FORMATTING C DRIVE

  • Thread starter Thread starter LIDDLECOLIN \(DELETETHIS\)
  • Start date Start date
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LIDDLECOLIN \(DELETETHIS\)

I have made back ups and now want to format my c drive.
Not sure how to do this properly and any help would
be greatly appreciated.

People say that setting up windows on it's own
partition is a good idea....would like to know
reasons ??

look forward to any help

Colin
 
There are several reasons why performance for a clean installation will tend
to be superior to that for upgraded systems.

An upgraded system will constrain the placement of files and file system data.
The old disk format may not use an optimal file system cluster size. In a clean
installation, the placement of file system data on the disk and the internal
organization of that data can be optimized, resulting in a smaller system
footprint and fewer and faster I/Os when using the system.

When performing a clean install, Microsoft recommends that NTFS be used
and that the system be installed in a single partition on each disk. Under
Windows XP, big partitions are better managed than in previous versions
of Windows. Forcing installed software into several partitions on the disk
necessitates longer seeks when running the system and software.

Benchmarking on Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/platform/performance/benchmark.mspx

NTFS Preinstallation and Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/storage/ntfs-preinstall.mspx

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Michael Stevens]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

in message:

| I have made back ups and now want to format my c drive.
| Not sure how to do this properly and any help would
| be greatly appreciated.
|
| People say that setting up windows on it's own
| partition is a good idea....would like to know
| reasons ??
|
| look forward to any help
|
| Colin
|
 
Hi, Colin.

How to do it is easy enough to answer and to do: Boot from the WinXP CD-ROM
and accept Setup's invitation to repartition and/or reformat your hard
drive - and then to install WinXP.

Whether you need or want one or multiple partitions is harder to answer. It
depends on your hardware, of course: how many HDs you have, how big they
are, etc. But it also depends on how YOU use YOUR computer. Just for email
and Internet browsing? For business - documents, databases, etc.? For
storing lots of graphics and music files? Nobody but you can answer these
questions.

My personal preference - which does NOT fit everybody - is to keep Drive C:
very small (under 1 GB and maybe only a few MB), format it FAT16 (for
maximum compatibility, in case I need to access it with MS-DOS or some other
older OS), and keep nothing here but the "system files" needed to boot up
the computer - and maybe a few gut-level utilities. Drive C:, the "system
partition", MUST be a primary partition. I create an extended partition
covering the rest of the HD and then create multiple logical drives within
this. The first logical drive becomes Drive D: and that's where I install
WinXP. MS refers to this as WinXP's "boot volume", because that's where the
"boot folder" (\Windows, by default) and all its GBs of operating system
files and folders are kept. This boot folder should be at least 2 GB for
WinXP; 5 GB is much better, and 10 GB provides some elbow room. Let WinXP
Setup create Drives C: and D: and install WinXP. Then boot into WinXP and
use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) to create and format any additional
volumes, as needed, and assign specific "drive" letters so that they will be
"sticky" and won't change as you add or remove HDs, partitions, CD/DVD
drives or other devices.

After Drives C: (system) and D: (boot), you might want another volume for
applications and still another for data, but this depends on your own
computer use, as I said. You might want Office, for example, on E: and all
your Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Access databases, etc., on F:. Or
keep Adobe Photoshop on E: and all your pictures on F:. To keep from having
drive letters jump around as you add, remove or reorganize drives and
devices, you can assign letters mnemonically: V:, for a DVD drive; W: for a
CD-RW?

But all this is just discussion. Many power users prefer to have everything
in a single Drive C:. Only you can decide how much of this applies to your
own situation. Except for that first paragraph: Boot from the WinXP CD-ROM
and let it format your HD.

RC
 
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