Paul...
        I recently went through the same quandry with a P4 which I bought
pre-built which had about the same specs as yours as well as XP pre-installed. I
usually like to have about 10 gig for the OS and "documents" etc. From there I
usually divide the HD into 3 more partitions, for digital pics, and, yes.. Old
Steam Engines (especially Berkshires!), a partition for music, and..a last one
for other important stuff.. In light of the fact that the OS was pre-installed,
and hearing of the occasional horror stories of re- installing XP, I elected to
just "leave it alone" for a change. I just make sure to burn lots of backup
disks. Another advantage of the partitioning is that it's usually just the c
drive that needs a defrag, and 10 gigs goes a lot faster than 100 gigs. To
overcome that I went out and got the newest version of diskkeeper, which works
like a charm, and quite quickly. So far (4 mo.) all's been just fine!

Rich Tabas
Phila Pa
(PRR territory)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Paul A. Valentine" wrote:

> Hi Group,
>
> I have just purchased a new VPR Matrix computer. (To replace an HP system
> that I have quickly grown to hate, and am selling!) Before I start using it,
> I was wondering if it would be generally beneficial to do any partitioning.
> It's a P4 2.4 GHz.on an Intel MB. It has Win XP (oem) pre installed on a WD
> 7200rpm 100 GB HDD. I also have available a new WD 80GB 7200rpm,(w/8mb
> buffer) HDD to ad to it for backup purposes, but not yet installed.
>
> I am too old to be a Geek, but only mildly frightened by these high tech
> boxes. I have read that it is better to have the operating system on a
> separate partition than the data. My intended use for it will primarily be
> for general home use(No games), the internet, email, and I do enjoy some of
> the picture news groups(Steam Trains, Old Hotrods, etc.); then mostly for
> personal photography,(Grandkids), and graphic editing software.
>
> I would appreciate any of your opinions and suggestions on partitioning, Y
> or N, and if Y, suggestions on partition sizes for optimal system
> performance, and how to segregate data in each partition.
>
> I certainly Thank You for your opinions,
>
> Paul
>
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        The NOSPIN Group provides a monthly newsletter with great
       tips, information and ideas: NOSPIN-L, The NOSPIN Magazine
           Visit our web site to signup: http://freepctech.com