Diverting memory between hard drive partitions

I'm trying to convert some hard drive disk space from my recovery partition to my OS partition.

Can anybody give me a little help?

Thanks

 

I just did that 20 minutes ago . Of course it was using a recovery partition I created, so it is a little different I suppose.

I like Gparted: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

It is nice because in addition to altering your partitions, it can safely move contents to different areas of the drive. You will likely find that in order to move the extra space to a different partition your are going to need to move the recovery partition.

GParted does caution to back up your stuff before using it, so that's a good idea (especially if you will need to move the locations of the partition as you may need to). However, I have been using it for a long time without ever having a problem.

 

Yup. An easier option that may be good enough is to leave the partitions alone, and just start storing files in the recovery partition. You can just make a folder there and use the space the same way you would use it on your main partition.

 

Actually, I meant to say I wanted to divert disk space from my OS partition to my recovery partition. The "disk management" in Vista won't allow me to extend my recovery partition.

What do I need to know about using Gparted?

Thanks

 

You don't need to know much.. It is a pretty simple program. Download the ISO and burn it to a bootable CD. Boot from it, and you will enter GParted. Select the appropriate things as prompted during the loading process (type of keyboard, display and such). Chances are the default option will work for you so you will only need to hit the enter key.

Once your in the GUI you will see how easy it is. Just make sure you don't delete anything! Only 'resize' and 'move' when necessary.

 

If GParted doesn't work out for you (some people have problems) then i suggest you use a Linux LiveCD such as Ubuntu to do your partitioning, it's also good in case you wanna browse the 'net while you partition or have to do some work as the LiveCD is the full OS.

 

You'll have to excuse me because I am a beginner here. Do any of you guys have any links to a tutorial. I appreciate all your help but I'm not sure I'm understanding.

Here are a few of my questions:

Greg,

First; where do I find the ISO (I know it's on the Gparted link), there are a lot of files on that site and I'm not sure which one.

Second; when I do download the correct file (ISO), I'll have to burn it to a disk. Can I put it on a USB flash drive?

Third; When I restart I'll have to choose my boot location, when chosen (CD drive), is there anything else I'll need to do that I may not understand?

Calvin,

I guess I have the same questions. I'm assuming the Ubuntu option is similar to the Gparted option. Is this a safe assumption?

Sorry about the limited knowledge guys, I'm still learning.

Thanks for your help!

 

Here is a link for the LiveUSB walkthrough page:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/liveusb.php

This is the download link:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-live-0.3.6-7.zip?modtime=1208153098&big_mirror=0

Here is the link for the LiveCD download:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-live-0.3.6-7.iso?modtime=1208153087&big_mirror=0

(To clarify, they are the same, except that the LiveUSB is compressed in a zip folder, where the LiveCD is in an ISO ready to burn.)

I personally have never used GParted from a USB drive. I always use a CD.

EDIT: In reference to Ubuntu as Calvin recommended, here is the download link for the ISO. http://mirrors.ccs.neu.edu/releases.ubuntu.com/hardy/ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso

It's an entire operating system that can load into your RAM and run independent from the hard drive. This might be an easier option, because you can connect to the internet while using it. Assuming you have access to a wired network.

 

No problem, we're here to help. Partitioning is very easy, just click on the partition you want to edit and click the Resize/Move button to change your partitions. In your case you just either move the slider to decrease the Vista partition (should be labeled "C") and then edit your recovery partition to fit in the new space by moving the slider. Here's a note of warning though, do not format your partitions and if you accidentally click the button you can just click "Undo". Here is where you download the ISO to burn. To burn the ISO use a program such as BurnCDCC to burn it. Just point to the ISO and set the speed to something very slow and burn it. You can put it on a USB flash drive if you want, instructions are here. You'll need to set your BIOS to boot the CD Drive (or if you choose to use USB the USB drive) which can usually be done by pressing ESC or F2. Ubuntu is very similar to GParted and i even recommend it over GParted because you can aces the internet to come here and ask for help if you get stuck. A word of warning DO NOT STOP THE PARTITIONING PROCESS FOR ANY REASON NO MATTER WHAT, OTHERWISE BE PREPARED TO LOSE DATA. Here are some screen shots of GParted so you get used to the interface.

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm going to put this off until tomorrow but I read over the tutorials and I think I got it. Will let you know I have anymore questions.

Once again, thanks for the help.

 

If you have any more questions be sure to ask.