...because size matters

[Authentik1]

I'm about to format and partition a 6 Gb HDD for a fresh win98se. Its going in a P2 to be used for some light browsing, a little digital photography, and possibly a small collection of music...really not much else. It should make a nice little granny computer. Considering the fact that the person who's getting it just retired their Tandy for this unit, I think they'd probably be happy to get anything with an actual GUI.
What I want to know is how much space should I budget for my primary, logical, and extended partitions? Fat16 or 32? And how much free space is a useful amount? Given that there won't be more than a handful of apps loaded on it ever, how do I get the best performance from this drive?
On a related note, this PC only has to last until the end of Summer when these folks go home to their house in Arizona. If I overclock the snot out of it, will it make enough difference to justify the time it would take? I've done one once with help from an IT guy from work but we're talking about a completely different system with premium processor and elaborate cooling system. So really its less about how do-able it would be for this Clinton Era Gateway and more about whether it would actually help Auntie Linda kick a little extra A. on her FPS LAN party. (just kidding about the last part, this is a lady that was impressed because the mouse I gave them had TWO buttons)
I'm open to any suggestions concerning the entire project. Thanks ahead to any that apply...I'll think of you when I cash the check.
(and again when it all goes to booze and my carpayment)

 

[HeeLiX]

FAT32, leave 200 megs for swap and the rest for the partition.

Could be a decent PC, just don't try to render any of those digital images.

Good luck.

 

[sunsider]

On my old 98se setup, I had the c drive set at 1.4gb and that was more than enough room to house the Operating System and any programs I installed.
Since Win 98se performs better in a more restriced space, that should be more than enough for your needs. You can then split the remaining 4.5gb (roughly) into however many sections you require.

 

[killians45]

agree with the above, 2 partitions about 4GB for programs, images, music, whatnot and the remaining 2GB or so should be enough for the o/s, and any other related files like service packs and what not. I would keep the page file on the primary partition (reason for the increase to 2GB) for the plain fact that the second drive is NOT a seperate physical drive so rule of thumb is to keep it on the primary partition.

 

[TheMajor]

+1

FAT16 can only support up to 4GB partitions. Use FAT32.
I agree with killians about the page file. You could get an additional 500MB drive for the swap file though. You can get them for a few cents or even for free.
Chances are it will be a slow drive though.

Furthermore I suggest you get a nice 7200RPM 20GB drive and install XP. XP will run at an acceptable speed on any P2. You would want a minimum of 256MB of RAM though, or else it would still be slow.