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From: Dave Doe on 7 Jan 2010 20:47
In article <hi62ed$4si$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, spamme0(a)go.com
says...
>
> Bob Adkins wrote:
> > On Thu, 7 Jan 2010 11:17:28 -0000, "wasbit" <wasbit(a)live.co.ok> wrote:
> >
> >> This being said... I've put in a considerable amount of time researching
> >> this and have found partitioning disks where the OS is already installed a
> >> sketchy endeavor, regardless of whether the software is commercial or free.
> >> Quite a few people get lucky and it works, but a handful don't. The process
> >> doesn't give me much of a warm fuzzy feeling.
> >
> > I'm trying to think why anyone would want to partition a HDD. Modern
> > OS and BIOS can use up to 1.5TB partition sizes. If a drive crashes,
> > all partitions are lost, so it's not a safety feature. Drives are now
> > so cheap that you can buy 2 or 3 and have real drives, not just
> > partitions.
>
> And that's why so many people have problems.
> If you have a single 1.5TB partition, how do you back it up
> and where do you put the backup?

I don't see that partition size has anything to do with backup size.

System A is going to require X amount of space to backup, regardless of
1 or 100 partitions.

I agree with the original poster.

Indeed, even for imaging entire partitions, the s/w doesn't use the
physical size of the partition as the backup size - it backs up the
information (including partition info) - ONLY.


>
> I suggest a SMALL boot partition. My win7 boot partition has
> 14GB of stuff on it...the partition is 24GB just because I didn't
> know how much bloat M$ would add when I set it up. I can back up
> my boot partition in minutes to another partition on the same drive.
> I'm protected against most malware. I can copy the backup image
> to two DVD's or one 8GB flash drive and protect against anything else.
> I can save the last dozen backups just in
> case something happend last month that I didn't catch till now.
> The "static" stuff, everything on the other partitions, is backed up
> ONCE on DVD .
>
> Let's see you do that with your 1.5TB partition.

As said, it should make (almost) no difference.

--
Duncan.
From: Why Tea on 7 Jan 2010 22:54
On Jan 8, 12:01 pm, Bob Adkins <m...(a)pit.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 7 Jan 2010 11:17:28 -0000, "wasbit" <was...(a)live.co.ok> wrote:
>
> >This being said... I've put in a considerable amount of time researching
> >this and have found partitioning disks where the OS is already installed a
> >sketchy endeavor, regardless of whether the software is commercial or free.
> >Quite a few people get lucky and it works, but a handful don't. The process
> >doesn't give me much of a warm fuzzy feeling.
>
> I'm trying to think why anyone would want to partition a HDD. Modern
> OS and BIOS can use up to 1.5TB partition sizes. If a drive crashes,
> all partitions are lost, so it's not a safety feature. Drives are now
> so cheap that you can buy 2 or 3 and have real drives, not just
> partitions.

It's not true that if a drive crashes, you would lose all the
partitions. In most cases you might lose the first partition, but
other partitions should still be intact. Of course there could be
disastrous cases which you lost the whole thing. In addition, it's
always handy to have s system partition (C:) and a data partition
(D:, etc) as experience tells us after a few years running Windows,
you usually have to reformat the system partition to start things
afresh again.

From: Flasherly on 8 Jan 2010 01:11
On Jan 7, 10:54 pm, Why Tea <ytl...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 8, 12:01 pm, Bob Adkins <m...(a)pit.com> wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 7 Jan 2010 11:17:28 -0000, "wasbit" <was...(a)live.co.ok> wrote:
>
> > >This being said... I've put in a considerable amount of time researching
> > >this and have found partitioning disks where the OS is already installed a
> > >sketchy endeavor, regardless of whether the software is commercial or free.
> > >Quite a few people get lucky and it works, but a handful don't. The process
> > >doesn't give me much of a warm fuzzy feeling.
>
> > I'm trying to think why anyone would want to partition a HDD. Modern
> > OS and BIOS can use up to 1.5TB partition sizes. If a drive crashes,
> > all partitions are lost, so it's not a safety feature. Drives are now
> > so cheap that you can buy 2 or 3 and have real drives, not just
> > partitions.
>
> It's not true that if a drive crashes, you would lose all the
> partitions. In most cases you might lose the first partition, but
> other partitions should still be intact. Of course there could be
> disastrous cases which you lost the whole thing. In addition, it's
> always handy to have s system partition (C:) and a data partition
> (D:, etc) as experience tells us after a few years running Windows,
> you usually have to reformat the system partition to start things
> afresh again.

