Go for 2 drives. (Set scratch disk in PS preferences to the hard drive where your working files are not.) A bit of security if one drive fails down the track & you have backed up to both, as well as a performance bump with the scratch disk on a separate physical drive to your working files hard drive.
Access the drive is, as normal, through My Computer. Buy Partition Magic & partition your drives to keep things tidier by separating working files from programs from backups. This makes defragging quicker & easier as well.
Fred.
its always the best bet to have your data on at least a seperate partition than your programs and os
wrote in message
My computer is showing signs of near death. I’ve been looking at Dell
computers and can have an option of 2 hard drives, or one 120G big one. Basic question for many of you (I hope), but I don’t know what to do, how to manage Photoshop with a 2nd drive.
I’m guessing it would be a good thing to do, but do all files, scratch
disk and whatever all go there?
How would I access a 2nd drive? (duh question, I know. Sorry)
If I did this, how big should a special drive for PS be?
At this point, I don’t know what other questions to ask, so if some of you
wonderful folks can fill in the gaps in my head, I’d be delighted…..thanks much…………..mm
Marie,
How would I access a 2nd drive? <<
You know how your CD drive shows up as "D:\" drive?
Well, with a 2nd HD, that would show up as "D:\" drive and the CD as "E:\" (That’s a simplification – with Win2k/XP you could make those X,Y and Z drives if you chose to be really obtuse!)
In exactly the same way you can access your CD-ROM, you can access a 2nd Drive.
In fact, this machine has drives C:\ to O:\ including one DVD and one CDRW with drives C:\ to M:\ being on 3 separate physical HDD’s.
A physical HDD can be ‘partitioned’ to give a number of different ‘logical drives’ (each having their own drive letter), and many folks create a partition solely for the Photoshop Primary Scratch drive, and another, on a different physical disk, for the sole use of the Windows paging file.
Ok. Some of that I got—My Computer will open it, the zip drive, floppy, CD-RM, etc..
I will have WIN XP (home edition–and I shudder to think of that). So, WinXP goes in one drive + all the working files; Photoshop and the scratch disk goes in the other.
So, OS drive should be the biggest. How does 120G for that and 80G for Photoshop? Way too much? Too little? Ugh. I wish my computer wasn’t dying……..
Also, I’m trying to find software to transfer files from 1 computer to another. Suggestions?
Thanks, guys………………..MM
I use the smaller HD for the OS WinXP and all the programs. The second larger drive for my data (lots of images/publications etc).
I have third HD for a backup of data and a portable firewire drive for a backup-backup.
Photoshop is installed on C but primary photoshop scratch is the same as my backup and secondary scratch is same as data.
Is this OK?
Jeff
Unless you are doing video, 100GB should be more than enough for a main drive. 20GB should be more than enough for a Photoshop scratch drive, if that’s its only purpose.
-Scott
I’m confused. Jeff–OS, Photoshop,programs go on the smaller one and all files, photos on the larger one? Right?
Scott: The smaller drive has only the PS scratch disc and nothing else?
I need a Tylenol………………..
Tylenol is only the start, Marie, I’ve just set up my new machine with 4 hard drives (360GB total)partitioned to give me A:, C:, D:, E:, F:, G:, H:, I:, J:, K:, L:, & M: drives appearing in the My Computer menu (including Floppy, 1x CD & 1x CD-RW in this). Scary thing is I actually know what every partition is for & what’s on it!
Just approach your setup logically – a suggestion:
First HD: Primary partition of around 10-15GB for XP & Programs, second partition the balance of the drive as a logical partition for working files etc.
Second HD: Logical partition of about 5GB for PS scratch. Second partition about 5GB for XP paging file.
(Allocate the XP paging file to this partition manually by going: Control Panel>System>Advanced – "Performance">Settings>Advanced – "Virtual memory">Change. Set the radio button to "No paging file" on the C: drive, then highlight the XP paging partition you have created (will possibly be F:, might be G: depending on what letter/s your CD/DVD drive/s end up being allocated) and click radio button for Custom size, fill in values 2046 for "Initial size", and 4096 for "Maximum size".) Sounds complicated, but stepping through it is easy.
Partition the balance of the drive to be used as back-up, storage etc, so you’ll end up with 3 partitions on the second drive. If you use Partition Magic rather than fdisk, you will find the setting up uf the partitions straightforward & easy.
I worked with a similar setup for the last few years with no problems at all – I also didn’t notice any difference in speed with PS if I had my working files on the last partition of either the first or second drives, btw.
Maybe Len will supply a more coherent suggestion – he’s better at these descriptions than I am. I will suggest, however, that you draw up a sketch map of the layout beforehand so that you get a visual idea of what you are trying to achieve.
Fred.
Fred,
Second HD: Logical partition of about 5GB for PS scratch. Second partition
about 5GB for XP paging file<<
From a performance POV, having the primary scratch and pagefile on different physical HDDs would be preferable.
My own machine is partitioned as follows:
HDD0: Basic Disk
C:\ 5 gig O/S ONLY (+2 meg page file) – Could do with being larger! D:\ 8 gig Non-Adobe Applications (includes Apache, MySQL, PHP, DW, Office, WinZip, Textpad and a host of other bits and pieces)
E:\ 5 gig Adobe Applications (CS Suite + PS 7, IL10, ID 2.0, GL6, Acrobat 6, LM 2, Audition)
HDD1: Dynamic Disk
F:\ 3 gig Non-permanent Data files – Will save test files there for example – gets deleted frequently
H:\ 2 gig PSFonts
I:\ 2 gig PS Primary Scratch
G:\ 12 gigs Websites (there are around 40 websites we maintain there) J:\ 4 gig Download files (Utility archives, program patches etc. etc) K:\ 9 gig General Data drive/ PS Secondary scratch
HDD2: Dynamic Disk
L:\ 15 gig Client Data Files
M:\ 15 gig Client Data Files
N:\ 2 gig Pagefile
(there’s also another 80 gig shared partition available via the Samba server on the Linux file serrver)
Len,
Quite right, and it was me getting confused yet again – in retrospect I did have the page file partition on the primary drive, scratch for PS on the secondary on my previous machine.
I’m still battling with the set-up of the new animal – the 2x120GB SATA drives set up as RAID 0 is a whole new field of endeavour for me whilst trying to allocate things sensibly between them and my OS, backups, temps etc. on various partitions on the other 2 60GB IDE drives. I’ll get there eventually, I hope.
