Partitioning Hard drives?

[Br55HiT]

My 250 GB hard drive has been acting up for a while now and just recently lost a system file not allowing my computer to boot.  I'm back up and running after a re-install of windows but I can't afford to have that happen to me when I'm at college (which I go back to next week).  So I just ordered a 320 GB western digital for about the same price I got my old one.  For clarity sake these are both SATA drives.  I have read some things about partitioning your hard drive to protect data and recover from issues easier.  I know to use google but the answers aren't specific to what I'm thinking of trying to do. 

I'm pretty sure I can just install my new drive and setup all the partitions and format it from the disk management section on XP.  I know I need a primary partition where I want to install a fresh version of XP that I will use as my main running system.  But I'm not exactly sure what to do from there.  Should I have one primary partition for just the OS, and if so about how much space should I leave for it?  Then have extra partitions like one for apps and games and one for music, pics, ect.  I know that the partitions in the begging should be what you use most often and that need to run fast because the outside of the drive has a faster read time.  Or should I just make two partitions with the OS and everything on one and just backup all my files on the second?  I've also heard about people putting their swap file and temporary folders in their own small partition so that keeps the most fragmenting files separate to increase performance.  Would this be a good idea to do or not bother with?

Also, since I still will keep my old 250 GB drive I plan on partitioning that so I can have a version on XP on that also in case something happens to the other one I have something to boot from.  Then just double backup my files in case the other drive fails for some reason.

With having two of the same OS's on my computer how can I pick which one to boot from?  Is there a setting or do I need software?

One more thing, I've read since some viruses and adware target the C: drive I would like to make my primary OS partition not named C: which I should be able to do while formatting because I already have a C: at the moment.  But when I re-format the old hard drive and install a backup copy of XP should I make it C: (which it might just do) so the viruses and adware target an unused OS or try to make it something else and have no C: what so ever?

I know this is a lot of questions but I'm just trying to be as specific as possible to reduce questions and get answers as soon as possible.  Again to reiterate that yes I have used google but a general search on that doesn't get me the specific answers I need, so asking here is much more useful and time saving.  This might also seem a bit extreme but since my one drives isn't very reliable anymore I need it to work right at school.  The multiple OS's is just because I have the extra drive and it would be a time saver so I can still boot and access my files and get something done without having to re-format and do my work at 1 am.

[Cameron]

With having two of the same OS's on my computer how can I pick which one to boot from?  Is there a setting or do I need software?

Yes you can, but no software is required.  Windows has a boot menu that you can modify, the file is called boot.ini, but its not a file that you can play around with.  Its what you can use to have multiple operating systems running.  I believe though most Linux operating systems come with Grub Boot Loader, which is also a Boot Menu.  Now, when you come to modify the boot.ini to add another operating system, read this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022.  I'm not an expert at this stuff, but thats the file that you use to be able to boot off multiple harddiscs or partitions.  I prefer to use Grub, but if you don't have it just use the Windows one.

And to answer your question on a size just for Windows on the partition, mines about 40GB which I keep only Windows and Microsoft products such as the Office Suite, etc.  I just leave space on there for temporary files, and also link your My Documents to a different location as well, keeps that off C Drive.

[KnacK]

1. After you install your new hard drive and install windows on it, you cannot boot off of your old hard drive unless you remove the new one.
2. Partitioning hard drives really is not needed on a home pc.  You won't gain anything performance or data protection wise.
3. If you want to boot from multiple operating systems, then do as Mr. C has suggested and get a boot loader.

[Br55HiT]

I assume by data protection you mean from viruses.  But I'm looking more for data protection as in it will be hard to lose if something goes wrong.  Like putting my documents in another partition so if I ever have to restore at school (God forbid) my stuff will still be there.

[KnacK]

Scenario:

Your ONE hard drive has multiple partitions.  You copy your important data from one partition to your other "backup" partition, both on teh same hard drive.

If that hard drive fails, you're hosed regardless of where that data is stored.

So, use the new hard drive, install it and put the operating system on it and use it like you normally would.

Then install the second OLD hard drive and use that hard drive as a backup for your important files.  You can create scheduled jobs with Backup and Scheduler to backup data from your first disk to your second disk.

BTW - this is a very smart configuration.

[Justinph5]

Thats what I had planned to do also^...

I bought a new HD, and when I was installing in, my old HD died, so almost all my info was lost, I found it somehow tho. So now I'm on 1 HD again.

But Knack's explanation is best for backup, since on my first one I also had an original backup partition, but lost it when the HD died.