partitioning hard drive 2

Let's conduct a survey about partitioning my hard drive! Whichever choice is selected the most is probably the way I'll go about partitioning my hard drive. (Or I could draw from a hat.) If I have to reinstall Windows XP, that's not a big deal.
Here's my second partitioning my hard drive question. My original plan was partitioning my 80 gig hard drive in half - one half for XP and one half for Vista. Here are a couple different ways. Which way do you think is the best? I plan on installing all the software on Vista that I have installed on XP also to test to see what software works with Vista and what doesn't. No matter which way I go from what's below, it should work, correct?
As a little throw in, what actual difference would I see in performance between a 2MB cache and an 8MB cache hard drive in Vista?
(Firstly, I have two hard drive - an 80 gig WD 7200RPM 2MB Cache IDE hard drive MASTER and a 120 gig WD 7200RPM 8MB Cache IDE hard drive SLAVE) PRIMARY currently has 61.9GB free with 12.5GB used (one partition with XP) SECONDARY currently has 102GB free with 9.65GB used (one partition used for storage)
Method 1) (The original method) Partition 80GB hard drive 40GB partition C: - Windows XP 40GB partition D: - Windows Vista Leave 120GB hard drive alone (will become drive E:)
Method 2) Partition 80GB hard drive 40GB partition C: - Windows XP 40GB partition D: - Storage Leave 120GB hard drive alone (will become drive E: and will have Vista)
Method 3) Leave 80GB hard drive alone (will stay drive C: and have XP on it - no need to reinstall XP) Partition 120GB hard drive 80GB partition D: - Windows Vista 40GB partition E: - Storage
Method 4) Leave 80GB hard drive alone (will stay drive C: and have XP on it - no need to reinstall XP) Partition 120GB hard drive 40GB partition D: - Windows Vista 80GB partition E: - Storage
Method 5) Leave 80GB hard drive alone (will stay drive C: and have XP on it - no need to reinstall XP) Partition 120GB hard drive 60GB partition D: - Windows Vista 60GB partition E: - Storage
Method 6) Switch the hard drives around in my computer and make the 120GB master and the 80GB slave (will this mess with XP's activation if I still use the same hard drives just in a different order?) Partition 120GB hard drive 60GB partition C: - Windows XP 60GB partition D: - Windows Vista 80GB E: will have storage

An 8MB cache drive will always give you better performance than a 2MB cache one, whatever the OS you run on it. Before you commit a whole drive to Vista, however, remember that when it becomes RTM, the recommended upgrade path is to do a clean install. At least this has been true for every past Microsoft OS, and in my experience a clean install has always yielded better, more stable, results than an in-place upgrade, even with fully released OSes. -- Pierre Szwarc Paris, France PGP key ID 0x75B5779B ------------------------------------------------ Multitasking: Reading in the bathroom ! ------------------------------------------------
"Travis King" a écrit dans le message de news: OGXPrckRGHA.4920@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl... | Let's conduct a survey about partitioning my hard drive! Whichever choice | is selected the most is probably the way I'll go about partitioning my hard | drive. (Or I could draw from a hat.) If I have to reinstall Windows XP, | that's not a big deal. [snip]

I've always done clean installs of OSs in the past. I tried doing an upgrade once with XP once on a different computer that had Windows ME and it was a mess. From driver conflicts, software not working, to more hard disk usage. I regretted that decision and started over with a fresh install and have always done a clean install since. Now a question: How much of a difference *will I notice* between the 8MB cache hard drive and a 2MB cache hard drive? If we're talking something like 1% or less, I probably won't bother, but otherwise, I will consider switching the hard drives' positions around. (Especially since it won't cost me anything to make my OS run faster.) Spring break's coming up this week, so I might begin the transformation. I probably should do it at the same time that I get my new video card. The 120-gig hard drive is a year newer than my 80-gig. "Pierre Szwarc" wrote in message

