Restoring a Back-Up?

I am about to re-install x64 from scratch, (no, Repair Install didn't help
me) I've zapped the Partition and I am set to go. I have a fresh back-up of
all the essentials performed by Nero. Now, recalling all the really good
advice and the general tips'n tricks that flow through this forum, I have in
mind to re-install to a small system partition (probably some 4GB's). The
Back-up totals 13+ GB, so I will have to re-direct the greater part to a
separate partition.

Now, several people have made this wise proposal to put 'My Documents' and
other stuff on such a partition, but I am falling into doubts about how that
will reflect on the restoration process? The 'Program Files' directory is
not trivial in size, can I move that as well? I havn't tried restoring in
this way before, suddenly it sounds quite intimidating.

A few pointers, to not ignore something really important, would be
appreciated.


Tony. . .

John
Sun Aug 20 07:43:02 CDT 2006

Everyone has their own preferences. I personally leave everything alone.
Those items shared between O/S I point to the one I use and backup most
(currently have all data files on X64 (shared with X86 and Vista), but with
regards to Money, I have 2005 on X64 and trial of 2007 on Vista). Backup
jobs are easy enough to set up to just backup the data files whereever you
store them, if you backup that more often. So much defaults to My Documents
now anyway. For me storage is cheap and backups don't take that long, and if
you schedule them to run and shut down the machine, you just start one when
you are thru for the day and unless you have a problem, you just have a
fresh backup when you startup the next day.

"Tony Sperling" <tony.sperling@dbREMOVEmail.dk> wrote in message
news:%23GMmUoExGHA.4700@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>I am about to re-install x64 from scratch, (no, Repair Install didn't help
> me) I've zapped the Partition and I am set to go. I have a fresh back-up
> of
> all the essentials performed by Nero. Now, recalling all the really good
> advice and the general tips'n tricks that flow through this forum, I have
> in
> mind to re-install to a small system partition (probably some 4GB's). The
> Back-up totals 13+ GB, so I will have to re-direct the greater part to a
> separate partition.
>
> Now, several people have made this wise proposal to put 'My Documents' and
> other stuff on such a partition, but I am falling into doubts about how
> that
> will reflect on the restoration process? The 'Program Files' directory is
> not trivial in size, can I move that as well? I havn't tried restoring in
> this way before, suddenly it sounds quite intimidating.
>
> A few pointers, to not ignore something really important, would be
> appreciated.
>
>
> Tony. . .
>
>

Charlie
Sun Aug 20 10:06:42 CDT 2006

I'd never go with a small system partition like that. You'll have problems
in the long run. If it's only for the purposes of restoring, then it might
make sense. I'm currently making my system partitions 30 Gb where I can, 20
GB at a minimum.

It's easy to move my docs. NOT easy to move program files. I don't recommend
it. What I do recommend is that _as_ you install programs, you redirect
those that can easily be redirected off of the system partition. But moving
after the fact is just not going to work - too many references to the old
location.


--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64


Tony Sperling wrote:
> I am about to re-install x64 from scratch, (no, Repair Install didn't help
> me) I've zapped the Partition and I am set to go. I have a fresh back-up
> of all the essentials performed by Nero. Now, recalling all the really
> good advice and the general tips'n tricks that flow through this forum, I
> have in mind to re-install to a small system partition (probably some
> 4GB's). The Back-up totals 13+ GB, so I will have to re-direct the
> greater part to a separate partition.
>
> Now, several people have made this wise proposal to put 'My Documents' and
> other stuff on such a partition, but I am falling into doubts about how
> that will reflect on the restoration process? The 'Program Files'
> directory is not trivial in size, can I move that as well? I havn't tried
> restoring in this way before, suddenly it sounds quite intimidating.
>
> A few pointers, to not ignore something really important, would be
> appreciated.
>
>
> Tony. . .

Dominic
Sun Aug 20 10:30:50 CDT 2006

If you plan to restore Program Files (and the Registry, since the programs
won't work otherwise) you will have to leave it on the same partition letter
as it was on before. If reinstalling, you could change the partition if you
wanted. My preference is to keep the programs and OS on the same partition.

Opinions differ on whether to have data on a separate partition.
If you have 10s or 100s of GB of, say, Photoshop images, it is probably
better to keep your data on a separate partition so you don't
unintentionally run out of space on your system partition while working on
it. If you have only a few GB of user data, you might as well keep it on the
system partition.

Remember that some programs keep user data in the Program Files directory,
and others in the User's Application Data directories which, as I'm sure you
know, are hidden by default.



"Tony Sperling" <tony.sperling@dbREMOVEmail.dk> wrote in message
news:%23GMmUoExGHA.4700@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>I am about to re-install x64 from scratch, (no, Repair Install didn't help
> me) I've zapped the Partition and I am set to go. I have a fresh back-up
> of
> all the essentials performed by Nero. Now, recalling all the really good
> advice and the general tips'n tricks that flow through this forum, I have
> in
> mind to re-install to a small system partition (probably some 4GB's). The
> Back-up totals 13+ GB, so I will have to re-direct the greater part to a
> separate partition.
>
> Now, several people have made this wise proposal to put 'My Documents' and
> other stuff on such a partition, but I am falling into doubts about how
> that
> will reflect on the restoration process? The 'Program Files' directory is
> not trivial in size, can I move that as well? I havn't tried restoring in
> this way before, suddenly it sounds quite intimidating.
>
> A few pointers, to not ignore something really important, would be
> appreciated.
>
>
> Tony. . .
>
>

Colin
Sun Aug 20 21:08:32 CDT 2006

Those kinds of numbers remind me of the Win98 days. I think your
calculations are off by a factor of ten. You need to consider temp files,
the paging file, 15% for VSS, restore points, room for defragging to work
efficiently, and so on. There is a lot more the the system drive than just
the system files and programs. If your hardware can handle x64 then you
already have plenty of power without tweaking a lot of stuff the old Windows
way.