I also hope that all this doesn’t scare Marie off!
Marie,
Take Len’s advice regarding the page file & PS scratch being on different hard drives – you might put the XP page file on a 5GB partition at the end of your first drive in this case, or leave it on your C: drive (where it will be put as default anyway).
Fred.
Scared? No, just a bald spot from scratching the left side of my head and I’m looking for a witch to cast a spell on my computer and make it all better. I really admire the technology competence of all of you like it’s a comfortable shoe, but I’m in Harddrive 101.
First: What is XP "page file"? Just XP’s OS folders in C drive? Documents created in Word or other files? (The thought of dealing with WinXP angers me to no end).
Lordie, Len, your computer sounds like a mighty monster! I understand what partitions do, but never having set one up, I’m reluctant to go beyond initially trying just 2 little old drives and stuffing those turkeys the right way.
You all seem to be saying in general, use the smaller one for OS and the larger one for PS. Fred is dividing the one hard drive into 2 parts and putting the scratch disc in one and all PS files in the rest. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t be too chicken to try that. Do I need Partition Magic for just that much?
Len has a party with his comp and makes pie slices everywhere. It sounds awesome and very functional, but I’d be at a loss in even starting that.
I figure another month before my comp leaves this world. I’m copying files like crazy and trying to think ahead. I’ve printed out all that has been said and I’ll read, reread, etc and hope not to get any balder. I am aprehensive about doing this, but I’d really, really like to give it a good try.
Marie,
The "page file" is what used to be called a "Swap File" (and sometimes got called a whole lot of names I’d rather not say in public when the use was high and the drives were a lot smaller).
As for XP-Home edition, If you are switching from Win-ME, it won’t be long before you REALLY prefer it. It actually is pretty stable even under abusive multi-tasking. If you are switching from Win-98-SE, the stability will be there and you realize the change slowly.
My biggest complaint concerns some MS products insisting on putting saved files where someone else decided they should go and not where I want them to be. I haven’t gotten up the nerve to delete those "standard" directories and see if that will change things for the better.
Bill
Marie,
What is XP "page file"? <<
It is the Windows Swap file (in Win9x terminology) but is called the pagefile in NT, Win2k and XP.
In XP or Win2k, partitioning is an absolute doddle. When you get your new machine with 2 HDD’s there should be nothing on the the second one.
From C/Panel you select Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management.
That brings up a nice little visual display of your drives.
On your 2nd drive (HDD1) you can delete the existing partition from Action>All Tasks>Delete Volume.
You can then create the number of volumes (logical drives) you require, defining the size of each, up to the capacity of the HDD, from Action>All Tasks>Create Volume.
Don’t try this with your first drive – HDD0 – because it will wipe out your O/S and leave your machine un-bootable! Partitioning that drive has to be doone when installing the O/S
Len, you answered the question I was just going to ask. I’m kind’a proud of myself at the moment–I checked into Partition Magic and printed out the whitepaper which gave a nice, introductory explanation of the product. I’m actually getting excited about doing this! (Well, the shaking is down, just a tad.)
My question was going to be "how do I diminish G.s in the smaller, OS drive to make a 2nd partition there?" Shucks. You’re saying I can’t do it after the factory installs. So, that drive will have to be the biggest one to accommodate other programs and data files.
I’d like some clear number advice on partition sizes please. I’m going for the 2 HD’s. One according to Dell’s specs each drive can be a 40,80 or 120 G’s. (There’s more but not with my pockets)
How big for the WinXP drive, since I can’t play with that afterwards? How big for 2nd drive: Scratch disc, how big for PS and should I make that drive have a 3rd partition for PS photos?
Where to put my website? Photos are done with PS, text with NotetabPro. With PS? or all website contents, text and pics with PS and NotetabPro with OS?
Oh, I’m getting butterflies again……………..
Also, I’m using Win98SE and swap file I know…….
Thanks all……..
Len, you answered the question I was just going to ask. I’m kind’a proud of myself at the moment–I checked into Partition Magic and printed out the whitepaper which gave a nice, introductory explanation of the product. I’m actually getting excited about doing this! (Well, the shaking is down, just a tad.)
My question was going to be "how do I diminish G.s in the smaller, OS drive to make a 2nd partition there?" Shucks. You’re saying I can’t do it after the factory installs. So, that drive will have to be the biggest one to accommodate other programs and data files.
I’d like some clear number advice on partition sizes please. I’m going for the 2 HD’s. One according to Dell’s specs each drive can be a 40,80 or 120 G’s. (There’s more but not with my pockets)
How big for the WinXP drive, since I can’t play with that afterwards? How big for 2nd drive: Scratch disc, how big for PS and should I make that drive have a 3rd partition for PS photos?
Where to put my website? Photos are done with PS, text with NotetabPro. With PS? or all website contents, text and pics with PS and NotetabPro with OS?
Oh, I’m getting butterflies again……………..
Also, I’m using Win98SE now, sick of the crashes and I hope WinXP is a lot more stable………and swap file I know…….
Thanks all……..
Marie,
Partition Magic will, through its very easy user interface, allow you to add paritions to your OS drive. (No, I don’t work for Powerquest – it’s just that it is a really good product if you are not into the depths of computer manipulation and are a bit unsure of things.)
It does warn you to back up your data before doing this, so be prepared, however unlikely the scenario, to have to re-install the OS. You should do the partitioning thing before loading all your programs etc., as this gives P Magic less stuff to move around, and less stuff for you to re-install should things go awry.
It’s a good idea to install XP from scratch even if your computer comes with it ready installed (see other posts on fresh installs), so you can create partitions then as Len suggests if you decide go this route.
If you run with a pre-installed OS, load Partition Magic first & create the 2 floppy emergency boot disks when prompted. As has happened to me once (my fault, btw), even if you do end up with an unformatted hard drive with no OS, these floppies will boot into partition magic & allow you to reformat the hard drive.
As I am of the mid-boomer generation, I got into computers in my early forties as a complete novice, and P Magic saved my bacon, computer & sanity on more than one occasion. I know you can do everything within the system and/or via command lines, but I find it easier to do things with diagrams and pretty pictures guiding me.
The XP Disk Management diagrams that Len refers to are inexplicably (to anyone other than MS, anyway) not proportional in size to the real situation (a 3GB partition can appear diagramatically the same size as a 20GB one, which I find a bit confusing). P Magic shows things proportionately, and provides grab handles at each end of a partition’s diagram to enable a click-drag resize. Very handy. Plus you can do all your mods (with the diagrams updating to reflect what’s going on) without affecting anything until you hit the "apply changes" button. Very reassuring!
