BleepingComputer.com: Partioning a Hard Drive for XP

Ok I have an old laptop thats got a few problems on it and I want to reformat the Hard Drive and reload the original copy or Windows XP. The HD Drive is only 20G but I would like to partioning part of it just for the OS and the rest left for my data. My Question is how much should I partion for the OS? 2G, 5G ??????

many thanks

Check the current size of used space on your hdd now. Figure out roughly how much of that is data and how much of that is taken up by Windows and the other programs you plan to install. This will give you a rough idea of what partition sizes will work for you.

It all depends on what you are going to install over XP.

Clean XP install uses less than 1GB space. Then you install updates, it goes over 1GB. You install MSOffice, it adds nearly 1GB more. You install Visual Studio, it would add 3GB more. Besides that Windows needs some free space for normal operation.

So you note down all software you want to install, and then you would be able to judge better that how much XP needs. Trust me XP is hungry

OK thanks for all your suggestions

You need to consider having enough space for programs that require a C: path and enough space Windows defrag to run, I ran into both of those issues on my old drive. I got to a point where it did not want to defrag and hunting down links to make programs work from the other partition is a pain. You must put some thought into the process.

Phil