Partitioning hard drive

Tom

Pre-XP and pre-RAID 0 (unpartitioned mirrored hard drives), I used Partition Magic and had 3 partitions on the HD, IIRC. Using Partition Magic, I was able to change the size of the various partitions when needed. So when my 2nd partition became too small I took a little available space from the 1st partition and a lot from the 3rd. Since I have the RAID setup and my copy of PM doesn't work on XP, I no longer use it and am not sure it works the same way on XP. :-\

Thanks Bernie. Why doesn't PM work on XP? The box of mine says it works with XP Home/Pro in addition to 2000/NT/Me/98/95.

Tom said:

Thanks Bernie. Why doesn't PM work on XP? The box of mine says it works with XP Home/Pro in addition to 2000/NT/Me/98/95.

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Tom

Because I have an old copy, pre-XP. Never upgraded to the XP compliant version. You have the new version that I will have to upgrade to in order to use it when I change my RAID setup to separate drives.

Tom,

My boot partition(the one with XP) is 8GB and I still have 2GB free.? But I did move My Documents to its own partition and moved the Outlook Express message store to a folder in My Documents.? This got the biggest user folders off of the boot partition.? I do let a few things install to the boot partition but only programs that become part of the OS and wouldn't be of use if I switched to another OS or another copy of Windows.

See the attached image for the PM display of my partition setup.? It's a bit complex but has evolved over 15 years and multiple operating systems.

The system drive is C: of course, and has nothing of any significance on it besides the boot files.? The XP boot partition is K: and H: is my removable backup drive.? M: is My Documents and S: is for the swap file, temp files and temporary internet files.

I don't recommend this configuration for others however

Thanks again Ned, that's pretty clear. It also answered another question i.e. that my partitions should be NTFS, not FAT.

Where will I find the Swap file on my PC and what function does it perform?

I don't use My Documents for storing my docs or images (prefer to create my own folders/directories), but realize that some programs use it to store configurations.

It's a rainy day here. so a good day for configuring and loading a new PC 

The swap file is used to page out parts of memory that aren't? being used.? It allows the OS to load more program and data into memory than the physical RAM available.? If Windows didn't have a swap file, you would need at least 512MB to do any useful work.? When parts of a program aren't being used, the OS writes that part to the swap file to free up the RAM for other, needed pieces of code.? That's why when you load up too many active applications, everything seems to slow down and the hard drive is constantly active due to the continuous swapping.

If you open My Computer | Properties | Performance tab | Advanced you will see the Virtual Memory section.? Click the Change button and you'll see where the swap file is being allocated.? For better paging performance, it's recommended to set the page file to a fixed size, usually 1.5xRAM size so it doesn't fragment.? For most home users, this isn't necessary and most will get little visible performance gain.? On a busy system, the difference can be significant, however.

I have found that putting things like photos in My Photos, videos in My Videoes, etc. where Windows expects to find them makes some tasks easier.? If you put all your data in My Documents on a separate partition, then you can either use convential backup procedures or just image the entire partition for backup.? As you can see, my My Documents is around 14GB so I image it.

Reading the Swap file explanation was definitely a HFWPOH moment    Thanks.

So, can we rebuild your computer at Moab?

Ned said:

So, can we rebuild your computer at Moab?

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We might have to

BTW I just installed PM. The first thing WinXP did was allocate 4.2GB to restore points, then created a restore point using 1.7GB of that. Do I need to allow for xGB of restore points, and how much should that be? Should it be on the same partition as the OS?

Tom,

I suspect Ned is into Coctail Hour now, so I'll try to answer your question. 

XP will automatically create restore points whenever significant changes will be made to system or some application files or drivers, and allows you to restore to a previous state (restore point) in case of trouble. Each partition on a drive has its' own restore point archive area and you can change the size by right clicking on My Computer, Properties, and opening the System Restore tab. Select a partition and click on Settings to allocate more or less space by adjusting the slider. Space is allocated as a percentage of partition size; not by a specific number of MB's. I usually set and leave it at Maximum.