I was (as was everyone else, I suppose) in the same spot as you at one stage – in fact I chugged along with a one-disk, one partition computer for 5 years before I got up the courage to partition at all. Now I’m heading into the second half of the alphabet in drive letters!
Go for the biggest drives you can afford – I thought 2x 60’s would be fine 18 months ago, but I managed to fill those up in just over a year. It’s nicer to work & save in uncompressed TIFFs without worrying about space rather than watch JPEG compression hash up your images.
Allow about 15GB for your OS & programs if you load them all onto one partition (easiest option, as most installers default to the OS partition to install their programs), or 7GB for XP & a paging file alone.
PS scratch disk should be OK at around 5GB, but reading some of the posts regarding CS, you might want to allow a bit more!
If you do a separate XP paging file partition, give it 4.5~5GB (paging is maxed at 4GB by XP I think, so any larger would be wasted). The bit extra is to avoid annoying "Disk almost full" messages.
As for XP, much as I hate endorsing anything MS, I went from about 3 blue screens/reboots a day with 98/ME to a "machine always on" situation with XP. Just like my original Mac 11ci. Haven’t seen a blue screen since about November ’01, I think.
Fred.
I’ve just viewed Partition Magic’s flash introduction and it was very understandable. I’m planning a diagram now of what I use and where it might go. When I have a tentative plan, I’d like to send it here for refining/suggestions.
I’m checking very carefully how you Fred, and Len have set up your partitions. I’m also making a list of questions & here are a few:
Is there another partition for each drive’s backup? Or, is all the backup done by PM in the OS drive? (That sounds risky to me.)
Is PM placed in the OS drive or somewhere else in case that drive crashes?
Is it best to install PS from the discs on the new computer or just use the files copied from C:\Program Files?
How difficult is it to install XP? Maybe Dell could leave it off and let me install it with Tech help after the partitions are designated?
I feel like I’m diving into murky waters….but it does sound sensible and exciting. Hope I really don’t do something stupid….mm
Marie,
PM does its shifting of data by rebooting your computer into DOS mode and carrying on the operation there, and you’re right, it is a bit risky, which is why I suggested all the precautions above. PM is installed like any other program in your Program Files directory on your C: drive unless you direct otherwise. If things go west, you can use those two emergency floppies to start PM in DOS mode & fix things from there. (You still get the GUI, so don’t worry about having to use command lines in a DOS window).
You can set up the whole operation in the GUI whilst in XP beforehand, and PM will reboot (if necessary) only after you hit "Apply Changes". You will get a warning dialog first, and any of your intended changes that require a reboot will be marked with an asterisk as you plan them, so there should be no surprises.
Hopefully PM won’t have to actually shift any data as your pre-installed XP would be at the "front" of the drive and the partitions you create will happen well after this area.
It seems I was a bit of the mark re the paging file size partition – Adobe suggest that you set the XP paging file at twice your RAM plus 12MB. I’ve got 2GB of RAM, so mine came out at about 4GB, which is where I got that figure from.
Also the drag handles on the partition size diagram in PM appear when in the "Resize/Move" dialog, not on the main diagram – sorry.
XP virtually installs itself, just be sure to choose the option for erasing existing data and fresh install (however that is worded) when prompted in the initial stages of the install.
Install all your programs, PS included, from the install disks, don’t try to copy them from their pre-installed folders – you will end up with a real mess! This is why you should let XP start fresh – if you choose the option to retain the existing data on your C drive, your programs will appear to be there, but there will be no entries in the XP registry, so XP won’t be able to launch them properly.
To save headaches, buy the computer "clean" and do all your own installs from the program disks. It takes time, but will be worth it in the long run. Follow Len’s previous instruction on formatting/partitioning in that case.
Fred.
Hi Marie,
I can’t fault Fred’s advice to you at all, so most of this will be repetition of what Fred has already told you.
1) 2 BIG disks are better than 1 Big and 1 small! Buy as much drive space as you can afford (but NOT at the expense of of having more RAM – That is even more important with Photoshop!)
2) Factory installs are often less than perfect. The first thing I do when getting a new machine is to wipe everything and start with a clean slate. Installing XP /Win2k isn’t brain surgery, and you don’t need a degree in computer science to do it!
3) You can re-partition without data loss with Partition_Magic, but there is always some risk….Still better to do it on clean drives before any data is written to them whenever possible. PM is a band-aid for changing situations (or lack of forward planning)!
4) ALWAYS re-install apllications from the original CD – Copying won’t work!
OK, partition suggestions ( but like your wardrobes and drawers, how you decide to arrange your storage is very much a personal thing, and I wouldn’t try to tell you which drawer to keep your underwear in, or how big a drawer you need to do so!)
HDD0 :
The sytem drive (c:\)10 to 15 gigs.
Don’t install applications to the default c:\program files\~application – keep the C:\ drive for the o/s and as little else as possible. That way, when something goes desperately wrong with the o/s and you have to re-format the c:\drive, you will find it a lot quicker to restore everything back to where it was. Although you will still need to re-install apps in that event, over-write re-installs always seem quicker/easier.
d:\
Pagefile: about 3 times the size of the maximum RAM supported by your motherboard – that way it will still be large enough if you get more RAM.
e:\ applications – only you know how much space you need for those, but I’m guessing 10 gigs should be sufficient
f:\ remainder of space on HDD0 to use for data storage
HDD1:
g:\ 5 gigs Photoshop primary scratch drive (AND NOTHING ELSE!)
h:\ ??gigs – Your website and associated web files (original hi-rez images, vector logo’s etc. etc.)
i: – whatever. Entirely personal choice. either one large data partition or a number of smaller ones if you prefer that way of working.
Note: these are not RULES, and everyone you ask will have their own preferences (there is some truth in saying that multiple partitions are a little slower to access than one large one, but I prefer an ‘organized’ system), but from the information you have supplied that is how I would set up your machine.
Great, and thanks so much to you both. I’m trying to get an answer from Dell about getting a new computer without the OS installed so I can do it later after I install PM. No reply yet. If all I have to do is insert a disc like any other program and let XP do its thing, I couldn’t be happier! I thought I might need Tech help to do it as I did for the past 2 re-installs of Win 98.
What I’m afraid of is losing tech help warranty if I do the install myself. I hope that would not be the case! I can’t afford that!
