Partition Big trouble

[Wai_Wai]

Qs regarding optimized partition, partition strategy, old HDD partitioning

I got 2 hard disk drives(HDD), ie:

160GB Western Digital 7200rpm 8MB Cache ATA100

- clean new disk (it is empty now)

- I am going to install Wins XP in the future

20GB Maxtor 5400rpm 2MB Cache ATA 100

- old disk (some data are inside)

- the operating system is Wins 98 now

And one CD-RW:

- Ricoh CD-RW

I would like to partition HDDs as follows:

160GB Western Digital:

- drive C-40GB: for program files, installing software and games

- drive D-10GB: for windows itself. Drivers and some software which needed to be with the same drive

- drive E-110GB: for backup, storage of programs, downloads, multimedia stuff etc.

20GB Maxtor:

- drive F-20GB: for BT, FTP, downloading

I don't know much about computer.

Problems:

1. Since the 20GB Maxtor is for storage only, actually do I need to install Windows on 160GB HDD only, or both?

2. If so, do you think which is better, keep the 20GB Maxtor as Wins 98, or upgrade to Wins XP?

3. Since when only one primary partition was set when I first used it, that means it would be set as active too. Do I need to do anything when I add a new HDD? I'm afraid it might cause some problems.

4. What is the use of keeping more than 1 primary partition? (I think multi-operating system is the only reason, right?)

5. Should I set Maxtor as the logical partition (the primary partition would be Western Digital), or keep it as another primary partition? Which is better? And "why"?

6. Finally do you think my partition is good? Any suggestion to my partition strategy? *Why*?

[wrban]

My incomplete opinion:

drive C-40GB: for program files, installing software and games

40 GB is good for drive C - also install windows on this drive too - no reason to get complicated by putting it on drive D - its better to have the games or pograms on drive D

drive D-10GB: for windows itself. Drivers and some software which needed to be with the same drive

see above

drive E-110GB: for backup, storage of programs, downloads, multimedia stuff etc.

Storage is ok, but backup ? On the same drive - backup from what ? - if your hdd will physically fail it won't help you if you saved anything on a different partition (like it happen to me a while ago), also messing w/ linux could get your FAT table corrupted and you migt again loose your data regardless of the partition you have it on.

20GB Maxtor: - drive F-20GB: for BT, FTP, downloading

Not recommended since ftp and especially BT require a lot of hdd activity and that is a 5400 rpm drive.

What I would do:

the 160 GB drive:

Drive C-40GB :Windows, drivers, program files some software.

Drive D-60GB: Programs that don't fit on C (we don't want to get C overloaded), program installation kits, games, downloaded files from E: drive

Drive E-60GB: Games, Storage, download FTP, BT whatever

the 20 GB drive:

One partition (maybe even w/ windows installed just in case - though you should consider Knoppix as an emergency situation): backup, storage (if the other hdd tops), mobile drive (with hdd racks or without )

1. Why install Windows on 2 drives ? One is enough - besides you would need a custom bootloader or to manually change the hdd jumpers if you want to choose what drive to boot.

2. I wasn't a big fan of Win XP at first (of course it was in beta stages then) - but it didn't take to long to get to like it. With the right adjustemts and tweaking you can get XP to run pretty well - you may run into some incompatible 16bit programs but most of these are old games. Compared to other Windows versions XP is stable (you won't get to see many bluescreens) and really fast - boots faster then Win2k on the same system ....

Good luck

[GeneralMandible]

I don't really mess with partitioning other than on servers. I agree with wrban on putting everything on the 160 GB drive (partitioned however). Then use the 20 GB as a type of rescue disk. Backup things like your user directory (Favorites, My docs, Shortcuts) and saved games. I'm guessing you have all your applications on CD so they are recoverable. A lot of people don't backup user created files. If you use File/Foler Syncing software you coud keep the backups up to date without spending a ton of time burning CD/DVDs.