Partitioning a drive with xp

[john-the-plotter]

I have a 500gb drive. My question is does it make sense to partition it and have windows os on one part and all other files on the other partition to avoid less corruption of windows xp.

 

If it does make sense, then how do I make windows download xp updates to one partition, and all other downloads including office to the other partition. ( I know that XP updates are finishing soon)

My reason for thinking this is that I am always running into trouble with windows not operating correctly.

Also which partition will the desktop files be on ?

 

My drive is nowhere near full so plenty of space to play with.

[Ray1000]

My question is does it make sense to partition it and have windows os on one part and all other files on the other partition to avoid less corruption of windows xp.

 

People who know what they are talking about will be along shortly John, but in the meantime ...

 

I think it is a fairly normal thing to do but I have always done it the other way round where the O/S in in the main volume of the drive.

 

If it does make sense' date=' then how do I make windows download xp updates to one partition, and all other downloads including office to the other partition.[/quote']

 

Presumably by choosing to load Office onto the D: section of the drive the updates will be on the D; section, likewise the updates for the O/S will be on the C: section.

 

 

Also which partition will the desktop files be on ?

 

When downloading, installing or saving programs, files and folders you will be able to choose where to save them ... the two partitions will show as two "separate" drives.

 

Personally, not being over fond of a separate partition for the operating system, I have a actual separate 40GB HD instead. It is set as Master and the original 200GB HD set as Slave.

 

Only the O/S, Office, Antivirus etc are on the small drive ... it makes reformatting much simpler.

 

I'm assuming you are reffering to a desktop machine.

 

Ray

[KenB]

Hi John

 

Ray has said a lot of what I would :)

 

The main advantage of creating 2 partitions is if Windows has a problem and needs reinstalling sometimes it is difficult to access saved data and it could be lost.

Having a backup on a second partition makes sense.

This doesn't account for the hard drive developing problems and you wouldn't be able to access the data anyway.

Always keep a second backup off the hard drive - another external drive / DVD etc.

 

Putting software onto the second partition and keeping the C:/ drive just for Windows sounds logical.

The problem with doing this is that every piece of software that you want to put on your system has C:/ as a default.

You would need to remember every time to change the location before installing.

 

The Desktop is actually part of Windows - so this would be on the Primary partition C:/

 

You could have the icons for your software on the desktop but you would need to make sure that the target was showing "E:/ ....." or whatever letter the second partition is.

 

To create the partitions is not straightforward in XP.

Vista onwards it is easy and can be done within Windows.

You would need some software like Easus - click here

Nev has used this I think.

 

Personally - If you are that concerned - I would buy another 500GB hard drive and clone the first one.

This would be a direct copy.

If the first one dies - you simply pop the clone into the machine and you are good to go again.