Partition Questions

Ok so after reading and finding out about this more from reading the forums here it sounds like it can be quite useful and save time in the future if i need to re-format but i had a few questions, now i know when you have a HDD and they say its about 80% full or so things start to slow down because of lack of free space but say i have 2 partitions 1 ex is 10gb for just windows xp and all that "system" stuff say its up 8gb out of the 10gb is that going to slow xp/that partition down since its about 80% or more full on that partition?

also second question would be ok i have XP and system files on say Partition C: 10gb and then all my programs like photoshop, pictures, games, music etc on D: which is say 90gb, then i get a virus on C: and have to reformat wouldnt all my programs not work after i reformatted cuz dont they have registery entries or something that wouldnt recognize when you reformatted a new windows?

 

To address your second question, as you noted you would have a problem if you formatted because the registry codes would be gone. Though it depends on the program, you may be able to simply backup the registry keys before you format and reinsert them into the registry. But probably programs with more advanced anti-piracy features will give you trouble.

 

No offense, but in the future, a wee bit of punctuation would be nice. Makes it much easier to read the question...

About the speed, things generally shouldn't slow down when the disk fills up.

About the second question, yes, the registry entries would be gone, so you'd have to reinstall your programs (or mess with the registry yourself), but it would mean any data that's stored along with the program would be preserved. That might be log files (for an IM client), configuration files (virtually every program), plugins, savegames, as well as your music and whatever other data you have.