I have HP Pavilion 8380 running Win98 and will be installing a new hard drive
as the primary drive.  The prospect of setting up a seperate partion for the
operating system has great appeal.  I may also decide to set up a partition
or two for data, one for me and one for my son, but not sure yet.  However, I
would prefer not paying for any software (Partition Magic) as I don't expect
I will be using it for anything but this one task.  The operating software
will be installed from an HP recovery disk so I expect my options will be
limited.

Here are the issues, as I see it:

I understand that a new drive can be partitioned in DOS.  However, with a
recovery disk, that might not be an option.  I am currently operating the
system on the original hard drive.  Can I partition the new drive in DOS as a
slave to the existing hard drive, then establish the newly partitioned new
drive as the primary drive?  If so, where is a good tutorial for doing so?

On an old thread, someone suggested that there is an option to partition when
you initially install WIN98.  Would that be an option on the HP recovery
disk?  Will the decision point be clear, or do I have to be very careful that
I don't blow past it?

How large should the partition be for the operating system?  Will the
recovery disk allow me to easily put the operating system on one partition,
and the other programs on another?

Which options are viable?

William Closure

PS       My thanks to all on the PCBUILD and PCSOFT lists.  Without you, I
wouldn't even be considering installing the hard drive on my own, much less
setting up partitions.  Without your help I wouldn't be learning, much less
asking questions!

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