Fred:<If things go west, you can use those two emergency floppies to start PM in DOS mode & fix things from there.> Is this refering to a problem that might occur if I try to use PM without the OS being uninstalled?
Also, I don’t have a clear picture of PM’s backups. This happens "automatically" in ALL the drives or do I have to set that up for each one?
Len:(I need just a regular size drawer for underwear—but more for my computer stuff……..;>)
If I can partition the C drive, I should put all other app programs into another partition of that drive—like: the Notetab text editor, ARV (html validator),Norton’s Antivirus and AntiSpam, and FTP, Adaptec, (which are the ones I use most) and maybe some small apps? I’m still working on my diagram for other stuff. I think I’d like to keep the website(about 50MG’s when finished–has 20MG now according to the server) and all it’s psd’s in one partition. Shucks, I just added those psd’s up which at the present time add up to 884.84MB, and that sounds like maybe it should be in a partition of its own?
The 8300 Dell comes with 512Ram. If I get two 80GB drives, is that enough ram or do I shell out $130 and get 1GB?
If I can’t get the computer "clean" from the factory, all I have to do is uninstall the OS from Ad/Remove, put on PM and go from there?
(Then, all I have to worry about is future tech help……..<sigh>
Here’s my $0.02 with the note that I haven’t read the whole thread.
I’ve purchased plenty of Dell computers. They come with a full XP install CD and the first thing I’ve done with every one of them is to blow the machine out and start from scratch. If you do it this way, you don’t need Partition Magic, because you can partition the harddrive from the Windows install
Here’s the steps.
Set the BIOS to boot to the CD drive. Put the XP CD in and restart the computer. You’ll be promted to hit a key to boot to the CD drive.
When the install screen comes up, just follow the promts until you get the part about actually installing Windows. You’ll want to delete the current partition and set up any new ones that you want.
Once you’ve partioned the drive simply select the c:drive as the drive you want to install Windows to and let the install do it’s thing.
Once the O/S is up and running you’ll need to load the drivers. Dell ships a driver CD which is pretty much automatic in the installation of drivers. It scans the system and tells you what you need to install. Again just follow the on screen instructions.
Now using disk management tools under my computer, you’ll need to format your other partitions.
Load you applications, fonts, etc and you’re good to go. The real benefit of this is that your operating system installation will be far more stable than the OEM image that Dell and all the other major manufacturers use. Also note that you won’t need the CD Key or activation when using the CD that ships with the Dell.
HTH,
Bob
Marie,
:(I need just a regular size drawer for underwear—but more for my
computer stuff……..;>)<<
Shame….<weg>
I see Bob has talked you through a clean install of XP on the new machine….
Oh boy: I just got this from DELL: No, I can’t have a computer without XP on it. And the directions for a reinstall really put me off.
Step 4: 2. Download and Print a Windows Reinstallation Guide ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. Prepare the Computer for Re-Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Until you have a working copy of Windows back on your system, keep your hardware configuration very simple.
* If you have two video cards, an AGP primary and a PCI secondary, remove the PCI card and its monitor.
* If you have inactivated integrated video in favor of a PCI video card, remove the card and plug the monitor into the integrated video port.
* Remove all external peripherals except your mouse, monitor, and keyboard.
NOTE: If you have them, use a basic PS/2 mouse and keyboard during installation. Some multi-function keyboards require drivers to work properly; you can install those drivers after you have a good Windows setup.
6. Download, Create, and Test a Boot Diskette
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dell Library file CDENABv2.EXE creates a diskette that boots, loads a CDROM driver if you need one, and provides essential files like DEBUG, FDISK, FORMAT, EDIT, and SCANDISK. It also contains some files you may not recognize because it is intended for Dell PowerEdge Servers and Precision Workstations. Fortunately, it will also work for your desktop computer.
To create the diskette, do this:
* Have a new, pre-formatted diskette on hand.
* Log to this URL:
ftp://ftp.dell.com/utility/ * Find CDENABv2.EXE and download it to your desktop.
* Close Internet Explorer and double-click the blue diskette icon to run the CDENABv2 creation file.
* Follow the prompts to create a boot diskette.
* With the diskette still in the drive, turn the computer off and then back on. NOTE: On recent systems you will have to hold the power button in for several seconds until the screen goes black and the power lights go off.
* Choose option 5 from the boot menu — No CDROM Support.
* Let the computer boot to a simple A:\> prompt. If it will do this, you know you have a good reinstallation diskette.
7. Debug the Hard Drive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Once you debug the hard drive everything you once had on it is effectively gone forever. BE SURE THAT YOU ARE READY.
This debug script prepares a "raw" hard drive surface for the Windows Installation program. This allows a clean reinstall and it is a very effective way to destroy any viruses that may have been hidden in the old boot record.
The first column of the table below duplicates the changing prompt you will see during debug; the second column is the correct response for each prompt. The four xxxx’s represent a 4-character code that debug will assign to your hard drive type. Do not worry about making an error; debug will just repeat the prompt until you get the response right.
* If you have not already done so, insert the diskette you made with the CDENABv2 file and turn the computer off. Turn the system back on and let it boot to a simple A:\> prompt.
* At the A:\ > prompt, type the following:
debug [Enter]
Prompt You type this
– F 200 L1000 0 [Enter]
– A CS:100 [Enter]
xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301 [Enter]
xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200 [Enter]
xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1 [Enter]
xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80 [Enter]
xxxx:010C INT 13 [Enter]
xxxx:010E INT 20 [Enter]
xxxx:0110
– [Enter] <—BLANK LINE – IMPORTANT! >
– G [Enter]
Program terminated normally
– Q [Enter]
A:\>
You have now "debugged" the hard drive.
8. Let Windows Install Itself
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Remove the floppy and insert your Dell OEM Windows Re-installation CD. * Turn the system off and back on again. In most cases the computer will boot to the CD and begin the reinstallation process.
* If not, turn the computer off and back on again. Press [F12] as the system boots and change the boot order to CD drive first. Now Windows will load from the CD.
* Answer NO to the System Restore prompt.
* Follow the prompts to allow large partitions and choose the NTFS file system.
Windows Setup will FDISK and FORMAT the hard drive and then begin to install Windows XP.
* A window entitled "Analyzing Your Computer" will appear. DO NOT TURN OFF THE SYSTEM DURING THIS PROCESS OR THE PROCESS WILL HAVE TO BE RESTARTED.
