Windows...

[TheBigBasicQ]

Does only the amount of free disk space on Windows partition matter and not the others?

[na_th_an]

Windows XP is the one which takes less to boot by default. Almost nothing is preloaded when you get to your desktop. But the system is slowish in the first minute of use. Windows 2003 takes ages

TBBQ: It depends. You can (and should) configure Windows to tell where to place its swap file. By default, it is located on the same partition where WInodws is installed. The more free space the better, 'cause that way the swap file is less partitioned and your computer will perform better.

The best solution is having a fast and small HDD (formatted using FAT32 which is faster than NTFS) dedicated only to the swap file. Not a partition, but a HDD. I have a 1.2 Gb HDD in my PIII 500 lying alone in the secondary IDE socket and containing just the swap file. You can improve performance up to 30% according to some tests in the internet. And I can tell you: it performs quite better.

[HQSneaker]

Yup, that's right

[TheBigBasicQ]

Nath: I read somewhere in Windows install that XP performs better with an NTFS partition(including a speed advantage over fat32).

[na_th_an]

It depends. NTFS is fast, and it is mandatory on an NT system for security reasons. Plus, moving and copying files is faster in NTFS (it resembles the inodes in Unix OSs), but accessing a single byte of data in a file is faster in FAT32, 'cause it is a "static" (uses tables) directory model, unlike NTFS which is more like a tree. For a swap file, FAT32 is faster.

[HQSneaker]

Oh, I overread that part. TBBQ, you're right, I've installed it on a NTFS partition as well... Much faster

[na_th_an]

re-read my post

[HQSneaker]

Heh, we posted at the same time... you're absolutely right

[TheBigBasicQ]

Hmm...the funniest part is XP uses almost nothing in the swap file =S. So is it really worth it for me to format my old 1.2GB HDD with fat32 format?(remember its old so its only 5400RPM =P).

[HQSneaker]

No, keep it NTFS using XP, especially with such a HD