Re: Disk partitioning

[Patricia M Godfrey pmgodfrey@xxxxxxxx]

Robert wrote: "E: Programs -- FAT32 -- as much as possible, isolate the
programs from the operating sys. If you have a choice, *never* put a
program on the same drive as the OpSys. This way, if you have to
reinstall/replace the OpSys, you don't lose your programming." Well, that
was what I used to do under DOS, and kept it up under Win 95. But by the
time I had to upgrade to W98, I realized that, as others have pointed
out, 1) Win 9.x apps want to go into C:\Program Files\Whatever App, and
if you don't put them there, they will put part of themselves there
anyway, with the rest on D:\Whatever App. 2) Unlike DOS apps, Win 9.x
apps (and even most Win 3.1 ones, with the glorious exception of XyWin)
don't just install in their own folders; they put bits and pieces of
themselves into Windows and various of its subdirectories (and heaven
alone knows where else), not to mention entries in the Registry. So if
you have to reinstall Windows, you'll have to reinstall all your 32-bit
apps at least.
	Partition Magic and System Commander are lifesavers if you have to get a
PC with the opsys already installed, but I consider it far safer to buy
bare iron, partition from a startup disk, and then install. Of course, if
you're running two or three opsyses, you will need a boot manager. (Now
if Iomega could just make its new 700+ Mb ZIP disks bootable, one could
put one's opsyses on a couple of them and boot to whichever one wanted.
Direct CD, which looked like being the answer, stinks on ice.)
Patricia