How much do I need (using XP) in a partition for Windows and Program Files?

I just reformated my hard drive and did NOT partition. Now looking back and doing some research I want to have a partition for Windows files and Program Files and a 2nd partition for all my data, music, pictures etc.

I am going to try to use Partition Magic or just reformat but I want to make sure I put enough on that partition for Windows and Programs.

I have XP. Currently the Windows directory takes up about 4.5 GB while the Program Files takes up about 2GB. So would I be safe with making the 1st partition about 10GB or so? Or would there ever be a reason that I'd run out of room? I have a 320GB hard drive so I have some room to spare, but I just don't want to waste space on that partition if I don't have to.

I've searched existing threads but many discuss Vista or Windows 7 which I assume would have different size demands than XP.

So how much should I put on that 1st partition for Windows and Program Files?

Thanks in advance!

 

Well, that sorta kinda depends on how many programs you plan on installing and using.

 

If you have partition magic, why not just install everything then resize the partition to whatever the computer needs.

 

Yeah ^^^ agree with that. Partition magic is pretty sweet like that.

 

I don't actually have partition magic but it was suggested in another thread that they offer a free trial period so i was going to look into that. But if I can't that means I'll have to reformat. And if so, I'd rather not do that multiple times if I don't have to.

As far as how many programs, I don't really plan on installing anything out of the ordinary. No games or anything like that. Right now, it's just your basic anti-spyware stuff, Turbo Tax, Adobe, Microsoft Office...stuff like that.

 

Take 5 gigs, add the space of your programs, and add 5 to 10 gigs of leeway.

 

I usually set 20 GB for XP, 20 for Linux, and the rest for data.

 

If you have linux, you can use the commonly available tool called gparted to resize the partition. It's free and it offers everything that partition magic can do.

 

I think 20GB should suffice. I have even less than that but I keep Program Files in D: and only Windows in C:. I also moved My Documents to E:. That makes 3 partition on my drive.

 

Three huh? Interesting..I hadn't thought of that. Any advantage to that? Disadvantage?

Also, when I load XP, along with Program Files and Windows directories, it creates a Documents and Settings directory that contains Favorites, Cookies, Desktop, My Documents etc. Do you just throw that in C: or D: ? I figured I could throw that in one of those partitions and just link the My Documents directory to the E: drive. Is that what you do, or do you not even use the My Documents concept? I like to use My Documents to simplify things for my non-techie wife.

I do not have Linux but thanks for the users who replied referencing that.

 

Just a note to the people who likes partitions:
The more partitions you have, the less efficient. The hdd access time will skyrocket, and your throughtput will decrease by a considerable amount.

 

@ the op,

Here is a link to one of my previous posts regarding this subject:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4396015#post4396015

I also have a 320gb hd and have just under 40gb allocated to C: for windows XP and programs. Although that may be overkill for now, I've seen other C: drive partitions start to fill up with smaller partitions. Since I can't really predict what new programs I'll be installing, I decided to error on the side of having too much space instead of too little. FYI, I just got this new 320gb hd and reformatted and partitioned about a month ago now. Before that I had a 160gb with similar partitions. Good luck!

 

Also take into consideration pagefile size. Typically windows can use double the amount of ram for its pagefile. So if you have 4gb of ram, make sure you allocate 8gb of space just for the pagefile.

 

Thinkpad,
Would simply cutting and pasting the Documents and Settings folder into the D drive after an install, do the same thing as telling XP to do it during install (as your linked post discusses)? Is there any difference between the two methods?

I think I'm going to error on the side of caution and allocate 20GB for Windows and Program Files. I figure I can always repartition or reformat later if need be.

 

lithnights,

I think simply cutting and pasting the Documents and Settings may not work as you need it to. Before I found the recommended link, I experimented with changing the target of the My Documents folder and if memory serves right, possibly even trying to cut and paste the D&S folder to the D:drive. Unfortunately none worked as I had hoped. I found that although My Documents resided on the D:drive, other profile settings remained on the C:drive. If you google moving the My Docs or Docs and Settings, you'll come across all kinds of recommendations from simply changing the target on the folder properties to going into the registry to move all kinds of other profile settings. I think the recommendations that mention the registry settings at least can give you more detail on why these registry settings would need to be made. I would summarize those reasons like this. When you install your entire XP install to the single C partition, all kinds of registry entries and folder targets and who knows what else are installed pointing to the C drive. By simply moving just part of that to the D drive does not guarantee that the other related parts will play nice with that single move.

