Smart Partitioning

[TromboneAl]

My new computer should arrive today, and my plan is to format the drive to remove all the bloatware that Dell installs (trial software, AOL, etc.), and then reinstall XP.

Here's my current thinking on partitioning:

• System partition of only 4.3 Gig, so that I can back up the system to one DVD (the backup will be created (or restored) by booting from a CD with a backup app on it from Nero).
  
• Working partition of about 8 Gig, so that with compression, I can fit a backup on one CD.
  
• Partition of 4 Gigs for the page file.
  
• Big partition for other stuff.

Any thoughts, ideas?

[azanon]

The days of needing separate partitions are practically obsolete, given how stable XP is. In the old days, it was nice to keep it separate so you could redo your OS once a year or so.

I built my system though, and i made the "mistake" of letting windows do my intial partition on my latest machine. The windows XP software limits the partition size to 130mb? (not sure exact number atm), but there's a way to support larger partitions than that. So once i made it into windows, i just used my western digital software to partition the rest of the drive.

[OAG]

Have you thought about a 80 or so GB external USB connected Hard Drive for Back up? They can be found for under $100. Sure makes the backup project easier and can be done in conjunction with your weekly defragmentation, Virus Scan, and other maintenance chores. Just a thought. Personally I do not back up anything but my data files which can currently be done on a 4 GB ($25) USB 2.0 Flashdrive.

Contratulations on the new Dell, I followed your recent PC problems -- sometimes I think it takes more time to fix and maintain this stuff tha it takes to just use it.

[OAG]

AZ -- I have a 200 GB HD and XP Pro uses it all; actually the single partition is 189 GB after formatting.

[wabmester]

Originally Posted by TromboneAl

My new computer should arrive today, and my plan is to format the drive to remove all the bloatware that Dell installs (trial software, AOL, etc.), and then reinstall XP.

When you reformat, you need to reinstall much more than XP. There are plenty of drivers and systems management stuff that aren't included on the XP distro. (This is even more important for laptops than for desktops.) And the thing almost everybody forgets to reinstall is the MPEG decoder.

Unless you're planning to do something crazy (like install multiple OSes), I would just uninstall the bloatware rather than formatting.

[riskadverse]

I always partition a new drive at least into 3 parts. I put the operating system onto C:; use a large partition for data on D: and a copy of my old computer on E: When I need something I used to use on my old computer, I go looking on E:. Also I would recommend converting at least the C: partition to fat32 instead of NTFS. If you ever need to try and retreive data by booting to DOS, NTFS partitions won't be accessable.

I'm with Wab on this. You'll probably get 'recovery disks' which contain all the needed drivers in addition to the other crap software. Deleting the unwanted stuff is the way to go.

I have just loaded XP before and spent too many hours troubleshooting stuff that was not working. And as Wab indicates, Laptops are pretty much impossible to run without the recovery disks.

[AltaRed]

I use an external USB connected HD for all my backups.

[CyclingInvestor]

I always remove all the boatware manually, then add on all of the applications
I use (winzip, MediaPlayer Classic, Firefox, freezone, ...), then do a full save. This
gives me a convenient point to back up to if its gets bloated or questionable
in the future.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I am with Wab, C-T and A-Red.

I have tried to back up programs but it doesn't work unless you make an image of the drive. So, make an image.

It takes me a while to purge the pre-loaded junk, hog-tie Windows to where I am in control and not Bill Gates and install my freeware. Some stuff I leave just because it doesn't get in the way much and I am afraid of causing unintended consequences.

[TromboneAl]

Hello from my new computer. I counted about 61 bloatware applications. I used a special application called (not making this up) the Dell Decrapifier to remove many of them automatically.

But they have left a lot of things behind such as directories. For example, although I uninstalled AOL, there are still 21 files and folders on my system that start with "AOL."

Also, there are a lot of mystery apps -- I can't figure out what they do, so I don't want to delete them.

Anyone know what these do:

Otto
Gemmaster mystic
Learn2 Player
EducateU
Digital Content Portal
URL Assistant
Web Cybercoach

I'd like to clear the decks and start with a clean system, but it just doesn't seem possible. I agree it's just too risky to format and reinstall Windows.

Thanks for the advice.

[lazyday]

I'm not as expert as some here, so read at your own risk, might not be the best idea:

A year or two ago, I formatted a new Dell Inspiron, and made it dual boot with three NTFS partitions. (Plus a fourth small partition from Dell for restoring drive.)

Getting XP up and running was relatively easy, but no guarantees on your notebook!

I think I first burned an XP install disk(?) and a CD with the important drivers from the Dell website (screen, mouse, maybe others), then formatted drive, probably used 2000 to partition it(?don't recall), then installed XP on main partition.

There were some aspects of dual boot with another OS that were challenging. XP Pro instead of Home on main partition may have been easier, not sure.

[riskadverse]

Originally Posted by TromboneAl

Anyone know what these do:

Otto
Gemmaster mystic
Learn2 Player
EducateU
Digital Content Portal
URL Assistant
Web Cybercoach

Probably not too many people other than the authors. Can't imagine anything there of any value or intregal to the operation of xp. You could rename the subdirectories with an x ahead of them, and see if xp continues to work for the next couple of months, and then kill off all the x subdirs after awhile. Remember, you're probably never going to fill the hard drive so don't get too worried about left over stuff. I'm kind of like you though, after a whole career of trying to save disk space, I find it hard to tolerate the crap left over from software de-installs.

[TromboneAl]

I've always backed up in such a way that I can go back and restore any file that was on my system within the last few months. This has really saved my butt a few times.

But I've now given up on flakey tape drives, so the only way this is going to happen is if I back up regularly to DVD. To do that easily, I have to keep things under about 9 Gigs or so.

I've never believed that you can selectively back up only your data files, because applications can be just as annoying to lose (with their settings) as data files. But I might be forced to change my mind on this.