New Windows without the pain

Hi all,

Now I need some real good advice and guidance.
My PC lives on WIN 98SE "“ Iwill KK266-R Motherboard "“ IBM Deskstar (better known as deathstar) 40 Gig 7200 rpm ATA 100 "“ 384 MB of PC 130 ram currently (not for long) ASUS "“ V3400TNT 16MB Video have sitting on the Desk ASUS-V9-180 MAGIC 64 MB next to new MAXTOR 40GIG 7200 rpm ATA 100 HD.
This is the one that I want to get right from the Start. My current HD has 3 Partitions C-D-& E , E is my Backup drive and also my Swap File lives in there fixed at 500 mb. I have no problems to speak off with Windows or the System in general except for Windows to load somewhat to slow for my liking, started doing it after a big freeze when DX DIAG recommended that I reload my Div X and that was it. Re-installed Windows over old but no change at all. Takes about 2 minutes to load.
But I would like to have Windows on its own Partition with basically nothing else on it for easy fix when trouble strikes. Can "My Documents" live on a different partition, or is it fixed to be with windows on C:
The big question is: I know exactly what Mike F. would say get rid of all the baggage. But I don’t want to I have too many little apps. That I have collected over the years and most likely would not be able to replace, in other words my PC is my Hobby not a Workstation and my D:drive and a little bit on my C; contains heaps of Stuff, to me Valuable Stuff I don’t want to loose.
On my new 40 Gig Maxtor I would like to have C drive on it without the baggage, I will need one big Partition for Photos from Digital Camera and Scanner and one not too big for some Music 10 "“ 15 gig.
I have Partition Magic 8 and Drive Image 2002, but I believe (not sure) that a Image taken with Drive Image can not be restored on a different HD that it has to go to the drive the Image was made from.
Is it possible to Install Windows on the new drive and then un-install Windows from the original and leave the Partitions as they are. I hate to think to have to change all from my present D drive cause Windows won’t find anything if it gets a new letter, this is what worries me most the changing of drive letters. The last time I installed a second HD my drive letters changed and Windows could not find a thing, so I pulled it out again, but this time I want to succeed.
Now a Cabling Question: My Mobo has 4 IDE Connectors 2 Standard ones and 2 ATA 100 only.& I also have 1 PCI ATA 100 IDE Controller Card installed, at the moment my LS 120 Super Disk is connected to that. There is also aDVD-Rom present and a CD-R-RW Richo Burner. The Processor is a AMD Duron 800 Overclocked to 950 no sweat there.
All I need now is for you People out there to help me make this a sweet and painless operation LOL
Thanks Guy’s
Hawk22

 

Can "My Documents" live on a different partition, or is it fixed to be with windows on C:

I 98SE they most certainly can. Mine were and carried right over to XP.

The big question is: I know exactly what Mike F. would say get rid of all the baggage. But I don’t want to I have too many little apps. That I have collected over the years and most likely would not be able to replace, in other words my PC is my Hobby not a Workstation and my D:drive and a little bit on my C; contains heaps of Stuff, to me Valuable Stuff I don’t want to loose.

I would say the same thing about baggage. But it appears that it is not excess baggage to you. So you may well have to settle for a little slower boot up.

One thing I would say is that the stuff that you wish to save should have been on another partition in the first place. That is a lesson I learned a long, long time ago. Anthing you wish to preserve should be on a partition other than C.

The last time I installed a second HD my drive letters changed and Windows could not find a thing, so I pulled it out again, but this time I want to succeed.

A mess ain't it ?? But that was more than likely due to the fact that you setup a Primary partition on the 2nd HD. It does not need one and without one will not mess with drive letters. Only under special conditions does an HD other than the first require a Primary partition.

AW Shucks I gotta go help with some Grandkids so will come back later

BillyBob