How do I re-format and use partitions?

[johnnr892]

Hi, because i don't have a sparre hardrive at the moment, whenever I re-formatt my hardisk I lose all my songs I've ripped to the disk etc when All i need to knock out is the xp system. If Iwas going to have 1 partition for the system and another for the rest of the crap like games and musicn would that be possible and what size would I partition the system, is this an easy procedure? Does this cause complications or anything like not being able to change the default partition and it all saving on the system or anything, Thanks, any input would be appreciated, John.

[|{££|"]

yeh you can partition it as many times as you want, like for apps,games,music,docs etc... just burn all the stuff you wanna keep to cdr etc and then put xp cd in and boot up and reinstall it but make sure you choose to create a partition and then enter as much as you want for xp, then create another partition with the remaining space and specify how big u want it. Then put all your stuff on again...this way next time you will have all your stuff when you format, as you only ned to format your windows partition... if you really wanna keep the stuff u got atm just back it up to cdr or take ur hdd round a mates and do it, if not spend some cash on something like partitionmagic etc, but imo not worth it when windows can do it when u format
keef

[johnnr892]

how big do you recommend for windows folders, when it's been formatted with different partitions with one be called c: and the other d:, does this mean whenever I install things I will have to specify the root drive or something like that? Thanks, JOhn.

[0iD]

Windows always defaults to C: for installation purposes, unless you tell it otherwise. As for partition size, it's down to personal pref. On an 80gb drive i'd prolly put 30 aside for windoze & apps & the rest for general storage.

As for app installation you'll have to specify D: as the installation drive for that app when/if you need to. Otherwise C: will be used by default.

[johnnr892]

I also have a spare 6gb hardrive with win98 already installed on it, can i just put it into my system and formatt it within windows and then put my data accross to it, I think that would be a better option?

[0iD]

That shouldn't be a problem. Always handy to have a spare drive to store backups & disk images on.

[johnnr892]

How do I do it, put it as slave, boot up as normal(it still has all the win 98 drivers on it) and just formatt it using ?, im just a little confused at the procedure thats all

[|{££|"]

thing is tho johnnr892 ur 6gb prolly slower than your 80gb maxtor... so you really want a faster drive for windows, well for anything really...could use it for backup tho

[johnnr892]

Thats what I want it for, just a bit of music and word documents not for windows, I just want to know the procedure for formatting it and booting up with it like I said above.

[0iD]

Thats what I want it for, just a bit of music and word documents not for windows, I just want to know the procedure for formatting it and booting up with it like I said above.

Easypeasy.
First set your 80gig as master & your 6gig as slave on IDE0 (set the jumpers on the back of the drive)
Next, in the BIOS set your boot sequence to CD first then HD0 & say Floppy
Re-boot & at the prompt boot from CD
The Windows installer will give you a number of options as to where you want to install. Follow the instructions to format C & install windows there.

For a more in-depth guide check out Viperlair's XP Installation Guide which covers most things

And good luck! It's always a bit daunting at first, but dont sweat it, i'm sure you'll be just fine

[JohnS]

or you could attach the drive as slave, boot into windows and let xp see it then right click and format the drive. then Shazzam 3 bags of the orange fairy dust