I need to reformat the 60Gb drive on my laptop and I would like to partition my hard drive to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I wanted to put XP Home in one partition and my docs on another.
1. Would 10Gb for the 1st / XP partition and the remainder for the second partition seem reasonable?
2. I will put the MyDocuments folder on the 2nd partition - do I try and install all programs on the 2nd partition, right? The 'Documents and Settings' folder sits on the 2nd partition also, right? I think I want to keep Windows away from everything, to keep it 'pure'.
3. Will any programs try to deposit temporary files application data in the 1st partition - and do I then shift this data over to the 2nd partition?
I have just bought and installed (to the point of completing initialization under Disk Management) a new 1 TB hard drive. Originally, I was planning to use it solely for data storage.However, I am thinking of installing Windows XP Pro and all the programs I currently use on it, thereby making it the new OS and programs drive, while using the original 120 GB HD as a data/backup drive.I think the main appeal of doing this, for me, is that it also presents an opportunity to reinstall Windows on a machine which hasn't had this done for more than three years, and which currently seems to take at least five minutes to boot to a "usable" state, despite having a reasonably high spec for its age (it was bought in 2001, but as a result of the upgrade
not being computer literate , i am having a problem with a new hard drive . i took out the old one . i have the windows disc and product codes , but i can't get it to boot to start the windows installation. i have done it on another computer , and the disc begins installing windows on start up. i have tried starting the computer with the disc in place , and without it . obviously , i must be missing something to get it started . the disc is brand new .
I have WXP Home, a 160gb HD. Asus Motherboard. I partitioned the C drive with Paragon 9 and moved all my data to the D drive due to some problems and had to format and reinstall windows on the C drive. when I finished and rebooted I could access everything. A short time later I could not access the D Drive, the error message said that I did not have permission. No explanation, Just locked out. I can access folders on the D drive if I search for a folder then copy them across from the search window into the C Drive, or if I boot into Safe Mode. That is no good. I need access from My Computer by clicking on the D Drive Icon. Any suggestions.
I have been reading past messages regarding partitioning a drive.I understand why it's done and am interested in doing this myself. The question I have is my computer came with xp already installed so I have no disc to work with.The computer was of course set with the c drive being large, do I just partition the rest of the available space? If so what is the best way to go about this?I have seen programs recommended and also talk of first needing to make the c drive smaller to start with, but have no idea how I can do this since I am starting after the fact.If someone could explain to me how I might best go about this it might help me put all I've read into perspective. I definitely don't want to mess anything up.
My personal partitioning scheme is primarily to facilitate a backup routine that I can use easily and regularly. C: drive is 10 GB and holds only my OS; no program files, no data files, no personal settings. E: drive is 58 GB for program files, temporary internet files, downloads and such; no data files. f: drive is 10 GB for Documents and Settings. I: drive is 4 GB and is devoted to a 3 GB fixed pagefile. J: drive is 72 GB for wave files only. K: drive is 8 GB for image files only. L: drive is 30 GB for video editing only. I regularly make images of my C: drive and F: drive. These are my primary backups. Installed program files don't change often. I have my programs' preferences set to store data files on F:. I don't need to backup E: very often; only when I install a new program, or uninstall an old one. Of course, when I make a new image of E:, I also make an image of C: and F: My J: drive is just my CD library ripped to the computer. I still have all the original CD's, so I don't really need to backup this drive very often, either. (I don't care for MP3's). K: drive is the target for my digital camera. I make images of this drive regularly. L: is for temporary use for video editing, and I burn the final edit to DVD, so I don't make images of this drive at all. Defragmenting is quick and easy. Having a permanent pagefile on a dedicated partition keeps it from becoming fragmented. Making backups is simplified, so I actually do it regularly.
And these are backups that will get me up and running in minutes. And before someone says that it won't work properly, I'm sorry but it does. I've tested it extensively, even from one drive to another, and it just works. I used nLite to customize my installation, so programs default to E:, Documents and Settings default to F:. I used internet options in IE7 to relocate temporary internet files for all users on this machine to E: I run AVG Anti-Spyware, Windows Defender, and NOD32 as services for all users, and have nightly scans run automatically-I never turn this machine off. I dump temporary files, defragment, run manual malware scans and HJT before I make an image of any partition. And maybe the best benefit of all? I haven't done a reformat/reinstall since Windows 95.
