Another partition question

buckhunter

New Member
Hi,
I have just did a new in stall of vista ultimate 32bit on 500g hard drive.
Made 4 primary partitions(basic) when installing. C/50g,D/50g,E175/g, & F/190g. Have os installed on c drive. Wanting to keep os clean. Want to use other drives to store programs,documents,pictures. After reading vista tutorial on partitions in help section on os not sure if I can keep os on c drive & programs,documents,pictures on other drives and be able to communicate bewteen the drives. Any suggestions how to use c drive for os system & other partitions as stated?
Thanks for any help.
 

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As I recall, you use Windows Explorer to move the user profile folders to another drive.
Right click on the folder and select Properties, then select the Location tab in the next window, then the Move button to move the folder elsewhere. This will automagically update the directions for these folders in the Environmental Variables.

And, for programs, you have to specify a custom installation each time you install a program.
Then you point it at a folder in the drive that you're using (such as F:\Program Files\.... or F:\Program Files (x86) if using a 64 bit system.

FWIW - this is way too much trouble for me - and is of little use IME.
I backup my data to an external drive on a daily basis.
If you have to reinstall Windows, then you'll have to reinstall the programs anyway - so leaving all that in the C: drive is easiest.

Good luck!
 

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I don't think communication between the partitions will be a problem if you really want to go that way. As long as you know how to properly move stuff around (as in you're not going to try to just cut/past your entire Program Files directory onto a different partition and expect it to work) then you should be ok. And if you're smart enough to know how to set up those different partitions, I think you'll be just fine.

I'm only basing this guess off the numerous cases of even basic users setting up their information across different partitions that I've heard about. There may be something you know that I don't (which is why you're asking this) but as far as I know you should be fine.
 

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System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1545
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.00 GHz
    Motherboard
    DELL - 27d90219 Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (DPMS), 15.3" (34cm x 19cm)
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Internal 320 GB
    Portable 320 GB used for separate storage of media, plugged into USB port as needed.
    Cooling
    Single built in fan
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touchpad, + Logitech wireless mouse (USB)
    Internet Speed
    ~150 kilobytes/sec DL
    Other Info
    Usually have low HD free space left (<10 GB), often left on overnight. I really push its capabilities.
If you move folders with the Properties > Location tab > Move facility, make sure you move it to a predefined folder on the other drive, not to the root of the drive. If you move it to the root, you will have a problem and you have to fix the Default Location with Option2.
 

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System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Q6600
    Memory
    4GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2207h
    Hard Drives
    2x250GB HDDs
    1x60GB OCZ SSD
    6 external disks 60 to 640GBs
    Other Info
    Also 1xHP desktop, 1xHP laptop, 1xGateway laptop
As I recall, you use Windows Explorer to move the user profile folders to another drive.
Right click on the folder and select Properties, then select the Location tab in the next window, then the Move button to move the folder elsewhere. This will automagically update the directions for these folders in the Environmental Variables.
So I can create a couple of user names & transfer profiles to another partition & keep os partition clean? Doing a custom install of programs shouldn't be to big of a problem,I hope.


I don't think communication between the partitions will be a problem if you really want to go that way.

Can basic primary artitions communicate with each other? Dynamic partitions? Currently have 4 basic primary partitions.


If you move folders with the Properties > Location tab > Move facility, make sure you move it to a predefined folder on the other drive, not to the root of the drive. If you move it to the root, you will have a problem and you have to fix the Default Location with Option2.
Not clearly understanding this. Are you saying to first put programs on os partition then transfer files to another partition with your method?


Just want to keep os on outer partition(c) of drive by itself as much as possible. Put programs on another partition(d) & pictures on partition(e). Still have 1 partition left over.
Have read where os will continue to run better on own partition & hardly ever needs defragmented.
Can anti-software also be put on another partition besides os partition?
Thanks for the replies.
 

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The most common setup I've heard about is having windows installed on primary C:\ and then everything else on logical D:\ (or whatever drive letter they choose). Logical just means that you can't boot off it, and can only be used for storage of files. I know that this setup should work, and I see no reason why it shouldn't work with other info on primary drives instead of logical drives as well. And whether they're set up as dynamic, stripped, basic, etc. I don't think that makes a difference for inter-communication (for primary or logical) since it's just different ways of storing and sorting the same information. Also, unless you have a reason to store your extra files on a primary partition, I recommend you store them on logical partitions. That would just be easier, I think. In your case put Windows on primary partition C:\ and then either create two more logical partitions (D:\ and E:\) for your programs and pictures, respectively. Or you can make C:\ plus one logical volume that is subdivided into two logical partitions (D:\ and E:\). I believe this is referred to as an extended partition, but I may be wrong. That's how you are able to create as many logical "partitions" as you want, while still only being able to have 4 separate partitions on the hard drive.

You can have as many logical partitions as you want plus 3, 2, 1, or 0 primary partitions, or you can have no logical partitions and up to 4 primary partitions.

I can tell I'm not explaining it very well (partly because there a lot of different terms that are synonymous, and it gets confusing) See this page for a better explanation: pSeries and AIX Information Center

In your last paragraph you said "anti-software." I assume you mean Anti-virus software, and putting it on a seperate partition other than where your OS is should be fine, though you may have to configure it to scan drives other than just the one it's installed on. But if it's one that is worth having, that shouldn't be too much trouble to configure.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1545
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.00 GHz
    Motherboard
    DELL - 27d90219 Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (DPMS), 15.3" (34cm x 19cm)
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Internal 320 GB
    Portable 320 GB used for separate storage of media, plugged into USB port as needed.
    Cooling
    Single built in fan
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touchpad, + Logitech wireless mouse (USB)
    Internet Speed
    ~150 kilobytes/sec DL
    Other Info
    Usually have low HD free space left (<10 GB), often left on overnight. I really push its capabilities.
If you move folders with the Properties > Location tab > Move
facility, make sure you move it to a predefined folder on the other drive, not
to the root of the drive. If you move it to the root, you will have a problem
and you have to fix the Default Location with Option2.

What I am trying to say is that you should not move the folders directly to the drive letter, but to predefined folders on the drive.

Example: You want to move Documents, Music and Pictures to Partition D

Predefine Folder1, Folder2 and Folder3 on D and move the three folders to those - Not to the root which is D.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Q6600
    Memory
    4GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2207h
    Hard Drives
    2x250GB HDDs
    1x60GB OCZ SSD
    6 external disks 60 to 640GBs
    Other Info
    Also 1xHP desktop, 1xHP laptop, 1xGateway laptop
Slammer and whs have explained this far better than I can.

Also:
NOTE: I have seevere eye problems which have gotten worse over the last week. I may not be able to respond further until after my surgery at the end of this month or the middle of September. Feel free to PM another staff member for assistance if I do not respond in a timely manner. Please accept my apoloeis in advance.

I'll continue on as well as I am able to, thanks for your patience. Feel free to PM another staff member if it's taking too long.

As such, I'll withdraw from this topic. Should you need to contact me, please feel free to send a PM
 

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