At 04:08 PM 01/22/2001, Linda Aldridge wrote:
>I'm purchasing a new computer with a 40GB hard drive and Windows ME.  I've
>seen discussion on the list about partitioning hard drives so that if the
>operating system fails you only have to reformat that partition so you don't
>lose your information on the other partitions and that it makes defragging
>quicker, because you don't have to do the entire 40GB at one time.
>
>My questions are
>
>-how do I partition it to isolate Windows ME, how many MB's or GB's do I
>leave it?
>
>-how do I get the 4GB's of graphics, midis, etc. off my old hard drive and
>onto my new one?
>
>-how many partitions do I make and how big should each of them be?


Personally,  I would install your new hard drive as a slave drive to
your existing drive.  Then, make one large partition.  You can zip
up the old drive to your new drive for a backup.  There is a lot of
controversy about special partitions for swap files and Windows.
Personally, I see no great speed increase in making a lot of partitions.

If the drive goes bad, all the partitions we be lost anyway.  You can
make separate partitions any size you like, for what ever purpose
you desire.  Remember to make your  Windows directory partition
at least 2gigs in order to accommodate files added as software is
loaded.   A swap file partition does not need to be any larger than
500mgs...  but, once again, I do not particularly recommend making
all these partitions.  Just keep both drives in the system and back
up your data from one drive to the other.

      Bob Wright
The NOSPIN Group

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