Partition sizes?- 2 OS's on WD160

[Bachus]

Hello Everyone

We got another drive (WD 160 ATA with controller card) to add on our system. The original intent was just to do a fresh install of Win98se on the new. I'm now thinking seriosly of doing -finally- of installing XP and having a multi-boot sytem.

I've seen countless ways people have partitioned their drives and I know allot has to do with personal prefences. Here's my questions and concerns:


(1) Most seem to favor putting the OS on something like a 5gig partition. By putting both on smaller partitions and putting programs and other files on the the other(s) partition is there a risk of having the programs reading/working switching from either OS?

(2) Or should I go with say 30 gig for 98 , 60 gig for XP and the remaing for AV, Digital and Picture files on the remaining partition?

(3) Can I leave our 13gig HD as is with 98se and program files and just connect it to the IDE 2 channel on the card and use it for back-up or will it intervere with the new drive with 98/XP on it?

Thanks for your time and suggestions on this.


Kenny J.

[elroy]

My way of doing it would be as follows:
10gb for Win98 O/S and programs
20gb for WinXP O/S and programs
130gb for file storage
I would not leave the 13gb with Win98 on it if I was putting Win98 on another partition.
I'm sure everyone who answers your post will have a different idea on the "right" way to do this. It is very much a matter of personal preference and what works best for you.

[fpantovich]

all depends what you do with your computer....if you have ALOT of programs/games, then you will need a larger partition for the primary...if you don't, then smaller...either way, though, Win98 will pick up the new hard drive and install it as a secondary, so you can just add it to the system...

This is what I would do in your case...

- Leave Win98SE on the drive that it's already on
- Partition the second hard drive with about 15-30Gb(depending on what you do) in one partition and then the remaining in another
- Format the first partition in NTFS and the second in FAT
- Install XP on the first partition of the second drive and bam, you should be good to go...

another way to do it, would be to split you old hard drive into 2 partitions and install both win98 and winXP on it while running programs and everything from the other hard drive...isolating the OS onto a seperate drive from the rest of the programs will boost performance as long as the old drive is up to par (7200RPM)...

good luck either way...

[Bill in SD, CA]

Welcome to TechIMO!!

I would set up a 7 gig partition for 98 and a 10 gig partition for XP.

Additionally, I would add 2 more partitions - one for 98 programs and one for XP - size up to you.

Another partition for data would be nice.

98 must be installed first - FAT32.

XP - install on second partition - NTFS or FAT32 ( NTFS = better for XP )

98 cannot read NTFS while XP can read FAT32 so the program partition for 98 must be FAT32.

Program partition for XP can be either NTFS or FAT32.

Data partition should be FAT32 so that 98 or XP can have access.

All programs must be installed twice - once in 98 and once in XP.

There will be no confusion in either OS as to what is what.

When done, the 13 gig can be formatted and used as additional storage.


HOW TO: Create a Multiple-Boot System in Windows XP

Have fun!

Bill

[sechs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bachus

(1) Most seem to favor putting the OS on something like a 5gig partition. By putting both on smaller partitions and putting programs and other files on the the other(s) partition is there a risk of having the programs reading/working switching from either OS?

Actually, most people don't partition their disks. This is generally a good thing, as partitioning reduces performance. The only good reasons for partitioning are for orginization (in realisation of the performance trade-off) or in installing multiple operating systems.

Quote:

(2) Or should I go with say 30 gig for 98 , 60 gig for XP and the remaing for AV, Digital and Picture files on the remaining partition?

[fpantovich]

or...another alternative would be to just install XP on the second hard drive in FAT format and bam, that's it, heh...but I wouldn't do this personally...as sechs said, XP does prefer NTFS, but you gotta do whatcha gotta do...however you do it, though, as few partitions as possible is the best...

now that I think about it, why not ghost your Win 98 install onto the new hard drive, then install XP on the old hard drive? Then you will have access to all your files with both OS's and not have to worry about more than one partition on each drive...

[Bill in SD, CA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sechs

Actually, most people don't partition their disks. This is generally a good thing, as partitioning reduces performance.

Everyone who installs a multiple boot system does.

Each OS must be installed on it's own volume.

