the protection of
your data, music, picture,etc. files in the event of a system drive
problem". With multiple partitions, you can re-install the OS in the event
of OS corruption, I have done it many times. You will have to re-install all
of your applications but, your files will still be intact on the other
partition.

JAX
 
JAX said:
After thinking about it, I'm not sure if I got the "notification" during
install or when I first ran PS. As best I recall, it suggested installation
to a separate HD or, at least a separate partition and may have given me the
option to ignore. I have no Idea why I would get the notification and you
wouldn't.

I, more or less, "stumbled" into the information that said what I repeated
about the "page file". According to what I read, a lot of animation and
"hi-end" graphic programs have the same issue. I don't have any such
programs so, I can't say for sure about them.

None-the-less, I will stand by my guns on my response to the OP and, having
multiple partitions would give them an option if they were to run into a
situation where a program did request to be installed to a partition other
than the OS.

Since you use multiple partitions, you must agree with me, at least to a
point!
I wasn't arguing JAX!
Click to expand...
 
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