On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 11:13:15 +0100, Mike Barnes
wrote:

As odd as it may seem, there is a "right" answer for this. There are many
variations of "right", but basically:

a) OS onto one partition (eg windows C:\ , Linux / /var /usr etc)

b) User data onto a different partition

a may be further subdivided (OS/applications/swap) and b may be subdivided
(personal user data aka home directory versus "shared" data like films,
mp3s, photos which the whole family access).

I second all of that.

On this PC, group (a) is subdivided into three partitions: Windows/apps
(C: 17Gb), paging (P: 2Gb), and temp (T: 4Gb). Group (b) is divided into
two partitions: documents and other files that need to be backed up
frequently (D: 5Gb), and files that rarely or never need to be backed up
(copy of the old PC's hard disk, copy of Windows CD, copies of audio
CDs, etc) (N: 230Gb).

Partition Magic is good for settings things up and adjusting afterwards.

An even better solution is to more than one HD.

Do not ever install the OS onto a whole-disk-sized partition and then lose
your data in amongst the crap. If you do and have to re-install the OS, you
will weep.

Agreed. I like to segregate my data principally according to the backup
requirements. That way, I can put the backup strategy to the back of my
mind, and never be in any doubt about what's being backed up when.

Good backup solutions can be quite cheap. I back up C: and D: to a 40Gb
DAT tape. Drives and controllers are plentiful on eBay (I paid about
£25). Software (NTBACKUP) is free with Windows.

I've found a lot of DAT drives to be very unreliable.

Mark