I have a new hard drive, and I want to have two partitions on the disk one
for the os and the other for program files. How much space should I reserve
for the os?

About 15gb would be plenty
You can go with 10gb if you have a 'slim' xp config

"Manny" <Manny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:453F8054-84AC-4568-8512-C7192A6BCCA6@microsoft.com...

Manny wrote:

You may want to rethink your strategy. There isn't any advantage to
putting your program files on a separate partition or hard drive. If
you need to reinstall Windows, you'll need to reinstall the programs
anyway. A better solution is to put all your data on a second
partition/hard drive for backup purposes and for protection in case the
operating system needs to be reinstalled.

That said, a clean install of XP Pro SP2 takes up about 2.5GB all by
itself. I would suggest you have 10GB set aside for the operating
system if you still want to do it your way. You can install programs on
the other partition/hard drive, but they will always put entries into
Windows system files and you need to leave room.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Manny

Allow 20gb for the OS and your programs.. reserve the rest of the drive for
data that you don't want to lose in the event that the OS has to be
re-installed..

The reason for this is that modern programs integrate into the OS and would
have to be re-installed along with it anyway..

--
Mike Hall
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User



"Manny" <Manny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:453F8054-84AC-4568-8512-C7192A6BCCA6@microsoft.com...

Manny wrote:
How big is your hard drive? What programs are involved? As others have
already pointed out your implementation may be flawed. Generally you are
better to keep Windows and programs together on one partition and data on
other partitions.

--
Kerry
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

"Manny" <Manny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote...
For XP Home, 10 GB is more than enough. For XP Pro, I have 20 GB.

You may (should) never fill 20 GB, but that will give enough room for
defragging, pagefile, and programs/fragments that will not install on other than
the boot drive.

"Malke" <notreally@invalid.invalid> wrote...
Not necessarily true, if the user backs up the system using imaging software
such as Ghost...

John R Weiss wrote:
Having the programs and the system on separate partitions means having to
maintain two images which may get out of synch. You could not restore one
without the other unless the images were taken while the computer is in the
same state. Whenever you update one you'd have to update the other.

--
Kerry
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

John R Weiss wrote:
There is no reason that I can think of for why Pro would need 10 GB more
than Home.

--
Kerry
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

"Kerry Brown" <kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote...
It doesn't really matter if you have to backup/restore 2 partitions at 10+20 GB
or a single partition at 30 GB. It may take a few more minutes to process, but
that's pretty insignificant...

Besides, in general, "system state" info is contained in the Registry, on the
boot drive. Some apps store state info in the user account in the Docs &
Settings folder, again on the boot drive. Others store it in the Program Files
folder, again on the boot drive. Between significant software updates, the
files in an app's primary installation folder is pretty much static, unless the
user allows it to store data in the App folder.

The only relevant "system state" issue I can think of would be a significant
software update, where the installed version of the app does not match the
Registry entries. A user's backup scheme to write images of OS and App drives
at significantly different times just doesn't make sense to me.

John R Weiss wrote:
Many, if not most current apps update themself via the Internet. I stand by
my statement that you must have synchronised images of programs, Windows,
and the system state. Given the large size of today's drives I see no reason
to keep Windows and programs on separate partitions. It will make backups
harder. Keeping data on a separate drive is always a good idea for many
reasons. If two drives are not available then keeping data in a separate
partition can make daily backups quicker and easier.

--
Kerry
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

HI.
I think it better to have 3 partitions.
1 - for the OS (10 gb);
2 - for apps and progs (10-20);
3 - for storage other stuff.

Why do you need 3 partitions?
Because in this way you'll be able to make 'backups'
(http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/) of the
separated partitions. For excample: you need to restore the OS - it'll
take few minutest to restore the needed partition and otgher stuff will
be intact.
For making backup I use Acronis True Image, it perfectly suits for
that.
Due to intuitive windows wizard it's the easiest way to protect your
PC.


--
Forbiden

You are mistaken if you think storing the operating system and programs in
separate partitions is a good idea. The operating system and the programs
work together as a unit. There's no point to restoring one without the
other.

--
Ted Zieglar
"Backup is a computer user's best friend."

"Forbiden" <Forbiden.27cqd9@news.xpbanter.com> wrote in message
news:Forbiden.27cqd9@news.xpbanter.com...

Forbiden wrote:
I also use True Image. It's an excellent program. Your reasoning for three
partitions is flawed. You would always need to keep the system and programs
images synched (i.e. done at the same time) so they may as well be in the
same partition. Also 10 GB for the system may be a little small even if your
method is used. With Windows updates, service packs, and the files that
programs insist belong on the system partition you will run out of room.
Hard drive space is cheap. Windows likes lot's of room.

--
Kerry
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User