Partition Advice

[Babylon]

Hello!!

Wasn’t really sure where to post this, but I guess its kind of XP related (not really).
I’d say my PC is running okay, but it’s already slowed up a bit! I was going to take a back up of my drives the other day, but it was going to take 12 CDs, and wouldn’t use ½ that many if I’d planned ahead properly… anyway, here’s what I’m talking about…


I’ve partitioned my HD into 3 sections (C:, F:, Z: ) and they are all NTFS.

C: is for windows + documents and settings folder + installed programs
F: is for my files + my files + my files !!
Z: is for temp files + ones that change size regularly + firewall/anti-virus

To start off with I thought it was a reasonably well organised/thought out and it would help to keep my pc running as smoothly as possible as well as keep fragmentation low…

But, if I want to take a back up of a few windows files that have changed, and the documents and settings folder, I also have to take a backup of all my program files (which seems pointless as they are never really updated… plus I still have the install CDs/install files).

To take an accurate backup of my Z drive is even worse; there is a 1.5gb page file plus 1gb of temp internet files (and all I need a back up of it around 60mb) which I obviously don’t need to keep a record of.


So, it seems like my plans backfired… my questions are

1) It is possible to have too many partitions? (I know seems unrelated) because……
2) I wondered if partitioning my drive the following way would have been more effective (letters aren’t really important): [ C: (5gb) windows XP Home, a few programs (such as firewall/anti-virus, IE6, MSN, you get the idea) and documents and settings (such as email, some temp files, etc) | D: (5gb again) which would be for program files only (so games, imaging software, Office XP +the extras, etc) | E: (5gb again…) which would be for windows98 (would actually have to be at the beginning of the drive… but it just thought I should include it) | F: (60gb) for my files | G: (5gb) for temp files like temp internet files, page file, and a few others I can’t think of ]
3) If 2) seemed reasonable would it actually boost system performance? I think It would have been more effective if all the data which loads on start up has mainly been on the first drive (like my antivirus/firewall).
4) Is it worth my bother doing uninstalling everything (all the programs) and re-installing them if 2) seems reasonable, or should I just live with it until my PC goes wrong again?
5) What would anyone else have done?

Thanks

Last but not least, using windows XP home i thought there was a way to create a backup of the profiles on your computer (such as email, documents, favourites, etc...

what exactly does it take a backup of, how do i get to it? It it just system restore point thingy cause i'm not wanting to take a backup of drivers and such too)...

[reboot]

1.) Not really. Have/make as many as you like, although making a bunch of 5mb partitions is pointless. I like to keep them all between 5 and 15 gig, depending on what they're used for.
2.) Not too bad, but I would make the main OS partition about 8 gig for XP home.
3.) Yes, and much faster to defrag as well.
4.) No.
5.) Get Norton Ghost and play with them until you get what you want.
Last but not least, I have never used, nor seen any way to backup just profiles and such.

[Babylon]

I wanted to back up profiles to keep most of my settings and such
Thanks for the reply, and i already use DriveImage 2002