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I have a theoretical question [the answer will sway my decision-making for my next computer]:

I have done the research to see the advantages of splitting your hard drive into an OS partition and a data/programs partition. But if you reinstalled, let's say Windows, you couldn't run the programs on the other partition anymore, right??? I mean, the Registry got refreshed, too. Right?

And does the answer to this differ from Windows vs. Ubuntu? [I would think not]

I'm not sure about Linux but I know that Windows allows you to choose the partition to which you want to install the OS. The likelihood of all your programs working after a destructive install of Windows is zero. The programs install additions into the registry that they need in order to run. Reinstalling the OS would leave you with all the program files and none of the registry entries thus the programs are useless.

The answer is no.

However if you did want to do something like that you could backup your registry with a registry back up program and then restore the registry after you're finished with the install. I've never tried it but I think it might work. Try it at your own risk.

Yeah, that's what I figured. Oh, I never thought of backing up/restoring the registry! Even CCleaner does that [great tool, if you've never used it]. That definitely may be a solution.

I'm more leaning towards a different setup anyway: A tiny, cheap SSD for my OS and programs, then a RAID configuration with larger HDD's for data.

Thanks for the info, dude.

If you intstall on a new partition, you are only left with documents and folders, all programs will not work if they are assigned to the registry just like Annuit Coeptis said.