request advice on partitioning HD

[Evander]

My desktop has 1 40GB HD with XP pro installed, after I back up some stuff to DVD I'll have about 23 GIG free.

I've never partitioned an HD before, but I have Acronis PartitionExpert. But I'm wondering- what's the concencus on what size you should set your partitions? For example, I sometimes see people setting 10 GB for the main OS on c:\, and the rest for data partition on d:
Whether that's ideal or low or overkill I don't know, so that's why I'm asking what the concensus is.
I also have an 80GB laptop with Win2k (only) that I may wish to partition.

My reasons for partitioning:
1) data is said to be safer on seperate partition
2) I'm interested in making a drive image, the software I own (acronis true image personal edition), will either back up the whole drive or a partition. This personal edition doesn't seem to have the function to deselect files on a drive/partition, so if I move all my data off to a seperate partition, it should be faster and take up alot fewer DVDRs to back up my OS partition.

I may be interested in installing linux (never done before). Let's say I make a partition into c: and d:
If i later make a partition for e: and install for example, Ubuntu, that would be OK? That would be good for my laptop, though for the desktop I might just install Ubuntu on a spare 2.5GB slave HD (assuming it'll fit, XP certainly does on that size). It's an experiment to get used to linux.
And if I want both 2k/xp and Linux to both be able to access a data partition (for example mp3's), what file system should the data partition use? I've heard NTFS has problems with Linux...

 

[OdiN]

I always just use the full drive and use a second drive for storage.

However...the size depends on what software you will have loaded. Right now my OS drive is 18GB after software is loaded. A few GB is documents and stuff though. If you have a lighter install of software than me, 10GB may get you by.

 

[Pirotech]

It's absolutely a matter of taste. If you want to backup system partition later it's essential if you install all you programs on it. I usually leave 20 Gb for boot partition.
By the way True Image allows using diffent rates of archives compression to take less space. Don't forget you will need to format DVD before using with ATI.

If i later make a partition for e: and install for example, Ubuntu, that would be OK?

Yes, it would be absolutely OK. The only thing is OS's installation order:
Earlier versions of Windows have less smart installers and they can set default its own loader that can ignore other OS. WinXP and LH will allow recognizing only Windows family. And all modern Linux are soled with installers that allow choosing whether to install its loader and can find all installed operating systems. As to file systems unfortunately you can't use information that is located in Linux partitions under Windows. If you have FAT partition Linux can read it but if your windows partition is NTFS you will be able only to see folders but won't open it.