>>1. How do you partion the hard drive into more than one drive, and is this recommended?
I definitely think it's a good idea to have more than one drive, even if they are on the same disk. You can use the second drive to backup your files or even do a complete drive-image so that if Windows gets corrupted you have everything right there for hi-speed transfer after a re-format. Of course there are alternatives, like the HP restore CD that was mentioned a few posts back, or a trouble-shooter like Norton Utilities. But IMO a re-format is a great trump-card to have in the Windows game. (And even more important, it's a lot of fun <g> There's just something special about typing in responses to the command prompts on the dark DOS screen and thus altering something fundamental about your computer's configuration) (fundamental by my neophite standards).
Regarding: How do you do it? It is a bad time to do it once the OS is installed because partitioning erases everything on the disk (as opposed to formatting which only erases the specific drive you are formatting). OTOH, it's a good time to do it before you get a lot of other stuff on board. But OTTH (On the third hand) there is another way: Power Quest makes software applications for drive configuration, etc. One of these is called Partition Magic which lets you re-size and configure your drives "on-the-fly", i.e. leaving your existing files intact. I heard about it on the "Dream Machine" thread. I just ordered "Lost and Found" by the same company, which lets you "unformat" a drive that was mistakenly erased (yes I did that--now I use volume labels <g>), but I don't have Partition Magic yet. Will soon, though. For about $70 (for PM) you can save yourself from having to start from scratch. OTOH, it teaches you a lot about your computer to go through the partition/format/install process, for those that want/got to know. I also don't know how easy PM would be to use for someone who's never done it the regular way.
For part B: How to Partition your disk from scratch, I'll continue tomorrow unless someone (hopefully more qualified) fills in today. Dogs need to go to the park, snow piling up, house is a mess...
wily |
