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Re: Partitions...

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JakeD wrote:
> I'm using Gparted to create three NTFS partitions on my 160GB hard drive.
> 
> I am thinking of creating three partitions of approximately equal size:
> 
> Partition 1: for Windows XP OS and some progrmas to run on that OS
> Partition 2: For Windows Vista or perhaps Windows 7, plus some programs to 
> run on that OS
> Partition 3: To be used for storing data files created on various programs 
> on the above two partitions.
> 
> Questions:
> 1) Please confirm: Should I create three primary partitions, and flag the 
> first two as bootable?
> 
> 2) Gparted offers me the option of creating a DOS partition table. Should I 
> create one? 
> 
> Many thanks
> 
> Jake
Do you have a REAL need for two operating systems?
Yes, there are a few programs that won't run in win7 in compatibility mode.
And a slowly increasing number of programs that won't run in XP.
But, for most of us, EITHER one should suffice.
A bigger issue might be availability of hardware drivers.

Depending on your needs, and if you have win7 hardware drivers,
you may find it interesting to run XP in virtualbox under Win7.

Most interesting thing about that is that once you create a virtual
machine and activate it with M$, that image will run under virtualbox
on ANY hardware without reactivation.  Lawyers may fuss over that,
but if you have the XP image on only ONE box at a time, it'd be hard to 
prove
that you violated any TOS.

You'll be able to run both xp and win7 simultaneously.

If you already have Vista, it can be made to work, but if you're buying
a new instance, go for win7 instead.

I run win7 on one of a dozen machines and only because it was free at
a launch event.
Aside from the need for  more memory and better graphics card just
to learn that AERO is a joke, Win7 is mostly bloat
and eye candy that significantly slows the system.
If you have XP, for most of us, paying $200 for Win7 is ludicrous.

The most touted benefit of win7 is security.
Imagine that all the interior doors of your house automatically closed
and required you to enter numbers on a keypad to open them.  How long
before you tired of that and started wedging the doors open.

Took me about a microsecond to start researching ways to turn all that
crap off so I could use MY computer the way I wanted.

For people who only run a web browser and "office", and never change
anything, that's not a problem.  If you want to reduce the size of your
backups by deleting the huge amount of crap windows creates on a regular
basis, you'll be frustrated with the stock system.


With all that crap turned off, Win7 works about as well as XP.
If I'd paid $200 for the os in addition to a new video card plus
another GB of ram, I'd be pissed.
Too bad they moved the menus all around so you have to learn the
same user interface all over again.

I didn't intend for this to be a Win7 Rant...I actually like the
FREE win7 after I "fixed" it.

Back to your question.

My recommendation is not popular, but here it is.

The time to think about backing up your system is NOW, before you
partition the drive.
You want backups to be SIMPLE and quick, or you won't do 'em.

I regularly get phone calls from friends, "I installed A and B quit
working; how do I fix it?"
Stock answer is, "just restore the backup you made just before you
started mucking around with your system."
"I don't have one."
"Why?"
"Because it takes two hours and I don't have anywhere to store a file
that big."
"So, you want ME to spend my time bailing you out Grrrrrr!"

To that end, I recommend making your OS boot partitions as small as 
practical.
My XP partitions are 12GB, Win7 is 25GB, of which 15GB is used.
Different systems.  The way I dual-boot is to swap plug-in hard drives.

Anything that can be easily copied doesn't belong on your
boot partition.  Anything that requires ACTIVATION (M$ stuff) or
is deeply embedded in the registry belongs
on your boot partition.  A huge program like virtualbox belongs elsewhere.
Put all your media files, databases, ebooks, web archives, etc on a 
different partition.

Back up all the copyable files from the secondary partition ONCE.
Periodically copy changed files to your off-computer archive.

Use a free disk-vendor version of Acronis to do an image backup of your
boot partition to your secondary partition on a REGULAR basis.
My 15GB on C: drive takes 8 minutes to backup.  Until recently, it fit
on a single DVD.  Still easily fits on a thumb drive.
You can restore the entire boot partition from the same hard drive
in minutes.  Copy the image to your off-computer archive to guard
against complete hardware failure.

Yes, it's easy to come up with a situation where this is not optimum.
For most of us, it works fine and eliminates the "OH CRAP, my system
crashed and I don't have a backup" for the other 99% of us.

And it works just as well with a dual-boot system...if you must.

YMMV

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Thread

Partitions... JakeD <fgdfgdfg@ghghfgh.com> - 2011-11-07 16:33 +0000
  Re: Partitions... mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-07 13:00 -0800
    Re: Partitions... JakeD <fgdfgdfg@ghghfgh.com> - 2011-11-08 09:52 +0000
      Re: Partitions... mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-08 04:04 -0800
        Re: Partitions... JakeD <fgdfgdfg@ghghfgh.com> - 2011-11-08 13:39 +0000
          Re: Partitions... BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-08 08:15 -0600
            Re: Partitions... "RnR" <rnrtexas@gmail.com> - 2011-11-08 09:38 -0600
              Re: Partitions... BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-08 10:02 -0600
          Re: Partitions... mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-08 12:50 -0800
            Re: Partitions... wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-09 20:31 +0000
              Re: Partitions... mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-09 12:49 -0800
                Re: Partitions... wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-12 09:38 +0000
        Re: Partitions... BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-08 08:44 -0600
        Re: Partitions... wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-09 20:27 +0000
      Re: Partitions... Tazz <dmswaine@gmail.com> - 2011-11-08 15:26 -0400
        Re: Partitions... mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-08 12:21 -0800
          Re: Partitions... Tazz <dmswaine@gmail.com> - 2011-11-08 19:33 -0400
            Re: Partitions... mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-08 17:32 -0800
      Re: Partitions... wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-09 20:24 +0000

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