Question About Disk Partitioning

[:FI:Murph]

I notice that win7 has a feature in control panel called "Create and format hard disk partitions". Has anyone here used this? I am thinking about creating a partition for everything but the OS to be moved to, and leaving the OS in it's original partition. Would I be able to do this using this tool?
I have had to reinstall the OS twice in the last two weeks using the HP restore tool, and losing everything else in the process. I have no windows install disk- HP provides the install in their rescue/restore utility, but no disk.
If the OS was in it's own partition maybe I wouldn't have to lose everything else if this happens again.

[:FI:Heloego]

The partitioning tool in W7 isn't bad, and is still in its infancy, but putting W7 into its own partition is always a good idea.

I use MiniTool Partition Wizard, as it's a bit easier to use. You can DL it free here:
http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-par ... nager.html
Updates also free.

Once you get things fully sorted don't forget to create a Repair Disk. This is located in your Start Menu under All Programs>Maintenance folder.

[:FI:Armitage]

hmm if you are going down the partitioning route you should consider
1: At least 20GBS for your OS.
2: A seperate partition for your pagefile 2-3 times the most memory you ever intend to have
3: A partition for your programs/games

Once that is done I would uninstall all my applications and reinstall putting them on my data partition
I would also move my windows page file to my page partition.

Don't blame me if it all goes wrong!

[:FI:TacticalS!]

While some folks create lots of partitions, the only real advantage I get from partitioning is to create two: one for your personal files and one for everything else. This way, when you eventually reformat you can leave your user files alone. Obviously your first partition (C:) must include the OS (and all your programs and games). Now some find it helpful to create a partition for games, for example, but you still need to reinstall them so I don't see the advantage.

Anyway, Murph this is an area where there are a lot of personal preferences.

TS!

[:FI:Sneaky_Russian]

Partitioning large HD drives does cut down time on defrags and other maintenance tasks.
Change your default installation path to something other than "C:" or reserve enough space for apps that don't give options to install elsewhere.

Ultimate backup is of course cloning your OS partition to a spare or external drive.