Quick tips to PARTITION new laptop?

I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 8500 for my son. Now he's home between
college terms and ready to move over to it. But we both think we should
partition the hard drive before installing much. It is 60 gb. (I think we'll
divide it APPROX. 15 GB for C, 15 GB for programs and games, and 30 GB for
Data and Music.)

In June 2002 I got a Dell Dimension 4500 and bought Partition Magic 7.0. I
remember that there was an upgrade I had to download and install from the
company before using it. I have the Partition Magic 7.0 box and CD here, but
don't remember the update info or recognize it in my Downloads folder.
I hope I can use it again on the laptop ... it was expensive and only used
once.

Not much software came on the new Dell; I only ordered Works, since he can
either move Office XP from his old laptop or buy the new 2003 Student
version.

Could someone who is comfortable and familiar with partitioning please give
us some advice to get started?
Thank you.
Nan and Andrew

PS: Last time (6/2002), I kept C as NTFS but made the other drives Fat 32.
What is the most flexible way to go now?
Just in case it matters ..... he's a Communications major, uses a lot of
music and photo, some games, no programming, and will study overseas next
year.

Hi,


My personal advice on partition would be:

C: contains windows as well as its programs, there is namely no use in
separating these out in partitions (NTFS)
D: Small partition of a few gigabyte, as SWAP space for windows, and
make it FAT32, is much faster thatn having a swap on NTFS (believe me
really true)
E: I alwasy installs have a small second windows, which does not
contains any extra software, but this allows you to always boot your
machine, which can be quite nice in times of trouble, should only be
sufficient to fit windows, you can use the same SWAP paritition
F: Data space, can be made quite large, but if I where you then you can
make still separate partitions to split your data depending on waht it
is, like music and video on a seperate partition from all your other
working documents ....
And finally I still add some partition for backup of data, and to
install linux, but sounds like you don't go for that OS.


Hope this helps on deciding,
Enjoy


Whelan wrote:
I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 8500 for my son. Now he's home between
college terms and ready to move over to it. But we both think we should
partition the hard drive before installing much. It is 60 gb. (I think we'll
divide it APPROX. 15 GB for C, 15 GB for programs and games, and 30 GB for
Data and Music.)

In June 2002 I got a Dell Dimension 4500 and bought Partition Magic 7.0. I
remember that there was an upgrade I had to download and install from the
company before using it. I have the Partition Magic 7.0 box and CD here, but
don't remember the update info or recognize it in my Downloads folder.
I hope I can use it again on the laptop ... it was expensive and only used
once.

Not much software came on the new Dell; I only ordered Works, since he can
either move Office XP from his old laptop or buy the new 2003 Student
version.

Could someone who is comfortable and familiar with partitioning please give
us some advice to get started?
Thank you.
Nan and Andrew

PS: Last time (6/2002), I kept C as NTFS but made the other drives Fat 32.
What is the most flexible way to go now?
Just in case it matters ..... he's a Communications major, uses a lot of
music and photo, some games, no programming, and will study overseas next
year.

Unless you're willing to wipe out the laptop and start over, you need
PartitionMagic. Just go to www.partitionmagic.com and download the fix
again. You'll need it to properly support XP.

Tom
"Whelan" wrote in message
...
I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 8500 for my son. Now he's home
between
college terms and ready to move over to it. But we both think we should
partition the hard drive before installing much. It is 60 gb. (I think
we'll
divide it APPROX. 15 GB for C, 15 GB for programs and games, and 30 GB for
Data and Music.)

In June 2002 I got a Dell Dimension 4500 and bought Partition Magic 7.0. I
remember that there was an upgrade I had to download and install from the
company before using it. I have the Partition Magic 7.0 box and CD here,
but
don't remember the update info or recognize it in my Downloads folder.
I hope I can use it again on the laptop ... it was expensive and only used
once.

Not much software came on the new Dell; I only ordered Works, since he can
either move Office XP from his old laptop or buy the new 2003 Student
version.

Could someone who is comfortable and familiar with partitioning please
give
us some advice to get started?
Thank you.
Nan and Andrew

PS: Last time (6/2002), I kept C as NTFS but made the other drives Fat 32.
What is the most flexible way to go now?
Just in case it matters ..... he's a Communications major, uses a lot of
music and photo, some games, no programming, and will study overseas next
year.

