Partioned Hard Drive Question

Hello,

I have my hard drive partioned (i.e. Windows, Games, Other...) now i havent formatted in awhile and i am noticing stupid things happening, and i was wondering, can i format my windows partion and re-instal XP and will all my programs still function properly.

Thanks

 

Nope.

Your registry points to those files in quiestion.

MAYBE....just maybe, if you did a registry backup of your HKLM\Software and backed up each and every game name you installed....

Never tried it, doubt it will work


The best case is to save your save games, and reinstall....

 

If its the ''funny happenings'' in your OS why not go for a ''Repair'' of XP. That way it will not touch other progs on the partition.

 

Ugh, why didn't I suggest this... Yes, repair installation should/may/could work...

 

Actually I did a Repair on my system once, and it was a mistake. Afterward I really had some gliches. A bunch of them. I do not recommend it. I ended up doing a complete factory restore on mine, and reprogramming the entire system to undo all of the gliches. Except as a temporary fix, the repair is not a good choice in my opinion. Save yoiurself some time, and backup and reformat. Just an opinion, you understand.

 

Oh, I forgot, also, My research into partitions says, "Unless you have a compelling reason for partitioning your harddrive don't do it, because the day eventually comes where you run out of room in one of the partitions, and it's harder to change than to just not do it. File folders are infinately expandable and a better organizing tool anyway. Once again, just an opinion.

 

Jarhead, performance is a compelling reason to partition. Formatting only the windows partition is a compelling reason to partition. Faster defragmentation is a compelling reason to partition. As long as you plan, not partitioning is a stupid move. When it's time to adjust your partition sizes, it's likely time for a good full format anyway.

And folders are not infinately expandable.

XP:

Maximum file size: 16 terabytes minus 64 KB
Maximum volume size: 256 terabytes minus 64 KB
Maximum files per volume: 4,294,967,295 files

FAT 32

Maximum file size: 4GB minus 1 byte
Maximum volume size: 32GB
Maximum files per volume: 4,177,920