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Old January 22nd 10, 03:56 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers
Robbie Hatley
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Posts: 29
Default Can you partition a C drive without deleting what is on it?


"Patti Barden" wrote:

Thanks everyone - I am struggling.

If before I do anything I should make a backup/copy of my
37GB data in case anything goes wrong -
where do I put the backup/copy? If I partition
the EHD (external hard disk) and put the
backup/copy on it and then Clone
the C Hard disk and put the clone on the EHC,
I think that erases everything on the EHD which would negate
my backups.


Yep, cloning wipes out backups. So don't do that.

And don't try to back stuff up with crunchies or CDs,
that's like trying to bail out the Titanic with a teaspoon.

Instead, either clone, OR do backups, to a large external
hard disk.

If you have the install disks for your OS and programs,
just backup your irreplacable files (music, pictures, ebooks,
videos, files from work or home business, personal finances).
Make one big partition on your external hard disk. I recommend
formatting it as FAT32, so that you can access it with various
operating systems if necessary. Drag and drop folders from
C: to your external disk, using Windows Explorer.

OR

If you don't have install disks for your OS and programs,
use an "image" or "ghost" program to snapshot your whole
C: drive onto your external disk.

Then you can change partitions on your main hard disk at will.
Use a partition manager, such as "PowerQuest PartitionMagic".
Move boundaries around as you like.

Adjusting partitions SHOULDN'T damage any of the data on
your drive C:. But if it does (very unlikely), you can
recover easily enough if you've made backups or a clone.

--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
lonewolf at well dot com
www dot well dot com slant tilde lonewolf slant


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