Partition size for Operating System

[Bugler]

I am going to build my system later this week. It will have two SATA seagate 200gb harddrives in a mirror RAID 1 configuration.

I was advised that it is a good practice to partition the OS by itself so that if I later need to reinstall the OS or something similar, I do not have to bother the data stored on the balance of the drive.

The second drive would be to mirror the storage section of the 1st drive.

What do you recommend as a partition size for the XP Pro operating system? I presume that when I go to install office XP, it would go on the data partition and the os partition would remain only for the OS.

Thanks

 

[Davegod75]

20GB or so for the OS, rest for data

mirror the whole drive

 

[Bugler]

Sounds like a plan.

Thank you .

 

[Navid]

RAID 1 is for you if you do not want your disks to ever go down. For example, a company with highly paid employees cannot afford to have the employees sit and wait for the IT guy to bring the system back up. So, they use RAID 1 or other versions of raid for reliability. But, RAID 1 does not replace backup. If you delete a file, it is gone. If a virus infects the computer and erases a file, that file is gone. RAID 1 is not going to help in any of these cases.

The size you need for the OS depends on how many programs, and of what size, you plan to install.
The default place for the office XP to install is on the same partition as the OS (drive C).
But, you can chose to install your programs on a different partition. There are pros and cons in that though.

The advantage is that the size of the OS partition can be kept really small (5GB). So, the images will be managable.
The problem is that some programs place dll files in the system32 folder on the OS partition anyway. Some programs also change the registry, which is on the OS partition. So, if you restore the OS partition with an image that you created before installing such a program, you will need to re-install that program again. Otherwise, it will not work.

 

[Bugler]

Thanks Navid,

Do any of these configurations affect boot up speed to any great degree? As you can tell, I am still searching for the best options for me. I mainly want to protect my documents and photography, but I did not want to have to worry about backing up all the time.

I do not care about backing up games and other applications as I can always just reinstall those.

I am definitely open to suggestions.

 

[D1gger]

I recently built a PC with two Raptor 74GB drives in a RAID 0 configuration, believing that RAID 0 would shorten bootup and program load times. It is a very fast PC, but I have since read articles that say RAID 0 is really not significantly faster for most activities, and really only makes much difference when working with very large media files.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Bugler
Do any of these configurations affect boot up speed to any great degree? As you can tell, I am still searching for the best options for me. I mainly want to protect my documents and photography, but I did not want to have to worry about backing up all the time.

I do not care about backing up games and other applications as I can always just reinstall those.

My understanding is that Raid 0 increases speed. But, not that much for average user.
RAID 1 increases the reliability of the file system. Meaning that your hard drive almost never goes dead. But, you will still have to backup your data. Also, RAID 1 will have a negative impact on speed. I don't know how much.

Don't think that if you have RAID 1 you will not need to backup your photographs.

If you are into image processing, you will need lots of RAM and swap space (pagefile).
To increase speed, install your OS on the first partition of one drive. Put your data (photographs) on the other partition on the same drive. Put your pagefile on the first partition of the other physical drive. You should put a small pagefile (2MB) on the OS partition as well. Use the remaining part of the second drive for storage of data and backups (like the image of the OS partition).

Use the imcluded backup utility that comes with XP pro to backup your data (photographs) frequently. Store the backup files on the second hard drive.
Forget RAID.

 

[Bugler]

Navid,

I will have to do some research to see what you are referring to when you say pagefile. If I use the set up you suggest, do I simply format the second drive upon installation, and then nothing else beyond this pagefile you mentioned?

Thanks

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Bugler
I will have to do some research to see what you are referring to when you say pagefile. If I use the set up you suggest, do I simply format the second drive upon installation, and then nothing else beyond this pagefile you mentioned?

No, that is not what I suggested. This is:

Disk 1:
Partition 1: OS
Partition 2: High-traffic storage (Photographs, music, movies, etc.)

Disk 2:
Partition 1: Pagefile
Partition 2: Low traffic storage (backups, OS images, downloads, etc.)

After you install on disk 1, you format disk 2, and move your pagefile to it using XP control pannel. And you create a second partition on it (again, after the OS install, or before) for storage.

This is some info on pagefile.
http://support.microsoft.com/d...x?scid=kb;en-us;314482

You also need to create CD/DVD backups of your irreplaceable data to be safe.

I personally have all my programs on a different partition on disk 1 also. But, that has some disadvantages. The advantage is to keep the size of the images small (800MB). So, I have multiple images and can restore the one I need in about 3 minutes. The problem is that after a restore, I may have to re-install some programs.
So, you can put all your programs on the same partition as the OS.

 

[Bugler]

Navid,

Thank you for your time and your willingness to help me. I will look review all the information you provided. I have a few days to get my ducks in a row before my heat sink arrives and I can begin building.

Thanks again.