![]() |
|
17 Jan 2012 | #1 |
|
Need help to repartition hard drive but to keep all installed software
Hi All,
several months ago my laptop's hard drive was repartitioned by our tech services/administrators without consulting with me. I didn't have a large hard drive in the first place and what they did was that they created a smaller C drive (60 GB) and a larger F (data) drive (87 GB). I am a developer and I need a lot of specific software to be installed on C drive, I have to have Visual Studio 2008 and 2010, SQL Server 2008, Office 2010, service packs, other work related software. I uninstalled whatever I could from C drive, I keep cleaning it, remove logs etc. After latest Windows updates I ran out of space on C drive. I have only 2 GB left. The only "solution" that tech services offered was to completely reformat my hard drive and repartiion it again. For me it means that I will have to spend a week re-installing all the software from scratch and possibly losing stuff in the process. I can't afford it because I have work to do. Is there a way to repartition hard drive without wiping out all the installed programs, just to increase the size of the C drive and decrease the size of the F drive? |
My System Specs![]() |
. |
|
17 Jan 2012 | #2 |
|
Why don't you just copy your files over onto F:/ if that's the data drive?
|
My System Specs![]() |
17 Jan 2012 | #3 |
|
hi webgirl, welcome to sevenforums,
the good news is that it's pretty easy, but can be a bit time consuming, as loads of data needs to be shuffled around. try downloading the excellent (and free) partition wizard which offers a nice gui for partitioning tasks. you can do it using windows built-in diskmgmt.msc, but i prefer partition wizard. saying that, most software should still work if installed on F: |
My System Specs![]() |
. |
|
17 Jan 2012 | #4 |
|
"Why don't you just copy your files over onto F:/ if that's the data drive? " - I cannot just simply copy program files to data drive because program files are not data files. If a program is installed on C and I move files to F, program will not work.
|
My System Specs![]() |
17 Jan 2012 | #5 |
|
Sounds like u really don't need the other partition so easiest would be to delete it and add the unallocated space back to C:\
|
My System Specs![]() |
17 Jan 2012 | #6 |
|
DMHolt, it's a very good idea to keep your data and your OS on different partitions - if you ever need to reinstall windows, you won't have to worry about your data.
the OP merely wants to resize the partitions, not get rid of them completely. webgirl, have you looked at my suggestion (above) yet? |
My System Specs![]() |
17 Jan 2012 | #7 |
|
I am going to ..
C partition is a little bit more protected. If some appication or even I are trying to write something to C drive, we can't. I need to provide Admin permission if I want to copy some file on C. Any program can write it's data on the data drive. This gives a little bit more security. |
My System Specs![]() |
17 Jan 2012 | #8 |
|
...an even better idea is having your data backed up elsewhere, so when you can't access the hdd you can reconstruct on a new hdd. Flash drives are getting cheap...and holding more data....
|
My System Specs![]() |
17 Jan 2012 | #9 |
|
Webgirl, all you need do is reduce the size of your F drive from the left then extend the C drive to take up the resulting unallocated space.
Partition Wizard is an ideal tool for this job, as this tutorial explains. Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD It's just a pity that your drives are so small in the first place. For that reason, I agree with DMHolt's suggestion of having all your data on an external drive, which would mean you could delete the F partition and extend C to take up all the drive space. |
My System Specs![]() |
17 Jan 2012 | #10 |
|
So should I try to use this Best Free Partition Manager Freeware for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition. ?
I don't know if I have enough space on disk left to install it ... It's kind of scary, what if I mess up my machine completely ![]() |
My System Specs![]() |
![]() |
Thread Tools | |
Similar help and support threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
BSOD -Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers At start up I am getting the blue screen which says "remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers" I did take out the hard drive and connected it to another computer using a sata to usb cable, but the drive was not recognized so I put the hard drive back. Now when I am... |
BSOD Help and Support | |||
Repartition the C drive of an HP Probook into C and D I have a new HP Probook. Its 500 GB harddisk is mainly partitioned into a C drive. I say "mainly" because it has small partitions of one to ten GB for recovery and system tools. The C drive is more than 450 GB. I would like to partition it into about 120 GB for C and the rest for D but there are... |
Installation & Setup | |||
Hard drive installed, shows in Drive Mngmnt, in Bios, but not in Comp. I have a backup drive that we had used for for a while (WD 6000aak), previously in an external drive enclosure. I connected it today via USB to find that the computer has the driver installed, the drive appears in the Devices list, but it does not show in My Computer. In "Disk Management" the... |
Hardware & Devices | |||
repartition single drive My single drive is partitioned into 2 drives: C:\, boot, 120 GB total, 1.6 GB free..... E:365 GB total, 130 GB free. I want to repartition so that C:\ is 30 GB larger, and E:\ is 30 GB smaller. I can shrink E: and make unallocated space and a new empty drive, but I could not enable C: to add that... |
Hardware & Devices | |||
How do I get my newly installed Hard Drive (1TB) with Win 7 installed to boot up. Here's my issue I have a HP Desk top w/ a standard 320 GB hard Drive. I bought a new Hard drive (1 TB Western Digital) so that I could move everything to the new one and use the old one as storage. I had trouble even formatting the new drive but eventually got it and successfully... |
Backup and Restore |
Our Sites |
Site Links |
About Us |
Find Us |
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.
"Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
© Designer Media Ltd All times are GMT -5. The time now is 20:20. |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |