Disk management help! (1 Viewer)

[Ari]

I set up my XP Pro machine around a year ago without much thought on disk management/partitions. It's currently set up this way:

80GB HD partitioned as:
10GB System (C)
10GB Programs (D)
55GB Files (E)

NTFS, Dynamic, Simple

XP indicates that my system disk (C) only has 1% free space and that I should do something about it. I currently have 79% free space on D: and 54% free space on E:.

Please walk me through what I should do. If I were to start all over again, how should I partition my HD? I'm thinking that the next time I should allocate 20GB for System and Programs together and the rest for files instead of giving System and Programs each their own partition.

 

[SethH]

What all do you install on your system partition? I know Windows keeps getting bulkier, but I can't imagine it needing any more than about 15GB (until Longhorn comes out at least). If you'd like to change things up without reformatting, try PowerQuest PartitionMagic . . . it's a great program and well worth the money.

I think your plan for repartitioning sounds pretty good.

 

[WayneO]

If you have your apps on a second partition, how could you burn up 9GB on just an OS? Run disk cleanup and defrag.........Also, I'd just use two partitions, one for OS and apps the other for files. If you blow away the OS and have apps on a second partition, trying to avoid reinstall I would think, you still need to reinstall many programs so that they are registered in the OS' registry to operate properly. Figure 25/50.

 

[Ari]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still undecided whether to start over again or spring for Partition Magic. A few questions about each option:

1. Any other programs that you can recommend aside from Partition Magic?

2. If I were to reformat, what would be the best way to go about it? Should I go NTFS or FAT32? Simple? Dynamic? And what should I use to partition??

 

[Palmino]

this is what i would do, spend $100 get new drive put that drive in the system copy all you stuff that you need onto that drive and then format you old drive and install everything again onto whole drive (your old one) but that is just what i would do

 

[SethH]

If you reformat definitely go with NTFS. It is far superior to Fat32! PartitionMagic is a great program, I do not know of any other programs that have the same functionality. There are probably some, but PartitionMagic is a very well respected program. If you reformat you can partition during the setup of XP. XP has that functionality built-in and it's very intuitive.

 

[Neal_C]

Partition Magic is a good program. I have used it in the past and have not had any problems changing the size of partitions.

However, I am wondering the same thing as other people. How did you fill up a 10GB partition that is just supposed to be the OS?

Have you checked the size of your swap file? If you are letting Windows manage the swap file, it will use up as much free space as it sees fit.

How about the size of your temporary internet files folder?

Neal

 

[Chris]

Realize, it's not just windows that installs on c:.

Even if you direct programs to install on D: or wherever, temporary files, etc. are still created on C: and DLL's, and common dictionaries/common files will go in CROGRAM FILES despite your best efforts.

Get a program like Partition Magic to expand a bit, then make this change:

Right click on my computer.
Go to PROPERTIES
Go to Advanced
Go to Environmental Variables

Create a directory on D: or E: or wherever you want called "TEMP"

Change the SYSTEM VARIABLE (not USER VARIABLE) location of TEMP/TMP to your newly created location. You may also wish to change that established for the username, but the one in your bottom section is most important.. (same with TMP)

Also, remember your my documents, favorites, and others are also all automatically on C: as well as internet explorer files. You can change where they are located in internet properties or minimize how much they want. In general, it will want to grab 10% of the total partition size.

 

[Ari]

I installed Partition Magic on my PC but unfortunately, it seems that it can't do anything on my HD. Whenever I choose an operation, it says that that operation cannot be performed. It doesn't even display the partitions that I currently have. It displays my HD as having only one partition and it's outlined in yellow. Is it because I have my HD set up as a dynamic disc?

 

[Chris]

Are you using PQMagic8? (not 7?) If so, it does support Dynamic discs..

 

[Ari]

It's Partition Magic 8. It doesn't even show the partitions I have on the HD. And the HD is highlighted in yellow ("other") instead of fuchsia ("NTFS") as I would have expected.

I'm leaning towards reinstalling the OS anyway since my old partitions are so screwed up. How big a partition would you recommend for OS and apps? Aside from my files, mailboxes, desktop and favorites what else should I back up? Would it make sense to back up the cookies and userdata folders?

 

[SethH]

I don't see any good reason to unless you save all of your passwords in cookies and don't remember them anymore.

One quick word of advice on reinstalling: make sure to turn on the XP firewall before connecting to the internet. Last time I reformatted I plugged my computer back in to the internet before setting up the firewall. Obviously I didn't have all the security patches since I had just reinstalled. Within about 2-3 minutes of being online I got the Sasser worm. There's still lots of worms floating around out there so at least turn on a firewall long enough to get the patches installed.