Question about Program Files and System Files being on the same drive

[docmeizie]

Well here is what I wanted to do: I just bought a new Seagate 80Gig/7200rpm Hard drive and have my system setup as a network server. It is possible to have all the program files on a seperate drive that the OS files, but what I want to know is will the games run correctly with the OS files on a seperate drive but on the same physical drive? And then another thing is should I create a swap file on a seperate drive? I have read about this recently and all pros I have read mainly are in the past with low Ram systems. I have also read that with the newer, better RAM that we have, it really isn't necessary to do all that. Keep in mind that this is all on an ME OS. Any advice, thoughts, tricks of the trade, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!!

If I take a peek in your Windows, to fix a problem, does that make me a "Peeping Tom"? Hmmmmmmmmmmv

 

[Blujacket]

"If I take a peek in your Windows, to fix a problem, does that make me a "Peeping Tom"?" maybe, unless you're a Thomasina?

You can indeed put programs such as games on a second drive or partition and they don't have to be in the Program Files folder. Most programs have a custom install feature but I find that Microsoft Office will still put upwards of 2/3rds of itself in the Programs Files folder on the same drive as the OS [due to the interweaving with Windows].

With the swapfile it would be better on a second physical drive rather than a second partition that has to be read by the same heads as for the OS. You'll really can't do away with the swapfile as a lot of programs look for it when installing.

 

[docmeizie]

Okay then I copied all the system files to a drive called OSFiles, now my next question is how do I move my programs files folder to my drive, called simply "PrgrmFiles1", and have all the links on my desktop automatically keep track of where their corresponding application folder went?

And if I put the Swap File on a different physical drive what sizes should I go with for min/max and size of the drive(since I am going to repartition the old 20 gig'er) that the swap file will be on? One more question if I may also. I know that games are suppose to work good on an 7200 rpm, but if the swap is on a different(slower drive) will there be any performance downgrades or is this even the wisest thing to do?

If I take a peek in your Windows, to fix a problem, does that make me a "Peeping Tom"? Hmmmmmmmmmmv

 

[Blujacket]

The swap file should be on the fastest drive, not the slowest.

With Win95/98/ME, the Operating System has to be on the boot/system drive, which in most cases [without using third-party software] is Drive C:. If you have moved the OS files from C: you may not get it booted again. The OS files are not programs but there's some applets among them.

The Program Files folder also has to be on the same drive/partition as the OS, Windows is built to look for that folder along with My Documents on the same drive.

Programs that can be put on other drives/partitions don't have to be in the Program Files folder.

You can't simply move programs to another drive and expect them to work. There's many entries in the Registry that would be hard to find and change. It would be best to re-install them.

 

[docmeizie]

"With Win95/98/ME, the Operating System has to be on the boot/system drive, which in most cases [without using third-party software] is Drive C:. If you have moved the OS files from C: you may not get it booted again. The OS files are not programs but there's some applets among them."

Okay gotcha there, but you should be able to edit the config.sys, autoexec.bat, or ... I can remember the third one... at any rate one of those you should be able to change a line in there so that it boots from a different drive if I am not mistaken.

"Programs that can be put on other drives/partitions don't have to be in the Program Files folder."

With this said is it best to put games on the same drive as the OS files or would they be alright on another logical drive.


If I take a peek in your Windows, to fix a problem, does that make me a "Peeping Tom"? Hmmmmmmmmmmv

 

[Blujacket]

Most games will work just fine on other partitions/drives as will a large number of productivity programs.

I've found that programs such as BootMagic or System Commander are necessary to successfully boot to Win9x/ME on a drive other than C:.

 

[wolluf]

What are you trying to achieve? Sounds to me like you are building yourself a problem machine. Where software is installed makes little or no difference to how it runs. You can have Program files on different partition to system files (but it only separates the filestore - doesn't improve how they run). You can also have zero swapfile if you've enough RAM (yes - there may be the odd older program that doesn't like it, but I've got a win98 install that's been running like that for several years, no problems) - but main point is, if you've a lot of RAM windows shouldn't be using the swapfile anyway (so doesn't much matter where it is).

So, bottom line - just install everything on one partition & make sure you've lots of RAM.

PS. Of course with ME, you're going to get problems - upgrade to XP would be better bet. Also - what's with using a 'network server' as a games machine? what's it serving?

 

[docmeizie]

Its a tek tip I learned about changing to a network server... what it does is it caches your last 60 pages for quicker access. TechTv. It works for me... lol. Well I got 256 RAM. So its pretty good at managing its swapping with the RAMIdle that I use to free up memory at a certain point. I had the partitions made so that I can put certain files on certain drives to improve the performance of my machine. Putting all the programs files closer to the edge since they run faster there and have a bigger cluster size. And I put the small pics and document do-dads more towards the middle cause they are not accessed as much. And I am putting the back up files at the end since they are rarely accessed. Plus with an 80 giger / 7200 rpm you definitely want to move all your games to that drive. I just wanted to make sure I went about it the right way. No mistakes means no loss of data.

If I take a peek in your Windows, to fix a problem, does that make me a "Peeping Tom"? Hmmmmmmmmmmv

 

[docmeizie]

Ohh yeah Wolluf, it is more of an all around machine. I do so many things on here: coding, databases, programs, games, chat, anything you can imagine a household machine being used for, it's being used for that.

If I take a peek in your Windows, to fix a problem, does that make me a "Peeping Tom"? Hmmmmmmmmmmv