* Follow your printed Windows Re-install Guide to complete the process.
9. Get Your Major Components Up and Running
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Windows XP will install its own internal drivers for a huge range of components. These drivers generally work well, but do not include all the features available in the components’ own utility software.
* Tweak your video card settings until they are optimal. Install an updated driver if the video card needs one.
* Hook up speakers and make the sound card work. The computer should make the basic Windows "ta-dahh" opening sound with no problems.
* Install the driver and utility software for your sound card, DVD, and CDRW. Run their Windows diagnostics to be sure they are all active and functioning normally. Can the CDRW burn a CD? Will the DVD drive play a movie? Can the sound card play a music CD? An AVI file?
10. Reinstall Your Software from the Original CD’s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Test each application as you finish its installation. Can you print from Word? Export from Excel? Use Roxio to make a copy?
Edit a photograph?
11. Make a Primary Image of the Hard Drive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you have Windows XP or Windows ME, stop here and make a System Restore point. Windows Help has extensive directions on how to do this.
I think I’m going numb. A lot of this is WAY beyond my nerve to even attempt to do. Dell doesn’t know my low level of computerese.
For Robert: <Set the BIOS to boot to the CD drive.> How? I’m HardDrive 101.
For Len? how do I tell WinXP that only the OS and pagefile go in one place and the rest in the other. How do I select those from the CD?
Nervous doesn’t even begin to describe the turmoil in my stomach…..
Marie,
Dell makes it sound far more complicated than it is. However, based on the tone of your messages, perhaps you should find a less technologically challenged friend to help you.
It’s really a great learning experience.
To set the computer to boot to the CD, simply enter the computer’s setup during the boot process. You’ll likely see a screen that says F2 to enter setup. So hit F2 and you enter the BIOS. Find the boot sequence and change it.
Bob
Marie,
Good Grief! Not having had any Dell experience, I can only wonder in amazement as to what all that was about.
Maybe you should go to a local computer store (one that’s been around for more than a few years, preferably), and speak to a human about what you need & what you expect from your computer. They will probably be able to build a machine equal to or better than the Dell at a lower cost, without you having to go through all the above.
Just make sure that you are well covered with a written warranty on parts and labour. My experience is that if it all doesn’t go belly-up in the first few weeks, it’ll most likely last for years. (My recently built new machine’s motherboard failed within 5 days, so these things can happen.)
Maybe someone else could come up with the reason for physically removing a second video card & monitor before installing XP. I’ve installed XP a few times on dual card/dual monitor machines without any of this carry-on.
Amazing.
And yes – go for the 1Gb of ram over the 512MB – it will be the best money you can spend, particularly for working with PS.
PM doesn’t actually back up – it just shifts data to allow for whatever partitions you are creating. It is during this that things have gone strange at times for me, but that was back in PM5 days, and we’re up to 8 now, so things may not be so wobbly now. These days I use it on drives before I load data to avoid past experiences, and it has been trouble free as a consequence. It is also best if you do one or two steps at a time rather than entering 25 commands & hoping it’ll get through everything unscathed.
Fred.
Fred,
Small computer stores can’t build a system cheaper than you can buy one from Dell and still make a profit. Any ma and pa computer store that does probably isn’t using legal software. You would be surprised how many computer stores now broker Dell systems because they can make more money and still sell a high quality product.
Marie,
No one here has even asked what your needs are. Chances are you would be fine with 2 unpartitioned drives. Windows and your software on the primary and your data files on the secondary. You don’t need a dozen partitions getting in your way. Just use a nice directory structure and common sense. If you don’t want to have to reformat consider a 360 precision workstation they are geared more for businesses and come with a much cleaner install. It should work well for you out of the box.
It is only in the most extreme cases that you will see any performance differences no matter where the scratch disk and swap file are located. You don’t want to have to use 3rd party software like partition magic either. The fewer programs you have installed that mess with your file system the better your chances of avoiding file corruption.
Good luck, I am sure you will be very happy no matter what you do. just hope you don’t end up doing too much work that you are not comfortable with.
Well, I did get a WinXP book and I feel really dumb in forgetting the F2 key to open BIOS. As soon as I saw the pics I remember doing something like that a few computers ago.(Short memory)
I really want to learn to do partitioning. It makes sense. With all the help given and time to digest several times, I think I’ll be ready to jump in. (Hope my hubby forgives me if I botch it up) I’m still planning the 2nd drive trying to figure out what goes in which pocket and how much room to give it.
Short question: must all .exe’s go on the OS Drive–like FTP, Notetab,and Norton’s or can they be put in partitions on the 2nd drive?
Onward…………………………MM
Marie,
Short question: must all .exe’s go on the OS Drive
No you can install your applications on any drive, partition or directory you want. When you partition just make sure you don’t make your partitions too small or it will disrupt the way you have things organized and you will have to start putting things where you didn’t want them to go to make room. It is always best to get things right the first time. You don’t want to have to install 3rd party software later to add more space to an existing partition and risk data loss or corruption. A little planning early on goes a long way.
Photo Help
Disagree. Maybe partitions don’t necessarily increase physical performance – maybe – but they sure as heck make navigating and organizing things easier. The analogy of dumping all your shirts, socks, underware and pants into one drawer instead of separating them into different drawers for ease of location is entirely relevant here.
Just the thought of a paging file, scratch file, working data files, temp internet files, temp files, program prefs etc all being written higledy-pigledy all over the one partition conjures up a fragmentation nightmare that would throttle performance in a very short space of time. Again – finding pairs of socks in a drawer with all the other clothes would be so much simpler and quicker if they were in a dedicated drawer instead.
Note, too, that PS will protest at its scratch being placed on the same partition as XP paging file, and that Adobe suggests keeping the PS paging file on a separate physical drive to the working data drive, so your suggested simple 2 drive unpartitioned setup would not be compliant with this. (I trust Adobe enough for there to be a reason for all this – they do write & validate the software, after all)
As to Marie’s needs – she indicates she uses PS. ‘Nuff said. PS is the main use of my computer, and it is from that viewpoint that I made my somewhat lengthy suggestions. The setup I have honed over the last decade works really – that’s "really" – well.
