Partition in Windows 7 Home Premium without formatting

I agree with all except for the later: logical partitions are unneeded in this case.

Needed, coz the OP may think to partition the HDD further at any point of time. Just an attempt, and convert the entire disk to dynamic.

When an op is seeking an advise on partitioning, we must to accept that he is not a hardcore geek like some of the long time members of SF. It is better to make things easier and with some more free options for them.

1. After three primary partition, if partitioning further, go for logical.
2. With four primary partitions, before going for further partitioning, first convert one to logical.

Among these two, option one is more acceptable, to me.

neither is realistic,in my opinion, in these days and times.
Each to his own, said the man as he kissed the cow.

As you see, I've never found any need for more than 60GB as long as one moves the docs, videos, pictures, and music to another partition.

Just wait for the stores to open. Running a repartition program like PartitionWizard on a "live machine" is courting disaster.

If you are ready to lose everything and start over from the very first again, then go ahead and do not follow the advice you have received.

Operations are the same, but better you use the bootable CD.

Coz, it does all the operations while the hdd is not in use.

Do it in the next morning. I will be available form 11 am your time, if needed. Obviously there are other helpers, too !

One question, do I really need to boot from Partition Wizard cd?

Yes you have to operate Partition Wizard from the bootable CD or USB when you want to manipulate an active OS partition. Just make sure you image your C partition before you change it with PW. PW is an excellent program but it is easy to make a mistake or run into a problem where you can lose the partition you manipulate.

Btw; The reason you cannot shrink the C partition by more than appr. half is because somewhere in the middle of the partition is the MFT (master file table). Disk Management cannot move that, but PW can move it - which, of course is a tricky operation which takes some time. Just imagine you have a power failure or HDD problem during that operation. Then your C partition is lost. That's why I recommend to first make an image - safety first.

The unusual thing about that is that I've found that if I immediately, after a fresh install, shrink the partition using Disk Management then I can shrink down to a very small size. If I do not perform the shrink right away, then I end up with the "mid-way" problem.

don't understand. Just know what I observe.

Hello kulerdenyu, welcome to Seven Forums!


Have a look at Method One of this tutorial linked below, there's really no need for 3rd party software for operations like partition creation and manipulation as Windows will do everything needed.

If you want/need a fourth Primary just type ... - instead

create partition primary

Partition / Extended : Logical Drives