This recommendation applies to pretty much all versions of Windows.
[I
have been using this approach for many years on both Windows 7 and
Windows 10. And will take it to Windows 11 too, whenever it is out.]
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Why did I make this guide?
I
have seen enough posts on here where people have had their Windows
installation messed up, and stuck with being unable to restore back
losing personal data in the process. This recommendation would help
avoid such data losses even in the case of a totally messed up Windows
installation requiring complete wipe and clean reinstall.
The Best Part
Switching to a new laptop/system is as easy as switching your disk from the old one to the new one.
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Approximate Effort
Setting up partitions: 15 minutes
Installing Windows and such: Depends on your setup
Windows configuration changes: 15 minutes
Recovery software setup: 15 minutes
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System Requirements
Any laptop or desktop that has Windows on it.
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Hard Disk Partitioning
Single Hard Disk
As long as your hard disk is over 120 GB, you are good to go.
Partition
the hard disk into two partitions - 80 to 120 as the first one - for
Windows. The rest of the disk you can partition to whatever you want,
but make sure there is atleast one partition that is large enough to
hold all your data.
Example: If you have a 500 GB hard disk, and
you expect your data to be about 20 GB (this is a lot considering
personal data is barely even a GB or so; do not include videos and other
items that can be redownloaded into this category), you can split as
below:
Partition 1: 120 GB - Windows
Partition 2: 300 GB - Misc
Partition 3: 60 GB - Data
The numbers won't add up to 500 since the usable space on a 500 GB disk would be less than 500.
Multiple Hard Disks
Now
if you have multiple hard disks, you are liberty to use whatever you
want for Windows. But if your primary hard disk is over 120, you may
want to partition is as 120 + rest.
The setup on my laptop is as
below; on the HDD partitions I have also mentioned the reasoning being
selecting a particular partition for a specific task.
If you have only two drives, you could set the second partition on Windows drive for games - SSDs improve game performance.
The
data... I always save this onto a HDD and refrain from saving to SSD - a
HDD would show signs when nearing death, a SSD can fail almost
instantaneously.

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Windows Folders Configuration
The
most important item comes here... we now map our data folders out of
the Windows partition to a differnt partition. For people with one disk
it would be onto a different partition. For people with multiple disk,
this would be a onto a partition on a differnt disk.
- Head to
the partition that says Data (or where you want to save your data, and
try to make sure this partition is not on the same disk where Windows is
if using multiple disks).
- Create the folder My Documents
- Create a folder within the above with your name. Example: <data drive>\My Documents\<username>\
- Open Windows My Documents folder.
- Important
folders to move within this are - Documents, Downloads, Pictures,
Videos, Music and Saved Games. Favorites is optional.
- Right click on the folder Documents and select properties. Click on the Location tab. Update the location as <data drive>\My Documents\<username>\Documents. It will prompt you if you want to move the existing data too; select Yes. This will move all data from existing folder to the new folder. Repeat this process for all the folders in step 5.
- Logout and login or restart your system (not needed really, just to make yourself sure).
- Click
on your user on the desktop and go into each folder manually and check
to see if your contents are all there. Also check the address bar - it
should the path on your Data partition and not that of Windows
partition.
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Periodic Backups
By
this time we have our system set up. And since our data drive and
Windows drives are small, you could actually set up periodic backups of
those two drives. But.. wait... why would anyone want to flood the empty
space with things that can be redownloaded, like the download folders.
So here comes the selective backup part.
Software
I used Macrium Reflect Personal edition for my uses.
Windows Partition
Setup
a monthly task to backup the entire windows partition, including any
recovery partitions. Limit the count of these to two or to a maximum of
three.
Partitions to be selected on Windows drive are as below (with checkmarks). If you have entire drive, select all.

Backup retention rules are as below.

Important: Make sure your "backup" folder has enough space to accommodate your preferences.
Data Partition
Macrium
needs to upgrade from Home to a higher edition to be able to save files
and folders. So for this, I use FreeFileSync software so i can
selectively backup only the necessary folders. I shall leave this
segment to you folks to backup as you deem fit.
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Suggestions/Questions
Well.. just reply to this thread :-) as simple as that.
Karma...
LIKE - if helpful
ACCEPT - if helped resolve
---------
I am not an Acer employee.
Your issue could get better coverage and more answers if posted in forums than in a message to me.---------
Nitro 7 - AN715-51 - user benchmark:
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/37631045