I did a clean install, fat 32, 2 partitions with ezbios, 1st one 5 GB for Windows Me and 15 for Data..or should I use the 15 for installing programs and data (20 GB Total) right now I just have Windows me and call wave on c drive and nothing on d drive. I assume that when I install the programs I have backed Up on zip drive, that I install them on the D drive, I probably should move the call wave there also? I just need help on what to put where, I have no problem installing programs to d, but If I install to C and data to D don't know how to do that, because I its in the program at the beginning of installation (to tell it to install to c or d) I wanted to keep the operating system by it self so that if anything went wrong I could just uninstall it and reinstall it without having to reinstall everything. any help would be appreciated, will check forum tomorrow, any help would be appreciated. Sue

Even if you only install Windows to C and everything else to D you will still have to reinstall everything if Windows gets corrupted. Your data will be saved as it is on drive D but the apps will have to be reinstalled. This is because even if you install an app on D, it may install some files into the Windows folder and it will make registry changes.

Sue, eric is right. It's best to install all the software on the c-drive, configure teh programs, tweak windows a bit maybe. Then it's a good idea to create an image of the first partition and store it on the second (or on cd's). It takes a few hours to configure and install everything, but it only takes half an hour to put an image back. (I used norton ghost, but I think drive-image from powerquest works easier and better. put your personal files on d:\ try to avoid personal files on c. btw, do you know where I can find ezbios? or does it only work for your bios or harddisk? Goodluck Johan

you can find ezbios at Western Digital.com its the version 2.6 you need because of Windows Me, I don't know if its for other drives or not, I know its free, it is a software that enable you to use large drive capacity when you bios dos not allow you, it partitions, and it erasies, and does the fat 32 for you, it also copies files for you, if for some reason its not free to you, but you can use it I can send it to you, if you want, but they told me not to use it with Partition Magic or System commander, because it would change the MBR?I think thats the file. The way mine is set up I am suppose to be able to keep the o/s on drive c and data on d and uninstall the c O/s whenever, I will get back with them to see how and let you know what they said, maybe they misunderstood me or I put the question wrong. Sue

sue, i use drive image to image my c: drive and i keep the image on another partition and redo it each week to allow for new installs. if anything goes wrong with windows and it looks like it's going to be a hassle to fix or time consuming i just restore the image to c: . it takes five minutes and everything is as it was before. beats the hell out of formatting, re-installing the os and loading everything back on whitch takes hours.

Sue.... What the folks are trying to say is this. If you install Windows ME on the c: partiton and all of your programs on d:, things will run just fine. Then, if something goes wrong with ME and you want to format the c: drive to wipe off ME and start over, you are under the impression that you will not have to reinstall your programs because they are on d: and haven't been erased because you only formatted c:. But that is not the case. Windows (all versions) run programs/drivers/everything from the Registry. When you format c: and cleanly install Windows ME again, you have a clean registry. There are no pointers in the registry to the programs on d:. So you will have to reinstall all of those in order for them to work again. So... while it's good to keep personal data on a seperate partition... that way it is safe from the problems of the Operating System... No matter what you do, if you have to reinstall the Operating system, you will have to reinstall the programs so the new ME installation sees them. Johan has a good idea. There is some software out there... Norton Ghost, Powerquest Drive image, etc... that will "take a picture" of you hard drive just the way it is now. With the programs you have installed on it... and just the way you like it... Working:):):). You can save this "picture" to a seperate partition...or if you have a cd-rw(which I don't think you do) several cd's. That way... if anything goes wrong with this installation of ME, you would just follow the instructions in the ghosting product you chose to restore your system to this point... programs and all. And your personal data would be save on d:. Does this make sense?

Not always the case...I downloaded installed a few programs. moved the folder over to the d partition, formatted and they still run. example:MAME32 (game rom emulator) stella (also game rom emulator) several freeware/light weight/single function image editor's. These applications run fine, i have even set up the emulators to autorun from MINI CD so i can take my games anywhere and not have to install anything on anyones PC. Anyone know what this is about? I know many applications will not run correctly if not installed on the C:drive after loading windows. I usually let them install where ever they want, reason: once i installed an application and chose what directory. the shortcuts it created didnt work, they were set up to link to the default install location. Not a big deal but i figure it saves a couple steps. A summary of my long winded question: Why will some applications run and some not in this situation: installed aplication/moved the folder from the C:to the D:partition/formatted C:/reinstalled windows.? Thanks