The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Partitioning Problem

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by a45c54, Apr 19, 2009.

  1. a45c54

    a45c54 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hello,

    I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 with pre-installed Windows Vista Home Basic. In my disk, I have already have 4 partitions, os, recovery, EISA configuration and a no name, drive letter 2.50GB partition. I want to create a new partition to store my private data. From pcworld tutorial ( http://www.pcworld.com/article/132079/partitioning_a_hard_drive_in_vista.html), I made an unallocated space. However, I can't make it into a new simple volume. Windows says I have already reached maximum number of partitions allowed.

    What do I have to do? Can I merge it with any other? How can I put this space back to my drives? Also, can I do anything with that 2.50GB partition and extend it to the unallocated space then make it into my data partition? Please help. Thank you!
     
    a45c54, Apr 19, 2009
    #1
  2. piyush1911

    piyush1911 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    41
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Dude you will have to make a back up of all your data, in a different HDD/CD?DVD's, then run the vista setup(from boot) using the VISTA recovery disk, delete all the drives that you currently have on your PC, only then would you be able to break free from the 4 partitions shackles dell has limited you to(EISA)...
     
    piyush1911, Apr 19, 2009
    #2
  3. CyberVisions

    CyberVisions Martian Notebook Overlord

    Reputations:
    602
    Messages:
    815
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Why are you making thing so difficult for yourself? All you needed to do was make a Directory for your Private data on the open 2.5gb partition, then protect the data with Access Permissions.

    Get rid of the partition you made and just do that - if you really need something separate, then get an external 8gb/16gb flash drive or 320gb SSD.
     
    CyberVisions, Apr 19, 2009
    #3
  4. mgh_a1

    mgh_a1 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    28
    Messages:
    516
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I agree with everyone else. A separate partition doesn't change the fact that you are still using one harddrive. I think that it's more useful to back up the drive image, or at least the dell recovery partition, and then blow them all away. Use one partition or make two so that you will always know the data is sort of 'separate'.

    Or invest in external storage! That will really save your bacon if you lose your drive.
     
    mgh_a1, Apr 19, 2009
    #4
  5. a45c54

    a45c54 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Thank you for replying. So... if I remove that unallocated space, does it mean that I will lose that 30GB or does it just merge it into some other drives and I can't access that open 2.50GB from computer also. How can I use it?
     
    a45c54, Apr 20, 2009
    #5
  6. SteveJonesy

    SteveJonesy Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    50
    Messages:
    689
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Sounds like you are trying to make a primary partition - try making an extended partiton with a logical drive (New Partition, Extended then New Logical Drive).
     
    SteveJonesy, Apr 20, 2009
    #6