Just some info partitioning. Partition Magic 8 is great and easy to use, also the BootIt program can partition your hard drive as well as make images. I did mine with PM 8 even though I have BootIt. It’s really up to each individual how much space you want for each partition. It’s a puzzle to me why some people keep everything on one large HD. Maintenance and backups take a long time when you have to do it on one large partition.
This would be just an example of what I would do if I had small 40 gig HD with XP on it. If your are going to start from a point where you already have a lot on it and I’ll say 12 gigs is used.
Partition the drive in 2 first and move things from C: to the new partition.
Put things like images, movies, mp3 or other sound files, etc. on the new partition.
Make another partition if you like for backups.
To make your backup images as small as possible you can change your internet cache, and mail to the second partition, and because these are always being changed they will not be fragmenting your C: drive either. I also moved my pagefile.sys to the second partition it isn’t something that needs to be backed up. I disabled Hibernation and that saves space, and then I turned off System Restore to save more space, since I have the backups I don’t need it or use it.
I have some large programs installed on the second partition such as the Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition (736 mb), Microsoft Picture It! 9 (424 mb), E-Sword (639 mb). I don’t need to back these up every time. I try to keep XP around 3 gigs, but have 8 gigs on that partition.
Using just about any imaging program those 3 gigs will fit on 3 CD’s because the images are compressed, and that’s if you do wnat to put some on CD’s once in a while. to make room on your backup partition.
There are some things to consider depending on you PC and if you have certian programs installed already.
If you have GoBack and maybe the Restore-IT program installed you will need to uninstall them first before doing making any partitions. Always investigate any programs you have installed that have changed or monitor your MBR (Master Boot Record) They will have to be uninstalled. first.
If you have a PC that has a hidden partition that has your factory recovery on it then that’s a nother thing to check out. Many of the newer PC’s have this hidden partition.
Oh my, this can really turn into something that could take a lot of explaining for a post like this. One has to look at their PC as to what steps to do. There is not just a simple answer that would fit each PC.
Once you have partitions and a good image program you’ll never go back to what you had before. Norton bought Partition Magic too!
I have had people come over my home just to give them a demo, I delete programs, unstall programs, delete windows files so the PC will not ever boot up. I take out a little floppy with IFD in it or put in a bootable CD or DVD, and in a few minutes Bingo it’s just as it was before we did the damage. What happens is they ask me to come over their house and setup their PC. like that. I have done 3 this year, and you should see the confidence they have in that they don’t have to worry about much at all if something goes wrong with their PC.
J