Dell XPS M1530, Vista (OS) - Create a New Partition

Hi,

I am sorry if my query is a duplicate but i searched for hours and could not find a solution to my problem.

I have a Dell XPS - M1530 , HDD 200GB, OS: Windows Vista Home Premium. It came preconfigured with 4 partitions.
Volume--------Layout-----Size -------File System------Status
------------------Basic-----102MB-----------------------EISA Configuration
------------------Basic----- 2.5GB-----------------------Primary
OS(C)------------Basic------174GB---------NTFS---------Primary
Recovery(D)------Basic------10 GB---------NTFS---------Primary

I want to know:
1) How can i create a new partition on my hdd without having to reinstall Vista. Are there any softwares available for this task. I want to decrease the size of my C: and create a new E: drive.
2) Can i do away with my recovery partition? What are its repurcussions?
3) The total space comes out to be 186GB so where is the rest 14GB gone?

 

1) A product called Partition Magic will allow you to resize existing partitions thus freeing up space to create a new one.

2) I assume your notebook came with no recovery CDs....so if Windows gets screwed up at some point in the future you'd have no way to reinstall it.

3) A 200GB hard drive is not exactly 200GB after formatting. I don't know the specifics, but I do know that some space is used for directory tables and whatnot.

 

Vista allows you to do this yourself, no need for 3rd party software that you'll never use more than once. It's simple, and I less-than 3 Vista!

Go to Computer management (right click my computer > manage) > under storage select 'disk management' right click your disk partition you want to create the new partition from, select 'shrink volume' and enter the size. Once that's done, rightclick your new volume and make it a new simple volume.

/done

And if you want to change it, just delete the new volume and extend it to whatever volume you'd like to take that space back.

 

You really should download Partition Magic or GParted, as you will probably use them over and over if you are at all involved with computers.

 

Hrm, last time i checked partition magic and Vista weren't compatible. For what it's worth, my two cents save you time and money.

No need to install the software when vista makes it so simple to do yourself.

GL with whatever you choose though.

 

i saw in other threads that:
1) vista and partion magic are not compatible.
2) there can be a maximum of 4 partitions in vista, so i will have to delete one of the three(recovery partition, media direct partition or the system partition) before creating the new one.... am i correct? i also don't know if i can delete any of these partitions without worrying.

 

oh, you are right. I spaced the 4 partition thing.

your choices are to loose the recovery volume, or media direct. (i think messing with media direct can jack up your Master boot record though.. beware) The EISA partition has specific dell utilities in it too.. you run a risk of losing those and you're hosed in any dell support scenario by playing with these partitions too.

If it were me, i'd boot with a recovery disc or knoppix or something, copy the recovery partition to another device and then blow it away for your 4th partition that you want.

That way, you still have the recovery partition and are able to restore it in the same fashion that you backed it up.

Although, I'd say if this is creeping into too advanced territory for you, you may just want to leave it be. Find an external HDD for your solution or something.

 

Read this ... might help u..

http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor...3A2CA8B51A7225E040A68F5A282709&docid=321541#1