Re: Multiple Hard Drive Advice

Hi John
Thanks for the interesting reply....some I understand and some I don't.
Can you explain a few issues within your posting a little further?
Below I have quoted you and then asked relevant questions on each quote.....

To Quote You 1
Put the OS on the fastest drive. 25 to 30 GIG is plenty for XP now and
most likely 5 years down the line, it does tend to grow. Putting your
applications on another drive or partition doesn't do anything for you.
That is where you're backups go.

Question 1
Please confirm....are you saying I am just as well to install all the
Applications on the same drive and partition as XP Pro?

To Quote You 2
Personally I like to make C: just a bootstrap partition and install the
OS(es) elsewhere, but that is just me, and if one OS will do for you
then unnecessary. But I will say that a backup OS sure comes in handy if
the one you normally use goes tits up and you don't have a spare comp
about to Google for a fix or download a replacement for a corrupt file.

Question 2
Can you explain a "Bootstrap Partition a little further" and where you might
istall your OS's?

To Quote You 3
Since you have more than one drive I would recommend using a dedicated
swap file (pagefile) on a drive that does not contain an OS and is
otherwise only used occasionally for backup. And in fact prefer a
dedicated smallish partition for the swap file so that it doesn't
intermingle with other data and get fragmented who knows where on the
drive. The reduced head movement to access a swap file guarantied to be
in a limited area and two drives running in parallel may only speed
things up a small amount, but every little bit helps. And since you have
the resources you may as well use them to you're advantage.

Questions 3
Can you explain a swap file a little further and how I would create it?
I assume when you say create the swap file on a drive that does not contain
contain an OS....would it be okay to create the swap file on the backup drive
on a dedicated partition.?
What type of partion should be used for the swap file..Primary or logical?

If you could recommend any further links /reading material that would be
appreciated.

"John" wrote:

Dermot wrote:
I am trying to gain a better understanding of all the practical options
available to me and the inter-relation ship between O/S and Applications.

I would appreciate suggestion regarding the practical advantages /
disadvantages of any configuration of the hard drives that would be worth
considering with respect to sensible use of my drives as I wrongly though I
could install OS on one drive Applications on the second and data in the
third......reinstalling the OS on one occasion meant the system could not see
the Applications on the other drive...so I had to re install them all anyway.

Can anyone advise me what is the most practical way to configure a PC which
has three hard drives installed on it. 20GB, 40GB and 80GB.

From the point of view of a fault and recovering from it, so am I best to
1. Install the OS (XP Pro) and all applications on one drive (Primary
Partition)

2. Use the other two for data backup (Logical Partitions).

Any help / Links ....would be appreciated

Thanks in advance


Put the OS on the fastest drive. 25 to 30 GIG is plenty for XP now and
most likely 5 years down the line, it does tend to grow. Putting your
applications on another drive or partition doesn't do anything for you.
That is where you're backups go.

Personally I like to make C: just a bootstrap partition and install the
OS(es) elsewhere, but that is just me, and if one OS will do for you
then unnecessary. But I will say that a backup OS sure comes in handy if
the one you normally use goes tits up and you don't have a spare comp
about to Google for a fix or download a replacement for a corrupt file.

Since you have more than one drive I would recommend using a dedicated
swap file (pagefile) on a drive that does not contain an OS and is
otherwise only used occasionally for backup. And in fact prefer a
dedicated smallish partition for the swap file so that it doesn't
intermingle with other data and get fragmented who knows where on the
drive. The reduced head movement to access a swap file guarantied to be
in a limited area and two drives running in parallel may only speed
things up a small amount, but every little bit helps. And since you have
the resources you may as well use them to you're advantage.

John

.

Relevant Pages

  • Backup strategy
    ... > I have a Windows2000 Pro desktop, and I created a backup job to daily ... Partition one of the drives into 4 partitions. ... in your mirror hard disk as your only hard disk to make sure that it boots ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: RAID, SCHMAID.......
    ... And risky to change it later without a full image backup. ... with & in the system images so I know exactly what's where & done when. ... Pity that just saving the OS partition wont do that, ... to what raid or 10K+ drives or other new drives bring to the table. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage)
  • Re: another Time Machine thread - still need SuperDuper?
    ... I was thinking of making the partition the same size as the Mac's boot ... experience with Time Machine, and someone who has a similar usage ... Machine backup looks like a complete copy of your data, ... I have two identical hard drives which I'll be using ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: Multiple Hard Drive Advice
    ... Putting your applications on another drive or partition doesn't do anything for you. ... Personally I like to make C: just a bootstrap partition and install the OSelsewhere, but that is just me, and if one OS will do for you then unnecessary. ... Since you have more than one drive I would recommend using a dedicated swap file on a drive that does not contain an OS and is otherwise only used occasionally for backup. ... The reduced head movement to access a swap file guarantied to be in a limited area and two drives running in parallel may only speed things up a small amount, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Time Machine: Spit!!!
    ... didn't give me any backup options., probably because there was no Mac ... that partition down and then use DU to put a suitable one on there as ... This backup dongle onto an external drive with a suitable Mac ... (any drives attached can be backed up), but before it could be excluded. ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
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