Is this realistic? Vista on HD and apps files etc. on another?

[Bob]

I want your opinion. I need to reformat and reinstall vista. A friend who
insists he is an expert told me to partition HD and put the vista operating
system on one drive and install and have everything else on another drive.
The reason he said is if I need to reinstall vista I do not have to
reinstall everything else like I am doing now. I am skeptical. (Definitely
do not want this guy touching my computer.)
Questions:
1. Assume I figure out and do this install configuration correctly. Can I
actually reinstall Vista later if needed without causing trouble with my
apps on the other drive (partition?)?
2. I use Vista Windows Mail as my email client. Does using Windows Mail
make this configuration irrelevant?
3. How easy or difficult to do this? When does "The law of diminishing
returns" start to apply? Will there be sufficient benefit for the amount of
work invested configuring this way?

Thanks for your help!
Bob

Background info: AcerAMD4400+64X2 320gbHD 4GBmemVista32bitHomePremSP2

 

[Leroy]

Unfortunately, your "expert friend" is incorrect. If you were to install
your programs on a separate drive or partition, the registry values are
in the Windows Vista operating system. If you were to reinstall Vista,
the registry would no long be valid for the programs and re-installation
of your programs would be required.

I would recommend that you perform regularly scheduled backups and
consider purchasing a drive imaging program, such as Acronis True Image:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/

 

[Bob]

Thank You!!
It sounded too good to be true.
I read at Download.com user reviews that Acronis damaged some users
computers and had to reinstall OS & apps. I know Acronis is considered the
best. Is it worth the risk?
Bob

 

[Philip Herlihy]

Thank You!!
It sounded too good to be true.
I read at Download.com user reviews that Acronis damaged some users
computers and had to reinstall OS & apps. I know Acronis is considered
the best. Is it worth the risk?
Bob

Acronis True Image won't damage anything. You don't even have to install
it, as there's a CD iso file available for download to purchasers of the
latest version, so you can boot from the CD and take a full snapshot of one
or more partitions to (for example) a connected USB drive. And it's well
worth doing - if your disk fails you can simply buy a blank replacement and
restore the image to it. Keeping your image up-to-date is naturally a good
idea.

There is a case for moving your data to another partition. If you have
jugabytes of photos, downloads, etc you may want to back them up separately
(and more often) than your "System" which won't change so often. In XP, you
could change the Properties of the "My Documents" folder so that it referred
to a different location anywhere on your computer. In Vista, you can do
this for any of the folders underneath your Profile name: Documents,
Downloads, Pictures, etc. If you partition your machine (or have an
additional disk) you should be able to have a System partition with Windows
and Applications on it, with the greater proportion of data elsewhere, which
makes for convenient imaging (of the System partition) and backup (of your
data). I'm assuming that True Image doesn't follow these links - I'll
verify this for myself next time I create a disk image!

Worth noting you can also fool Windows into thinking that a folder's
location is in a different place: see the "junction" utility on the
Sysinternals.com site. I've done this with the folder used to synchronise
my Windows Mobile device - the software, inflexibly, demands that the
synchronisation folder is within your Documents folder. I've used a
junction point to have it where I want it (on another disk, for backup
purposes).

Phil, London

 

[Philip Herlihy]

Acronis True Image won't damage anything. You don't even have to install
it, as there's a CD iso file available for download to purchasers of the
latest version, so you can boot from the CD and take a full snapshot of
one or more partitions to (for example) a connected USB drive. And it's
well worth doing - if your disk fails you can simply buy a blank
replacement and restore the image to it. Keeping your image up-to-date is
naturally a good idea.

There is a case for moving your data to another partition. If you have
jugabytes of photos, downloads, etc you may want to back them up
separately (and more often) than your "System" which won't change so
often. In XP, you could change the Properties of the "My Documents"
folder so that it referred to a different location anywhere on your
computer. In Vista, you can do this for any of the folders underneath
your Profile name: Documents, Downloads, Pictures, etc. If you partition
your machine (or have an additional disk) you should be able to have a
System partition with Windows and Applications on it, with the greater
proportion of data elsewhere, which makes for convenient imaging (of the
System partition) and backup (of your data). I'm assuming that True Image
doesn't follow these links - I'll verify this for myself next time I
create a disk image!

