The main drive to have a separate data partition (I have done so since 1992)
is that when (not IF) you have to either redo or return to a previous image
of the operating system partition you do not lose your data.

I have files I created in 1992. These files have survived many dozens of
system redo's and returning to a previous state through the use of an
imaging program. They have also survived upgrades, both physical and
operating system, 6-8 times.

Also, if you dual boot (many do so) you can access the data from any
operating system you have on the computer "without" touching data in another
system partition.

I keep my data partition on a separate hard drive. I also have another
separate hard drive for my system image files.

I create an image every Friday evening as a standard. If something goes
wrong with the O/S it takes me only 10-15 minutes to get back to precisely
where I was the previous Friday.

I also create a system image prior to installing any new software, in case
the software ends up not to my liking. If I decide the new software is a
keeper (new anti virus program for instance) I create yet another system
image, over writing the one I created just prior to installing the new anti
virus program.

There are just so many good reasons to have multiple partitions and drives
that I have to think that those who rail against the practice are either too
lazy to set their computer up in this fashion or the intricacies of doing so
are beyond their competence level.

Every computer I work on for my few customers are delivered back to them
with multiple partitions and I have moved all their data to a separate
partition. I explain to the customer what I did and why I did it. They are
all happy with the results.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"playIT@home" wrote in message
...
I hate to dig up and old topic but I just got a new machine with Vista and
want to create a data partition for all users so that when 7 arrives I can
upgrade. I have heard and read that it is a good idea to separate the OS
from user data file as that facilitates easier user backups and OS
repair/install/upgrades.

So, what is in the "D" partition whose folders are hidden on my new
computer
and should I leave it alone in favor of creating a new partition for user
data?

Thanks for taking my question.

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:41:23 +0530, dgee
wrote:


What I want to know is how to set up the system so that data from all
programs (e.g. Word documents, pdfs, excel files, photographs etc.)
goes
to partition (drive) D? There must be some mechanism for that. My
home
desktop computer which I am away from at the moment was built in 2003
(obviously in XP days) to contain two drives - a C drive for programs
(40gb) and a separate D drive for data (120gb). I was advised to have
it constructed like this in order to separate my large number of large
photo files from the programs.


I will give you the opposite advice. For most people I think that's a
poor idea. There can sometimes be good reasons for doing that (see
below), but if you are doing it with the thought that it safeguards
your data, you are almost certainly making a very serious mistake.
Doing that suggests that you do not do any backups, and it leaves you
susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original and backup to many of
the most common dangers: hard drive crashes, severe power glitches,
nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.

If your data is important to you, you need to protect it against all
dangers by backup to external media. Separating it in a partition by
itself is not real protection at all.

I think the best reason for separating your data in a separate
partition from the system is that your backup policy is to backup only
data, and not create clones of the entire drive. If you backup your
data only, then the backup is facilitated by being able to backup the
entire data partition.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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