HD Install :: All setting in a loopfile?



I have DSL running from a secondary vfat partition (copied in KNOPPIX file and boot files), pc boots to DOS, I either run loadlin, win98, or leave it in DOS.

Developing problem, now that I have installed wine, xfree86, and several other apps, is that my backup.tar.gz is getting so big (more than a meg) it takes a long time to load and save.  Also, wine stuffs my /root/.wine dir so full the device /dev/root.old runs out of space.

If i were going to have everything other than the compressed KNOPPIX file reside in an ext2-formatted loopfile, would I have to modify the initrd image to premount it like BasicLinux has?  Or is there an extra boot setting I can use, similar to the /opt and /home persistence ones?
Additional applications, mydsl extensions, should never be in the backup file. The mydsl directory provides a distinct separation from applications and user files. Installing applications into loop device would suffer from the same system rot as traditional hard drive installations and therefore offer little advantage.
Quote (roberts @ April 09 2007,23:41)
Additional applications, mydsl extensions, should never be in the backup file. The mydsl directory provides a distinct separation from applications and user files. Installing applications into loop device would suffer from the same system rot as traditional hard drive installations and therefore offer little advantage.

I *have* the mydsl extensions loading the recommended way, AS mydsl files.  That is not what is going into backup.tar.gz.  The stuff I refer to in the backup file is not the apps themselves, but the settings info that they store in /home/dsl/.whateverapp_settings

wine stores some of its settings in /home/dsl/.wine, and some of its settings in /root/.wine, and it stores quite a bit of info.

Other apps, some built-in, such as sylpheed, store info under /home/dsl/Mail (i think thats the folder).

This is the info I was wanting to put in a loopfile, rather than backup.tar.gz

I saw in the FAQ how to use a persistence setting for home and opt, but not for the "~" folder ("/root" which I may be able to stuff off on a loopfile after the fact), but in order to have the persistence setting, wouldn't the device i put these under need to be formatted ext?  Or would vfat do?
Easiest solution I can think of is using a link to a directory in a persistent location.
You can have a ".wine" directory on that partition, and all you'd have to back up is a /root/.wine symlink.
Or you could use .xfiletool.lst then i.e. mount a partition to /root/.wine
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