Binaries -- the ol' \BIN directory full of executables. One is the OS
- a partition primary (4 primes to a drive). Next is either for a
logical or primary, called PRG, away from the OS. All the C: prime,
OS links go there -- to the other partition, PRG, where they actually
reside.

Last is a minute area for desktop folders. DON'T put them on C:
prime. Third and last partition. This is where the folders exist
that C: prime OS Windows uses. Also, on this last partition -- where
all the programs installs go: for C: prime, -and- PRG partition, -and-
the BINARY (GHOST, which features compression) sector-to-sector images
of C: prime.

Everything else doesn't really benefit from imaging and compression.
What's the point of PRG ghost image if it's going to take a long time,
anyway to restore. (I keep my on DVDs, anyway -- as well as the
partition for OS images and installs.

Unused (latent) programs I haven't tested (commercial - freeware) --
music -- video, they're all on partitions, more or less. Video, for
instance, I'm transferring from DVDs to a 1T single partition NTFS.
BTW -- these 1T drive(s) are utilized 3.5 powered docking stations and
accessed via a USB.

Relevant partions to sum:
C: Prime OS -- 4G partition. Takes 1:45sec to image/GHOST WindowsXP
from RANISH, booted Windows98 via DOS. 1.5G free. Binary image files
approx. 800Meg compressed (roughly the size of the physical swapfile).
F: PRG partition --19G. 2.5G of PRG installs. Roughly 16.5G free.
G: OS PRG Zips/Ghost Images (also contains three dated and rotating OS
C: prime binary image backups). 2G free.

I have huge reservoirs of stored programs, PDF publications, and audio
visuals. Absurd to Ghost them.

Intended by way of illustration for a working model of working/
utilized sector-to-sector GHOST Operational System *backup*. Again,
there's only one drive actually being ghosted, and the other two are
variously backed on DVDs. It's fast-est- for a quick OS restore,
although things *may* become increasingly complicated past that, or
may be entirely irrelevant to someone, say -- using a computer for the
entire SW USA phone database to run telemarketing or some such
nonsense (pure conjecture, as I don't like solicitors).
From: Bob Adkins on 8 Jan 2010 09:06
On Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:39:47 -0800, mike <spamme0(a)go.com> wrote:


>I suggest a SMALL boot partition. My win7 boot partition has

I suggest a small, fast boot disk like a WD Raptor or a SSD.

For storage, use a big, cheap disk. If the files are irreplaceable,
use 2 identical disks, 1 externally (USB). No partition voodoo to
worry about!

When a HDD dies, all partitions die with it. You can send it out for
recovery, but it's prohibitively expensive. Why not back up on a
separate disk? It's 100% less likely to lose all your data.

>Let's see you do that with your 1.5TB partition.

Well,,, I use Acronis Tru Image, and I can back up my entire boot
disk, just the OS, or anything I want to a compressed file on another
disk. I can back up full or differential. My current boot disk with
all OS and installed files are stored in a single 15GB TIB file.

It's a great feeling knowing it only takes 15 minutes to restore my OS
and hundreds of my favorite installed Freeware apps, completely
bootable.

Partitions have largely outlived their usefulness, but there may be a
few minor exceptions.
From: mike on 8 Jan 2010 10:38
Bob Adkins wrote:
> On Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:39:47 -0800, mike <spamme0(a)go.com> wrote:
>
>
>> I suggest a SMALL boot partition. My win7 boot partition has
>
> I suggest a small, fast boot disk like a WD Raptor or a SSD.
>
> For storage, use a big, cheap disk. If the files are irreplaceable,
> use 2 identical disks, 1 externally (USB). No partition voodoo to
> worry about!
>
> When a HDD dies, all partitions die with it. You can send it out for
> recovery, but it's prohibitively expensive. Why not back up on a
> separate disk? It's 100% less likely to lose all your data.
>
>> Let's see you do that with your 1.5TB partition.
>
> Well,,, I use Acronis Tru Image, and I can back up my entire boot
> disk, just the OS, or anything I want to a compressed file on another
> disk. I can back up full or differential. My current boot disk with
> all OS and installed files are stored in a single 15GB TIB file.
>
> It's a great feeling knowing it only takes 15 minutes to restore my OS
> and hundreds of my favorite installed Freeware apps, completely
> bootable.
>
> Partitions have largely outlived their usefulness, but there may be a
> few minor exceptions.

So, we're in heated agreement. We do exactly the same thing.
You just prefer to put your partition
on one of the most expensive chunks of storage hardware available.
Works for me...wish I could afford it. I'm a $2 computer kinda guy.
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