Quick question (partitioning)

[tnf]

T & T I know but I need a quick response -

Anyone have a suggestion for an optimal partitioning scheme for an 80 gb drive running XP? I want to give them a partition for windows and then one for all their programs, etc, but don't know what the optimal sizes for each should be. Suggestions, or should I just go ahead and make it 1 partition?

[YourGrandpa]

You shouldn't need more than 3 gigs for windows XP. Then partition the rest according to volume.

[Captain]

The max capacity is 74GB, so just set the Windows partition anywhere between 5-10GB and you should be fine. Take the swapfile and possible automatic updates into account.

[obsidian]

My recommendation:

• 1 partition for windows and software (I don't see any benefit in separating OS from software).
• A pagefile partition 1.5x the amount of RAM.
• Preferably a separate harddrive for documents, or if need be, a partition. If there aren't a lot of documents, then just leave it as a single partition.

[GONNAFISTYA]

If it's a new install of XP and you throw SP2 and the updates on it, you're looking at a shitload of data.

I'd recommend against partitioning the drive (since you never really know how much room you'll ultimately need) but if you're gonna do it leave anywhere from 3 - 5 GB for the OS. I just installed XP with SP2 and all the latest updates and my WINDOWS folder is 3.3 GB.

Do you really really really need to partition it?

[tnf]

I'm rebuilding this for a family with a teen who had the original machine so fucking bogged down with spyware the computer couldn't be used (I tried booting it once, after 15 minutes I was still unable to really do much due to spyware popup warnings, etc etc etc.).

Was going to create a partition for their shit, one for the swap file maybe, and one for the OS. But after thinking about it a bit more, I think I'm going to go with just one. I don't want to deal with trying to explain to them not to install everything on the system partition or deal with them when they say "the disk is full" because they have filled up the system partition and don't know what to do next.

So they'll get one 80gb partition.


Also, anyone know what a place like the geek squad charges for full system redo's with updated windows, drivers, etc etc etc.?

[YourGrandpa]

Partitioning a drive this small can't have much benefit. Especially with today's systems.

I keep a shitty little 80gig with a ghosted image of an XP install. And to tell the truth, I've never used it.

[YourGrandpa]

I'm rebuilding this for a family with a teen who had the original machine so fucking bogged down with spyware the computer couldn't be used (I tried booting it once, after 15 minutes I was still unable to really do much due to spyware popup warnings, etc etc etc.).

Was going to create a partition for their shit, one for the swap file maybe, and one for the OS. But after thinking about it a bit more, I think I'm going to go with just one. I don't want to deal with trying to explain to them not to install everything on the system partition or deal with them when they say "the disk is full" because they have filled up the system partition and don't know what to do next.

So they'll get one 80gb partition.


Also, anyone know what a place like the geek squad charges for full system redo's with updated windows, drivers, etc etc etc.?

Call um up and ask.... You should easily be able to get $25 to $30 an hour to work on a personal PC.

[bork[e]]

anywhere from 50 to 70 bucks is a reasonable price around my area. If it were me I wouldn't go above 50 even if I didn't know them very well, but that's just me.

[Nightshade]

I'm rebuilding this for a family with a teen who had the original machine so fucking bogged down with spyware the computer couldn't be used (I tried booting it once, after 15 minutes I was still unable to really do much due to spyware popup warnings, etc etc etc.).

Was going to create a partition for their shit, one for the swap file maybe, and one for the OS. But after thinking about it a bit more, I think I'm going to go with just one. I don't want to deal with trying to explain to them not to install everything on the system partition or deal with them when they say "the disk is full" because they have filled up the system partition and don't know what to do next.

So they'll get one 80gb partition.


Also, anyone know what a place like the geek squad charges for full system redo's with updated windows, drivers, etc etc etc.?

Are they willing to cough up any dough for a new drive? Get 'em a bigger one and be done with it.

