Hi.  I’ve read the Partition Strategies article from Radified, which is great, but it doesn’t address what may be a very basic question.  What is the best way to partition my hard drive for application files?  For example, let’s say that I set up one partition for my operating system (Win XP) and applications (such as MS Office, Reason, etc).  Should I create a separate partition for my MS Word documents, Excel documents, Reason files, etc., or should these application files stay in the same partition as their applications?  If I put them in a separate partition, will Windows be able to match the file with the appropriate application?

Radified suggests putting the OS and applications in the same partition.  What about putting the OS in one partition, the apps in a second partition and the app. files in a third partition?

Thanks,

Ken

hey.

like i try to emphasize in the guide, partitioning is a personal thing. you need to come up with a strategy that works for you.

i see no problem wit the suggestion(s) you made. i can tell you why i do it my way.

my partitioning is based (primarily) around being able to (easily) create & restore images:

http://ghost.radified.com/

do you use an imaging prgm to back-up your system drive?

i prefer to keep my prgms (apps) with my o/s (on my system drive) so i only need to create (and restore, if need be) 1 image.

the Ghost guide contains a section that addresses moving your documents to another partition, so they aren't affected should you need to restore your image. see here:

http://ghost.radified.com/ghost_1a.htm .. under the heading "Effects of Image Restotation" (contributed by Christer). THis must be a good idea because I've seen other sites copy it word-for-word.

are you looking for increased performance or better organization?  different people want different things. i focus on reliability. what is your primary objective? when we know that, it becomes easy to design a partitioning strategy around your goals.

for example, i don't install any *large* prgms to my system drive .. no games, no multi-CD apps, suchs as M$ Encarta encyclopedia, cuz they make my images much larger.

Did I answer your question(s)?