Quote:

Partitioning allows you to manage your hard drive more efficiently. Your computer views each partition as a separate hard drive, automatically giving it a drive letter, allowing you to conveniently organize your hard drive and maximize the performance of your system. Dividing your hard drive into separate partitions plays an essential role in maintaining your computer-preventing conflicts, protecting data, improving efficiency, and increasing performance.

[Bachus]

Jus twant to say thanks to all for their help and suggestions. I now have a few questions:

For Bill in SD - if I do go with 98 in FAT and XP in NFTS as you say. Then install the programs twice in two other seperate partitions. Will their be a greater chance of disk failure by reading cross platers on the drive? Plus will there be any problems of the programs switching back and forth?

For Sechs - I like the thought of leaving 98 alone on one drive and going with XP on the new. How would I set up the drive considering 98 is the primary now? It's connected to primary (1) on the MB. Disconnect the old drive, connect the new one to the IDE 1 slot (?)on the card and install XP? Then move the old drive to IDE 2 on the card. The new drive is allot faster than the old one by the way. When booting up will I get the option of choosing which drive or will I get XP if left on IDE 1 slot on the card?

The hard drive is a Western Digital 160 SE. It camre with "Data Lifeguard Tools" to set up, format and partition the drive. I've never used this so is this ok or let Windows do it?

Thanks again for all your help and time on this. Sorry about all the "same ole" quetios routine but this is a first me.

Kenny J.

[FatalException]

Hope Bill and Sechs don't mind me answering these questions for them...

You will need to install all programs twice, regardless of whether XP is NTFS or not. Windows 98 loads libraries and such into a different location than XP... so even though the files to run the program will be there, XP won't be able to find them because they'll be in the 98 directory if you installed them in Win98. The same is true in reverse if you install them in XP. Having dual-bootability comes with this added hassle and consumption of space from installing the majority of programs 2 times. Programs like AIM and a few other small ones can be installed just once, but you have to setup the shortcuts manually on the OS that they were NOT installed on.

Why are you dual booting 98 and XP? It seems rather odd since XP is compatible with all 98 programs (it even has a Windows 98 compatibility mode to ensure that they are compatible just in case you don't feel comfortable with them running on XP).

In answer to another of your questions: No, partitioning a drive as you are talking about has NO effect on the life of the drive. If a drive is going to wear out, it will wear out... "Cross platter reading" is a funny term to use here - when you partition your drive, regardless of how you do it, chances are some data from each partition will be on each platter. Just think of the drive as a black box enigma - data goes on and comes off, but how the physical information is laid out on the disk is up to the manufacturer.

If you don't want 98 (which is what I'd suggest... trust me, you likely won't use it more than once or twice after XP is installed simply because XP is so much cleaner, more stable, and faster), the simplest thing to do would be to take out your old drive, install the new one... Install XP on that drive, then put in your old one as a secondary drive. Then you can still get to all of your documents and files on it (and have a convenient, albeit small) place to perform on the fly backups to. The purpose for removing the drive during XP install is so that it doesn't insall on top of your old 98 install and gunk up your data.

What do you think? Staying with 98 and XP dual boot still? If so, write again and we'll se what we can do.

Advice from a dual-booter: Two Windows OS's on the same system are not a good idea for new users. I'd only suggest it if it's essential to some task that the PC will be used for. Linux & Windows, on the other hand, is perfectly reasonable since they aren't compatible with each other and do entirely different things.

[FatalException]

One final note, in response to Sechs' saying that partitioning reduces performance - this can be true but is not always. If you are copying from one partition on the same drive to a different partition on the same drive, yes, it will be slow... but no moreso than copying from the same partition to another spot on the same partition. The problem comes in when MOVING files, since when they are moved from one place to another on the same partition, the transfer is virtually instantaneous since it simply rewrites the file header to contain the new path on the same partition. When moving to another partition, though, the data must be copied over anyway, even though it's on the same physical disc, simply because of the way the disk is organized.

On the other hand, if you have thousands of MP3's and a few movies, it would be a good idea to store your thousands of MP3's on one partition and movies on another... even if they are partitions on the same drive... Just to load the directory structure for the MP3's could take upwards of a minute depending on how many you have. If the movies are stored on the same partition, it may take just as long to get in to view those as the MP3's because of the way NTFS's branching data structures work. If they are on different partitions, though - there will be no delay from having many MP3's when you try to access your movies or other files.