Partitioning my hard disk

[kelvinwgr]

Hi Guys,

My laptop comes with 1 partition called (c: ) which consists of the windows 7 home premium OS. I would like to partition it so that I can separate my OS and Data.

I understand that there are a few tools available such as acronis and partition magic (not sure if there's other). Can I use it on my windows 7? And if yes, any idea how much harddisk space should be allocated for the OS portion?

Thanks.

 

[theog]

Take a look at this tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html?ltr=P

 

[whs]

Here you have all the instructions you need: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/72427-data-partition.html For the C partition, 60GBs is usually enough - unless you have games that take a lot of space. My Win7 never exceeded 18GBs (32bit) and 21GB (64bit).

 

[gregrocker]

Use Disk Mgmt as theog suggests then follow whs's excellent video showing how to set up a separate data partition.

Do not use Partition Magic.

For any partitioning needs which cannot be accomplished by Disk Mgmt use free Partition Wizard bootable CD which works flawlessly with Win7.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello kelvinwgr.





Don't go much less than 60GB as WHS has suggested so Windows will have enough room to expand as needed.

 

[kelvinwgr]

Use Disk Mgmt as theog suggests then follow whs's excellent video showing how to set up a separate data partition.

Do not use Partition Magic.

For any partitioning needs which cannot be accomplished by Disk Mgmt use free Partition Wizard bootable CD which works flawlessly with Win7.

Hi Guys, okay thanks for all the advice. Let me take some time to go through the tutorial and I will try it out.

Hi Greg, any reasons not to use partition magic? Does it screw up the OS or hdd?

 

[whs]

Partition Magic has not been updated in several years. But you can try it just to see what it does to your system. It's a free world - LOL.

 

[Mark Phelps]

Don't just hack away with a partitioning tool and HOPE that will work; instead, use the Win7 Disk Management utility to shrink the "C" partition first. Then, reboot into Win7 a couple of times for it to make the necessary adjustments.

Then ... you can use your partitioning tool to create another partition.

Or, since you're already inside Win7, you can just use the same Win7 Disk Management utility to create and format a data partition.

And, yes, you CAN shrink the Win7 OS partition while inside Win7. You don't have to resort to third-party partitioning tools to do this.

If you DO want to use third-party tools, another one to consider is EASEUS Partition Master. They just updated it again to version 6.x, and a Home version is available from the website as a free download.

 

[gregrocker]

We see one OS screwed up per month on average by Partition Magic.

Any other 3rd party partition manager can fail during Resizing. Only PW has built-in Data Protection mode which will restart and attempt to Resize again if it fails, allowing you to interrupt it during startup countdown to start Win7 normally.

In your case, you can achieve what you want using Disk Management. If you need any more, just ask back for exact steps using PW CD.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html

 

[kelvinwgr]

Hi Guys. Thanks for the advice and I have decided not to use partition magic to partition my disk. I have read through the tutorial, however, I still have some questions and seek your professional advice.

I believe the shrink feature is only available in windows 7 os? I don't see it in windows xp. When I try to shrink my c drive, the value in "size of available shrink space in MB" is automatically generated (Please refer to screenshots). The value is less than half of my total harddisk size. Any idea how does this value come about? Basically, my concern here is that I wish to set a suitable disk size for OS as C drive and the rest to be used for data as D drive. (No gaming is involved)

The value "132741 MB", if I want to convert the value to GB, is the following way the correct to calculate:

132741 divided by 1024 = 129 GB (approximate)

 

[whs]

Why don't you use Partition Wizard Home Edition (the bootble cd) as suggested. With Disk Management you run against the MFT which sits in the middle of the disk and cannot be moved by Disk Management. But the Partition Wizard can move it. just make sure you image your disk before you manipulate it - just in case things go wrong.

 

[kelvinwgr]

Why don't you use Partition Wizard Home Edition (the bootble cd) as suggested. With Disk Management you run against the MFT which sits in the middle of the disk and cannot be moved by Disk Management. But the Partition Wizard can move it. just make sure you image your disk before you manipulate it - just in case things go wrong.

Hi whs, I have downloaded PW home edition from the web and it is in (.iso) format. How do I make use of this (.iso) file to create a bootable cd? Do I just paste and write it onto a cd rom?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Windows 7 now has ISO burning capabilities but a lot of people still rely on third party progs/apps, I still use the free ImgBurn, after it's installed look at the help files in the program for tutorials on its use.


ImageBurn Free Software

 

[karlsnooks]

I have downloaded PW home edition from the web and it is in (.iso) format. How do I make use of this (.iso) file to create a bootable cd? Do I just paste and write it onto a cd rom?

Right-click on the .iso file and choose Burn Disk Image


Windows 7 has built-in software to burn an ISO to CD/DVD.

 

[kelvinwgr]

I have downloaded PW home edition from the web and it is in (.iso) format. How do I make use of this (.iso) file to create a bootable cd? Do I just paste and write it onto a cd rom?

Right-click on the .iso file and choose Burn Disk Image


Windows 7 has built-in software to burn an ISO to CD/DVD.

Hi, after right clicking on the .iso file, I can't locate any "burn disk image". Please help.

 

[karlsnooks]

kelvin,
When you RIGHT-click on the .iso file, what are the options listed?

 

[karlsnooks]

kelvin,

What happens if you DOUBLE-CLICK on the .iso file?

 

[whs]

Why don't you use Partition Wizard Home Edition (the bootble cd) as suggested. With Disk Management you run against the MFT which sits in the middle of the disk and cannot be moved by Disk Management. But the Partition Wizard can move it. just make sure you image your disk before you manipulate it - just in case things go wrong.

Hi whs, I have downloaded PW home edition from the web and it is in (.iso) format. How do I make use of this (.iso) file to create a bootable cd? Do I just paste and write it onto a cd rom?

I think I used Roxio that I happen to have on my system. But the one that Bare Foot Kid has recommended is good too.

 

[kelvinwgr]

After installing the imgburn recommended by Bare Foot Kid, when I right click on the .iso file, there is a "burn express" on the list. Before that, there wasn't.

Karl, I am also interested in the windows 7 built in software which you were mentioning. What is the software called? Do I have to install it manually from anywhere in the windows?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello again kelvinwgr.





When you right click the ISO you should get these options, the top one is the default Windows 7 ISO burner.

click to enlarge

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