I have 2 partitions on my harddisk.C: which holds the operating system and D: on which I install my programs.If I was to format the C: partition and reinstall the same operating system will my programs on D: be lost or will they stay intact?

Your programs will be there but they won't work. When installing a program especially in windows there are also lots of registry additions and common share files and dlls. You can try but some programs won't work 100% and the shortcuts will be missing. Its best to reinstall the programs. d: are best used for backups or keeping files like audo/video, docs, not programs.

It kinda begs the question - why?

Did you install the OS on C:\, the rest of the programs on D:\ ?

You should have D:\ set to80% of the HDD - say F32, and use it for data only.

Install the OS + other sundry programs all on C:\

You always want your data far away from C:\ as it will likely fail first, as it is accessed all the time. Simple math.

I have about 12 systems on my big Vaio NB, mostly Linux - all my data is accessible to all OS

BR>Jack

It kinda begs the question - why?

. . .

You always want your data far away from C:\ as it will likely fail first, as it is accessed all the time. Simple math.

BR>Jack

But when C: fails, it's almost a certainty that D: fails as well, since both are on the same drive and it is the drive that has failed. So again it kinda begs the question - why? And it just gives a false sense of security. For a typical standalone home PC, might as well have one partition w/ everything on it and backup frequently to a separate hard drive. A server environment would be different of course.

But partitioning is something of a religion w/ some of our members, perhaps from Win98 days (when programs didn't all have to be reinstalled), so 'nuff said from me on the subject.