Err...another simple computer question(ot)

[SNAAAKE]

Okay I got a new 80gb.
and my question is,can I make 2 different partions?
say first partion 30gb where I will be installing XP.
and will format the other 50gb later.
so in case that 30gb is infected with any virus.the data on the different partion would still be safe right   .
Not to sound like a dumbarse but wanted to make sure before I format the drive.thanks in advance

(sorry,very off topic)  

[ThePaul]

It would make more sense to actually use two seperate physical drives for what you are talking about. What if the drive becomes corrupted?

I'd advise buying another thirty gig for you to install XP and use the 80 gig as a data drive.

To answer your question directly, yes you can make two different partitions as you described.

[Jakobud]

You're assumptions about the virus not spreading from one partition to another is incorrect.  If you have a virus on your computer it doesnt matter how many physical drives or partitions you have.  The virus can screw you up anyways.  Thats why virus's are able to spread across networks and the internet.  Like if you are connected to a local network, Windows is able to basically treat any network drives just like they are local partitions.  So it doesnt matter.  The virus spreads anyways.

But just to let you know you can make those partitions like that if you want.  When you are setting up XP (in the blue screen 'DOS' part of the install) it asks what partition to install on and you can optionally delete partitions, format them etc...so you can make your 30 gig partition there and either make the other partitions there also or just leave it unpartitioned for now.  You can use XP's disk management stuff to partition the rest once you get to the desktop.

[Cisco Kid]

if this is just a MAMEputer .... 30GB is overkill

... a 9GB HD would be plenty for the OS ... finding anything small is getting kind of difficult these days  

excellent idea though ... keeping the OS and ROMS on separate HDs.  I'm even sure 20G could hold all your ROMS and then some ... I could be wrong though ... not sure about what emulators your running.

and even better idea would be to make the second HD with the ROMS part of a RAID 1 array  

btw ... Partition Magic is a must ... even after you've made your partition size decision ... if you would happen to make a partition to small and start to run out of space ... you can go in with PM and adjust the partition sizes again if you have available space on another partition to spare.  Excellent software to have in your arsenel  

[SNAAAKE]

Well there already IS another 120gb as slave.
I guess its not totally totally safe but here is last question.
In case I need to reinstall windows for any reason.
I could just reformat that 30gb partion and leave the 50gb alone?
thanks thepaul and jakobud .

[Cisco Kid]

Well there already IS another 120gb as slave.
I guess its not totally totally safe but here is last question.
In case I need to reinstall windows for any reason.
I could just reformat that 30gb partion and leave the 50gb alone?
thanks thepaul and jakobud .

Yes

... as for a virus or worm ... the only safe way to avoid disaster is to ghost the image of your HD (after you have everything installed and setup the way you want it) onto some DVDs or another HD.

[SirPoonga]

Ye, during the windows install it will ask you where you want to install it.  Those screens have info on how to format the drives.  You can just format 30 gigs and leave the 50gigs until later.  For later, in XP right click my computer and select management.  Then goto disk management and there you can format that 50 gigs when needed.

[SNAAAKE]

Okay thanks everyone.   All questions answered.
Ciscokid,
No,not a mame computer...personal computer.
mame computer got a 20gb in there which is more then enough.
I couldn't find anything smaller then 80gb local .

[night]

ive nearly used my 30gig drive. in nothing but emu stuff