Windows 7 instead of Windows XP?

Question

Hard disks

On the computer, the HDD is divided into two partitions: logical drive C - 14.6 GB (it has Windows XP and programs) and logical drive D - 134 GB (other files on it). NTFS file system, 4.00 KB cluster size. It is planned to install Windows 7. There is an opportunity to make a backup of the necessary files. How to do it better? Namely:
Option 1: Re-partition the disk? If so, is it two or three partitions narrower (1st for Windows 7, 2nd for programs, 3rd for other files)? If two partitions, how much space do you need for Windows 7? In all cases - what is the best size of clusters when formatting and what size partitions?
Option 2: If you buy another physical disk for Windows 7. How much? Now the HDD is with Serial ATA interface, so the second disk must be with the same interface, or can it be IDE?

Answer 1

4 years is long enough for a hard drive, so buy a new one. At the time of installing windows 7, turn off the old disk altogether, just in case. If you still put it on an old disk, then, as they said above, 20GB for it is not enough. Minimum 50GB. 20GB will immediately disappear after installation. Another point, windows 7 requires not one partition, but two: the main one and 100MB more for its system needs (perhaps the bootloader). If the installer has nowhere to take these ill-fated 100MB for another partition, then he can easily crash himself! no questions! the second section is where you have the data. Buy a new hard drive and put it in the bios as the first in the boot queue.

Answer 2

I have a screw - one disk.
I no longer think that games need to be put on D, and movies on F, and on the C drive you constantly need to clean something in order to install a small utility.
I'm not overjoyed and don't understand why I used to get into trouble :)
On the topic: you can change the size of disks or make one out of two without data loss using many programs and even using the Windows 7 installer. I used Acronis Disk Director. But important data is still better to copy in advance.

Answer 3

1) It is not necessary to divide again, you can painlessly expand 1 logical one at the expense of the free space of the second one. For win7, it seems that at least 20 is needed, but this is without a margin for programs. I would allocate 30-40 GB. It is not necessary to create a separate section for programs (and it’s inconvenient - to constantly monitor where the software is installed ... + lags on crooked software that does not like to be installed in a non-default folder)
2) You can buy with any connector if the motherboard supports it.

Answer 4

Winchesters are now very expensive, from 3-4 thousand rubles, take an SSD

Answer 5

And what's the point in a separate section for Windows? Maybe I don’t understand something, but since the time of XP, when Windows was completely covered for me, it was only through the fault of the screw, and there you can break it into at least how many logical drives - it’s all the same. A separate section is more hemorrhoids than good - either the place will end there, or something else

Answer 6

If there is a bit of free space on D:\, you can shrink C:\ to 25 (at least). Then, without touching D:\, put Windows on C:\ with a clear conscience.

Answer 7

Option 2: If you buy another physical disk for Windows 7. How much? Now the HDD is with Serial ATA interface, so the second disk must be with the same interface, or can it be IDE?

And now it makes sense to buy an IDE if the mother has a sata connector. Regarding the volume, a strange question, how much do you need, and buy this.

Answer 8

What kind of computer do you have? Seven is good and even fast, but! this is only on good hardware, in the seven there are many features that require some overhead, on new computers such costs are invisible, and the benefits of the same superfetch are very, very noticeable, but on old ones ...

Answer 9

There is a funny picture on this topic.
For almost three years, since the release of the 7000 build, I've been keeping the seven on a 30-gig partition. A couple of weeks ago, the place suddenly began to run out, I had to transfer the folder with virtualbox-a snapshots and caches of several heavy programs to another disk, and the operating system itself continues to huddle on a 30-gig partition.

Answer 10

I will share my experience.
When I decided to switch to Windows 7, I took out of the bins not a new one, but quite smart and sitting on a SATA screw manufactured by Western Digital, with a capacity of 320 GB, scored its surface with zeros through a HEX editor, then turned off the machine, attached it to the system unit, launched it, and began the standard installation of Windows 7 (x64) on it. The system saw it perfectly, created two partitions, one with a volume of 100 MB. for the bootloader, and the second - all the remaining space. Those. in fact, the entire disk is given over to the operating system. For storing files, downloading torrents, a separate 2 TB screw was taken (the green version of Western Digital), on which one single partition was also created and given for storing files.
I consider this configuration the most optimal, because. the system does its operations on its own screw, the file storage lies on its own screw, and no one bothers anyone.

Answer 11

Fifteen years of practice say one - or physically two disks, system and data, or beat. Otherwise, only a matter of time when to pay for the restoration of information.