I'm partitioning an external hard drive that's connected to my Win XP machine. I set an 80GB partition for XP (NTFS). When I tried to allocate the rest of the drive as a FAT32 partition (for my Win98 machines), FAT32 was not an option, until I reduced the partition size to 20 GB. I'm using XP's Disk Management. Is there a maximum limitation of FAT32 partition size?
Using 2 seperate hard drives, I set up the system files on drive D: and the made a blank partition on drive C. I wanted to set up WinXP so that when I install programs they are saved to C: leaveing drive D: for only system files. The problem I am having is that when i install new programs they dont want to be installed to drive C. Instead programs want to be installed to the system drive D. I would just tell programs to install on drive C but some of them will only give me the choice to install to D. How do I set up the partition so that programs will install to drive C?
Recently I installed Ubuntu Linux on a partition on my secondary hard drive (it's a worthwhile education, I'll give it that). Since then, when in Windows, the remaining space, used for games, alternates between being accessible and being unaccessible. What's the go?For example, when I go in My Computer and try to open D: drive this is the message i receive:D: is not accessible The parameter is incorrect.
Is there a way to partition the primary disk on a computer without reformatting?A computer that I inherited (HP Pavillion) has a 120Gb hard drive partitioned into two sections C drive 104Gb NTFS primary D drive 7Gb FAT32 recovery I would like to split the primary into two sections, if possible without reformatting
I'm new to WIN XP, when I got my new computer a few months ago, it wouldn't let me go on until I put in a user name. It gave options for setting up separate names for different users. I'm the only one who uses this, and would have bene okay with just this. But, I didn't know how to NOT do it, so put in my name (Carrie) as a user.Since then, I've noticed there seems to be several "My Documents" folders. One for All Users (I can understand this) with samples in it. But, one is just "My Documents" and one is /Carrie/My Documents. Going back and forth between them they seem to be the same files. When I click on the shortcut on the desktop it goes to "My Documents" but when I scroll down with this open, I find Carrie/My Documnets. They both seem to be alike.
when I look on C drive, it only has Document Setup (and Administrator, and all users) When I click to open this it has Carrie/Documents. It doesn't show separate folders one "My Documents" and one "Carrie/My Documents".My question (and I once read there "there are no stupid questions" is this all the same? Not TWO separate file folders, one a plain MY DOCS and one a Carrie/My Docs? (thus taking up double space on the hard drive) Maybe it's just two names, leading to the same (one) folder? It's not saving everything TWICE taking up double the space? When I save something to MY DOCS, it says only that, without my name in it. But, if I look for something in SEARCH, when it finds it, it says it's in Carrie/My Documents.Maybe there's a way to get it set for just one user? Like my old WIN 98 just had "My Documnets" (simple) (I think this could be set up for users to log in). My WIN XP isn't set up for anyone to log in, but seems to automatically separate into more users.
Over the last week on this laptop i've had lockups and freezes.Thought i'd try using WinsockxpFix.I'd ran out of discs so just backed up everything important to My Docs.Downloaded and ran the fix and had the message to create a registry backup...then another message saying the directory to store a registry backup to didn't exist did i want to create it.i clicked yes and had the message that all the files could not be deleted.Didn't understand that so i just cancelled the fix and exited.Now My Docs are completely empty...everything has gone! they are not in the recycle bin either...have restored back to the earliest point i can but still My Docs folder is empty.Is there an app to recover these with...is there anything i can do...there's weeks of course work there.
In display properties I can select not to display My Documents & Network Places on desktop; however if I choose not to “Display Desktop Icons and select “Desktop Toolbar� they show up in the tool bar. What is the solution to this long standing bug in Windows.
I just installed xp pro on my computer (used to have home) and noticed that there is not "recent documents" on my start menu- this is driving me crazy as I use that all the time. I've tried looking around a bit but can't seem to find any way to enable/disable it. Anyone know how I can get this back?
I've just run Scandisk on XP, which has converted the My Docs folder to a file, and given me the error message 'insuffucient disk space to restore files' or something similar. Now, my My Docs folder is gone, and in its place I have an 8kb file 'My Documents' of type 'file'. I've searched for .chk files, but there are none. Is there any way to restore my folder?
