Re: (2nd) HDD Format & Setup Suggestions Please


"TimBud" <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:111283AF-2024-4CAA-95A9-B46E1B842B29@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Thanks for your input Tim! I really appreciate it. Would like to hear a
> few
> others suggestions also please just so I can see the moral majority
> suggestions, no offense to anyone's opinion(s) of course! :o)
>
> I am guessing it may be getting to the point of failure, when the system
> completes the BIOS Post, makes the strangest sound, but once only. I'd
> like
> to keep it online to use for temp stuff, paging file would be best I
> think. I
> use offline back-up with Quicken (10GB storage limit), I have an APC UPS
> also.

If you are going to leave this connected, then run extensive testing on it.
Completely reformat it, and then try a lot of file copies to it - some large
files and a lot of small files. Consider downloading the manufacturers test
program - most have one online nowdays.

> What is ---> "Copy off / zip / NTBackup" Is this the WinXP backup?

Yes.

Copy - use any of the file copy commands eg Copy, XCOPY etc.
Zip - use zip to do backups
Backup - use the built in Windows Backup utility. Many people don't use it -
I will never understand why as it is perfectly adequate so long as you don't
need software compression and some bells and whistles. It is simple, works,
and *reliable*.

> Ok, so I can start out with one Volume as "C" and then make more
> partitions
> afterwards?

Yes. Either way. There is no need to use 3rd party partioning tools for a
'normal' setup (sometimes getting rid of Linux partitions, Manufacturers
hidden install partitions etc can be a pain).

> Sounds easier to me as long as there is an aggravated chance of
> the drive crashing and my losing all data already loaded on the new drive.

Creating more partitions using Disk Management is safe. If you were to boot
off a floppy and use some 3rd party partition manager you are at more risk.

> No, I thought the same thing in terms of the page file size. The max RAM I
> can have on this board is 1.5GB anyway, so the huge 5GB page file didn't
> make
> sense to me at all. PerfMon proved that very quickly while running quite a
> few programs in sucsession. So, the best option would be to rid everything
> from my old HD and use it for my Page file I assume and also in terms of
> latency for accessing the page file, yes?

With a No and a Yes in there, I am not too sure what you are saying... The
thing that is quite conclusive is to look at say Task Manager (Ctrl Alt Del,
Task Manager) and look at Physical RAM vs. Peak Commit Charge. If Peak has
been over Physical then the Page File will have been used to the degradation
of system performance. If Total is over Physical then the system is
currently running Oversubscribed (IE needs more physical RAM to stop
unnecessary paging). Remember everytime the page file is actually used (IE
you use more ram than is in the machine) system performance drops like a
brick. You are best avoiding this scenario & with 1.5GB RAM that is a lot of
RAM and you might find you never get near it - it all depends on what you
use the system for.

This is a big simplification - but with XP you are not likely to see a lot
of programs that actually manipulate Virtual Memory directly - by far most
just use "RAM" IE they use only as much memory as they need to without going
to any great need for lots of it. Some games (and some server applications
incl. File Sharing) will make extensive use of Virutal Memory EG some games
load Scenes into Virtual Memory from CD / DVD while you are playing the
current scene - this means when you progress to the next scene it only needs
to be paged into real memory again - if there is not sufficient real
physical memory to hold all of it.

>
> SATA RAID, yep, agree too but this system was in exchange for payment of a
> small security system I installed and it was a better one than the old
> Gateway crap I had. ;o)

Great.

> For the separate backup of Data only. What do you suggest in a nutshell
> that
> the "Data" contain for back up on a daily basis? I am probably backing up
> way
> too much currently with my online service.

All but software? Beware of some crappy apps that install databases in the
Program Files directory.
System State is a must.
All data you know off.
Your Documents and settings folder - exclude IE Cache folders, Temp
directories etc.
Try a search on your system of files modified in the last 6 months to find
out where these files are. Make a judgment on many of them as to whether
they are part of the OS and so will get recreated with a fresh OS install
(loss of physical disc).


