How to Partition a HD into 1 Primary and an Extended Partition ?

[thenoo]

I recently intended to divide an unpartitioned HD OF 195 Gbts into a PRIMARY Partition of , say , 50Gbts , containing WIN 7 only , and have the remainder divided as an Extended Partition sub-divided into two Logical Drives which would contain Applications and Data respectively.

In attempting to do this I began by shrinking the drive , which was Active and already contained WIN 7 , and then created what turned out to be another Primary Partition of some 94 Gbts , thus leaving WIN 7 installed on its C drive which was now just under 100 Gbts.

This result is shown in the attached file. There is also another H/D of some 450 Gbts.

This newly created C: Partition is too big for my purposes as WIN 7 only takes up some 22Gbts but I was not allowed to shrink it below this size by the procedures employed in the PWBD. I also did not need the remainder to be in the form of a Primary Partition but want it to be an Extended Partition able to be subdivided into Logical drives.

Is it possible to to divide this 195 Gbte HD into a Primary of 50 gbts and have the remaining space changed into an Extended Partion ?

Could you explain how to do this , please as I can't seem to find such instruction in this Forum ?

I want to state here that this is not a complaint of the advice I was given here in my previous post as that went without any problems . The fact that I did not achieve what I had intended was entirely my fault in not giving enough detail as to my aims. I was also somewhat surprised by the limitation imposed by the PWBD on the amount of shrinkage allowed as I did not expect this .

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello again.



The partition Wizard CD should shrink/resize the right side of the C: partition much smaller but I would seriously advise against going much smaller than about 60GB as the Windows 7 partition will need it to let installed programs/apps have enough room to "stretch out" as needed.


Also see Option Four in this tutorial to see an outline of how to convert the D: partition to an extended though you want to go the other way as listed in the tutorial of course.

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

 

[gregrocker]

Programs write registry keys which integrate themselves into the OS so should be kept on the same partition.

To move User folders to another partition, follow these steps: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

There is no reason to convert your D to Logical as you're allowed four primary partitions.

The sizes look about right. Move your User folders and install your programs correctly to see.

 

[thenoo]

Programs write registry keys which integrate themselves into the OS so should be kept on the same partition.

OK - Point taken. My reasoning behind installing Apps in somewhere other than the C:\ was to keep any future Image Files of that drive as small as possible.

To move User folders to another partition, follow these steps: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

Thanks for that tip but I'm not sure I understand the reason for mentioning this possibility. Is this to help in keeping things out of the C: drive ?

There is no reason to convert your D to Logical as you're allowed four primary partitions.

OK . I suppose my intention to create a Logical Drive is a carry-over from XP - now that I'm living in the WIN 7 world I get the impression Logical Drives have gone out of fashion.

The sizes look about right. Move your User folders and install your programs correctly to see.

I think my lack of erxperience with WIN 7 here is probably the cause of some of my confusion here . Are you suggesting I should install my Apps into the moved User Folders here and ignore the "Program Files" and "Program Files(x86)" which exist on the C: drive ?

 

[gregrocker]

Install programs to the OS/Programs drive.

Move your User folders to another data partition using the tutorial given, if it is your goal to keep the backup image as lean as possible.

This way if Win7 becomes irreparable, you can reimage the OS/Programs partition in 20 minutes and your data will be current and waiting in it's own partition "vault" (which also needs to be backed up externally).

 

[thenoo]

Thanks for the reply