Windows 7--disk 0 or partition.

Just bought a new laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium.There's only disk 0 on it and only 3 partitions,one being C:. I want to get a D: partition.I've been told that since there no empty space,I should shrink the C: one to get some free space to create a new one so,right click on the C: partition and then shring volume get the box "shrink C:" but even though I can type the amount of of space to shrink,I never get to have the shrink button to come alive.Also,in the box "Size of available shrink space in MB" or the box"Total size after shrink in MB" I have 0 written there.
Any ideas how I could get a D: drive on a new partition or on a new disk?

 

If you'll bear with me, and we can take a step back for a minute.. Why do you want a new partition, and separate D: drive?

 

So...I'm use to that.Every computers I use have a C: drive and a D: drive.The OS and programs are all in the C: drive and the folders of data stuff are in the D: drive.Apparently,the C: drive is the one that most often get corrupted so by having your data in the D: drive,you're more likely to preserve it...no?

 

In theory, yes. However the general idea is to have your OS on one drive, and data on another. In your scenario, if something happens to the physical drive, it's very likely that both your OS and your data will be lost.

That being said, if you're used to it, and that's what you want, that's good enough for me!

More than likely you can't shrink your partition because certain system files, like the pagefile for example, reside towards the "end" of that partition. Windows won't move them, so you're limited to what you can do with Disk Management.

I would recommend using 3rd party software to do this. An example would be Pargaon's Partition Manager, or the free Partition Wizard.

 

Well...I went to Partition Wizard,did shrink my C: to 50 GB .Now I have a 170 GB D: but it seems this is only a what they call "a new volume"/"logic drive" and Windows tells me that to be able to use my D:,I have to format it and in doing so,all the data on this disk will be lost.I guess that means a will have to reinstall the whole thing(recovey install)...right?
Could I made a second disk and put my D: on it that way in formatting it,I wouldn't lose my C: drive?Thanks!

 

So you have the new partition showing up in Windows as D: right? And all your files are still on C:? Assuming that's the case, than you can just format D: and it will be usable to you, and you move stuff over. If you're just formatting the D: partition / drive letter then you're not going to lose any data, and it's just a blank partition.

Think of it like an old floppy disk.. Until you format it, you can't save anything to it. Same thing with this new partition, the space is there but it must be formatted correctly so that Windows can use it.

 

The warning Windows gave me is that in formatting the D:,that would erase all the data on the disk...they didn't say it would erase the data on the disk only for the D: partition.
I did format it now.Thanks!
The last thing that still bugs me (for now)is...it's a pain to not have a possibility to move folders or files like I use to do in XP.Seems in Windows 7,all you can do is to copy those folders or files and then paste them to their new location.I wonder why that possibility has been removed?

 

You can still move files and folders.. Right click and hold down on the file/folder then drag it to where you want and let go. It should give you the option to copy or move.

 

Copy and paste is definitely still there.

 

Absolutely! Just make sure if you want to move something, you do cut and paste.

 

Although I focussed primarily on partitioning a HD for performance, the following link describes how to properly move your user folders to a different drive or partition for Vista or Win 7 systems:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5617217#post5617217