OK, I'm very comfortable and familiar with partitioning, so here is my advice: Don't.

Seriously. What will partitioning the disk accomplish? What benefit will it give you that you won't
get by simply using different folders for your different kinds of data?

Consider the flexibility you will be giving up. What if it turns out you needed 16GB for programs
and games? What if System Restore uses up more room on your C drive than you realized?

Really, your life will be simpler, and you'll have a lot more usable space on your hard drive, if
you just leave it as one big NTFS partition and create folders as you need them. Then you have *all*
of your free disk space available for any purpose you want.

Use partitions if you have some compelling reason to, not because it sounds like a good way to
organize your drive--it isn't.

Here's one example of where partitions make sense: On my ThinkPad, I have a very small (50MB) FAT
partition at the beginning of the drive. This partition holds disk utilities that run in DOS, such
as Ghost, Drive Image, and the like. The rest of the drive is a big NTFS partition for Windows XP. I
use System Commander to select one partition or the other to boot from. The small DOS partition
saves me the trouble of booting from a floppy when I want to run Ghost or similar programs--it's not
a way to organize my data.

Other than specialized uses like that, partitioning a drive just doesn't pay off.

Hoping to save you a lot of headaches... :-)

-Mike

Whelan wrote:
I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 8500 for my son. Now he's home between
college terms and ready to move over to it. But we both think we should
partition the hard drive before installing much. It is 60 gb. (I think we'll
divide it APPROX. 15 GB for C, 15 GB for programs and games, and 30 GB for
Data and Music.)

In June 2002 I got a Dell Dimension 4500 and bought Partition Magic 7.0. I
remember that there was an upgrade I had to download and install from the
company before using it. I have the Partition Magic 7.0 box and CD here, but
don't remember the update info or recognize it in my Downloads folder.
I hope I can use it again on the laptop ... it was expensive and only used
once.

Not much software came on the new Dell; I only ordered Works, since he can
either move Office XP from his old laptop or buy the new 2003 Student
version.

Could someone who is comfortable and familiar with partitioning please give
us some advice to get started?
Thank you.
Nan and Andrew

PS: Last time (6/2002), I kept C as NTFS but made the other drives Fat 32.
What is the most flexible way to go now?
Just in case it matters ..... he's a Communications major, uses a lot of
music and photo, some games, no programming, and will study overseas next
year.

Uzytkownik "Mouse" napisal w wiadomosci
...

E: I alwasy installs have a small second windows, which does not
contains any extra software, but this allows you to always boot your
machine, which can be quite nice in times of trouble, should only be
sufficient to fit windows, you can use the same SWAP paritition

Is any problem with an external HD for booting WinXP (e.g. FW drive)?

jh

You're going to a lot of extra trouble for no good reason. Best to leave it
as is or at best just create a second partion for backup. Makes it very
easy to format and reinstall the OS on the first partition.

"Whelan" wrote in message
...
I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 8500 for my son. Now he's home
between
college terms and ready to move over to it. But we both think we should
partition the hard drive before installing much. It is 60 gb. (I think
we'll
divide it APPROX. 15 GB for C, 15 GB for programs and games, and 30 GB for
Data and Music.)

In June 2002 I got a Dell Dimension 4500 and bought Partition Magic 7.0. I
remember that there was an upgrade I had to download and install from the
company before using it. I have the Partition Magic 7.0 box and CD here,
but
don't remember the update info or recognize it in my Downloads folder.
I hope I can use it again on the laptop ... it was expensive and only used
once.

Not much software came on the new Dell; I only ordered Works, since he can
either move Office XP from his old laptop or buy the new 2003 Student
version.

Could someone who is comfortable and familiar with partitioning please
give
us some advice to get started?
Thank you.
Nan and Andrew

PS: Last time (6/2002), I kept C as NTFS but made the other drives Fat 32.
What is the most flexible way to go now?
Just in case it matters ..... he's a Communications major, uses a lot of
music and photo, some games, no programming, and will study overseas next
year.

I use partition magic to make a second partition (FAT32) so that I can use
GHOST to make a c drive disk image to the second partition. This allows me
to recover from software problems. This strategy will not protect from
hardware failures however.