Worth noting you can also fool Windows into thinking that a folder's
location is in a different place: see the "junction" utility on the
Sysinternals.com site. I've done this with the folder used to synchronise
my Windows Mobile device - the software, inflexibly, demands that the
synchronisation folder is within your Documents folder. I've used a
junction point to have it where I want it (on another disk, for backup
purposes).

Phil, London

You may find this one-day-only free offer of interest:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/hard-disk-manager-2009/

Alternatively, disk manufacturers often provide a basic disk-imaging tool
(in many cases a cut-down version of True Image) on their websites. You can
see what your disk is by drilling down in Device Manager (right-click My
Computer and pick Manage).

Phil

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I want your opinion. I need to reformat and reinstall vista.

Why? How do you know? It's very often the wrong thing to do.

A friend who
insists he is an expert told me to partition HD and put the vista operating
system on one drive and install and have everything else on another drive.
The reason he said is if I need to reinstall vista I do not have to
reinstall everything else like I am doing now. I am skeptical. (Definitely
do not want this guy touching my computer.)

Your skepticism is very appropriate in this case. Your friend is *not*
an expert and is completely wrong, Except for an occasional, typically
small, program, all programs have entries and references within the
registry and elsewhere in \windows. They can't be run under Windows
unless they were installed in that copy of Windows. So if you
reinstall Windows or cleanly install another version of Windows, you
will have to reinstall your programs from the original media after you
reinstall Windows.

Questions:
1. Assume I figure out and do this install configuration correctly. Can I
actually reinstall Vista later if needed without causing trouble with my
apps on the other drive (partition?)?

No.


2. I use Vista Windows Mail as my email client. Does using Windows Mail
make this configuration irrelevant?

I'm not sure I understand the question, but if I do, the answer is no.

3. How easy or difficult to do this?

Two partitions, with everything but Windows on D:? It's very easy, but
still a poor idea.

When does "The law of diminishing
returns" start to apply? Will there be sufficient benefit for the amount of
work invested configuring this way?

No benefit at all.

You might like to read this article I've written: "Understanding Disk
Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

 

[milt]

I want your opinion. I need to reformat and reinstall vista. A friend
who insists he is an expert told me to partition HD and put the vista
operating system on one drive and install and have everything else on
another drive. The reason he said is if I need to reinstall vista I do
not have to reinstall everything else like I am doing now. I am
skeptical. (Definitely do not want this guy touching my computer.)
Questions:
1. Assume I figure out and do this install configuration correctly. Can
I actually reinstall Vista later if needed without causing trouble with
my apps on the other drive (partition?)?
2. I use Vista Windows Mail as my email client. Does using Windows Mail
make this configuration irrelevant?
3. How easy or difficult to do this? When does "The law of diminishing
returns" start to apply? Will there be sufficient benefit for the amount
of work invested configuring this way?

Thanks for your help!
Bob

Background info: AcerAMD4400+64X2 320gbHD 4GBmemVista32bitHomePremSP2

that's not accurate. If you had to reinstall your OS, even if the apps
are on another drive, you would more than likely STILL have to reinstall
them as some programs place files in your system folders as well as
makes registry changes that would not be there any longer with a fresh
install. The other suggestions in this thread of using Acronis True
Image to back up to a external drive is a great idea.

 

[Bob]

Thanks again!!
Bob

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I have had Acronis damage my system (this one under Vista, before I
upgraded to 7) and now I use the somewhat similar program Macrium
reflect, which I am happy with.

Belt and suspenders: I also use Casper to create clones on a different
backup disk. One problem (really two): (1) the rescue CD won't boot on
my laptop, and (2) Tech Support didn't support...

 

[JohnJ]

I have had Acronis damage my system (this one under Vista, before I
upgraded to 7) and now I use the somewhat similar program Macrium reflect,
which I am happy with.

I completely agree with you. I bought Acronis a few months ago and most of
the program worked, a little buggy, but OK. Some of the back up options
(email) never worked. Then it stopped being able to back up. I installed
Macrium Reflect and it worked flawlessly. I even had to restore a 2 day old
back up when I found I couldn't repair Vista's current problem any other
way. Reinstalled the image and it was like the machine 2 days prior. I
could have saved the $40 I spent on Acronis!

