Should I create a partition for XP or rely on System Restore

[Harry]

I just upgraded computers and am now using Windows XP Home. On my last computer I had made several partitions putting just the Windows 2000 operating system on the C partition and then using Direct Image to make a backup of it. This worked out very well because several times my system became very sluggish from trying out so many different programs and even uninstalling and reinstalling the program wouldn't help. An image backup reinstall fixed everything each time. It was a blessing and saved me many hours of having to reformat and reinstall about 40 programs.

Is making a separate partition and image for the operating system still as important to do with XP or should I just rely on XP's system restore?

[kev7555]

Your process is still just as valid with XP. In some instances system restore files can become infected thus negating the value of using it. An image to restore your system is an excellent idea.


-Kev

[glc]

However, you want a larger partition for XP than you had for 2000, it has a much larger footprint. I would recommend at least 10gb.

Administrative note - please don't post in large bold fonts. Thank you.

[Harry]

Thanks,

I was thinking of about a 5 gig partition for the operating system since otherwise I would be wasting too much space since I want to keep that partition clear of anything else . I also have 1 gig of ram in this machine and I think virtual memory needs to have some open disk space too. I figure 4 gigs eventually for all the windows stuff and 1 gig free for the virtual memory. I also don't plan on doing any of the Windows upgrade things because I think they just bloat your system down. So that should keep file space down.

[kev7555]

4 GB isn't an awfully large partion, though I have successfully installed XP on a small drive like that. If you have a drive large enough for all of your other storage purposes it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave 10Gigs or so for XP.

[glc]

XP is going to bloat on you - it needs more virtual memory than 2000 and system restore uses disk space too. You NEED to do Windows updates - bloat or not, they are critical for security. Hence my 10gb recommendation.