XP -How to Move it to it's own partition <

I read a posting suggesting that you put your OS on a separate partition so
when one has trouble and needs to recover
or re-stall it you don't mess up the rest of the files. Can someone please
direct me to a site that would give me the
instructions on how to do this please. Can I just somehow just move it over
or do I have to start from scratch ?
Thanks in advance for the help !

Bubey wrote:

> I read a posting suggesting that you put your OS on a separate partition
> so when one has trouble and needs to recover
> or re-stall it you don't mess up the rest of the files. Can someone
> please direct me to a site that would give me the
> instructions on how to do this please. Can I just somehow just move it
> over or do I have to start from scratch ?
> Thanks in advance for the help !

1. Just buy a second hard drive and copy your data files to it. Then delete
the data files from the first hard drive.

2. Or use a third-party partitioner (Acronis Disk Director, Gparted, etc.)
and create a second partition on your single hard drive. Then copy the data
files to the second partition, etc.

3. Or buy an external hard drive and image your system with something like
Acronis True Image (which can do incremental imaging also) and keep the
image on the external hard drive. You'll be able to get back to a working
system in a few minutes.

4. Or start over completely (obviously the least desirable choice). Back up
your data to external media and clean-install Windows, creating the desired
partition scheme during installation. You still will need to create and
implement a backup strategy, so #3 looks best to me.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

Thanks John, that's what I'm try to do on the laptop.
I have a External HD that I use for stuff I definitely don't want to use
or keep private. Is there a site that would give me the instructions on
how I can do this and then direct whatever I do, to go to the other drive
automatically. i.e., e-mails etc.
P.S. sorry for the personal send, I hit the wrong button.


"John Navas" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:14:08 -0400, "Bubey" <>
> wrote in <>:
>
>>I read a posting suggesting that you put your OS on a separate partition
>>so
>>when one has trouble and needs to recover
>>or re-stall it you don't mess up the rest of the files. Can someone
>>please
>>direct me to a site that would give me the
>>instructions on how to do this please. Can I just somehow just move it
>>over
>>or do I have to start from scratch ?
>>Thanks in advance for the help !
>
> What I recommend for desktop systems is to put your data on a separate
> external hard drive; install the OS and programs on the internal hard
> drive; and image the internal hard drive whenever you make a significant
> change. That way you can install the image if your OS and/or programs
> become corrupted without affecting your data. You can also migrate to a
> new computer easily. For laptop systems I partition the internal hard
> drive, with one partition for OS and programs, and the other partition
> for data.
>
> --
> Best regards,
> John <http:/navasgroup.com>