Partitioning Current C: Drive

[Dick Bingham]

Is it possible, after defraging the Main drive, to
partition the remaining free space into local drives
without destroying the Boot, system files and the
operating system ?

Main drive is 60GB; would prefer to keep 20Gb for basic (
OS system & Boot ), then make 3 logical drives; 20Gb, 10
Gb & 10 Gb.

I am led to believe that the new logical drives can be
individually formatted ( since they would be empty )
without destroying the Basic drive ( 1st 20 GB.)

Any experience doing this with Windows XP Pro ( not with
Partition Magic ) ?

Thanks

[Donald L McDaniel]

In article >,
says...
> Is it possible, after defraging the Main drive, to
> partition the remaining free space into local drives
> without destroying the Boot, system files and the
> operating system ?
>
> Main drive is 60GB; would prefer to keep 20Gb for basic (
> OS system & Boot ), then make 3 logical drives; 20Gb, 10
> Gb & 10 Gb.
>
> I am led to believe that the new logical drives can be
> individually formatted ( since they would be empty )
> without destroying the Basic drive ( 1st 20 GB.)
>
> Any experience doing this with Windows XP Pro ( not with
> Partition Magic ) ?
>
> Thanks
>
It is not possible to non-destructively repartition a hard drive using
Microsoft-provided tools. To do this, you must use a third-party tool, such
as Partition Magic <http://www.powerquest.com> or
BootITNG <http://www.terabyteunlimited.com>

Versions of Partition Magic previous to 8.0 are incompatible with XP if your
partitions are NTFS and were created under a version of NT or another third-
party partitioner. Personally, I do not advise using a version previous to
8.1. Even then, there may be unexpected data loss and/or corruption as a
result of operations when using Partition Magic. I don't know whether this
is true of BootITNG, since I have never used it

When push comes to shove, using the Microsoft-provided tools is the most
reliable way to manage partitions, but entails loss of in-place data and
greater pre-planning.

Always back up any data you do not want to lose, no matter what product you
use, since unexpected data loss can always result from using ANY of these
products.

--
Donald L McDaniel
Post All replies to the Newsgroup, so that all may be informed
### NOTE ###
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thoughtful research. There are zillions of ways to do things with
computers. YOUR way may be better. But MY OPINION is still MY
OPINION. I have a right to it, just as you have a right to yours.
If I'm wrong, point out my error, then move on. I try hard not
to be wrong, but I miss it sometimes, like we all do. If you don't
like that, perhaps you should move to Nazi Germany,
where all Neo-Facists get their starts.
================================================== =================

[Tom Porterfield]

You can't do it just with Windows XP. There are no tools included with XP
that allow you to take free space from an existing partition and creating
new partitions in that place. You will need something like Partition
Magic or Bootit NG to resize your 60 GB partition. You can then use
either PM, Bootit NG or the disk management tool in XP to create new
partitions is the free space.

--
Tom Porterfield
Windows XP / Smart Display MVP
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tp.porterfield/support

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.

"Dick Bingham" > wrote in message
...
> Is it possible, after defraging the Main drive, to
> partition the remaining free space into local drives
> without destroying the Boot, system files and the
> operating system ?
>
> Main drive is 60GB; would prefer to keep 20Gb for basic (
> OS system & Boot ), then make 3 logical drives; 20Gb, 10
> Gb & 10 Gb.
>
> I am led to believe that the new logical drives can be
> individually formatted ( since they would be empty )
> without destroying the Basic drive ( 1st 20 GB.)
>
> Any experience doing this with Windows XP Pro ( not with
> Partition Magic ) ?
>
> Thanks

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Dick,

If "C" currently occupies the entire drive, you will need to use =
partitioning software to dynamically resize it and create free space. =
The drive tools included with Windows cannot do this without destroying =
the existing system. Keep in mind that any partition work has some =
inherent dangers, and you should backup anything critical to you before =
you begin.

Once (or if) the free space is available, you can start/run diskmgmt.msc =
to partition the drive, create logical volumes, then format them.

Partitioning programs that can resize an existing partition:

BootIT NG www.terabyteunlimited.com
Partition Magic www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic
Partition Commander http://www.v-com.com/product/pc_ind.html
Ranish Partition Manager http://www.ranish.com/part/

--=20
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x - =
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone -
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Dick Bingham" > wrote in message =
...
> Is it possible, after defraging the Main drive, to=20
> partition the remaining free space into local drives=20
> without destroying the Boot, system files and the=20
> operating system ?
>=20
> Main drive is 60GB; would prefer to keep 20Gb for basic (=20
> OS system & Boot ), then make 3 logical drives; 20Gb, 10=20
> Gb & 10 Gb.
>=20
> I am led to believe that the new logical drives can be=20
> individually formatted ( since they would be empty )=20
> without destroying the Basic drive ( 1st 20 GB.)
>=20
> Any experience doing this with Windows XP Pro ( not with =20
> Partition Magic ) ?
>=20
> Thanks

[Jim Macklin]

Partition Magic has been on sale recently and does work very
well (version 8).

Check on-line for best prices.


"Tom Porterfield" > wrote in message
...
| You can't do it just with Windows XP. There are no tools
included with XP
| that allow you to take free space from an existing
partition and creating
| new partitions in that place. You will need something
like Partition
| Magic or Bootit NG to resize your 60 GB partition. You
can then use
| either PM, Bootit NG or the disk management tool in XP to
create new
| partitions is the free space.
|
| --
| Tom Porterfield
| Windows XP / Smart Display MVP
| http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tp.porterfield/support
|
| Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.
|
| "Dick Bingham" > wrote in message
| ...
| > Is it possible, after defraging the Main drive, to
| > partition the remaining free space into local drives
| > without destroying the Boot, system files and the
| > operating system ?
| >
| > Main drive is 60GB; would prefer to keep 20Gb for basic
(
| > OS system & Boot ), then make 3 logical drives; 20Gb, 10
| > Gb & 10 Gb.
| >
| > I am led to believe that the new logical drives can be
| > individually formatted ( since they would be empty )
| > without destroying the Basic drive ( 1st 20 GB.)
| >
| > Any experience doing this with Windows XP Pro ( not with
| > Partition Magic ) ?
| >
| > Thanks
|
|