Please don’t dismiss the "ma & pa" businesses with such irrelevancy – they effectively run many capitalist societies. If you can point me to the Dell machine that combines 3.0Ghz P4, 2GB Corsair CL2 dual channel RAM, Asus P4P800 Deluxe MoBo, Asus 9520 video, Antec Sonata 380W case, 2x Seagate SATA 120GB drives, 2x 60GB Seagate 7200 IDE’s, 1x Sony CD-RW & 1x Sony CD-R for around US$1.8K,along with a 24-hour unquestioned turn-around on a faulty MoBo after speaking to the manager (in person), then I’d almost be impressed.
The software I have bought from such small businesses has been sealed original manufacturers product with manuals, and it is an insulting broad brush slur to taint all these businesses as selling pirated software. And if it cost me 5 bucks more than at Amazon.com, then so what – most likely I had a fellow human spend 10 minutes of her time explaining the benefits/use of said software to me in understandable English (as opposed to that technobabble gibberish from Dell in Marie’s post)- well worth the money, I’d reckon.
The fact is that in many cases us small businesses are able to offer a far better and more honest person-to-person service than Dell et al could ever dream of, whatever the field. And not everyone thinks they are here on this earth just to make huge financial profits as in the Gates view of things. Sometimes a thank-you and a smile are worth far more than bits of printed paper. Maybe they can’t feed you, but the repeat business they bring does.
Also – avoiding doing extra work with computers is tantamount to not learning at all. If Marie learns how to partition, and why to partition, and then finds it unsuitable for her needs, then she can always go back to an unpartitioned setup. But if she wants to get to Hard Drive 102 & beyond, and understand why, then perhaps she could give it a go, yes? Compared to her original hesitant post, she sure seems ready to give it a try now.
Fred.
Marie,
If it’s a new machine, you can’t botch it up. Even if something goes wrong, you can start all over again. Treat it like a learning experience and you’ll be much better off when you’re done.
Bob
Fred,
The paging file is in a fixed location on the drive and doesn’t fragment. I have tested multiple systems and have yet to see any noticeable performance degradation with unpartitioned drives on systems used like marie’s would be. That being said partitions are a good thing but some of these suggestions are insane. I have multiple drive letters on my systems at work, but I also manage 100 users and 5 servers. I have several network drive mappings.
If you are going to these extremes you are going to have…
One partition for Data files (oh wait maybe word documents should be on one partition and images on another).
Map the system temp folder to it’s own partition, we wouldn’t want them to be on the same drive that has temporary internet files now would we. Even though they temporary internet files only take up 5 MB, unless you are one of the geniuses that uses the 64 MB and up default settings.
So now we have a temporary internet partition as well.
Then the paging file on it’s own.
The PS scratch disk on another.
Make sure you set those partitions configured correctly too, you want to make sure they are on the fastest part of the drive.
Building your own system with the solid components, 15,000 RPM drives, Raid 5, etc. is fine. I prefer to pick and chose all my components. I also buy Dell systems, a lot of them for work and for friends and family. Not everyone can look at a list of motherboards, memory, raid configurations, etc. and make the right choice so they trust a local computer store and in many cases end up with junk if not used junk.
I you want to recommend alternate options at least send someone to a reputable company like Alienware <
http://www.alienware.com>
All I am saying is that what works well for one person doesn’t necessarily work well for everyone. From what Marie has said she is going to be using this system for Web design projects probably with Photoshop files no bigger than 10 MB. Meaning 95% of the time Photoshop would be working straight from memory using very little scratch space. This would call for a much different configuration than someone working for a print company creating 4’x30′ banners.
I am all for people having a well configured system, but not to the point that it becomes counter productive. All I was saying is that she has all the information now and she doesn’t need to go to the extremes configuring her system.
As for organization… Ever head of sub directories they work wonders for organization!
Marie,
What kind of work will you be doing on this computer? Is this the family computer or strictly for business?
They are right partitioning is a little cleaner, but I doubt very much you would see any difference in performance, especially if you defrag weekly or monthly. If partitions fit your style and that is what you want, by all means do it. Just keep in mind that you have to pick where it ends. Adding a bigger power supply and and having 4 or 6 drives would be even faster. A striped raid configuration is safer and faster on write speeds. Liquid cooling would be quieter and add more stability by having a processor that runs cooler.
There will always be extremists out there but you have to decide when you have everything you NEED and you are happy with what you have.
Hello all you great people! I want to make it very clear that I WILL learn to partition with my new machine. I really want to do this! No, I am not the only user of the machine, as my great one-of-a-kind hubby also will too. The main reason for the computer is yes, "Photo Help"– my use and extreme love of Photoshop and the power it has put into my often hesitant hands. My website would be nonexistant without it, coupled with the functioning of NotetabPro, a wonderful html editor.
I’m sure I will never achieve the competency and comfort level each of you express but I will be proud to have pushed my computer organization a step higher(yep, Fred–Hurray HD 102!)and be able to allocate appropriate needs without causing hubby to go nuts with more drives to deal with. Hopefully, he’ll just need the C, zip and floppy and be happy not to have to fool with anything else.
No way will I follow the stuff Dell sent me. I’ll choose to either partition as Len and Robert suggested using Administrative Tools, or I’ll go the route of Fred’s help with PM without disabling XP for both drives, or Administrative Tools for the OS and Partition Magic for the 2nd drive.(I really liked their demo) or, if following the 1st attempt with Administrative Tools and I feel nervy enough, I may do it all that way. At this point I want to center on a proper division of labor, putting most used files where they will be most effective. I couldn’t even have gotten this far without the depth of each of your individual explanations and encouragement. You must know that.
I kind’a thought .exe’s did not all have to be on C because PS wasn’t there, but I wanted to make sure. When it is said<,… "you want to make sure they (paging file and scratch disc) are on the fastest part of the drive.">.. does that mean they are in the earliest letter drive positions, like D and E instead of H and I? Yes? No?
And once again for the road–how is the paging file separated from the OS itself? I still have a picture of them being one and the same thing as I see swap file listed in System Properties on my present Win98.
You guys make PS the best served people in the world…….MM
Marie:
All the advice you received above is excellent. However, IMHO these guys forgot the KISS rule.
Unless you PS requirements are industrial strength [say frequent use of very hi res images with zillions of layers], forget all this partition stuff. Just get a nice pre-configured PC [from Dell or whatever], with the biggest [and that usually means fastest too] single hard drive.
You challenge then is to move stuff from the old PC to the new. That’s enough to be going on with. If you have a lot of data, your best bet would be to set up a little network.
I am not being patronising and/or assuming you can’t do all this nerdy stuff. I would just like to propose the right solution for you with the minimum of pain.