I use Windows XP on my HP Pavillion 750n (c.2001). I had to run a Non-Destructive recovery due to a Windows Update that wouldn't allow me to open Internet Explorer, my antivirus softeware (Trend Micro) or even run the System Restore function.When I ran the Non-Destructive recovery, upon reboot, I received the message, "NTLDR file is compressed. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to Restart", to which I received that same message. I called HP Cust Support and they help me fix that problem ($59.95 later), but when my system rebooted, it created to Owner profiles. One named "owner" and one named "Owner.Your-W92P4BHLZG". I cannot access the one named "Owner" and none of my files are under the "Owner.Your-W92P4BHLZG".When I go to the "Owner" file, I get "Access Denied". Even when I boot in Safe Mode and log on as Admin, I can't get it in. I know the files are still in there somewhere as when I right-click on the Local Drive, It still shows the same amount of Disk Space Used as before the recovery was run.
I have two computers, "This" and "That" networked via a Linksys cable router, both running XP Pro. Using Acronis True Image I backed up the C: drive of "This" to the shared documents of "That" computer. I wanted to back up directly to Backup (F) of "That" computer because it's a shared drive (partition). True Image kept disallowing it so in the end I sent the file to the shared documents folder.Now, I can't send the file to anywhere else on "That" computer. The error window is headed "Error copying file or folder". The actual message says:Cannot copy filename: there is not enough free disk space. Delete one or more files to free disk space, and then try again. To free space on this drive by deleting old or unnecessary files, click Disk Cleanup.
I would like to conceal the presence of an admin account.I am not referring to the account "Administrator". User name will be part of the group "Administrators". I would like "C:Documents and Settingsuser name" to not appear, unless user name has logged in to the computer. The computer is not part of a domain.
Is there a way I can password-protect my files in My Documents so that each time I open the folder, it prompts me with a password? If not, are there any suggestions?
I have a used laptop and have removed all of the previous owner's data. I have created a new user. I have changed the owner's name in My Computer and in the registry. Everything works well and I can find all my new files in My Documents as I expect. However in C:Docs and Settings there is a folder with the old owner's name. XP will not let me rename it or delete it and says it is "a Windows system folder and is requred for Windows to run properly". Apparently some part of XP is still using some files/folders in the old owner's name folder. How can I get around this so I can clean up my disk and delete the old owner's folder?
I have a Dell 4600 with with 769MB Ram and Windows XP Pro. My XP boot sequence got corrupted (according to Dell) on my "C" drive. They wanted me to reformat the drive (and lose all my work). Instead I installed XP onto my secondary drive and nenamed it "C", set up a special partition on my secondary drive to receive the old files ("D") and renamed the "bad" drive to "G". Though I can access/copy most files from "G" onto "D", my "Documents and Settings/Administrator" directory on "G" (not password-protected, but contained a lot of files) are all "access-denied". I can't open/view these files on "G" or even copy them to "D". If I try to open them, I get a "files inaccessible, access is denied" msg.
I'm running Home oem and would like to partition my hd. For some reason I didn't seem to be able to when I installed Windows. Do I need to use Partition Magic or can I do it within Windows? I wanna run a dual boot system.
Is this something I should try through Fdisc or should I buy Partition Commander? I am learning a lot but don't understand all the ins and outs of the articles I have read concerning partitioning, yet.
The question frequently comes up about how to format and install XP from scratch. Following are the steps I take when I get a new system. I mention the "brand names" of software I use not as an endorsement or recommendation, but just for the sake of example.After unpacking and connecting all hardware, here's what I do:1Partition the HD according to my preference, thus deleting everything on the drive (the number and size of partitions is entirely up to the individual user – I prefer several, keeping the OS on c: and various programs, cache folders, swap file and data on other partitions).
Is there any way to partition a hard drive in two without having to reinstall the OS? Do I have to buy a seperate program to do it? Or does Windows include some sort of utility that does it?
When I check the properties of the C: drive (4 Gb), it shows only about 270 Mb free space, but when I look through the files, to clear out some space on the drive, I seem only to have about 2 Gb used. I have my settings set to view hidden files and the like, but it seems like I'm using twice the amount of space
A case of other files in other paritions "spilling over" into the system partition, or does partitioning itself use space that's basically invisible to Windows? Mike, your setup sounds pretty close to mine. I know I can change the partition sizes, and that's my next plan, but it seems like I've lost 2Gb into the abyss.
I have just bought a new hard drive, partitioned it, and had some stuff copied to it.I then deleted the partitions, and set some new ones up (was changing the size of the partitions). I havent put anything on the disk yet.Then, i realise i want some of the stuff (new emails i just received using mozilla) that is on my new disk, prior to me changing the partitions.Is there any way of checking what is on the new disk? I assume windows hasnt actually written over the stuff that i just put on ther
