Partioning my hard drive...

[AirBornX]

Tell me if this is possible:

I have an 80 gig HD, I wanna keep 5 gigs for windows crap, then partion the other 75 gigs off for music.

basically, can i reformat that 75 gigs and not hurt the 5?

if so, how can i do this?

 

[TLS2000]

Are you saying that you want to take a drive that currently has a single 80gb partition, and repartition it to 5, 75gb respectively?

If so, you'll need partitioning software like Norton Partition Magic to repartition the drive. You'd have to shrink the primary partition, and create an extended partition after.

It's recommended that you backup all data before changing partitions.

 

[djnes]

Definitely backup the data first to another physical location. Second, reconsider your sizes. 5 GB for Windows is not very much. Something like PartitionMagic will allow you to easily create the partitions. XP has a built in partitioner that will create partitions, but doesn't allow the resizing of existing ones.

 

[AirBornX]

how can i make a partion using xp then?

also, will i be able to reformat a partion, and not teh whole hard drive?

 

[99rollaguy]

Yes, you'll be able to reformat a partition alone because it's seen as a seperate hard drive. If I were you, I'd just format the whole thing now and when you go to install windows, set that partition to however big you want it, then once you're in windows, go to the disk management thing and then make another partition out of the unpartitioned space. It's pretty easy, as you can see.

 

[AirBornX]

Okay, I'm in disk management, where is the option? Is it the one that creates a "dynamic disk"

 

[99rollaguy]

there should be something about partioning unpartitioned space. it's been over a year since I've done it, but I know it wasn't that hard. I think you right click on the unpartioned space and there should be an option..

 

[AirBornX]

i have no partition, it just says primary partion on the bottom

 

[Ice Czar]

i have no partition, it just says primary partion on the bottom

LOL

1st stay the hell away from Dynamic Disks until you have read all the links in the Dynaimic Disk Section of the Advanced HDD Issues thread, the consequences for not doing so are parting with money or reformatting the partition, or learning to live with Dyanamic Disks

2nd obviously there is a partition since it says primary
the question is whats on it

3rd there is no way to "split" partitions with some data on one and some on the other
you have to backup the data you want to relocate (the music) then delete it, then using partition magic resize the original system partition, and create another out of the unallocated space
when you do, dont use an extended partiion, but another primary partition

just RClick the unallocated space > partition

its is possible to use Windows diskpart.exe utility (a commandline tool) to "grow" a partition into adjacent unallocated space, but it wont "shrink" a partition

 

[AirBornX]

so i should download partition magic?

will having another partion slow my comp down?

 

[Ice Czar]

If you do it right, it should actually speed things up slightly
(a 2nd HDD would do alot more however for that)

http://partition.radified.com/partitioning.htm
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=741512

its either buy Partition Magic or do a fresh reinstall
But I find Partition Magic very handy for fine tuning the space allocated

keep in mind you are allowed 4 Primary Partitions natively under Windows per HDD
or
3 Primary Partitions and one extended partition with its own logical drives

 

[Ice Czar]

as a note
people get into trouble with partition magic when they
1. dont make the recovery diskettes
2. try to do multiple tasks at one time

jthere are so many things you can do with Partition Magic, but do one at a time and verify it all went well, its slightly slower but much safer, so resize, then move, ect