When I first experimented with some of these recommendations (before finding the recommended link), I did this for a "non-techie" sister of mine. As stated the My Docs did end up on the D drive partition but several months later, when I was working on my sisters's pc for some other issue, I found that her 40gb C:drive partition was almost entirely filled up due to her saving files and not realizing that they were being saved to the C drive instead of somewhere under her profile and not necessarily just under her My Docs folder. Since I fixed that issue over a year ago, I have no more specifics beyond that , but I think they had to do with her using music software (and the like) that auto saved files under her profile but not necessarily under My Documents.

I eventually found the link I pointed out and in the several times I've used it, I've never run into a problem after using it. Before I upgraded to my 320gb hd, I used this solution on my 160 gb hd for over a year with no related problems. My sister and at least other 3 other pc's have had the same solution applied between 3 mos and 8 mos ago with no related issues. The link and it's solution installs the entire profiles folder (Docs and Settings and all that entails) to the D partition during installation. I think the "during installation" is the key point here. No further tweaking of the registry or any other modifications are ever needed. This means any non-techie user who has a profile (or uses the default profile) does not ever need to worry about having to point any of her saved files or other settings to the D:drive. Saving in her profile or My Documents automatically saves it to the D partition. Plus any other settings/folder, like those in "Local Settings", Application Data, Desktop folder and Favorites and others I don't even understand or know about would also reside on the D:drive. Actually there is only one real modification you might want to make after you install using the link steps. If you look at my link and the picture I posted, the default drive names are "Local C" and "Local D". This is also similar to the default name if you install to just one partition, C. I ended up changing the names of those Drives to WinXPP and Data respectively. That can be done by rightclicking on the drive and choosing properties and changing the name at the top of the default general tab.

I hope that answers your question. In summary, I think there is a world of difference between just simply cutting and pasting the D&S folder to the D partition and using the solution in the link. Take a look at your current D&S folder (on your current C partition) and the various profiles that currently reside under it. Look at all the subfolders under it and you can start to get an idea of what possible registry entries may also need to be modified if you try to change the profile location after the fact, so to speak.

The steps in the link are not as difficult as they may seem at first glance. If you were planning on reformatting to begin with, then all you would simply be doing is slightly adjusting the install CD to begin with so that it points the profiles (and all that entails) to the D partition. You were already committed to partitioning part. I also recommend the use of the free G Parted Live CD to partition with.

 

One final clarification: The place I work has always partitioned their Windows XP installs with a C and D partitions. Windows and Programs has always resided on the C partition and Docs and Settings (profiles) has always resided on the D partition. I tried to find out from my local tech people how they achieved this but they said they used a pre-configured image that already had the partitioning built it. If you click the link (within the solution link) where the author thanks MFSN for some of the CDIMAGE GUI screenshots, you'll see there is much much more you can do by manipulating the install files to slipstreaming Service Packs in the install CD, etc. I'm pretty sure the work image my local techs use is built using similar steps to achieve installing the profiles to the D partition.

 

Wow thinkpad, thanks for spending so much effort on this answer.

So I guess the moral of the story is that in order to get it "right" I should not copy and paste. But where I'm not clear is whether you are saying I should reformat or just repartition using the program you reference.

The link seems to insinuate that I will be reformating but later in the post you mention I should use a "free G Parted Live CD ". I've read through the instructions a couple times now, maybe I have to read through them a couple more to truly understand what it's saying to do...

Sorry if I'm being dense here, this is all new to me.

 

There might be some advantages to that and disadvantages. Leaving only Windows on C: maybe makes it faster for booting because there's only windows files there but only if there is nothing else to read at start up. I don't have too many programs at start up, coz I prefer my NB to boot faster. so i believe there is an advantage there though I never really tested that and it's only a theeory. Maybe it's mine, maybe I read it somewhere or modified, I don't know really anymore.

There is also the other side which is that now when booting, it has to read from two parts of the disk, instead of only one, if compacted all on C:. One other thing is that the files on D: are going to load a bit slower than on C:, because D: partition is slower than C:. This breaks my theory but only if you have a lot of programs on D: to load at start up.

E: partition, in my case, is only for games and My Docs. I install games there to keep them in one place,compacted as much as possible, which in my opinion makes them load faster than keeping them mixed with Windows, Program Files and other.

To move My Docs , right click on MY Docs and then you'll have an option to move them where you want. Never had any problems as above.

 

As I understood your plans, you want to partition your hard drive to have a C drive which contains just Windows and Progams and a D partition which contains all your profiles and their Data.

If you want to use the link steps I recommended then you would have to first use G Parted Live CD to partition your hd with a C and D partition. Then you would have to reformat to use the new install CD you would create using the recommended link solution.

If you decided to just cut and paste the D&S folder to a D partition, then you would not need to reformat. You could just use G Parted Live CD to partition your already formatted hd to add a new D partition and then take your chances on trying the cut and paste idea.

Here is an example of the google search results I mentioned earlier which mention the needed registry changes if using the cut and paste method.

http://www.dyonisii.com/cgi-bin/waterwheel/index.pl?case=win&sub=mds

This link gives an example of some of the registry entries that would need to be modified in order to accomplish a move of the D&S folder after it was initially installed to the C partition. It's possible you may want to try this as I found another link in which a couple of people stated that worked for them but please understand, I have never tried the steps in any of these links in this post.

http://forums.techarena.in/customize-xp/1040191.htm

So if you were going to reformat anyways, I'd use the recommended link I provided in my original suggestions. If you'd rather try to avoid reformatting, then you might want to try the links in this post. I have never tried these. You would be trying them at your own risk and of course should back up your files which ever method you decide on.

Hope that answered your questions. If you decide to try original recommended link, you can continue to ask me question in this thread and/or feel free to PM me with any specific questions and I will do my best to assist you as time allows. Others may be able to give you more help with G Parted. My G parted knowledge was enough to be able to partition but I'm no where the best resource for G Parted.

 

@ grbac,

It's possible the OP may be able to get along fine by just doing as you recommend but since the OP mentioned his non-techie spouse, I think just moving the My Documents folder to a D partition may not cover all scenarios that his non-techie wife may encounter. You are tech savvy enough to have created 3 partitions and know when and where to save to each one if prompted. A non-techie person may not know what to do if faced with a situation where they have to chose a partition. Plus the profile's Favorites, desktop icons and a whole set of other profile settings would remain on the C partition and not on the D partition, which may or may not cause any issues down the line. For example, if you look in this directory, C:\Documents and Settings\whatever_your_username_is\Application Data\, you'll find a whole lot of folders that were automatically created by installing programs, such as Ms Office, Irfanview, Mozilla, Winamp. Under this folder, C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Local Settings\Application\Data, you'll find other similar profile files, such as the default install location for outlook pst files (your email). If you save a lot of email like I do, eventually you have several gigs of email files and if those pst file were not manually pointed to a D partition location and instead allowed to remain in their default install location on the C partition, they could be taking up a lot of space on the C partition. (C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook)

The point is, simply moving the My Documents, will not move the profile settings described above. In my sister's case, she had some music software and the like which automatically saved to a location in her profile but not under My Documents. It's possible the OP and his non-techie wife may encounter a similar software and if the profile settings do not reside on and/or point to the D partition, they may inadvertantly be filling up their C partition when they think they're saving to their D partiton which defeats the original purpose of creating the D partition.

I agree the easiest route would be to just move the My Documents. (By the way, I do not have the option to Move my My Documents when I right click on it. Perhaps this is because my My Documents is already on the D partition.) But I just want to point out possible issues that may be encountered and that the last links I provided point out by virtue of the recommended registry mods. At least the OP has a variety of choices now.

 

It's definitely possible to have a very small XP installation. I keep all my music on a separate partition, so nothing of size gets stored in My Documents.

 

Yea, those links sure have some in depth and potentially confusing instructions! I'll stick to your suggestions.

So basically, yes you are right, I "want to partition your hard drive to have a C drive which contains just Windows and Progams and a D partition which contains all your profiles and their Data. "

I guess where I'm getting thrown off (and it's through my own ignorance of this topic) is why would I even use Gparted if I was going to reformat? When I reformat (which I assume is the term I should use where I put in my Reinstallation CD and reinstall Windows, thus wiping out everything on my laptop), it gives me the choice to partition out the hard drive, doesn't it? If I can partition there, why do I need Gparted?

