More stoopid Laptop questions ...

[PaulBoy]

Hi - I'm back for more advice further to my post a week or two ago about speeding up my Dell laptop - I upgraded to 2gb of RAM (still looking for a home for the 1gb I took out btw ) & things improved considerably - I deleted unwanted programs / files - I whittled down the 34 programs that were starting up when I turned on - I defragged - but I still have only 5gb left of my 40gb hdd :bang: - I am now going to replace the hdd with a 100gb one (Toshiba same spec as existing one but bigger obviously) - I wondered if I do a fresh install on the new hdd but kept the old hdd should the need arise could I swap the old one back into the laptop again? - I have backed up the old hdd to my external hdd but as its not worth that much I was going to keep the old one for backing up etc (sorry if I'm being Mr Thicky here)
Finally embarrassed in my original post someone said its a good idea to partition the hdd and install the OS into one partition & the programs into another - I know how to create partitions so I reckon I could do that provided you think it is a good idea? I understand if I do this it means I could re-install the OS without deleting & having to reinstall all the programs again?
Thank you all in anticipation ... Paul

 

[oldgit]

A new install is probably best IMHO.
Go for NTFS when you format it.

Drive swapping..
Providing you dont change any other internal hardware you'll be able to plonk your old drive back in the drive bay and be back where you were the day you took it out.

HTH

 

[oldgit]

Yeah - create 2 partitions and dont put anything but the OS in one of them. Then you dont lose the lot if you need to re-install/format the "windoze" partition

 

[PaulBoy]

A new install is probably best IMHO.
Go for NTFS when you format it.

Drive swapping..
Providing you dont change any other internal hardware you'll be able to plonk your old drive back in the drive bay and be back where you were the day you took it out.

HTH

Paul - Thank you yes it does help - The new hdd will need formating (in NTFS as you say) - Will wait to see what the consensus is on whether to partition it or not (sounds like a good idea to me for future maintenance etc)
Ta - Paul

 

[RobertP]

Taking the drive does mean you can put it back again - and of course you will have a working laptop just as it was when you took it out.

As to partitions on a single drive I'd guess opinions vary. I'd not bother and keep it as one. If the drive mechanically fails you have lost it all partitions or not. If the O/S gets nuked then you get options to repair or replace when you re-install.

If things go so bad that you need to wipe/format whatever due to a virus or such then you'd probably be needing the backup of the stuff on the partition just to be sure it is really cleaned.

 

[PaulBoy]

Taking the drive does mean you can put it back again - and of course you will have a working laptop just as it was when you took it out.

As to partitions on a single drive I'd guess opinions vary. I'd not bother and keep it as one. If the drive mechanically fails you have lost it all partitions or not. If the O/S gets nuked then you get options to repair or replace when you re-install.

If things go so bad that you need to wipe/format whatever due to a virus or such then you'd probably be needing the backup of the stuff on the partition just to be sure it is really cleaned.

Thanks Robert that makes sense too - Paul

 

[pxl8]

Keeping the apps on a separate partition won't help if you re-install the OS, the apps will need to be re-installed as well as you'll have lost all the registry info, DLL files, etc. I tend to have a Win partition big enough for windows and apps and then keep data on other drives.

 

[dod]

I tend to have a Win partition big enough for windows and apps and then keep data on other drives.

Same here, I take a copy of the win partition using acronis every now and again too so in theory I should be able to just use that to get back up and running in the event of a crash.

 

[PaulBoy]

Keeping the apps on a separate partition won't help if you re-install the OS, the apps will need to be re-installed as well as you'll have lost all the registry info, DLL files, etc. I tend to have a Win partition big enough for windows and apps and then keep data on other drives.

Cheers pxl8 & dod ... in that case is it worth partitioning at all? I only use the laptop for leisure & back all my docs & pics etc to ext hdd AND dvd on a weekly basis - Paul

 

[brummie]

keep your windows and data on separate partitions

if you right click your "my documents" you can choose where it is located and you can use this separate partition.
It'll aid the re installation of the OS if you should ever need to.