Partitioning (was: Re: OT: Web runs slow after RAM upgrade)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Patricia M Godfrey  on Tue, 30 Dec
2003 13:00:23 -0500


> Unfortunately, though,
> those of us stuck with Windows pretty much have to put native Win apps in
> C:\Program Files.

"Have to"? Why?

> Their install routines are designed to put the app
> there, and if you force it onto D:\WordPerfect, say, it will put parts of
> itself (sometimes, I believe, duplicate parts) in both places.

Actually, what it does is put _system files_ on C: -- DLLs, device drivers,
TSRs that it wants to launch at boot time like some of the "quick launch"
helpers, etc. But these almost always are a tiny proportion of the files
pertaining to any single program, such as any constituent of M$Office. But
nothing else needs to, or should, go on C:. Think about it: C: is dynamically
changing all the time (swap files, registries, gazillions of temporary files,
blah blah blah). D: and E: and the rest are generally much more static, with
an exception here and there -- e.g. E:\DOCS where you keep your Wierd DOC
files. To simply say, "well, the bloody app won't work without the stuff on C:
-- so what the hell", is a very shallow analysis.

Now think about ANY operation that "you" might want to do to keep your computer
healthy, or to recover from a disaster. (I'm about to list things that
probably a huge number of users NEVER do, but that is no excuse -- "well, I'm
already in total noncompliance, so what the hell".) Backing up.
Defragmenting. Cleaning out unnecessary files. Reinstallation of the OpSys.
Any "experimental" operation (or program), run willfully or unwittingly, that
you might want or need to reverse. Virus checking. Stupid operator mistakes
using the DEL command! Negotiating vast catacombs of subdirectories. The list
is endless, truly endless. All of these things will be faster and easier with
multiple partitions and/or logical disks. I back up C: every week, top to
bottom, with a "Scheduled Job" that takes place while I'm asleep. I back up
the Registry every night (another Job, hands-off). Plus I back up a few
narrowly targeted directories of the E:\DOCS ilk. The rest... back it up once
and forget about it. Defrag once and forget about it. If my OpSys goes to
hell, I simply restore C: alone. The backups are small(ish, relatively
speaking) and manageable. I could go on, but... we've been over this all
before.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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