> As for the pirated copy, shooting it I can do. *Where I live that is! ;o)
> Guess, I'll see how the ole 44 mag is doing tomorrow.
>
> "Tim" wrote:
>
>> I would do this....
>>
>> > My plan is to disconnect the existing HD while I format and install XP
>> > on
>> > the new HD, then connect back up, is this ok to do? Should I keep the
>> > old
>> > HD
>> > on the secondary IDE and the bootable CD-ROM and new HD on the Primary
>> > IDE
>> > for better performance? Both HD's would be jumpered as Masters correct?
>>
>> Treat the install process as a new system install with your new fresh
>> copy
>> of XP while the old HDD is disconnected.
>>
>> When the new install is 100% connect Old HDD on the Primary IDE channel
>> as
>> SLAVE (you could connect it elsewhere, but you may lose CD's or DVD-RW)
>> then
>> Copy off / zip / NTBackup the old HDD & if it is failing throw it out
>> after
>> stomping on it a lot.
>>
>> Don't worry about paritioning before starting XP install. During the
>> install
>> process you will have a screen where you nominate where to install XP -
>> via
>> that screen you can whatever partitions you need. For the purposes of
>> Install, create the C drive partition only with the correct size leaving
>> room for the other partition(s) - you can create the others after you are
>> up
>> and running using Disc Management (in Computer Management in
>> Administrative
>> tools). IF you do it this way, the partition will be set active
>> correctly.
>>
>> This:
>>
>> > I would like to have the paging file on it's own partition. Does it
>> > matter
>> > where this is partitioned on the HD? Size of partition? A network
>> > engineer
>> > suggested to me to make it 5GB.
>>
>> is a complete waste of time as it will guarantee Drive Seeks for the swap
>> file will have to go further down the disc and so slow the system. If you
>> have another disc drive (physical disc) then you can set the page file
>> there. If this disc is on the same IDE channel, this is a waste of time
>> again. (If you had a SCSI setup, it would be quite different.)
>>
>> The best performance gain you will get on this system is the new disc
>> drive.
>> It is higly likely to be significantly faster than the old. Personally I
>> would have considered SATA disc drives on a low cost SATA RAID controller
>> (they cost peanuts).
>>
>> Do you have 5GB of RAM? No... Let windows manage it for you, just make
>> sure
>> your C drive is large enough for Windows + Apps + Page File + Hyber File
>> (if
>> you want ot allow Hybernate) + Free Space. It is rare to find
>> applications
>> that need a big swap file. If you do have one then this is fine, but
>> otherwise the general rule is to let Windows manage it for you - the
>> default
>> page file size in MB = MemorySizeInMB x 1.5 + 2MB and should be on C so
>> that
>> post mortem dumps can be written there. IF the machine was previously a
>> server - esp a file sharing server, the advice may have been good then
>> with
>> a server OS, but your workload is quite different in nature.
>>
>> You would be best to look at the PerfMon (performance monitor - in
>> Administrative Tools under XP / W2K) statistics and make a qualified
>> judgement on what is doing what using what resources when the system is
>> up
>> and running. You can always move swap files to different partitions
>> later -
>> sort of.
>>
>> > Besides that, should I have more partitions than that as to not create
>> > a
>> > disaster later on down the road?
>>
>> Backups! Offsite Backups! UPS! :) My preference is to store data in a
>> data
>> partition, and backup all of that partition daily. It does take some
>> effort.
>> Depending on system size and backup capability to know well what software
>> is
>> installed, CD keys, CD's are at hand and have backup copies and take the
>> attitude that loss of the system volume (C) will require a reinstall,
>> reconfigure and then restore of data only. "Home" Systems tend to be too
>> big
>> to backup completely so a separate partition for Data is always a good
>> idea.
>> Use partitions when it makes sense / has benefits, not to complicate
>> things
>> or force longer seeks.
>>
>> > Lastly, what methos should I use in formatting, etc? Should I use the
>> > XP
>> > CD,
>>
>> Use the XP CD during setup - only keep the pirated copy as long as it
>> takes
>> to get everything off it then shoot it (fdisk) and stomp on the drive :)
>>
>> > WD software or Disk Management in the existing pirated copy?
>> >
>> > After all is said and done, I'd like to scrub and reformat the existing
>> > HD
>> > for other uses. Will I need to install XP on that drive or will it use
>> > the
>> > XP
>> > copy on my new HD?
>> >
>> > Thanks all for reading and any help you can give to this HD newbie. I
>> > am
>> > sure I have a few things backwards in my description above.
>>
>>
>>


.

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