Operating with WinXP I have two internal drives.
Drive 1 has two partitions -- one has the operating system, the other data.
Drive 2 contains data.

I assume that if the operating system suffered major damage that rendered it
inoperable and not restorable, alll would be lost on that partition. The
data on the second partition would be safe and accessible with a new
operating system on the damaged partition.

First, is my assumption above correct? Second, can I generally consider
the data on drive 1 (2nd partition) to be as safe from some damaging event
as the data on drive 2?

I would appeciate any and all comments and opinions.

Generally yes to all, excepting in the case of HD failure when all would be
lost or power surge which could also lose all
Bottom line; anything in your PC can be damaged beyond recovery / repair
thats why you have external backups (That you test from time to time)
The inevitable HD failure is the most common cause of loss

"bob525" <bob525@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:muudnZOg2ct6i3LXnZ2dnUVZ_uadnZ2d@giganews.com ...
> Operating with WinXP I have two internal drives.
> Drive 1 has two partitions -- one has the operating system, the other
> data.
> Drive 2 contains data.
>
> I assume that if the operating system suffered major damage that rendered
> it inoperable and not restorable, alll would be lost on that partition.
> The data on the second partition would be safe and accessible with a new
> operating system on the damaged partition.
>
> First, is my assumption above correct? Second, can I generally consider
> the data on drive 1 (2nd partition) to be as safe from some damaging event
> as the data on drive 2?
>
> I would appeciate any and all comments and opinions.
>
>

yeah methodology is sound.

the data in those partitions are safe unless
there is an attack on the partitions by a
virus "or"

if the hard drives become defective.

my suggestion is to create folders on each
of those data partitions.

for example put one on partition e that is
called Copy Drive D and on drive d make
a folder and called Copy Drive E.

then make copies of your data on
each of the partitions.

-------------------

use can also use microsoft's sync toy to
synchronize the two partitions on the day
you add personal data to one or both of
the partitions.

in my opinion, personal data is more
important than system data because
you can restore the system

but it is unlikely that you can restore
your personal data unless you spend
time making a backup of those partitions
every time you add new data to your
disks.

so having straight copies is easier
to maintain.

---------------------

again, you methodology is sound because
I have done the same thing and has proven
to be valuable.

--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- ********.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>

"bob525" <bob525@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:muudnZOg2ct6i3LXnZ2dnUVZ_uadnZ2d@giganews.com ...
> Operating with WinXP I have two internal drives.
> Drive 1 has two partitions -- one has the operating system, the other
> data.
> Drive 2 contains data.
>
> I assume that if the operating system suffered major damage that rendered
> it inoperable and not restorable, alll would be lost on that partition.
> The data on the second partition would be safe and accessible with a new
> operating system on the damaged partition.
>
> First, is my assumption above correct? Second, can I generally consider
> the data on drive 1 (2nd partition) to be as safe from some damaging event
> as the data on drive 2?
>
> I would appeciate any and all comments and opinions.
>
>

In news:%23tcVMZ%23WKHA.4588@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl,
DL typed on Mon, 2 Nov 2009 18:03:34 -0000:
> Generally yes to all, excepting in the case of HD failure when all
> would be lost or power surge which could also lose all
> Bottom line; anything in your PC can be damaged beyond recovery /
> repair thats why you have external backups (That you test from time
> to time) The inevitable HD failure is the most common cause of loss

DL is right. And there are some free great ones out there.

Acronis True Image Seagate Edition (DiscWizard)
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...ads/discwizard

Acronis True Image WD Edition
http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...ad&wdc_lang=en

Paragon DriveBackup Express 9 (free)
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2

Bob, as long as the hard drive is not damaged, then you have a
chance of retreiving your data from the system partition. If you
decide to do a clean install of WinXP on that partition then
formatting would be necessary and you would wipe the partition.
So, you can always try a repair install first. For an
excellent how-to go below
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Another suggestion would be to image your system partition and
use it to replace the damaged OS. There are a few good free imaging
software. Clonezilla comes to mind.

"bob525" <bob525@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:muudnZOg2ct6i3LXnZ2dnUVZ_uadnZ2d@giganews.com ...
> Operating with WinXP I have two internal drives.
> Drive 1 has two partitions -- one has the operating system, the other
> data.
> Drive 2 contains data.
>
> I assume that if the operating system suffered major damage that rendered
> it inoperable and not restorable, alll would be lost on that partition.
> The data on the second partition would be safe and accessible with a new
> operating system on the damaged partition.
>
> First, is my assumption above correct? Second, can I generally consider
> the data on drive 1 (2nd partition) to be as safe from some damaging event
> as the data on drive 2?
>
> I would appeciate any and all comments and opinions.
>
>

bob525 wrote:
> Operating with WinXP I have two internal drives.
> Drive 1 has two partitions -- one has the operating system, the other data.
> Drive 2 contains data.
>
> I assume that if the operating system suffered major damage that rendered it
> inoperable and not restorable, alll would be lost on that partition. The
> data on the second partition would be safe and accessible with a new
> operating system on the damaged partition.
>
> First, is my assumption above correct? Second, can I generally consider
> the data on drive 1 (2nd partition) to be as safe from some damaging event
> as the data on drive 2?
>
> I would appeciate any and all comments and opinions.
>
>

+--------------+--------------+
drive #1 | WinXP | User_Data |
+--------------+--------------+

+--------------+--------------+
drive #2 | More_User_Data |
+--------------+--------------+


Damage to the file system within the WinXP partition could be
self contained enough, to make continued access to "User_Data"
possible. I use a Linux LiveCD, if I need to copy data from a
damaged disk. So if my WinXP is not working, I can still
easily get at "User_Data".

If the partition table is damaged on drive #1, that could cause
the "User_Data" to be inaccessible. That can be repaired with
TestDisk, which can compute a correct partition table, by scanning
the disk.

If drive #1 had a hardware failure (head crash or heads ripped
from actuator arm, which happened on one of my drives), you could
lose both partitions on drive #1.

If the power supply fails in the computer, and puts +15V on the +12V
supply, that can burn both hard drives at the same time. That has
actually happened, and been confirmed by one poster. All drives
would be lost in that case. So if you thought drive #2 has
your backups in that case, you'd be wrong. Drive #2 is dead as
well.

That is why, for a backup strategy, an externally connected USB
drive is useful. It can be connected long enough to make backup
copies of drive #1 and drive #2, then disconnected and put in a
safe place. If lightning strikes the computer ten minutes later,
your USB disk is safe. And ready to restore the computer, once
it is repaired/replaced.

You should be careful in the selection of external USB drives.
Pick one with a good reputation.

These are listed by rating.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...e&Order=RATING

And this one is best rated at the moment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136301

"Stopped working within two weeks of receiving unit. Disks failed
to spin, un-recoverable malfunction, all data lost."

Even the best rated drive can have problems - buy two of them!
Alternate the backups between the two of them, so you're covered.

Paul

one other item of interest, are these drives dynamic or basic type, if
dynamic, you could lose it all if your OS system went bye bye, backup the
data and convert to basic.

"bob525" wrote:

> Operating with WinXP I have two internal drives.
> Drive 1 has two partitions -- one has the operating system, the other data.
> Drive 2 contains data.
>
> I assume that if the operating system suffered major damage that rendered it
> inoperable and not restorable, alll would be lost on that partition. The
> data on the second partition would be safe and accessible with a new
> operating system on the damaged partition.
>
> First, is my assumption above correct? Second, can I generally consider
> the data on drive 1 (2nd partition) to be as safe from some damaging event
> as the data on drive 2?
>
> I would appeciate any and all comments and opinions.
>
>
> .
>