I realise that I broke the KISS rule too …
You do not need any network. Just by a large external [USB 2] drive. Use that as a transfer medium to the new PC. Then it will be a very handy backup device.
BTW, MS Backup is not installed by default with XP Home, but it’s on the CD.
Just by a large external [USB 2] drive.
why not just install the old hd as a slave drive in the new machine. KISS! 🙂
KISS is fine–especially the real kind! Detailed info has many assets in getting a picture of personal differences and similarities from those who know best, the users. Bring it on!
I’ve made tentative decisions based on the information previously stated, with adjustments. How do these sound? Actually, 2- 80GB drives sounds like a humongous quantity, compared to my present 30G! Maybe I’m getting too much??
Basic Disc(providing I can uninstall as Robert described via CD ROM and/or with PM and do this)
C:\7g—OS only + 5MB file page
G:\4.5g—page file
H:\20g—PartitionM, FTP, Norton’s, Html, ARV, Adaptec
I:\2g–misc: Winzip, Calipers, Quick TIme Player, Anfy
J:\47g—open
2nd Drive:
K:\8g—scratch disk
L:\10g–PS 6, PS7
M:\20g—website, psd’s, old site/tables
N:\4g—Corel, Printmaster
O:\8g—temporary data non-PS photo files,
P:\30g—open
Well, is the above good, fair, too much, etc………….
too much. imo. you’re going to wish you didn’t do all that partitioning later on.
here’s what i’d do w/2 -80s.
C: 40 (disk 1)
D: 40 (disk 1)
E: (one or 2 partitions max) (disk 2)
Marie,
2- 80GB drives sounds like a humongous quantity, …. Maybe I’m getting
too much??
No such thing! In twelve months you’ll be saying "Why didn’t I get 2 x 120’s?" <g>
Really. My first computer had a 30 meg harddrive and I wondered how in the world I could ever come close to filling it up. 🙂
Bob
Great write up thank you Fred.. So I should move my entire paging file completely to a different Drive/partition? & leave C with no paging file what so ever?
Marie, if that is what you came up with, you followed the advice of the wrong person.
There is no performance gain in using partitions. Just use folders if it’s structure you are looking for. 1 partition or 100, the drive can only read/write one thing at a time.
Dave’s advice is sound, heed it.
Best wishes.
While folders are nice I still find different partitions to be easier and SAFER. If anything happens to the Windows installation you do a clean install without worrying about your data.
But, to each his/her own.
Bob
Correct Bob, and by her having 2 drives this is a moot point really.
One good thing about partitions is that when you have your OS on a separate partition from the rest of your files, if the OS tanks on you, you can re-format the OS partition and the rest of your files will be sitting on the other partitions waiting for you when you are finished.
Marie,
I agree with Dave.
Primary
C: 40 GB – OS & Applications
D: 40 GB – Windows Paging file. Since you will have so much extra room on this drive you can use it to backup data files from the second hard drive in case you have a drive failure before backing up recent files to CD.
Secondary
E: 40 GB – Data (PSD’s, Web Pages, etc.). Move your profile to this drive as well. This is the only drive you will NEED to back up. However I would advise Using Norton Ghost to make a disk image of the C Drive. It is the difference between 4 or more hours to reformat and reinstall all your apps or 5-15 minutes to do the same. Ghost in steps if you like. I generally keep a Ghost image with just the OS and then one with the OS and all my main applications. The reason I do this is so if a year from now I have upgraded a few applications I can just restore the OS install and then have the ability to do a clean install of the newest versions of all the software.
F: 40 GB – PS scratch disk & Windows Temp folder. This partition is way too large for just those two things but you will have the extra space when you need more room for data files or if you start doing video editing and need a large empty partition for uncompressed video.
With this setup you can reformat any drive (except E) at any given time and not need to worry about loosing any data files. You will have also have large nearly empty partitions (D & F) to use for disk images (Norton Ghost) and other backups and still be able to burn them to CD\DVD. The scratch disk and windows paging file are on different physical drives and you still have plenty of room to grow.
At any rate you do have far too many partitions. At the very least don’t make partitions for each major application.
Note: With XP "Zip Folders" you won’t really need Winzip if you just use basic zip files.
Good luck. I am sure you will be very happy with your new system.
Bob & ID,
You are forgetting that if windows "Tanks" it is usually a registry corruption and you can fix that with Restore Points and system restore. If it is a corrupt Windows file you can run windows setup and select repair. If there is still a problem delete the windows folder first and reinstall windows, this will have no bearing on the applications installed on the same drive. If there is a drive failure you still loose all data on the drive regardless of which partition it was on. The partitions may even make recovery harder if you try to get it professionally restored.
The point is there is no advantage to having apps on a separate partition from the OS as you will need to reinstall most if not all of them anyway to reinitialize the registry settings.
Data files and complex program configurations should always be on a separate drive or backed up on a separate drive, whichever the case may be.
PH,
If Windows tanks, I’m not going to try to fix it. For the time it takes to install it, the drivers, and my apps, I’d rather have a nice clean install.
And yes, I know that if you reinstall the O/S you have to reinstall the apps. I have the O/S on one partition, the apps on one and my data on another. My second harddrive has the scratch files and backed up data.
Bob
Bob,
If Windows tanks, I’m not going to try to fix it
Neither would I. But I still keep my OS and Apps on the same partition. Reformat and reinstall (Restore from disk images). For all you know your problem was application corruption and will occur again when you reinstall your apps over the old application installs. Everything except the data files should be wiped clean when you reformat.
As I said before, No advantage. If it gives you personal comfort that is fine, but don’t justify it with false information.
As I said before, No advantage. If it gives you personal comfort that is fine, but don’t justify it with false information.
Exactly.
PH,
I stated it as a preference–which is really what it comes down to for all of us–not as fact. I apologize if it came off that way.
Bob
Bob,
It’s all good 🙂
I’m sorry if I was too harsh, I didn’t mean to be. My response was only to your last post not your previous ones. It is so easy to forget the comments that lead to subsequent posts. In reading your past posts again it is very clear that you have given very good advice throughout this thread. While other people have given advise that is very extreme and in some cases just wrong for any situation.
It looks like Marie may share your preference to put apps on a different partition anyway. I just wanted to point out to her that she should do it for the right reasons.
