Slow pc loading.

[kalniel]

I can find the folder its in but can not find the files themselves if that makes any sense. Its windows up to its old tricks of saving everything. It seems to delete some of the detritus on reboot. I'll give the linki a whirl; fanks.

Are you showing both hidden and system files?

There was a program I used to use to visualise file sizes in a neat way.. probably the thing mycarsavw linked to

[Domestic_Ginger]

Tried too. After a brief stint with XP for a few weeks last year and 2000 before that. Its pretty tricky moving so fast for me!

[scaryjim]

Ah, Windows 2000 I miss thee. My install disk de-laminated late last year and I'd never made an ISO of it, so no more Win 2k for me. I still reckon it was the best pre-7 version of Windows. I've just pulled an old laptop out of the store for a temp at work, hit the power button and up booted Win 2k It's running in a 2GB partition on a Celeron 600 w. 128MB of RAM and it's comfortably as responsive as the Generic Win XP boxes we have with 2GHz P4s and 512MB...

For a Windows 7 Install, I'd use *at least* a 60GB partition personally. A default install of Win 7 HP is ~ 16GB - I don't think it's worth skimping on that partition if you're getting a new HD anyway. It also depends on whether you're the kind of person who'll remember to always install everything to a different drive, or whether you'll fall back into the habit of just picking the default directory and filling up your system partition!

[nibbler]

I have no experience of partitions tbh. The idea is that you keep C:// for OS and D:// for files for instance? I have no problem allocating more of the 500gb to the OS, I have ample space on my 200gb drive as it is. I don't really want to reinstall though or at least I'd like to keep my files. Best way of doing this?

[jim]

Yeah, pretty much. At one point I had C:\ for OS, D:\ for the other OS (it was XP/Vista dual-boot), F:\ for personal files, M:\ for music, S:\ for software (installation files, downloads etc), V:\ for Videos and P:\ for Pictures, plus T:\ or something for the Pagefile. That's pretty excessive though, and was mainly because I had multiple hard drives so partitions made it easier to organise everything. These days I have a server, so it's irrelevant.

I'd always keep personal documents/music/photos/videos/downloads on a separate partition though. Then you can just wipe C:\ and reinstall Windows if you need to, and everything is still there.

Some people put applications/games on their own drive, but I personally don't bother with that - if you have to reinstall Windows then you'll need to reinstall all of your applications/games. Obviously if you've got an SSD it can be useful though, since you might not have room for all of your games on the drive.

[Domestic_Ginger]

The outside of the disk is the fastest bit, the head (?) travels furthest in one rotation as to compared the inside. By having a smaller first partition it forces all your info to the outside and stops it getting fragmented and ending up on the inner part of your drive. Zak33 had an article on hexus somewhere which explained it pretty well.

If you partition your hard drive without reformating you can move all your improtant stuff to a new directory and then wipe all the old space. There should be third party software out there that should do it without wiping your harddrive first.

Anyway, shouldn't you be revising?

[nibbler]

I like the short sentence at the end there, with the rhetorical question which ends the article well
I have been revising english as you can see

Yeah, but I'm pretty confident, and to be honest I wish I could have done my exam a while ago.

So essentially, because I don't have partitions at the moment, it's going to be difficult to keep all the files as they're all mixed in with the other files (OS), however if I partition this time, it'll be easy for the next reinstall for instance

[Domestic_Ginger]

partitions at the moment, it's going to be difficult to keep all the files as they're all mixed in with the other files (OS), however if I partition this time, it'll be easy for the next reinstall for instance

You shouldn't loose anything if you do it properly. Windows is not too bad at recovereing software if you just open it after insalling under a different windows insatallation.

From wiki:- "Short Stroking", which aims to minimize performance-eating head repositioning delays by reducing the number of tracks used per hard drive.[1] The basic idea is that you make one partition approx. 20-25% of the total size of the drive. This partition is expected to: occupy the outer tracks of the hard drive, and offer more than double the throughput — less than half the access time. If you limit capacity with short stroking, the minimum throughput stays much closer to the maximum.

I failed GCSE english twice. I never really figured out how to write an essay but I suppose its down to having no attention span.

[kalniel]

From wiki:- "Short Stroking", which aims to minimize performance-eating head repositioning delays by reducing the number of tracks used per hard drive.[1] The basic idea is that you make one partition approx. 20-25% of the total size of the drive. This partition is expected to: occupy the outer tracks of the hard drive, and offer more than double the throughput — less than half the access time. If you limit capacity with short stroking, the minimum throughput stays much closer to the maximum.

How's that any different to just putting your data at the start of a partition? (Which happens by default)

[nibbler]

To be honest guys, thanks for the advice and I'll ask what to do if and when I buy a new HD.

And I wasn't criticising your english it was a little joke

[Domestic_Ginger]

How's that any different to just putting your data at the start of a partition? (Which happens by default)

The partition is limited to be in the outer rim so there is no migration or fragmenation towards the center of the drive where it is slower.

And I wasn't criticising your english it was a little joke

No worries; no offense taken. Watch out for bad karma though; especially with important things happening soon.

[nibbler]

If anything I was complementing your english surely?

[kalniel]

The partition is limited to be in the outer rim so there is no migration or fragmenation towards the center of the drive where it is slower.

That only happens if there's nowhere nearer the edge to put it. With short stroking you just get a disk full error instead

[Domestic_Ginger]

That only happens if there's nowhere nearer the edge to put it. With short stroking you just get a disk full error instead

Thats why you put everything else on another partition as to avoid those sneaky disk full errors.

[Kumagoro]

Going back to your original problem how slow is slow. Are you talking proper slow from when you
see the windows loading bar?

I dont know if it applies to versions other than XP but I have come across a few where the
IDE ATA/ATAPI on the primary IDE channel has switched to PIO instead of DMA.

Start > right click My Computer > Properties > Hardware tab > Device Manager > IDE ATA/ATAPI >right click Primary IDE channel > Advanced Settings tab.

Then in transfer mode it should say DMA mode if available, if in Current transfer mode it says PIO then thats the cause of the slowness.

Its a long shot but I wasn't aware that windows would switch it down to PIO if it encounters 6 CRC errors or something.

Run resetdma.vbs to fix it, available here.

http://winhlp.com/node/10

[petercook7]

think windows update has something to do with it, bit suspect this happens to all their products, just before they release a new os.