[apollovega]

Aiite, so, can anyone tell me if this would be a good idea?

I have 2 hard drives. Hard Drive 1 (called Nadia2a) will have 2 copies of Windows xp (partitioned). One copy for gaming, and the other copy for programming and general purposes. Hard Drive 2 (called Nadia2b) will act as the source of the programs, data for both partitions.

Theoretically speaking, Both copies of windows xp will detect the files on the Nadia2b, which is what I want. But, since they're both reading the data from Nadia2b will having a gaming windows xp partition really increase the performance of the games? I would use this strictly for gaming, and then use the other partition for general purposes. In my head, I think it would because it wouldn't be running any background services that won't be used since it's the gaming partition. Also, it will be tweaked up so nicely....

And since it's on a different partition, it wouldn't effect the other General Purpose Windows xp which is free to use services, background programs, which would normally decrease performance.

So, is this a good idea or?
Please tell me if I'm not making sense, I'll be more than happy to answer any/all questions. Thanks!

P.s, the reason why I want the programs and data on another hard drive is so that I can reformat the OS hard drive with out having to burn cd's to back up my stuff (40 gigs of data uses quite a bit of cd's hehe) and still have the data perfectly intact when I use a reformatted windows xp OS to access the data.

Thanks again!

 

[Elvandil]

There really is an easier way. In the properties of My Computer, Hardware tab, you will see a button for hardware profiles.

I have one profile for gaming in which all the unneeded services are turned off, and another profile for general use where all the default services are running.

I have the option at boot to choose a profile.

Msconfig can be used to turn off startup programs that you want off for gaming.

So, you really need only one partition for the OS.

 

[apollovega]

So basically, I just copy the one hardware profile, edit it and it will act as a different account? Like, I could shut off all programs, services, modify the registry, tweak my internet speed, tweak the video card graphics card, etc, all on one hardware profile, and then when I switched to the other hardware profile, all those things I changed would be revised back to what I originally had or?
Ps, thanks for the quick reply

 

[Elvandil]

Once you get the profile set up as you want, reboot. I had a problem without rebooting since the Current Profile was actually the one I started with and not the one I had just tweaked (if you see what I mean).

Copy the Current Profile and rename it.

Then, when you have all your services configured as you want for normal operation, reboot, and save Current Configuration as another name.

Adjust the settings about how long you want the profile choice window to stay open and what default profile you want to load, and you will be all set.

What tweaks of the card's settings, etc. would actually be saved in the profile is something I don't know (my settings are the same on all profiles). But you could try and see. Please let us know if you go this route and how it works for you.

Overall, this is not simpler than your idea, but it has the advantages that you need a single OS, that you have fewer partitions (which slow the system, especially if they interact with one another), and you have a few gigs more space to play around with (like a place to install 98 for those games that just won't work in XP).

PS. I don't believe that changes in msconfig will be saved in the profile, but that is an intriguing idea. I'll have to try that one myself.