If Windows tanks, I’m not going to try to fix it
I am. But I’m funny like that. 🙂
Ok. Maybe I did get carried away with pie shapes–and it was kind’a fun! So, how’s this, also assuming folders would define the different programs:
Primary:
C:\7gigs—OS
G:\30gigs–PS6,7; Corel, Printmaster; Norton’s 2 programs; Html, Arv, Callipers, Anfy, Quick Time Player, FTP,
H:\8gigs–Scratch disk
I:\35gigs–open
Secondary:
J:\30gigs–website, psd’s; old site/table ref; temp photo file temp K:\4.5gigs–paging file
L:\55gigs–open
<there is no advantage to having apps on a separate partition from the OS as you will need to reinstall most if not all of them anyway to reinitialize the registry settings.>and….
<If there is a drive failure you still loose all data on the drive regardless of which partition it was on.> but…..
<Everything except the data files should be wiped clean when you reformat.> These seem to conflict. If the partitions die with the death if the OS, how are the data files on that drive still there? Only if backup is on the other drive? I didn’t allocate special room for backups on either drive.
Obviously, my concept of partitions being protected from corruption on another part of that same drive was mistaken.
Why not? I only used 5 gigs for XP.
Bob
I am. But I’m funny like that. 🙂
We all need a hobby. <g>
Bob
FWIW, I’ll echo the KISS suggestions – multiple partitions on a single drive can result in poorer performance, particularly if you have the OS and the Swap file in different partitions on the same physical drive.
My current setup uses three physical drives, each with a single partition.
C: (80GB) OS, all applications, and PS scratch file
D: (40GB) Swap file, temp files, browser cache, etc
E: (120GB) Data files (the "My Documents" folder points to this drive)
These seem to conflict. If the partitions die with the death if the OS, how are the data files on that drive still there? Only if backup is on the other drive? I didn’t allocate special room for backups on either drive.
Sorry, I guess I wasn’t clear enough. I was talking about a drive failure, not an OS failure. If something happens to the OS or if you were to reformat a single partition it would have no effect on the remaining partitions. For the setup you plan to use I would recommend synchronizing J: to I: nightly. That way if anything happens to your secondary drive your data will be safe. Of course that is no substitute for regular backups to DVD,CD or Tape.
Obviously, my concept of partitions being protected from corruption on another part of that same drive was mistaken.
No, You are correct as long as it is just file corruption and not physical damage to the drive.
The latest configuration is fine based on what you said you want. Just make sure your user profiles aren’t on the C drive or 7 GB may not be enough.
I still think there are to many partitions but it is your computer and it should be configured the way you want.
Just make sure your user profiles aren’t on the C drive or 7 GB may not be enough.
why take a chance. way too much to worry about. I used to partition like crazy. I’ve learned the error of my ways. Your choice, but i’ve been doing this for a long time. the fewer drives the better. pare it down to the absolute minimum!
Dave,
I agree. You are preaching to the choir. Some people just have to learn things the hard way 🙂
Ok. I’ve put the partitions on a diet. Both drives will have just 2 partitions divided 40/40gigs. OS and all programs on C:\; Scratch disk and rest open on F;\; 2nd drive E:\ would have all my working files and paging file; G:\ would would be open. Hope this is good arrangement.
At least I’ll get the experience of partitioning.
From all who answered more recently suggesting drives divided in 2, I’d like to know if you partitioned the OS drive with a clean install the way Bob suggested (#20)booting from the CD or with Fred’s method with Partition Magic (#15). I’d really like to know that…….mm
Marie, that sounds good. You won’t regret the diet. 😉
I always partition as Bob said, with the OS CD and clean install.
Marie,
Don’t waste your time or money on Partition Magic.
To all of you who took the time to reply—many, many thanks. To Len—it’s always great to receive your input Len–you’ve given good help over many years. To Fred—I thank you for the interest you took in all of this. I’ve heard very good remarks just yesterday about PM from 4 other users of NTB, 2 used PQM in DOS and 2 applied the partitions directly with XP.
I’ve wouldn’t have learned about PM or bothered to get more info from their site without hearing about your experiences with it and your encouragement.
To Bob, PH, Dan, and all who shouted "whoa",—well, whether less is better for me now is yet to be seen, but I’ll give this a good initial try. I’ve a strong belief that the MG’s on all my files are much, much less than any of yours, so maybe a little division is just right—for now.
My deepest appreciation to all and I really hope the length and content of this list (I can’t believe it) will help some other partition neophyte to bite the bullet as it did me.
Bless ‘ya all and have a "Happy Thanksgiving"–when ever you celebrate it!MM PS…..when the fateful day of "clean install" occurs, don’t be surprised if the word "HELP"…..screams from the topic list……
Like I said previously, it’s a new machine, you can’t hurt it or lose any data. Have fun learning.
Bob
Good luck with it when it arrives, Marie, and if you DO shout for help you know we will be here.
I know! Just a passing thought for all forum contributors: In helping others get ahead, you always stand taller with someone else on your shoulders……………
Marie,
In breaking my bemused silence at the exchange that developed over this, I’ll echo Len’s last comments, with perhaps an admonishment for those who jumped in & roundly berated me for suggesting something wildly complex and, in their opinion, plainly stupid to you.
If they had bothered to read my posts properly, they would find that I in fact suggested a setup involving 5 partitions over two drives as a start point for you. Not disimilar to Photo Help’s final suggestion, I believe. KISSing all over the place, I was. So the ensuing involved lots of wasted typing.
READ, people, – READ!
I only used my current multi-partition setup as a light-hearted example as where things can end up, not as a suggestion for a basic configuration. Why my setup is this way is because it suits my needs perfectly – I was not suggesting it would necessarily suit anyone else, and definitely never suggested drives A: through M: (now P: – but that’s another story) as a beginning!
Performance to me is not necessarily how fast a computer works, but how quickly I can use it to get the work done. If my setup slows things down a poofteenth of a MHz in computer timing, but saves me 30 seconds in wading through wads of file trees, then I’m w-a-a-ay ahead. So I set up my machine to facilitate my workflow.
Also: Photo Help – regarding your comment "But I still keep my OS and Apps on the same partition. Reformat and reinstall (Restore from disk images)" – that’s really sound advice. I’ve been doing this for years – beats the crap out of system restore or whatever Bill reckons is good for us………. Norton’s Ghost has fulfilled this role and bailed me out of monstrous (operator induced, mainly) stuff-ups many times.
Let us know how things pan out, Marie, and have fun doing it. You will find it a whole lot less traumatic than it may have been made to sound here, and be surprised how quickly you make Hard Drive 109!
Fred.
