Partitionning a new drive. Where should I put stuff?

[fresh]

I just got a new hard drive and I want to partition it to keep Windows separate from my data. What I'm not sure about is whether I should install all of my programs on the windows partition or on a separate partition. Can I leave the programs on a separate partition so that when I reinstall Windows, I don't have to reinstall and reset all of my programs? Also, is there a simple way to create the partitions on the blank drive just using the Vista DVD (not FDISK)? Thanks for the replies.

[tuskenraider]

Keep you programs with your OS. Putting them on a separate partition gives you no benefits as many programs have registry entries which would be wiped away if you did a reinstall of the OS. Many programs would have to be reinstalled to work right. I would assume Vista would allow you to create partitions during the install just like all the previous Windows OS'.

[digital_exhaust]

Use GParted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/) to partition your drive.
Download the image and burn the iso image to a cd, and boot from it.

I personally always keep all of my data on a drive seperate from my os, programs need to saty with your os.