I'm probably getting terms mixed up or just don't realize exactly the difference between reformat vs. partition vs. reload Windows etc.

Thanks!

 

I think you understand the difference between reformat and partitions. I'm probably not being as clear as I should be so sorry about that.

I think you're right about the XP install giving you the choice to partition out the hard drive. But I don't know if the partition choices that present themselves during the XP install will be sufficient to allow you to use this solution. In order to use the link solution, you would need to have a D partition already there when you install windows to the C partition and I think you need to have that D partition already formatted to NTFS. That is what I think you may not be able to do using the XP install partitioning feature. I think that will allow you to create the D partition but not give you the opportunity to format that D partition to NTFS until after you've installed XP. (Added this for clarification: After posting this, I remembered that when I originally tried this, I did try to just use the XP install partition feature for my needed partitions. Now I remember that I was not able to make it work using the XP install partition feature. Eventually I concluded that I needed to use G parted. There is plenty of info about G parted Live on the net and even though I read as much as I could beforehand, I was still very unsure of myself the first time using it. But now, I think I've gained enough confidence in the product to recommend it to others.)

You might be able to try this anyways. It's possible the unallocated (unformatted) D partition is sufficient for this solution and will format when the custom XP install you create, tells it to install the profiles to the D partition. I suppose you can just go ahead and try that (experiment). It may take a couple of hours to get the answer. Side note: Although I've never used a VM like VirtualBox, that is a possible option for you to test this on your current XP install. I don't mean to further complicate your project but I thought I'd mention it. From some recent reading I've done (info mostly found on this NBR forum), this is an ideal use of VirtualBox.

If you find the XP install doesn't allow you to prepare the D partition fully, G Parted Live CD is an option.

I will try to briefly tell you what I think you would need to know if you decide you need to use G parted. Here is link for G parted live Cd:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

Download one of the stable versions ISO file. You can use this free software to burn the ISO file to a CD

http://cdburnerxp.se/download.php

After you create your G parted CD, you can stick it in your CD tray and reboot and your computer will boot into Gparted live. The first main window you see will ask you to choose which version of Gparted you want to use. I always choose the default number one choice or the "Force Vesa" choice. I believe the reason for the large number of choices has to do with the possible wide variety of pc and their hardware that might use G parted. After choosing, you'll get a bunch of scrolling text on your screen and you might have to hit enter at least twice to accept the default keyboard and another option I can't recall right now. Be patient with it and let it finish loading.

After it finishes loading, you'll finally get to the partitioning window. Included in this post is an old screenshot of the partitions I created using G parted. Note I also have my Ubuntu partitions on this screenshot as well as 5mb unallocated. You don't want to end up with any unallocated like I had in this old screenshot of my old 160gb drive.

Gparted is very intuitive IMO. Set your C partition to the size you want and format to NTFS. You may try to set the flag to boot. I think it's possible the XP install will set the flag to boot automatically. Try to set it here and if you can't, proceed and the XP install should set it. Then create an extended partition for the balance of the hard drive. Set the flag of the extended to lba. I don't know the reason for this flag but it's what I've always done. I'm sure I read it somewhere. Then within the extended partition, create your D partition and format it to NTFS. After you click Apply, G parted will create the partitions fairly quickly. (It's only when resizing that partitioning may take longer). After you exit, be patient again and let it shut down or reboot and then you're ready for your custom XP Cd.

I hope I've answered your questions.

 

@thinkpad99 - Yes, you are correct when you say that a nontechie person could have unwanted "trash" left behind in C: if he/she doesn't know when and where is something saved. I'm aware of the files being deployed on C: and clean them regularly. Currently my C: is 4.88GB, 2GB being the hibernation file(I removed the page file).

So yes for him, the best solution would be yours, but mine is easier(obvioulsy).
I don't know why you don't have that option on right click MY Docs. Mine is also on E: and I still an option to move somewhere else or to put it back to default. BTW. I have XP, that maybe makes a difference.

 

you hard disk is 320 GB. so it has lot of space.

first window xp needs 2 GB for the installation. but you can make the partition up to 20 GB .

it depends up on you how many programs installed in your computer . so you can create a partition according to you .
create one partition for the windows and the other for the data.
you can create more than two partitions.
but you can create only one primary and three extended partition.