Partions, etc. Sit-Rep.

First, thanks again for all the advice from the experts, re.
partitioning, O/S installations & producing a W2K SP4 installation
disc.

Progress so far:-

I experimented with a tiny (9.5GB) in the NEC, that had already been
re-formated as a NFTS drive.

pmj...

Bear in mind that when you Partition (or Re-Partition) a Hard Disk,
the Partitions (Drives) that yo uCreate will need to be Formatted.
So what ever Filing System (NTFS, FAT (12 or 16) or FAT32 that is
in use on any of the Drives/Partitions that you Delete won't make any
difference! - Since they will be Formatted anyway, you choose the Filing
System when the Drive is Formatted, not when it's Partitioned.

& you can change the Filing System, without (Re-Partitioning it),
if you want, by just Re-Formatting it (or in the case of changing from
FAT32 to NTFS, by using the Convert.exe Utility).

Fitted into the PC, ran the XP installation disc, & partitioned it!

pmj...

Great!
:-)

Easy innit?
:-)

Used the XP disc to format the 2.5 GB (too small ) primary partition,

pmj...

Yep, 2.5 GB is very much at the lower end of the range of sensible
&/or practical Sizes to use for WinXP - by the time you have allowed
Space for the Page File & the Hibernation File (if it's used) & the
System Restore stuff & the DLLCache.
It will actually work OK in less than 2 GB if you do away with those
sort of things, but most people wouldn't want that sort of faffing
around.

3 GB is really a practical Minimum (& that's a bit tight).
But is OK, so long as you have your Data (My Documents etc,)
on a separate Drive.
5 GB is prolly a sensible sort of Minimum figure, for WinXP for
most people, for general use (again, it's prolly best to make sure
to have your My Documents, etc, on a separate Drive.)

& installed XP.
Some problems with drivers, so installed the software for my Belkin
Wireless dongle & downloded all the XP updates, + the Blueyonder PC
Guard package.
Was left with 89 mb on C: drive, whoops!

pmj...

LOL!!!
& WInXp will continually Pop up Warning "Ballons", when it sees
the (Spare) Disk Space getting low.

Disable Hibernation & System Restore, (& then Delete the File
Hiberfil.sys & the "System_Volume_Information" Folder & its
Contenst), if you want some more Space back.
Also, you can Delete the Contents of the DLLCache Folder (saving
another few Hundred MB or so) - then when (or if) WinXP SFP
(System File Protection) finds it wants a File from there, it
will Prompt you to Insert the Install CD, so it can Copy the
Files from it.

Then I used the XP GUI to format the other two positions, & assumed
that the Quick Format option was available 'cos the drive had already

pmj...

The "Quick Format" Option doesn't (as far as I know) have anything
to do with whether or not the Drive has already been Formatted?
But I could well be wrong on that point & would appreciate it if
anybody has any more Info on that.

been formatted.

Next step, remove little drive & fit brand-new 250 GB Hitachi HDD.

pmj...

Plenty of Space on that then!
:-)

Same procedure, the XP installation disc prompts one to partition the
drive before installing XP, so I decided to have a 15 GB primary

pmj...

Or you could Bung in the New Hard Disk into the Machine, while you
already have that other WinXP Installation on the other Hard Disk?
& then use the WinXP GUI Disk Management thingy to Partition the
New Hard disk?

pmj...

For WinXP (or W2K)?
Sounds plenty.

partition, + 100 GB for pix, 94 GB for music & 23.9 for odds & sods.

pmj...

Like acouple of extra WinXp Installations?
:-)
For mucking around with & using as a sort of "Sacrificial/Test"
Installation?

Again, the XP installation was quick, 18 mins. rather than the 39
indicated on the set-up screens.
Why?

Jeff Gaines...

It's a bit of MS bull, starts you off with a good impression of XP,
under-promise, over-deliver :-)

Ebeneezer Ponder...

Took 2½ hours to install my brother's machine ;)

David C...

So I'm not the only cynic on this NG?

andon...

We hold special club meetings here on UPS.
Look forward to having you drop by :-)

pmj...

Modern Processors & Hard Disks are a fair bit faster than what was
common when WinXp was introduced.

WinXp does a "Disk Drive Data Transfer & throuput test", very early
on in the Install Routine & it's *supposed* to be able to work out
(roughly) how long it will take, but it invariably gets it wrong.

BTW - It will always go through several distinct stages, starting off at
"99 Minutes remaining", then Counting down through several
fixed Steps.
You will find various Websites referring to thinsg like the "T -12"
Stage etc, which is where ceratin parts of the Install Routine
happen, such as where you can Run your own Command Files & things.

To my surprise it was offered the Quick Format option on the other
three logical drives, which I used on the two large partitions, using
the "normal" slow method on the last, & smaller partition.
Any idea why / how does the Qick Format ( seconds, not minutes) option

pmj...

Nope, not really!

I think it just sort of lays down "Markers" & then actually Formats
the (Space on the) Drive, when its used?

work?

I've copied some files over from "C" to each of the other drives,
seemingly without problems & I'll also copy all my music & pix files

pmj...

There shouldn't reall ybe any probs with Copying from one Drive
(Partition) to another.

But it would be a good idea (at least to begin with?) to check
that everything *has* Copied across OK.
Try Reading the stuff back (p'raps just ReCopying it back to a
(Temporary) Folder somewhere), so as to make sure it *has*
actually Copied OK.

& check the Properties of what you have Copied - Total Number of
Files & Folders as well as the *exact* Number of Bytes - that has
been Copied, in case anything has been missed.

over this evg.

I havn't tried to slipstream a new installation W2K disc just yet,
probably tomorrow, after wrapping pressies.........

pmj...

Let us know how you get on with the Slipstreaming, won't you?

So, that's progress so far, no real problems, the missing drivers,
(ethernet & video controllers) will be found soon, I'm sure.

pmj...

Yep, if you can't find them on the relevant Hardware CD9s),
then you can get them from the Manufacturer's WebSite(s) OK.

If yo uaren't sure which Drivers to use, look up the PCI Vendor ID
& Device ID Strings (shown on the Details tab in the Properties of
the Device, in Device Manager) & look them up on the Web - there
are various PCI Database Sites which will tell you exatly what
those ID Strings mean.

Cheers & many thanks, David C.

pmj...

Glad to hear it's all going OK!
:-)