program files on separate drive

Discussion in 'Software' started by smith_fan, Mar 1, 2004.

  1. smith_fan

    smith_fan Private E-2

    My XP installation is old and buggy. I'm about to reformat and start fresh. What I want to do but am not sure how is this. I currently have a 100 GB W.D. partitioned into several logical drives. C and E are NTFS. C is 12.47 GB and E is 77.75 GB. C has XP and most of my programs on it and E has data. The other 5 logical drives on that physical disc are formatted Ext2 as I planned to try out Linux to try to get away from Microsoft dependency. But I never did anything with Linux, because I didn't want to screw up the existing Windows stuff. As the slave on that primary IDE channel, I'm running a 40 GB Maxtor that just has a bunch of junk on it. XP originally detected and labeled it D and I've been too lazy to change them. I'm going to format it.

    The secondary IDE has a DVDRW as the master(if the replacement ever gets here!) and an old CDRW as a slave.

    I'd like to install the Windows programs on the Maxtor so that when XP starts acting up I could easily blow it away w/o having to install all my programs over. How would a person let Windows know that the programs aren't in the C drive after a quick install? I've never really understood the registry or been comfortable modifying it. Or is there a better setup for relatively frequent Windows reinstalls?

    I'd appreciate any suggestions or instructions you could offer. I also would like a good resource for a RAID how-to if anybody knows of a site. Thanks
     
    smith_fan, Mar 1, 2004
    #1
  2. the_master_josh

    the_master_josh Specialist

    Your plan won't work for having to reinstall programs. If you clear away windows and reinstall, windows won't know that there are even programs on your other HD. Having a seperate partition only helps if you have a lot of data, like music and videos.
     
    the_master_josh, Mar 1, 2004
    #2
  3. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    As Josh said if you re-install XP the regisrty and the information of where programs are located will be erased, you will have to install those programs again to update the registry.

    Separate HDs are great for storing data/files/music/video/drivers/updates etc etc away from the main OS drive incase of a reinstall, the best way if you have frequent installs is to Clone/Image of a nice clean install of your OS and other software programs you use eg. MS office, Photoshop, AV, Spyware apps etc etc and whatever tweaks and settings you like to use.... I actually use a spare Hard Drive to clone my Default clean installation on.


    as for Raid...
    http://www.acnc.com/04_01_00.html
    http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/mb/abit/kx7-333/raid1.htm
     
    DavidGP, Mar 1, 2004
    #3
  4. smith_fan

    smith_fan Private E-2

    It seems like there ought to be way to import a "backed-up" registry after a Windows reinstall. But maybe the easiest method would just be to image the drive. It just seems to me like a very inefficient use of hard drive space to have to always keep a duplicate of ALL the info instead of just a copy of the registry info... Do you use Norton Ghost when you do it?

    I'll check out those RAID links, thank you.
     
    smith_fan, Mar 1, 2004
    #4
  5. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Too many things get changed in the registry to make that a viable option IMO, especially with all the windows updates etc...


    Luckily I have a few 10-20g spare HDs that were at one point in my system, so all I do is plug 1 in when I need to ( they are not perminently attached but stored ) do an image but the 2 images I have now will do me as they include only XP + SP1 and all updates to Nov03 as well as all system tweaks, disabled services.... all other apps like MS Office, Photoshop etc can be installed later as all I wanted was a clean starting point.

    as for the software I use its Acronis True Image... the only one I found that images my Raid0 easily.
     
    DavidGP, Mar 1, 2004
    #5

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