2nd computer question: partitioned HD
 

I am thinking about getting a Dell laptop (any comments about that welcome), and one of the options they give is to pre-partition your hardrive for 10.00. Should I get that, why, and if so, which way should I have them do it?

Thanks

Ummm, a benefit of the partition is that you have the ability to put documents and what not onto a different partition than your windows drive... So that if you reformat, your stuff is somewhere else.

What for? Do you want to run Linux on a different partition?

Wow they are getting desperate for income to charge for that.

Next automakers will charge $5.00 for making sure that the emergency brake on the car is ON when they deliver it. :rolleyes:

You can do this on your own but it requires the hour or so of installation time if you do it yourself at the formatting stage.

It can also be done on the fly once the system is in place with software. I have not done it but it can be done and many have done so.

Even so the partitioning, is purely for organizational purposes as that varies on your preferences. Some prefer to separate the files for easy backup and recovery.

If you have vista, you can do it within windows! For free!

A separate partition on the same drive gives very little advantage, and is certainly not worth paying for. It's not even worth it for dual-booting. I run many operating systems, but don't dual-boot a single machine.

Get an external USB-2.0 disk and use that for additional storage.

I hate Vista.
Matt L, I agree that it's not worth paying for, but why don't you like a separate partition on the same drive? Makes for faster defrags, you can reformat only the OS portion, and I'm sure other items.
Personally, I like a small fast drive for the OS, and a large one for all of the extra stuff like pics and games and stuff.

I don't have lots of pics on my computer, and I don't play computer games. My work involves using other servers with various OS's (Windows included), so I prefer a workstation with a single decent drive that gets the job done.