How can I separate system files from boot files?

Why would you want to find any distinction between them, when they are each entwined with the other.

What do you imagine boot files do?

They boot the operating system to generate a live OS.

Do you have ANY computer knowledge at all ??

:D

Edit: for impact

Last time I heard that phrase, "[i]generally[/i]" didn't mean UNIVERSALLY.

Until it does, I am just as entitled to my opinion as they are to their view.

However, by the same token: "[i]Then, if something happens to one of these vital partitions, you [u]may[/u] be able to restore just the boot files or just the system files, rather than having to restore both.[/i]"

Why does this not say "you [u]most definitely WILL[/u] be able to.." ??

Again, it is only an opinion and a tenuous one at that. ;)

This is the boot.ini file which specifies where the operating system is:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

So you can put the boot.ini files on a seperate partition [which is the primary active partition] and put the operating system somewhere else other than the default, but that simply complicates the the whole thing.

What's the point?

Are you trying to install your OS system files to a partition other than your primary active partition?
When the OS installation program asks you where you want to install the OS to pick a different partition.
Don't usually see that done except in the case of multi boot installations.

"They have bad systems, age-old courses (office 97!!!), and even [u]all their material are just cheap e-books bought from some others, put in html format and with some stupid pictures[/u]. Heck, for 5000$ I could build a mega e-learning platform better than this!!!

I am suing these poeple really soon, and they have a black file at the BBB too (http://centralohio.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=49&bbb=0302&firm=27001032), they say: Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record, a company has an "unsatisfactory business performance record" with BBB is based on the experiences reflected in BBB files.

They even have a high pressure sales complaint against them at Ohio Attorney General's Office (https://agcares.ag.state.oh.us/public/inquiry.aspx?id=164413), go there and search mindleaders!!!

Rubbish treatment, rubbish customer service, rubbish sales, rubbish everything.

STAY AWAY FROM THOSE PEOPLE OR YOU WILL REGRET IT HARD!!"

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/mindleaders-c107349.html

...So, there we have it. Of course, this particular complainant is probably also now RETIRED, and far too old to understand the complexities of separating Boot Files from System Files, based on one of MindLeaders' crappy, cheap, converted-to-HTML-with-stupid-pictures-publications that advises what they consider as "generally accepted".

Good luck with your exams - you might need it! :^0

[i]

Edit for Link[/i]

consensus on this board so far sums it up pretty well, but just for my two cents:

The only partitions I have ever lost have been those that were on a failed HDD. Let me clarify: I've had several HDDs fail in the past and on those occasions ALL partitions were lost.

I could understand wishing to separate locations if it provided redundancy, but separate partitions is not the way to do this - it's like putting Barack Obama and Joe Biden in separate rooms on Air Force One. If anything were to happen to one, it's overwhelmingly unlikely the other would survive.

Personally, I keep the OS on our server here on its own HDD, a little 79GB one, while I have a separate 1TB drive partitioned into the shares and caches I need to support our collaborative services.

The only viable reason to separate filesystem components of a single machine is to prevent user space from filling up the partition where the OS resides. It's a good idea to use partitioning to avoid this. But it's not an issue you are likely to face with the situation you outline, and confers no real benefit at the cost of obscurity and complexity.