partition?

[jeenyes]

OK. so I'm not so smart. But what is a partition. I am going to format to get rid of ME and go back to 98 se and I have read some on the need to delete partition or something of the sort.
All I know is format and install 98 disk and reinstall. Should I do something else? Thanks

[Clayton]

If you have a cake and cut it into four pieces you'd have four partitions. Obviously you wouldn't want to physically divide your HDD but you can create separate partitions on it using software such as fdisk or partition magic.

The advantge of creating partitions may not be immediatley apparent at first but there are a few.

Firstly defragging a single 80gig drive in one sitting could take you 35 hours or so ( I've never tried it so take that as a guestimate )

Also virus infections are isolated to the specific partition, hopefully causing less damage.

I'm sure there are many other benefits as well but I can't think of any more off the top of my head. Hopefully I've clarified something for you in any event.

I forgot to address the last part of your question. If you have a smallish hard drive, say 4gig or less then I'd probably not bother with partitioning it myself. If larger than that, it becomes a worth while exercise.

I'd suggest you do a search for either fdisk or partition magic and see what you can find. There should be ample information available on this subject I would think.

Good luck

[This message has been edited by Clayton (edited 05-21-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Clayton (edited 05-21-2001).]

[socalgal]

Hi jeenyes

From the MSKB:

How to Partition a Master Hard Disk (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q255/8/67.ASP)

A great site for reference is www.pcguide.com (http://www.pcguide.com) . Check out Partitioning... (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/part.htm) for more references.

Hope these help.

[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 05-21-2001).]

[elroy]

I always partition my HD into at least 2 sections. This way if Windows quits you can save everything to the 2nd partition and format the 1st part and re-install Windows.

[wyvrn]

You don't have to use more than one partition. Just say no!

Folders are like partitions, so why partition in order to separate data?

Secondly, defragmenting is usually done while you are not using your computer anyway, so why worry about how long it takes? I have defragged a 40GB partition in less than an hour, especially if I do it regularly.

If Windows quits, you can deltree the directory and kill a few other files and reinstall fairly quickly. No reason to write the formatting information back on the platters unless you just want to.

Do research on all sides of the issue and, as usual, make the best decision for yourself http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Cruez]

Would you partition a 60 gig secondary drive?? if so how many partitions??

[sharder8]

The biggest advantage I've found to partitioning my hard drive is that I can save my "working" back-up to the second partition "HDD". I store my Emergency Recovery files to the third partition "HDD" as well as CD. (That may seem a little redundant, but it just makes it faster when I run into a real problem and have to reformat and load.) If I totally hose my C:\, it only takes me 25-30min. using E:\ and D:\. (If I have to use CD, you have to add another 25-30min. But overall, 30 min. or 1 hour is still far better than lost files (e-mails, worksheets, drawings, etc.) and 2-3 days getting all the settings back to where I want them.)

I divided mine 1/2, and then the second half into 2/3, 1/3.

Harder

[eweruk]

Another advantage is with two partitions is that you can store backups including images. If you make a FAT16 partition, you can image your completed install and store on the secondary partition. You will need Ghost or Drive Image though.