I'm Obsessive Compulsive

[Jeratain]

My main CD-ROM has gone haywire and keeps accessing even though there's no CD inside and it wont open if I press the button. Alongside that I've had very minor glitches that I can live with, but I still feel as though my harddrive's partitions have gotten a bit dirty. So, in order to make me feel at ease, I'm going to delete all my partitions and re-partition my entire hard drive, and reconfigure my entire computer from the ground up (software-wise as I still haven't decided on an upgrade yet.)

The backup process has begun, so I'll be back in a few hours to post my results

Seriously though.. this is my 5th time reformatting so far this year alone. I have an obsession and it really must stop.

 

[dannyevilcat]

5 times in 6 months? You must have it down to a science by now.

 

[Jeratain]

Yep. In a matter of 3 hours and 22 minutes I was able to:
1. backup all the necessary files (movies, music, documents, files, etc) to another computer on the network
2. Run Windows XP setup, delete all prior partitions and repartition my 100 GB hard drive to have 3 20 gig partitions and one 40 gig partition.
3. Install and setup Windows XP.
4. Fully update XP, install and update Office, and update video, sound, and other drivers.
5. Format all drives with NTFS (not using quick format, but using the long process format.)
6. Install miscellaneous programs that I frequently use, including Photoshop and my printer software among other things.
7. Tweak my startup to make sure nothing unecessary is running in the background without me knowing about it by using msconfig.

Right now I'm at the state I was on my previous format, only now I feel clean. I don't have any games installed (Sim City 4, the Sims, etc) and I am also short on a few other programs like Quick Books and whatnot, but I'll get those later on this morning. Thus far it feels and performs like a successful format. I hope to have it this way for 4 months before I get the itch to format again.

I'll come up with any excuse to re-format.

 

[Perfection]

*Cough* *Cough* *Freak* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

 

[funxus]

Is it possible to automate the process? Ghost maybe. If you always have the same configuration you might be able to get parts of it automatically.

Depends on whether you like the feeling of a fresh computer or the process itself?

 

[Jeratain]

I would use Ghost (I have a copy laying around somewhere) except for the fact that I enjoy the feeling of freshness. And yes, I am a freak

 

[Zwelgje]

After I've finished some important work on my computer I'm going to install some extra RAM and re-install Windows on my computer at home. The computer just had a few problems lately that it never had before. My first re-install in 3 years...

I wanted to re-install my computer at work too. It's a PI-100MHz and it's quite messed up. It can only take Windows 95 but the system-manager doesn't have a Windows 95 CD anymore....

It's pathetic really.

 

[dannyevilcat]

Originally posted by Jeratain
I would use Ghost (I have a copy laying around somewhere) except for the fact that I enjoy the feeling of freshness. And yes, I am a freak

And all this from a guy with a toilet for an avatar?

 

[Turner]

There's a symetry there, if you think about it. . .

Jer, you would hate my system. I've lost my Diablo II original and my Civ3 original has a huge crack in it. I don't dare rebuild my system. It hangs on a wing and a prayer. That, and I'm too cheap to buy new D2 & Civ3 disks.

All that will go away when my grants/loans go through for school. I'm going to be a lot more careful about how the discs get handled, and try and figure out some way to back up my system. If it was just me, no problem. I can stick to the My Documents folder, and just back that up weekly. My wife, however, has her own setup, and that complicates things. For me, at least. There will be newer, stricter rules when my new system comes in!

At work, tho, I have picked up the habit from an ex-coworker, who's maxim is "If it's broke, rebuild." I seem to remember him doing about one a month. Of course, he has more systems and capacity than I do at home. Here at work, I just rebuild a system if it's giving me problems. So I know how you feel. . . . there's something about a new system. . .

 

[Jeratain]

Well, if you want advice, the best I can offer is that you should partition your hard drive. I like to do this:

Drive C: This drive is for my Operating System, and any other necessary files. I also put my page file on this disk.

Drive D: This is for any programs that I install (photoshop, 3D studio max, etc)

Drive E: This is for any and all games/excessively large programs.

Drive F: This is my backup drive. I put all my backup files here. I also put all my music files, movie files, and downloads here for easy access.

Another thing I do to backup is send my files to another computer through the network and then when I finish formatting I bring them back.

I can understand the problem you have with not having the CDs, so best of luck to you on that one. Maybe you can find a friend who has the discs to borrow them from.

 

[Turner]

Good advice. Actually, your setup is something like what I had in mind back before I had computers. This was back in the bad old days of Win95, when a 4gig drive would make it cringe in fear.

Now, I just have them all on the same partition. One drive. . .makes it a bit messier, but my family can't handle my anality. (Is that even a word? Or did I just make it up.)

I think I'm gonna buy a DLT4 tape drive to back up my system. Of course, for that price I could just by three or four systems and have a massively redundant system. Monitors and all. But what I'll probably end up doing is something simular to what you have, a four or five gig partition on my c: drive, everything else on the d: drive. DVD burners are so cheap anymore that I could burn off a copy of my c: drive and make any changes needed, and if there's a problem, I've got an image of the system before the change. Well, not an image, but enough to restore it. I'd also like to buy another harddrive, mirror to my original, and have it run in parallel. Kinda like a mini-raid. Can you even do that in XP? I know servers can, but that's different software than XPPro.

It would be really nice if when you first installed the game, it could detect a CDRW, and burn itself off one copy. There would need to be some kind of authentication to verify that the copy could work on a particular system. . . maybe even more than one copy, but stuck to a particular system. I know, I know, it would make pirating all the easier. But it would be nice to have a backup.