"Michael Geary" wrote in message
...
OK, I'm very comfortable and familiar with partitioning, so here is my
advice: Don't.

Seriously. What will partitioning the disk accomplish? What benefit will
it give you that you won't
get by simply using different folders for your different kinds of data?

Consider the flexibility you will be giving up. What if it turns out you
needed 16GB for programs
and games? What if System Restore uses up more room on your C drive than
you realized?

Really, your life will be simpler, and you'll have a lot more usable space
on your hard drive, if
you just leave it as one big NTFS partition and create folders as you need
them. Then you have *all*
of your free disk space available for any purpose you want.

Use partitions if you have some compelling reason to, not because it
sounds like a good way to
organize your drive--it isn't.

Here's one example of where partitions make sense: On my ThinkPad, I have
a very small (50MB) FAT
partition at the beginning of the drive. This partition holds disk
utilities that run in DOS, such
as Ghost, Drive Image, and the like. The rest of the drive is a big NTFS
partition for Windows XP. I
use System Commander to select one partition or the other to boot from.
The small DOS partition
saves me the trouble of booting from a floppy when I want to run Ghost or
similar programs--it's not
a way to organize my data.

Other than specialized uses like that, partitioning a drive just doesn't
pay off.

Hoping to save you a lot of headaches... :-)

-Mike

Whelan wrote:
I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 8500 for my son. Now he's home
between
college terms and ready to move over to it. But we both think we should
partition the hard drive before installing much. It is 60 gb. (I think
we'll
divide it APPROX. 15 GB for C, 15 GB for programs and games, and 30 GB
for
Data and Music.)

In June 2002 I got a Dell Dimension 4500 and bought Partition Magic 7.0.
I
remember that there was an upgrade I had to download and install from
the
company before using it. I have the Partition Magic 7.0 box and CD here,
but
don't remember the update info or recognize it in my Downloads folder.
I hope I can use it again on the laptop ... it was expensive and only
used
once.

Not much software came on the new Dell; I only ordered Works, since he
can
either move Office XP from his old laptop or buy the new 2003 Student
version.

Could someone who is comfortable and familiar with partitioning please
give
us some advice to get started?
Thank you.
Nan and Andrew

PS: Last time (6/2002), I kept C as NTFS but made the other drives Fat
32.
What is the most flexible way to go now?
Just in case it matters ..... he's a Communications major, uses a lot
of
music and photo, some games, no programming, and will study overseas
next
year.

I used partition magic on Win XP and then decided to undo the partition to
gain hard space for another program.

The deleting of the partition caused corruption of the boot section on the
hard drive.

I had to do a complete reformat.

I called Powerquest about this prolbem. They told me that once partitioned,
the removal of the partition is risky at best. Better to leave it and
re-allocate space.

So, if you're going to partition, that is the way it has to stay. Live and
learn.

I 'm not going to partition again.

No so in my experience. I've used PM 8.0 to partition, resize and merge
partitions on 5 systems, (4 XP's and ME), without any problems what so
ever. BTW......Powerquest has been acquired by Symantec.

--
Curt

http://partition.radified.com/

Brian




"Whelan" wrote in message
...
I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 8500 for my son. Now he's home
between
college terms and ready to move over to it. But we both think we should
partition the hard drive before installing much. It is 60 gb. (I think
we'll
divide it APPROX. 15 GB for C, 15 GB for programs and games, and 30 GB for
Data and Music.)

In June 2002 I got a Dell Dimension 4500 and bought Partition Magic 7.0. I
remember that there was an upgrade I had to download and install from the
company before using it. I have the Partition Magic 7.0 box and CD here,
but
don't remember the update info or recognize it in my Downloads folder.
I hope I can use it again on the laptop ... it was expensive and only used
once.

Not much software came on the new Dell; I only ordered Works, since he can
either move Office XP from his old laptop or buy the new 2003 Student
version.

Could someone who is comfortable and familiar with partitioning please
give
us some advice to get started?
Thank you.
Nan and Andrew

PS: Last time (6/2002), I kept C as NTFS but made the other drives Fat 32.
What is the most flexible way to go now?
Just in case it matters ..... he's a Communications major, uses a lot of
music and photo, some games, no programming, and will study overseas next
year.