PC Tuning

[worzelGummidge]

I'd also have a separate partition (or more than one) for data so that when you need to rebuild the OS, you are only hitting the one partition rather than needing to restore EVERYTHING from backup.

Good point.

[DaveB]

For anyone doing a clean install of Vista or Win 7, assuming you don`t have an SSD fitted, consider partitioning the drive first- it`ll help stop the machine from slowing down over time.

For example you could have three or four partitiions.
1. A small(ish) Windows system only partition.
2. A partition for temp files including the system page file, temp directories and temporary internet files.
3. A partition for programs to be installed on (Program Files directories) etc that you might also want to use for data storage.
4(optional). If enough drive space left over, a partition for data storage including My Documents folder if not already covered by 3.

For Vista and Win 7, 32-40gb is enough for Windows depending on which version is being installed. Having this as the first parition also ensures the system files are stored on the fastest part of the disk.

This also makes it easy to reinstall the OS later if required and also easy to backup your data

Nerd glasses

The assorted flavours of Unix/Linux have been doing this for donkeys years. I remember building Solaris 7 boxes in the dim and distant past and having to allocated disk space for the desired partitions. Did wonders for systems stability as a user filling the available drive space in the user partition wouldnt cause the box to fall over and OS problems typically didnt require a full rebuild to fix. Just restore the affected partition.