John

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I completely agree with you. I bought Acronis a few months ago and most of
the program worked, a little buggy, but OK. Some of the back up options
(email) never worked. Then it stopped being able to back up. I installed
Macrium Reflect and it worked flawlessly. I even had to restore a 2 day old
back up when I found I couldn't repair Vista's current problem any other way.
Reinstalled the image and it was like the machine 2 days prior. I could
have saved the $40 I spent on Acronis!

John

One thing I've never done with either program is to restore. Lucky
me...

The main reason: I didn't *need* to do it, and I was scared to do an
experiment (for obvious reasons!).

So thanks for your report that Macrium Reflect restored successfully.
Nice reassurance!

 

[MICHAEL]

I want your opinion. I need to reformat and reinstall vista. A friend who insists he is an
expert told me to partition HD and put the vista operating system on one drive and install
and have everything else on another drive. The reason he said is if I need to reinstall vista
I do not have to reinstall everything else like I am doing now. I am skeptical. (Definitely
do not want this guy touching my computer.)
Questions:
1. Assume I figure out and do this install configuration correctly. Can I actually reinstall
Vista later if needed without causing trouble with my apps on the other drive (partition?)?
2. I use Vista Windows Mail as my email client. Does using Windows Mail make this
configuration irrelevant?
3. How easy or difficult to do this? When does "The law of diminishing returns" start to
apply? Will there be sufficient benefit for the amount of work invested configuring this
way?

Thanks for your help!
Bob

Background info: AcerAMD4400+64X2 320gbHD 4GBmemVista32bitHomePremSP2

Bob- your "expert" friend is mistaken. All the registry values will be stored on the
OS drive, so if have you to reinstall Vista, it will have no idea about the programs
on the other hard drive, and the programs will not run.

There are many folks who use another hard drive to store their documents, music,
videos, pictures and other personal items. It can also be beneficial to move your
pagefile/virtual memory to another hard drive. Some folks swear it makes their
systems faster, and under certain circumstances, it might. It just depends on how
much RAM you have and how often the paging file actually gets used.

If you have more than one drive, always install the OS on the fastest and smallest drive
you have at your disposal. Then use another hard drive to keep all your documents,
music, videos and pictures. Save backups and images of the OS to another internal
drive or external drive. Even though you might store all your important stuff apart
from the OS drive, that secondary drive can still fail, too. I cannot stress the importance
of regular backups... just do it.


-Michael

 

[JohnJ]

One thing I've never done with either program is to restore. Lucky me...

The main reason: I didn't *need* to do it, and I was scared to do an
experiment (for obvious reasons!).

So thanks for your report that Macrium Reflect restored successfully. Nice
reassurance!

Exactly, I was kindof freaking out almost expecting disaster since I'd never
restored from an image before. Like you, didn't want to test thinking that
would be inviting catastrophe! But when Windows went down and I tried
everything I could think of, even the restore points I knew were there
weren't visible to use, I pulled out the linux boot CD I made from the
Macrium program and booted. I was amazed to find that it worked to
perfection!

One strange thing was that I noticed that it kept the newer email on the
machine! Prior to restoring the image I had backed up important data (from
a Ubuntu Live CD I made - as I could access the hard drive and copy
important files that way) and when I restored the 2 day old image I found
emails from the current day still there, as well as my banking files from
the current day! I thought that the image would wipe the drive and I'd only
have access to the data that was on the image. Looks like Macrium somehow
keeps newer data! If I had a paid account with Macrium I'd ask the question
on their forum, if this is normal.

John

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Exactly, I was kindof freaking out almost expecting disaster since I'd never
restored from an image before. Like you, didn't want to test thinking that
would be inviting catastrophe! But when Windows went down and I tried
everything I could think of, even the restore points I knew were there
weren't visible to use, I pulled out the linux boot CD I made from the
Macrium program and booted. I was amazed to find that it worked to
perfection!

One strange thing was that I noticed that it kept the newer email on the
machine! Prior to restoring the image I had backed up important data (from a
Ubuntu Live CD I made - as I could access the hard drive and copy important
files that way) and when I restored the 2 day old image I found emails from
the current day still there, as well as my banking files from the current
day! I thought that the image would wipe the drive and I'd only have access
to the data that was on the image. Looks like Macrium somehow keeps newer
data! If I had a paid account with Macrium I'd ask the question on their
forum, if this is normal.

John

Strange indeed, and fantastic. It makes me believe in Ghosts (pun
intended, sadly enough!).

I still hope I never have to do it