Brad Boutwell wrote:
>
> 2-part question:
>
> 1. I just installed a 20 GB HD (4 partitions - 1@2 GB, 3@6 GB).  I have a
> 6GB (2 partitions - 1@2GB, 1@4GB) as a slave on the same IDE channel (as
> slave). This is the problem, the OS (BIOS???) assigns drive letters as
> follows: MASTER: C, E, F, G  & SLAVE: D, H   How do I make the assignments
> sequential?  The new drive is much faster and I plan to use the 6GB for
> archival purposes only.  I want the 2 partitions (which I plan to combine)
> on the 6 GB to be last.
>
> 2. I have always been told that to have one or two large partitions is a bad
> idea, with the potential for more problems with many smaller partitions.
> Have I been mislead in this?  IE< How would you guys partition a 20 GB and a
> 6 GB setup?

1) I have this all the time I connect someone's HD to my system...
As I understand, you have two HD's with multipartition, and there was only
one of them before [the 6Gb one].
The idea is that Windows95, 98 [i don't know about
NT or DOS or others] places all _primary_ partitions first, and
others in order.

For example, your situation describes this:
HD1:
  Primary partition : drive C <<< placed 1st
  Extended 1,2,3 : E,F,G <<< in order
HD2:
  Primary partition : drive D <<< primary! placed 2nd
  Extended : H <<< after extended's of HD1 - the last one

The fix is simple. Your HD2 should have only extended partitions.
(erase primary of HD2, replace it with extended)
or you can make all partitions primary [w/ Partition Magic 4, for
example]).

2). There isn't a definite answer I can tell you. The tools for
disk management, etc. are very advanced, and the average amount
of problems doesn't depend on amount of partitions. Your only
and primary concern should be that this is good for you. For example,
I have the 2G Windows partition [Win98 and all apps]; a 500M
work partition, where I stuff my works, nicely arranged, and
a 6G partition for anything else (on 8.6 G HD).

Consider that if you make too few partitions, it will be hard for
you to find something on them; the multitude of directories and
files will be cluttering the Explorer, etc.

But if you make too many partitions, you'll have to scroll a lot
just to get to the drive you need...

And the last thing. If you don't like your partitioning, there
are commercial, shareware and freeware tools to resize and delete
them as you wish; so, you can simply experiment and adjust until
you find the best way.

Max Timchenko
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