 

[anarres]

Well, my partitions usually go like this:

C: drive - System, my OS drive. A couple of Gig is usually plenty.

D: drive - Data, you know all that stuff that really can't be lost at ny price. This is what I back up when I remember. Again, normally a few gig is fine.

I: drive - Install, this is where I install all my programs to. Windows insists on installing some stuff to C:\Program Files, but with everything that gives an option I install here. I have several top level directories like 'Games', 'Utilities', 'Internet', etc. This gets the lions share of space, games take up *loads*, as do development pagkages.

S: drive - Store, this is where I put downloads, install programs and other things I can get again if need be. I try to burn this stuff to CD every now and again to free up space, but it can usually all be downloaded again (Winzip, WinAmp, Browsers, etc). This gets the rest of the space, whatever is left.

Can you tell I do this for a living?

 

[CornMaster]

Mine is something like this:
\ = Main partition...only my Linux can see it. (ext2)
Linux Swap = Another linux partition used for the swap file. (swap?)
C:\ = Main Windows drive. Windows thinks it's the first partition cause it's stupid. Used for programs and OS stuff. (NTFS)
D:\ = CD-RW drive
E:\ = 30 GB drive I store most stuff on. Install a game or two here...depending on the size. (FAT 32)
F:\ = 6 GB partition cause XP and Linux couldn't make a 36 GB FAT32 drive. (FAT32)
G:\ = fake CD-ROM drive where I load CD images.

Oh...and my friend formats about every week or maybe 2 if he's busy. Your low on the format and restore scale young grasshopper.

 

[nihilistic]

C: WinXP and all programs that are not games

D: Games

E: Installers for all the small programs I have.

F: Documents, I thought about moving the "Documents and Settings" folder over, but realized that doing so is really more trouble than it's worth.

G: Music

H: Movies

I: Zip Drive

J: DVD-ROM

K: CD-RW

L: Virtual DVD-ROM

M: Virtual DVD-ROM

And no, I don't format anywhere nearly as often as Jeratain does. And also, when I format, I only clean drives C and D. For most people, multiple partitions is a way of avoid having to do what Jeratain does. You want to renew the operating system, but you want to keep your files intact.

 

[Turner]

See. . .that's what I thought, and why I've been thinking about buying multiple cheap hard drives, in the 20 to 30 gig range. Honestly, I've had this PC up on this partition now for a year and a half, and I've only used 20 gig or so.

But if you install your games to say, the g: (games) drive, doesn't it have dependencies on the c:\%OS% drive? I know it used ta be, back in the dos days, that a game could be copied to a different drive, no problems, but I always thought there were dependencies there. . .

 

[Jeratain]

Originally posted by nihilistic
And no, I don't format anywhere nearly as often as Jeratain does. And also, when I format, I only clean drives C and D. For most people, multiple partitions is a way of avoid having to do what Jeratain does. You want to renew the operating system, but you want to keep your files intact.

Well here's the thing. Most of the programs that I install also add files to the C:\Windows\System folder, so without those files, some of those programs/games wont function the same.

Normally when I format I will format my C, D, and E drives (OS, games, and programs) and then reinstall those while keeping my documents, music, and movies in tact. I don't like to risk re-installing just the OS because that gives me a feeling that I'm doing a "dirty" install. I like to wipe the drive clean, and then start from scratch. That's why I bought this 100 gig hard drive.

I'm extremely happy with the way my format has gone, so I'm hoping that if I can keep it for at least 6 months I will deem it as one of the most successful jobs of maintaining my computer ever.

Originally posted by Turner_727
But if you install your games to say, the g: (games) drive, doesn't it have dependencies on the c:\%OS% drive?

That's what I thought too, but it all depends on the game I suppose. I don't know for sure because I never really try it. However I do know that there are games (and I think Civ III is included in this) that are not dependent on the main drive because all the files needed are run from the directory it was installed in and/or the CD. So it is possible with some programs and games - I just don't know which.

Oh yeah, and just for the record - I use NTFS on all my partitions.

 

[CornMaster]

Originally posted by Jeratain
That's what I thought too, but it all depends on the game I suppose. I don't know for sure because I never really try it. However I do know that there are games (and I think Civ III is included in this) that are not dependent on the main drive because all the files needed are run from the directory it was installed in and/or the CD. So it is possible with some programs and games - I just don't know which.

Most games don't. However, Microsoft games, (and lately XP games) often store files in a users directory in the Documents and Settings folder. So this would be lost in a C:\ format and the game will possible have to be installed. Although a good game would just remake these directories the first time they are run again. But I really shouldn't critize the programmers for being lazy bums.

 

[anarres]

Originally posted by Jeratain
Oh yeah, and just for the record - I use NTFS on all my partitions.

What on earth for?

I have yet to be convinced of a use for NTFS. The only *real* reason I can think of using it is for use with IIS Web Servers, but even then you would only need it on your system drive...

 

[CornMaster]

Originally posted by anarres
What on earth for?

Efficiency. NTFS stores data on smaller cluster sizes, thus maximizing (which is a relative term....) your space usage.

Other reasons include Security, and versatility on the NT platform. But these aren't usually necessary for home users.

It of course has it's drawbacks like compatibility and such....

 

[anarres]

Security is a myth with NTFS. You can get NTFS readers that fit on a floppy and work in DOS or another version of windows.

I am pretty sure making the cluster size smaller is a minimal saving in terms of space saved, but maybe I am wrong.

NTFS is my personal hate, I would be the first to admit that I'm biased.