Installing programs on a blank partiton

redoak said:

..Hi: If I understand the the recommendation, it is to have ALL programs installed on "C," along with the OS. Correct? ...

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I'm far from being a wizard .. But that's what I do.

My C: partition is the OS and ALL installed programs ... anything it takes to run my computer.
My second partition is ALL my stored data .. I'm a pack rat and keep just about everything.

This makes the maintenance of C: (Defraging or scanning for Malware) very quick and simple.
Also ... System recovery is very quick n simple .. I can rewrite my C: system and not worry about the stored Data partition.
You'll have to move "My Documents" - or just not use it .. because it's stored in the C: partition.

Now .. You can backup everything to an external HD .. including the Acronis Recovery image(s) .. as just data files.
You can also hide an Acronis Recovery image in your Data partition and recover from it .. if you have enough space.

Not sure how you'd combine your C: and D:

Yea .. Don't fix it - till its Broke.
I can imagine that Data partitions could be merged....
But wouldn't operating systems and installed programs involve registry changes also ???

IMO .. Too many partitions is a waste of valuable space ... extra (double) unused space that can't be cross accessed.

Which brings up the question ... Why two partitions on you XHD ???
Acronis backups are just data files ... Why not one large XHD data partition ???

I can see a separate partition in the XHD for an (emergency) hardware backup OS drive ...
But since you have a Laptop ... This might be a problem... (different style drives)