[R00k]

Yea, don't bother partitioning the drive if they're not tech savvy at all - it will only confuse them. The only benefit to doing it that way if you just have a single physical drive, is that IF they can be taught to only put their data on the extra partition, they won't fill up the system partition, but that's a sizable if - they'll still fill up the extra partition, and there will still be the possibility that they might fill up the system partition without knowing it (especially if it's only 3-5 gigs). Putting the pagefile and data on a separate partition on the same physical disk doesn't offer any performance benefit at all, except for defragging purposes.

I don't really know what geek squad or anyone else charges for this type of thing - couldn't hurt to call them and ask though.

[Peenyuh]

Last melt of my computer, the Geek Squad charged an even $100 an hour. No probs since though.

[tnf]

Yea, just reinstalled it all on one partition, threw adaware and spybot on there, put their kid on a limited account (for what its worth), adjusted page file size to 1.5x physical ram, and typed up a couple pages of maintenance tips and instructions for how to avoid spyware in the first fucking place by not clicking on OK when a window says "CLICK HERE BECAUSE YOUR SYSTEM IS AT RISK AND CAN BE OPTIMIZED."

called geek squad and they said it is 129.99 for a basic windows install and it starts going up quick if you want any additional 'security' stuff done like spyware software, etc.

[+JuggerNaut+]

ffs

[Yeando]

called geek squad and they said it is 129.99 for a basic windows install and it starts going up quick if you want any additional 'security' stuff done like spyware software, etc.

Jesus thats steep. We charge a max of £40 for a reinstallation, and thats with data backup and full windows update etc.

[EtUL]

That may not be that steep if its flat rate. I just spent 12 hours fixing a no-boot on my uncles computer that basically came down to chkdsk and repair installing windows. There were just a million little bugs I had to work thru in the process. (Windows install freezing at 34mins left, failing to install the cpu-agp driver, windows genuine forgetting to do some shit causing none of the updates to work, etc. etc. etc.) Screw that computer. And all I got out of it was dinner.

[Foo]

My recommendation:

• 1 partition for windows and software (I don't see any benefit in separating OS from software).

Agree

[*] A pagefile partition 1.5x the amount of RAM.

Disagree. You can manually set the pagefile size to 2048/2048 to prevent swap file fragmentation (which is the only benefit of running a seperate partition on the same disk)

[*] Preferably a separate harddrive for documents, or if need be, a partition. If there aren't a lot of documents, then just leave it as a single partition.[/list]

Agree with this. A seperate device or at least a seperate drive in the same machine is ideal for documents. It means it's easy to back up, too.

[SoM]

heres my partition
80 gig drive

15 gig windows + software
30 gig games
and the rest for storage

next time around i'm making the windows partition a bit bigger

[+JuggerNaut+]

cheap bastard

[tnf]

they gave me 100 bucks for it. That was fine with me and they were happy because it was still about half of what geek squad wanted for everything. I checked with them today for the cost of installing device drivers with the latest versions and they said that is $60.
These folks also have the geek squad telling them that they shouldn't set up their own wireless router without the geek squad coming and 'securing' it all. So I will probably be getting more money from them to set up their wireless router and "secure" it.

As much as I hate tech support work, getting paid for it beats the hell out of doing it for free with people who constantly bug you about it.

[+JuggerNaut+]

free is for family only.

[obsidian]

A pagefile partition 1.5x the amount of RAM.

Disagree. You can manually set the pagefile size to 2048/2048 to prevent swap file fragmentation (which is the only benefit of running a seperate partition on the same disk)

As I understand it, just setting a fixed pagefile will cause it to use a fixed size for the swap file and it will stay on the same sectors for that session. But rebooting, there's no guarantee that it will stay on the same sectors, it may 'migrate' to other areas of the HD, still causing fragmentation as other data is written around it.

I also use my swap partition (which I've allowed some extra space on) as a swap for software cache memory like in Photoshop. You can't set a fixed swap in Photoshop, so it's still a benefit (for me at least).