Installing XP

Jaffa.

When Installing XP, is it best to partition the disk in half and have C: for the OS and for My Documents, or does it not really matter?

benjrsmith

That is the best option because if it ever corrupts or anything then if you have to re-install xp then you do not write over your documents.

But its worth using an external as a backup anyway.

chunter

How big is your hard drive? you need to leave enough space for installing programs.
Disdavantage of using this split method of programs / documents is that for it to work properly you need to set the My Documents folder to the other drive. Most people don't bother so it becomes a bit pointless.
Same for the likes of Outlook Express, Itunes etc.

Jaffa.

It's only an 80GB drive,

spakkker

You could just use 20-25GB for the XP install partition, if you re-install xp a lot may be best to create an image of your install

KathysBoy

I have mine partitioned in this way. Its very easy to change the folder locations, Outlook etc.

I would allocate 50gb for xp and programs etc. Unless you've got lots of music 30gb should be plenty. After I've installed XP and all the programs, and ran all the updates etc, I create an image of my C Drive which I store on the other partition (D Drive). I have Vista and MS Office etc. Once everything is installed the size is about 25gb, which crunches down to about a 12gb image on compression. Every few months I reimage my C drive to get rid of all the rubbish thats accumulated, update, and then save a new image.

I find this a very effective way to manage the efficiency of my pc. Also I don't worry if I have any problems, I just reimage.

DCFC79

KathysBoy wrote: »

I have mine partitioned in this way. Its very easy to change the folder locations, Outlook etc.

I would allocate 50gb for xp and programs etc. Unless you've got lots of music 30gb should be plenty. After I've installed XP and all the programs, and ran all the updates etc, I create an image of my C Drive which I store on the other partition (D Drive). I have Vista and MS Office etc. Once everything is installed the size is about 25gb, which crunches down to about a 12gb image on compression. Every few months I reimage my C drive to get rid of all the rubbish thats accumulated, update, and then save a new image.

I find this a very effective way to manage the efficiency of my pc. Also I don't worry if I have any problems, I just reimage.

i should have done this when i bought the new hard drive and installed xp

savetilibleed

KathysBoy wrote: »

I have mine partitioned in this way. Its very easy to change the folder locations, Outlook etc.

I would allocate 50gb for xp and programs etc. Unless you've got lots of music 30gb should be plenty. After I've installed XP and all the programs, and ran all the updates etc, I create an image of my C Drive which I store on the other partition (D Drive). I have Vista and MS Office etc. Once everything is installed the size is about 25gb, which crunches down to about a 12gb image on compression. Every few months I reimage my C drive to get rid of all the rubbish thats accumulated, update, and then save a new image.

I find this a very effective way to manage the efficiency of my pc. Also I don't worry if I have any problems, I just reimage.

That's interesting.

1. When I had this PC built I got them to partition the drive with My Documents at C:\Documents and Settings\PC User\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst. But I didn't think about Outlook files (nor did the shop who built the PC). Can I retrospectively move Outlook files to and how?
2. The disc image you mention - too late for me to do it now as it has had more than a year to get corrupted, but how is that done?

BTW I had XP Home (didn't want Vista at the time but wish I had now, although I still prefer XP :cheesy:). The disc is 250Gb, partitioned so C: is 100Gb and is 150Gb.

On the upside I do backup my Outlook files with Outback Plus 4 to a USB stick and less frequently backup My Documents to USB stick.

KathysBoy

savetilibleed wrote: »

That's interesting.

1. When I had this PC built I got them to partition the drive with My Documents at C:\Documents and Settings\PC User\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst. But I didn't think about Outlook files (nor did the shop who built the PC). Can I retrospectively move Outlook files to and how?
2. The disc image you mention - too late for me to do it now as it has had more than a year to get corrupted, but how is that done?

BTW I had XP Home (didn't want Vista at the time but wish I had now, although I still prefer XP :cheesy:). The disc is 250Gb, partitioned so C: is 100Gb and is 150Gb.

On the upside I do backup my Outlook files with Outback Plus 4 to a USB stick and less frequently backup My Documents to USB stick.

Can you clarify that you actually have a C and a D drive, as from what you describe these are not partitions. It's not a problem as you don't as its easy to create them.

1. There are a couple of ways to move the Outlook pst. To be honest I find the easiest way is to copy the original file and paste it wherever you want.e.g d:\outlook folder. I normally rename the file with my name. Then its file, Data File Management, Add, select your type of file, and location. When you have done this you should see see two storage files in your data files, the original and the one in your d drive. Make your d drive the default, close outlook, reopen and delete the original (it only delete the record not the file, so you have an old copy still on your pc. I tend to leave this.

2 You need some disk imaging software. I personally use Paragon Partition Manager, but there are others, and you can get some free one here. You simply make a image and set it to store on your D Drive, although with partition manager you can also write it to DVD (but i find that slow). If you have a network you can also write across that. I image my wifes laptop to my D drive, as I have more space on the desktop. If you need to reimage you simply insert the recovery cd and select the image. All your documents, music, outlook etc are not touched because they are not part of the image.

In your situation, assuming you have the original disks or downloaded program files ( I have all mine on my d drive) I would reinstall and create an image.

Vista is okay. I upgraded from XP Home (as I bought my pc in the window just before Vista was issued so I would be able to swap back if necessary. ). Having said that if I were you I would not upgrade until windows 7. I'm currently running the beta version and although its essentially the same (with a few bells and whistles), I have found it more stable than Vista (even though its only beta) and faster. I think I will definitely upgrade when its released.

savetilibleed

Oh yeh I see what you mean I got myself confused. I typed where the Outlook files are now

Yes it's a single physical disc partitioned (by the shop who built the pc) into C: and . They forgot to set it properly so that My Documents pointed to as agreed. It went back and they sorted that and a few other glitches so My Documents is now at d:\Documents and Settings\PC User\My Documents.

Thanks for the info about moving the Outlook folder to .
When I go File>Data File Management>Add, I have two folder types listed now -
Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst), and
Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst).
Could that be because I originally had Outlook 2002 (in Office XP) but subsequently upgraded to Office 2003?

Re Imaging. Does that, involving the use of software such that you refer to, make another partition that one then points the to ? Or is an image something different.

Re Vista. That was my thinking at the time - skip Vista and go for Windows 7. Mind you I suppose by the time Windows 7 is out my 4200 dual core Athalon/1Gb RAM/250Gb HDD etc won't be up to the job. Easy enough to upgrade RAM I know, and even I suppose the fastest processor that can be substituted.

KathysBoy

No, the first part is just the Microsoft standard options. I have Outlook 2007, which I upgraded from 2003, and I get the same options

As far as imaging is concerned, if you use Partition Manager you just point it to where you want to store the file. e.g. I store mine on my D drive in a folder called Backup (LOL). When you're starting the process it allows you to select where to store. In terms of the image you want to create an image of your c drive (not the whole disk). When you restore, you select the image file from d drive and away it goes. As far as I remember it takes about 45 minutes to create the image and about 75 minutes to restore (using normal compression). If you use best compression which is smaller it takes about twice as long, but if space is a problem this may be better. Also Partition Manager allows you to break the files into any size when its creating the image, so mine is about 5 2gb files. This makes is easier to copy onto a rewriteable DVD, a memory stick or Sd card if you want to create some space. I'm sure other software will have similar features

An image file is essentially just a backup file, but it backups everything thats on the C drive at the time. Because I use this I have turned off the Windows system restore as that takes up space. When Microsoft stopped computer manufacturers giving you the windows disk, this is what you now get from them to restore your pc - an image of the disk (including the software they install).