Not only on HDD speed but many factors!
My HDD speed for XP is 7200 RPM(IBM HDD,80 GB) and Win98 is on Samsung 40 GB(5400 RPM), but if ur computer is infected with virus ultimately windows will take longer time! Plus, always good to keep the computer free from unwanted softwares,its good for fast boot!

My DOS system takes ~10 sec to boot. :)

Well... my htpc boots in 13 secs and returns from hibernation in 9-11 seconds. I use a stripped down version of xp pro (loading the required media player software takes 5 seconds extra from hibernation).

The largest problem is the bios loading. On my asus htpc, it almost takes as long to initiate windows, as it takes to fully load windows.

So as long as it takes forever to start up my hardware, you won't see me happy just because I can cut of a few secs from XP booting . :cry:

today when I got to my pc it just went into hibernation as soon as I moved the mouse (it was on before) then I started it and it took a few milliseconds to get to the desktop.

Mine takes yonks to boot becuase of all the crap that's on it. Also the fact that there's so much stuff on it that I can't defrag it! I really should format but I can't be bothered.

about a month for me, but i do use most of the crap it's loading. i tend to be doing something else during that time anyway, but it's very annoying if i turn it off then remember somrthing i meant to do :S

You don't have room to defrag?? That may be the problem. In order for your hdd to function properly you need to have at least 10% free. If you fill more then this expect major system preformance drop.

I have around 10%(C:) on one of my partition(where windows are) and 30% (D:)on another where games and music are, so does that affect my booting to much?
Also on C: it shows me the same amount of space even though I deleted office and installed it on D:, does anyone else have such problems with HD readings?

ya, it has happended to me sometimes that space shown is not correct! But why it happens I have never been able to figure out! I don't think that ur current harddisk partition is correct! I suggest u to give 50 % space to each drive, to avoid any problems, if they occur. or if you have 40 GB harddisk u can have 10,10 and 20 GB partitions or 10 GB each partitions. Also installing office on another drive does not make a difference, but I will suggest to install in the same drive where windows are.

I would suggest buying a retail partition program as opposed to the windows built in one. The professional programs give you many more options, like changeing the partition size with out having to format the partition. Partition magic is the creme de la creme as far as I know.