An 8MB cache drive will always give you better performance than a 2MB cache one, whatever the OS you run on it. Before you commit a whole drive to Vista, however, remember that when it becomes RTM, the recommended upgrade path is to do a clean install. At least this has been true for every past Microsoft OS, and in my experience a clean install has always yielded better, more stable, results than an in-place upgrade, even with fully released OSes. -- Pierre Szwarc Paris, France PGP key ID 0x75B5779B ------------------------------------------------ Multitasking: Reading in the bathroom ! ------------------------------------------------
"Travis King" a écrit dans le message de news: OGXPrckRGHA.4920@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl... | Let's conduct a survey about partitioning my hard drive! Whichever choice | is selected the most is probably the way I'll go about partitioning my hard | drive. (Or I could draw from a hat.) If I have to reinstall Windows XP, | that's not a big deal. [snip]

I can't tell you how much of a difference *you* will notice, because it depends a lot on the type of applications you run. If you do a lot of RAM-intensive work such as 3D rendering or image processing, you'll only notice a difference upon opening or saving files. If you do database development, OTOH, the benefit will be quite obvious. -- Pierre Szwarc Paris, France PGP key ID 0x75B5779B ------------------------------------------------ Multitasking: Reading in the bathroom ! ------------------------------------------------
"Travis King" a écrit dans le message de news: uqv$LcuRGHA.2088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl... | I've always done clean installs of OSs in the past. I tried doing an | upgrade once with XP once on a different computer that had Windows ME and it | was a mess. From driver conflicts, software not working, to more hard disk | usage. I regretted that decision and started over with a fresh install and | have always done a clean install since. | Now a question: | How much of a difference *will I notice* between the 8MB cache hard drive | and a 2MB cache hard drive? If we're talking something like 1% or less, I | probably won't bother, but otherwise, I will consider switching the hard | drives' positions around. (Especially since it won't cost me anything to | make my OS run faster.) Spring break's coming up this week, so I might | begin the transformation. I probably should do it at the same time that I | get my new video card. The 120-gig hard drive is a year newer than my | 80-gig.

Would DAZ Bryce 5.5 be considered intense 3D rendering? "Pierre Szwarc" wrote in message

I can't tell you how much of a difference *you* will notice, because it depends a lot on the type of applications you run. If you do a lot of RAM-intensive work such as 3D rendering or image processing, you'll only notice a difference upon opening or saving files. If you do database development, OTOH, the benefit will be quite obvious. -- Pierre Szwarc Paris, France PGP key ID 0x75B5779B ------------------------------------------------ Multitasking: Reading in the bathroom ! ------------------------------------------------
"Travis King" a écrit dans le message de news: uqv$LcuRGHA.2088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl... | I've always done clean installs of OSs in the past. I tried doing an | upgrade once with XP once on a different computer that had Windows ME and it | was a mess. From driver conflicts, software not working, to more hard disk | usage. I regretted that decision and started over with a fresh install and | have always done a clean install since. | Now a question: | How much of a difference *will I notice* between the 8MB cache hard drive | and a 2MB cache hard drive? If we're talking something like 1% or less, I | probably won't bother, but otherwise, I will consider switching the hard | drives' positions around. (Especially since it won't cost me anything to | make my OS run faster.) Spring break's coming up this week, so I might | begin the transformation. I probably should do it at the same time that I | get my new video card. The 120-gig hard drive is a year newer than my | 80-gig.

I think so. -- Pierre Szwarc Paris, France PGP key ID 0x75B5779B ------------------------------------------------ Multitasking: Reading in the bathroom ! ------------------------------------------------
"Travis King" a écrit dans le message de news: %23GSsu3uRGHA.252@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl... | Would DAZ Bryce 5.5 be considered intense 3D rendering?

Travis King wrote: | Let's conduct a survey about partitioning my hard drive! Whichever choice |
If performance differences between 2MB and 8MB cached harddrives is your concern, you probably should join www.tomsharware.com forums. Such ponderings turn their cranks all the live-long day.
Now regrading your vote. I would vote whichever one disrupts your Windows XP installation and setup least. Why? Remember, you are installing a Beta 2 which will be usurped in April by the public release beta which in turn will be replaced by an even later build not too long after that. Why do anything that busts in on your Windows XP installation?
--- Grok