Hello I just purchased a gateway PC with XP PRo, it came on an 80 gig HDD with one partition, I installed my second HDD with 2 partitions for data storage. My question, should I use a program files folder in my second HDD so that if in the future when I have to reinstall a fresh copy of XP (Im assuming i will have to someday) I can format that huge 80 gig HDD without losing info on installed programs? Or will I have to reinstall everything regardless? OR should i repartition my primary HDD now install XP in a smaller partition...if so what recommended size should i make it? and install applications on a seperate partition on the same drive? what is the best setup to have for future clean installs????? thanks

I once installed XP on a 2gb partition. At a later point, I could not install fonts and run some programs that extracted files, temporarily, to the OS partition. I have a 60gb drive. I have 98 (partition 1) on a 5gb partition, XP is on a 25gb partition and I have a free partition for the rest (25.8gb). I use the free partition for installing/uninstalling temp programs (games mostly). I do this so I don't have to defrag (if I feel I ever need to defrag the last partition, I will just reformat it instead). All 3 partitions are FAT so that the 98 system can read the other partitions for extra drive space, if needed. Basically, I have 98 installed to run legacy games XP won't support. For your situation, I'd install programs you use a lot (that are large and constantly write to the HD) on a separate partition from your OS; easier on the OS. Some programs will insist on being installed to the Program Files directory of your XP installation, so don't expect to get away clean if you want to separate the Program Files on another partition. If you ever have to reinstall Windows, it is good to have your program files on another partition (so you don't have to reinstall them). Just make sure that you leave enough room for your OS partition (some programs insist on being installed to it, and if you want to load fonts or other material that need to go on the OS partition, you will need enough room). I'd recommend no less than 10gb for your XP partition just to be safe (assuming you are to make a separate partition for the Program Files). Wordy enough for you? heh

Always a matter for personal taste - but having program files on separate partition is no good for reinstall - you'll still have to reinstall all (well most) apps. Some people like to have separate data partition (but if you've second drive..) PS. If you've come from win9x/ME you might be pleasantly surprised - its unlikely that you'll need to reinstall XP on the same basis as those o/s. Its much more stable & manages its environment better (so in general you don't get as a build up of niggles, slower responses etc that used to tell you win9x/ME needs reinstalling). This opinion is extrapolated a bit from win2k (as XP's only been out just over a year) - where I've got several machines running with no problems over 2 years. You can also run it continuously without major performance loss for weeks/months.

A Large primary drives (25GB)would be a waste of space in your system. Create a small C drive (6GB - 10GB) for XP and programs - any larger and defrag/format times are unnecessarily slow. Also, most people usually don't keep their additionl data (mp3's programs, videos, games, etc) on C for fear of meltdown. Carve up the remaining drive anyway you want. Use the second drive for additional storage and copy your primary partition (XP) drive image to that drive - easier than reinstalling programs. JRF

thanks for the advice!