How To Install Windows XP or Windows 2000 With Dual Partitions

by Bob Cerelli, Guest Columnist

Introducing Bob Cerelli our guest columnist. Bob is the owner and author of a great computer information resource website called Bob Cerelli's Windows Site. When you have a question on computer issues, we recommend that you check out his website!

Why Create Two Hard Disk Partitions?

I prefer to install the operating system on one hard disk partition and keep all the applications and data on another partition. The main reason for doing so is that it is a much easier configuration to recover from when and if your operating system crashes.

How to Create the Initial Partition

First, create a relatively small FAT32 C: partition of about 6-8 gigs. One reason that I recommend FAT32 for the Operating System partition is that if you have a crash where certain files are corrupted, it is much easier to restore them from a boot floppy. Second, boot up your computer with a floppy that will allow you to access your CD ROM.

Third, create a directory on the C: drive called Windows XP. This is just an example. You can call it anything you would like.

Fourth, copy the entire contents of the installation CD to this directory. An example might be: xcopy d:\ c:\winxp /s (where d: would be replace by whatever your CD ROM drive letter is).

Fifth, go to the i386 install directory and run Winnt.

Last, install Windows XP as you normally would.

Creating An Additional Partition

My preference here is to create FAT32 partitions. You can boot with a Win 98 floppy and create and format these as usual. Unless you have specific security needs, which are easy to bypass anyway, it is much easier to access your data and applications in case of a crash. Personally, I have not seen any performance increase with NTFS.

Start first with the installation of all of your applications and keep your data on this second partition. While some applications like Microsoft Office will install shared components on the C: drive, the majority of space will still be on the second partition.

Use TweakUI, a free utility from Microsoft, to redirect your Favorites, My Documents and any other special folders to the second partition. This way in case of a crash, you will not lose anything.

Backup, Backup, Backup!

To backup the second partition, I simply use a second hard drive. It is a simple process to use XCOPY to copy the second partition to your backup drive. An example would be: xcopy d:\ h:\ /s /y /c /d /i /r /h

• D: is the drive letter for the second partition
  
  
• H: is the drive letter for the backup drive
  
  
• /s - Copies subdirectories
  
  
• /y - Does not prompt on overwrite
  
  
• /c - Keeps going on an error
  
  
• /d - Only copies new or changed files
  
  
• /i - If the destination does not exist and copying more than one file, assumes that the destination must be a directory.
  
  
• /r - Copies Read Only Files
  
  
• /h - Copies Hidden Files

The first time through it will backup everything. Then due to the /d switch, the next time it will only copy new or changed files. This makes backups very fast and easy to restore. You simply copy the file back again.

Disaster Recovery How To's

This is the main area where the FAT32 partitioning comes into play and my reason for setting up two partitions.

First, boot with a Win98 floppy.

Second, using a program like Drive Image, create an image of the C: drive on the second partition. Personally, I prefer Drive Image over Ghost since it is faster and the interface makes more sense to me.

Third, the next time your backup runs, it will copy this image as well.

Fourth, if Windows XP fails to start, you can simply boot with the Win 98 disk and restore that image.

Last of all, restoring takes only about 10 minutes and is the fastest way I know of to get my system back again after a crash.

I do the same basic procedure for all my client's NT servers as well. I just keep the images on a separate hard drive. It has enabled me to restore a completely failed hard drive, operating system, data, and applications in under an hour.

The above article is copyrighted by Bob Cerelli's Windows Site and used with permission for this newsletter.

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Norton's AntiVirus 2004 version includes:

• Expanded threat detection alerts you to certain non-virus threats such as spyware and keystroke logging programs.
  
  
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We have found this software online priced from $44.99 to $49.99. Some sites even offer special rebates, but check out the details on the rebate before buying. Some rebates have criteria that is difficult to meet.

Our Recommendations

We have had several problems recently with other Norton Software products and are glad to let you know that with Norton AntiVirus 2004, we feel like we have found a real winner.

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Why did we select Norton AntiVirus over McAfee AntiVirus?

As we researched on the Web before our purchase, we selected Norton over McAfee for several reasons. One was the auto-update feature with Norton seemed to work seamlessly and invisibly versus the cumbersome update feature with McAfee, the other was a stronger record with independent virus lab testing which Norton passed each time successfully, but McAfee passed only once, showing that Norton had developed a stronger program than McAfee in detecting, fixing, and preventing computer viruses.

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