That doesn't work nearly as well for Windows.  When you upgrade the
system, all of the data in the profiles still has to be backed up and
later restored, because the profile directories are (usually)wiped out
when the user is created, and any settings in the registry (where most
Windows programs store preferences) are lost because the registry hive
cannot be reused (not to mention the system registry hives, which are
stored in the windows system directories, not the user profile
directories).

With Linux, I retained all of my data, application settings,
preferences, etc...  The only headaches I had were from migrating
certain applications off my Windows box onto Linux, and that was still
easier than migrating from one Windows machine to another.  The rest of
the system "Just Worked" after the upgrade (I still had to reinstall
many applications, but that took less than 2 hours, compared to the 3
weeks it took to re-do all my application settings last time I
performed a Windows "upgrade")

I'm not saying that you cannot improve some aspects of system
management in Windows by using a separate partition for the user
profiles, only that it doesn't work nearly as well as the same tactic
does in Linux.  I have been working in the Windows world for 17 years
(since version 1.0!), and I've only rarely used multiple partitions,
primarily because, even with 2000, XP, or 2003, the system still has so
many assumptions of a C: drive, that it's just easier to manage with a
single large partition (the settings directory works just as well for
backup management on C: as it would on D:, and there's not much other
benefit from partitioning a single drive)

==Joseph++

On Thursday 21 April 2005 06:04 am, Joseph Sinclair wrote:

Note to persons installing Linux, use a separate /home partition, I
redid part of my partition scheme, and installed a completely different
system, and I didn't lose a single personal file, Linux is WAY better
than Windows in that regard...

It is possible to do the same for Windows. When installing, use fdisk to 
create a small partition C for the O/S, and a large partition D for data.

Siri Amrit
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