DeltaX and Hard Drives

Oldhermit,

We will identify all OSs when the time come to include them in the next thread. And there will be a discussion on which ones to include, I would imagine. I don't have NT 4.0 yet, but have most of the DOS OSs and the others you listed. All we are doing on this thread is to look at hard drives and how to use them with a slant towards Multibooting.

All those reading, if they have looked at the references everyone gave in their posts, and with what has been and will be said should have both a feel and an idea of how this works as it unfolds. :)

If nothing more, readers will know their computers better than they did. :) :)

Quote:

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With this chip, when you hit the power button to boot your PC, it will be at the desktop and fully functional instantly!

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...and for the low, low price of only $12,987!! (That is...three easy payments of only $12,987.....)

;)

Beware, HE is loose again. I remember the last time. Was not a pretty picture. :D :D

This has been covered in multiple threads, but is a perenial question: How do you order your hard drives and CDR/CDRW's on the IDE channels. In the past, I have used the following configuration:

IDE 1: 2 HD's

IDE 2: CDRW Master & CDR Slave

The drawback to this is doing a disk to disk backup is slow since you are constrained to one IDE channel. Same issue for copying CD to CD.

I am now trying the following configuration:

IDE 1: HD1 Master & CDR Slave

IDE 2: CDRW Master & HD2 Slave

First, I am using partitions to separate different OS's, swap file and backups, as well as a "test area" from each other.

Many others have posted they separate OS from apps from data.

I can see the point on data, but not on apps. If the OS gets reinstalled, all apps would have to be reinstalled as well, else their registry entries and who knows what else is not tied with the OS.

Where is the advantage of keeping the apps on a separate partition ? Maybe if ones copies the CD's to a drive, to speed up reinstalls?

Uh-oh,,,that wily cat with the weird glasses has struck(gon'na go hide under the bed 'til he goes away. Byeeee>>>>:p

Placing the apps on a separate drive from the OS increases data retrieval efficiency and also extends the life of the drive--it doesn't have to work as hard to retrieve data. Like I mentioned earlier, it's a simple matter of imaging (ghosting) both the C drive and the "matching" D drive, then restoring both together (reformat both drives, then reimage both with the appropriate files from a third hard drive)

RR - I don't get it :confused: I don't wear glasses :confused:

Bistro - On two drives maybe more efficient, but two+ partitions on the same HD ???
And one ghost process vs. two ???
You haven't convinced me (yet) ;)

Well I like to keep at least my large apps on a separate partition for the simple reason that it's a lot quicker to make a Ghost image, and it certainly saves a few CDR's on those occasions that I want to save an image to CDR. And it's precisely because the apps can be installed again at any time that they don't need to be Ghosted.

And with the bloat of modern apps (Visual Studio .Net & MSDN Library takes up 5GB of space on it's own), if you have a multiboot setup then those apps can be shared, thuis saving a considerable amount of disk space.

BTW - I think Ridge was referring to the portrait of Bistro (it's really his passport photo you know) :D

Apps and Partitions - I see, not convinced, but I see your point.

Duuh - the avatar - too much work... :o

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Originally posted by oldhermit
Just for a little clarification, GreenGoose's reply to my post seems to eliminate certain OS's from this discussion.

I have computers in the following configurations:
DOS
Win3.1
Win95
Win95B
Win98SE
WinNT4.0
Win2K
WinXP
RedHat Linux

All were purchased and licensed legitimately.
You might want to indicate which of these are going to apply to this discussion, and then I won't regard anything said as being relevant to the others..?

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That is a very hard question to answer, as we have not gotten questions on all of them. Now is kind of general knowledge time so folks reading can have a idea why they may run into certain types of problems and possible ways to work around them. And for some of us, just a darn good reminder :D

Years ago I had a Compaq(I know) with a 4 Gig HD partitioned like this: C: 2.1 GB. D: 1.9 GB. If I directed an install to D partition a good portion still installed to C anyway. Why did that do that? Do programs still install this way?

Yes they do. Some of it has to go into the registry or it will not work at all. Then as now, some will only install to C: :(

And going along with what Train just said, a little thinking about bios and where it fits in with limiting factors with regards to the larger sizes of hard drives and why may help. So as HDDs got bigger the original bios configuration could not handle them, work arounds had to be done.

In DOS OSs bios played a big part. In Windows, starting with WIN 95, the BIOS (Which is nothing more than a small program to check out the hardware and make sure all is fine) goes through the post. (At this point BIOS is the control function in the computer) Then it hands off control to Windows and Windows is now controlling the computer.

And as windows was advancing towards XP, the size of HDDS was increasing neccesitating software that would allow the detection of ever bigger HDDs. We saw the Large Disk function in FDisk and Format, controller cards, and third party software that would allow us to use larger and larger HDDs.

Now here is a question for all to ponder. Does XP use bios in any way and why? :) :)

Oldhermit,

Need to make sure this point is clear with you. When multibooting is started, probably we need to start with a dual boot and work towards the more complex multiboots. I have not ruled out any OSs. Especially with this crowd. I have escaped being drawn and quartered all my life and now is not a time to start. :D :D

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Originally posted by Train
Yes they do. Some of it has to go into the registry or it will not work at all. Then as now, some will only install to C: :(

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On my system I used TweakUI to change the location of Program Files to the D: drive.

I was going to change the location of ....\Common Files to D: as well but discovered that the install sticks a lot of stuff in the ....\Common Files directory on the C: drive so decided it would be way to confusing.

Also alot of programs put files in C:\Windows, C:\Windows\System and C:\Windows\System32 so there's no getting away with it.