If you are looking for efficiency try for asynchronious disk IO (reads and
writes to different volumes simultaneously). You should think in terms
locating data files on a separate spindle on a separate hdd controller and
not on a separate partition on the system disk, where you cannot achieve
asynchronious disk IO.

"Tony Sperling" <tony.sperling@dbREMOVEmail.dk> wrote in message
news:%23GMmUoExGHA.4700@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>I am about to re-install x64 from scratch, (no, Repair Install didn't help
> me) I've zapped the Partition and I am set to go. I have a fresh back-up
> of
> all the essentials performed by Nero. Now, recalling all the really good
> advice and the general tips'n tricks that flow through this forum, I have
> in
> mind to re-install to a small system partition (probably some 4GB's). The
> Back-up totals 13+ GB, so I will have to re-direct the greater part to a
> separate partition.
>
> Now, several people have made this wise proposal to put 'My Documents' and
> other stuff on such a partition, but I am falling into doubts about how
> that
> will reflect on the restoration process? The 'Program Files' directory is
> not trivial in size, can I move that as well? I havn't tried restoring in
> this way before, suddenly it sounds quite intimidating.
>
> A few pointers, to not ignore something really important, would be
> appreciated.
>
>
> Tony. . .
>
>

Colin
Sun Aug 20 21:14:57 CDT 2006

Added thought. SATA drives attached to SATA solo controllers are by
definition separate spindles.

"Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote in message
news:eCaF2aMxGHA.3264@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Those kinds of numbers remind me of the Win98 days. I think your
> calculations are off by a factor of ten. You need to consider temp files,
> the paging file, 15% for VSS, restore points, room for defragging to work
> efficiently, and so on. There is a lot more the the system drive than
> just the system files and programs. If your hardware can handle x64 then
> you already have plenty of power without tweaking a lot of stuff the old
> Windows way.
>
> If you are looking for efficiency try for asynchronious disk IO (reads and
> writes to different volumes simultaneously). You should think in terms
> locating data files on a separate spindle on a separate hdd controller and
> not on a separate partition on the system disk, where you cannot achieve
> asynchronious disk IO.
>
> "Tony Sperling" <tony.sperling@dbREMOVEmail.dk> wrote in message
> news:%23GMmUoExGHA.4700@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>I am about to re-install x64 from scratch, (no, Repair Install didn't help
>> me) I've zapped the Partition and I am set to go. I have a fresh back-up
>> of
>> all the essentials performed by Nero. Now, recalling all the really good
>> advice and the general tips'n tricks that flow through this forum, I have
>> in
>> mind to re-install to a small system partition (probably some 4GB's). The
>> Back-up totals 13+ GB, so I will have to re-direct the greater part to a
>> separate partition.
>>
>> Now, several people have made this wise proposal to put 'My Documents'
>> and
>> other stuff on such a partition, but I am falling into doubts about how
>> that
>> will reflect on the restoration process? The 'Program Files' directory is
>> not trivial in size, can I move that as well? I havn't tried restoring in
>> this way before, suddenly it sounds quite intimidating.
>>
>> A few pointers, to not ignore something really important, would be
>> appreciated.
>>
>>
>> Tony. . .
>>
>>
>
>

Tony
Sun Aug 20 21:37:35 CDT 2006

Thanks, that is interesting - I've had no end of trouble with the floppy, I
build a RAID driver diskette and everything is perfect only to suddenly
destroy the diskette such that it will not even format, hmm?

I will return with proper comments, it's 4.00 hrs here and I am retiring!

Tony. . .


"Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote in message
news:OjUTbeMxGHA.2432@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Added thought. SATA drives attached to SATA solo controllers are by
> definition separate spindles.
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote in message
> news:eCaF2aMxGHA.3264@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> > Those kinds of numbers remind me of the Win98 days. I think your
> > calculations are off by a factor of ten. You need to consider temp
files,
> > the paging file, 15% for VSS, restore points, room for defragging to
work
> > efficiently, and so on. There is a lot more the the system drive than
> > just the system files and programs. If your hardware can handle x64
then
> > you already have plenty of power without tweaking a lot of stuff the old
> > Windows way.
> >
> > If you are looking for efficiency try for asynchronious disk IO (reads
and
> > writes to different volumes simultaneously). You should think in terms
> > locating data files on a separate spindle on a separate hdd controller
and
> > not on a separate partition on the system disk, where you cannot achieve
> > asynchronious disk IO.
> >
> > "Tony Sperling" <tony.sperling@dbREMOVEmail.dk> wrote in message
> > news:%23GMmUoExGHA.4700@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> >>I am about to re-install x64 from scratch, (no, Repair Install didn't
help
> >> me) I've zapped the Partition and I am set to go. I have a fresh
back-up
> >> of
> >> all the essentials performed by Nero. Now, recalling all the really
good
> >> advice and the general tips'n tricks that flow through this forum, I
have
> >> in
> >> mind to re-install to a small system partition (probably some 4GB's).
The
> >> Back-up totals 13+ GB, so I will have to re-direct the greater part to
a
> >> separate partition.
> >>
> >> Now, several people have made this wise proposal to put 'My Documents'
> >> and
> >> other stuff on such a partition, but I am falling into doubts about how
> >> that
> >> will reflect on the restoration process? The 'Program Files' directory
is
> >> not trivial in size, can I move that as well? I havn't tried restoring
in
> >> this way before, suddenly it sounds quite intimidating.
> >>
> >> A few pointers, to not ignore something really important, would be
> >> appreciated.
> >>
> >>
> >> Tony. . .
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>