Additionally, you can create a restore point any time you want - such as when installing O.S. updates or a new program - so you can get a wroking system back when (notice I didn't say "if") the MS updates don't work. :

kkolbus said:

Tom,

XP will automatically create restore points whenever significant changes will be made to system or some application files or drivers, and allows you to restore to a previous state (restore point) in case of trouble. Each partition on a drive has its' own restore point archive area and you can change the size by right clicking on My Computer, Properties, and opening the System Restore tab. Select a partition and click on Settings to allocate more or less space by adjusting the slider. Space is allocated as a percentage of partition size; not by a specific number of MB's. I usually set and leave it at Maximum.

Additionally, you can create a restore point any time you want - such as when installing O.S. updates or a new program - so you can get a wroking system back when (notice I didn't say "if") the MS updates don't work. :

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Karl, I run XP pro and have had this computer in operation for about 4 months. I just checked my restore and there were no restore points available so I created one!

What determines when the computer creates one?  I know when you are installing something new it will but is there any random method where it creates one.

This has been an issue before, as on my other computer, which I trashed, it had a couple of fanthom drives and the restore would create a point on one of those  and then it would give me a corrupted file messages for that restore point!

Anyway I do a full disk image every so often on a removable drive and store it elsewhere so have never worried about this system restore not working for me!

Bob

Thanks for the explanation Karl.

Tom,

What Karl said.  PM had nothing to do with the XP restore other than XP will create a restore point whenever an installation is done using the MS Installer, as I believe PM does.  I keep restore off for any partitions that have just data and those that have my older, trusted, applications.

Now it's cocktail time

Tom: Your welcome!

Bob:
XP Pro is different than the home edition and doesn't automatically create restore points. Scheduling their creation is something Ned will have to answer for you.

These quotes are directly from MS, and may be of some help:

System Restore does not monitor or restore contents of redirected folders or any settings associated with roaming user profiles.[\quote]

System Restore monitors and restores only the partitions and drives that it is configured to monitor, not partitions or drives that are redirected or excluded from System Restore monitoring.[\quote] ? ?

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XP Pro does create one restore point a day when the computer is idle.  By default, all drives are monitored except for certain folders like My Documents.  Any program that uses the MS Installer will also create a restore point, as will a driver installation if done via Windows.  However, if you turn off restore for all drives, then no restore points will be created at any time as there will be no space allocated for them.

Ned,

Just curious - Is restore point turned off by default in Pro? Bob said he had it installed for 4 months and it didn't create any.

I believe it's turned on by default.? I checked my settings yesterday and restore had been turned on for all my partitions and I had to reset the ones I don't want checkpointed.? I have no idea when Windows turned it back on, but it might have been SP2 that did it.

If Bob's install was an OEM version, it might have been turned off by the mfr.

I was looking around at some articles and it says Task Scheduler must be on to create a daily restore point! When I clean up my msconfig I usually turn it off so may be my problem, as I have never had any reason to use Task Scheduler. I have it on now so will see if I create daily point. This article had several reasons why you don't get daily restore points and one was the computer may be in use when its scheduled!

I have XP on CD which I used with persmission from Microsoft to install on my new computer I built so it was not OEM supplied.

Bob

Bob,

That is quite possible.  I always have one or two tasks scheduled so never turn off the task scheduler.  I don't see any restore point related task in my task list, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need it running.  It may be a somehow hidden task.

Bob,

I did a little snooping at MS and they say that turning off System Restore deletes all previous restore points. That may why you don't see any. Also says that restore points won't be created if disk space is low (200Mb or less), ad correcting the 'disk space low' or turning restore points back on creates one immediately. Couldn't find any reference to the Task Scheduler having anything to do with it.

Ned, I don't have any scheduled tasks and it still creates daily RP's, so you're probably right about it being a hidden function.