Problem w/ drive fromat (Partition) and Windows XP. Help

Question

HI Everyone, I have Dell 4700 Dimension, 1 GB of Ram, Intel 3.4 Processor, Harddrive - 149 GB, 136 Gb free. I recently wiped re-formatted the whole computer, and installed Windows XP Pro fresh. I uploaded all Dell Programs and drivers needed etc. But, when I did the fresh install, I created one huge C: Partition for XP to run (no other partitions). Ever since it seems to take Windows longer to start up and such. I run AV and anri-spyware so I don't believe that's the problem. Could the one huge C: Partition be the problem. Dell PC Check says I'm OK, but I'm looking for Windows to load faster if possible? Would creating another partition help or is there something else I could do? I've cleaned up junk files and defrag. Would the Dell resource CD Have anything that could correwct this? Please be technically specific because I'm new to this. Thanks in advance! Jeff

JRosenfeld · Answer

The size of the partition does not generally affect Windows startup. You don't say how long it takes, so I can't judge whether you might have an underlying problem. If Windows is generally slower, are you sure you installed all the needed drivers, including the chipset drivers?

What could be slowing down the startup are apps that are configured to load a component at startup, some of which you might not need. You could review your startups, either using msconfig (click start, run, type msconfig, click OK, look in the startup tab), or Spybot S&D (recommended anti malware app) in advanced mode, tools, system startup, has a very useful manager for disabling startup items; it also has some info on what the items refer to so you can better judge whether you need them. Otherwise you can find out on line from http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html or offline by downloading startups exe from http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html (click on the link EXE in the paragraph starting 'If you prefer the old format you can still download the HTML ZIP and EXE formats' at the end of the opening section of the page, unzip the downloaded file and double click on startups.exe. There is a search option).

If you want to create additional partitions (for example to store your data on a separate partition from Windows), you will need to buy software, such as Partition magic (quite a few others).

Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 01-08-2006 07:01 PM

Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 01-08-2006 07:03 PM

Herbo13 · Answer

OK, I have Spybot so I will look into the start up applications. I will also check out the other links you provided. In general, to get to the welcome screen of Windows it takes about 30 seconds... I guess that isn't too bad. Thanks for your help!
Jeff

john-allen · Answer

JROSENFELD:

Would you provide some advise on partitioning a 40gig harddrive? I plan to load XP-PRO, probably would like separate partitions for securit programs vs speciality (ACAD, OFFICE SUITE, etc.)

Guess a partition for backup and a partition for a future operating system.

Do not really know what I am talking about so please accept me as a novice.

I know (I think) that installing XP PRO will offer me (1) save files wizard, (2) Reformat, (3) partition opportunities. The problem is I will not know what to do about partitioning!

Thanks for any advice!

john

JRosenfeld · Answer

Not sure I'm the best to advise, there are others here more expert in such matters. However, since you ask, these are my 2 cents' worth.   I don't think that there is much point in putting any apps on a different partition than the OS, because most write into the registry and often also place files in the system folders. Should you have to do a clean install of your OS, you would in any case also have to reinstall all apps, whether they are on the same or on a separate partition. What is worth doing is to put all your data onto a separate partition. BTW, there is a special way to move your my documents folder to a second partition so that references to it in the registry are correctly adjusted, see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310147   If you are going to do a clean install, you can create the partitions in that process, without the need for third party software. What you can't do, once Windows is installed, is to change the size of the C:\ partition from within Windows disk management, hence the need to use third party software if the drive just has the one large partition and a clean install is not desired (the situation of the original poster). If during the clean install you make the OS partition smaller than the whole drive, then you can also use disk management from within Windows to make new partitions on the unused space.  A good guide to clean install is http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html but there are others, including on the Dell support site. Don't forget to install the chipset drivers and other drivers you may need :-)   For a 40 GB drive, I would suggest one 15 to 20GB partition for your OS and software (some people suggest that a much smaller partition is sufficient, but you mention a couple of big apps; as a guide I have several of those and my C:\ partition has about 16 Gig on it, including system restore, etc. I could reduce it somewhat by deleting some Windows updates backup folders but I'd be tight on much less than 15 GB; also, for efficient defrag purposes it is good to have a margin of about 15%) and the remainder for one or two data partitions (depends on what you are doing, if video editing, for example, some people like to keep their videos sepparate from other data).   You mention possibly wanting to install a second OS for dual boot: of course any software that you wanted to run from both would need to be installed in both (if compatible), for the reasons given at the start of this reply. In that case you could consider 2 15 GB partitions for the 2 OS and a 10Gig one for data. I have never run a dual boot PC, for the purposes for which I use my PC it has not been necessary.   If by the save files wizard you mean the Windows backup utility, that is also available on the XP home CD, if that is what you have currently, just not installed by default (it's in the \Valueadd\MSFT\NTbackup folder). I don't use it, preferring to copy backups to DVD (I also now have Backup My PC, as part of the Roxio Easy media creator 8 suite, so I might start using that). If you have only one hard drive, I would not recommend keeping data backups on that: if the hard drive fails you will have great difficulty (andspend lots of money) to try to retrieve it. Much better to copy to a CD or DVD, or install a second hard drive (could be an external removable one). I don't think NTbackup can back up to removable media.   . Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 01-09-2006 02:36 AM

JRosenfeld · Answer

Herbo 13,

I bypass the welcome screen as I'm the only user. But from starting the PC to being able to start using it, takes about one minute, if that's a guide or consolation. The essential startups that take about 15 seconds between them are Zone Alarm, NAV and MSAntispyware. They load in the system tray after the desktop has appeared, but I can't really click on anything until they have loaded. I have about four other non essential startups for convenience.

Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 01-09-2006 02:19 AM

Herbo13 · Answer

Thanks for setting my mind at ease, that load up time of mine sounds about right then. =) Thanks again for all your help regarding this. I'll just see about adjusting my start up and the Spybot stuff! Thanks again!

Jeff

Windows General

Problem w/ drive fromat (Partition) and Windows XP. Help

Was this post helpful?