partition without re-installing OS

Hi!!

My laptop HDD doesn't ave any partition, and I intend to make the partition. Can a make partition without formatting and re-installing the OS? If yes, How?Thanx

 

Have you tried Partition Magic ?

 

If you have Vista, you can "shrink" the main partition, and create a partition out of the rest of it.

cheers ...

 

Using Vista Disk Management. Search for it in the start menu.

 

DO NOT use Partition Magic on a Vista machine....If your computer was partitioned with Vista in the first place, the way it partitions is slightly differen than previous versions of Windows and PM could mess you up

 

This is true.

EASEUS Partition Master can also be used.

 

You can create a new partition without having to reinstall the OS or anything else. The built-in disk manager is a bit weak when it comes to shrinking the System partition, so you will probably be better off using EASEUS' partition manager - I've used that numerous times and have found it to be useful. The only thing you have to be careful of is making sure that get the right version for the version of _Vista you have - don't run a partitioner on _Vista 64-bit unless it specifically says it's compatible with 64-bit _Vista.

 

In theory, yes. In reality, not likely. Because of "unmoveable" files while the OS is running, the success rate of folks trying to do this while the OS is functioning is VERY low. The OP would be better off with a bootable cd with a third party tool on it for resizing, partitons. Some have been mentioned in the thread already.

Gary

 

In theory and in reality! I did this on both my fiancée's Sony and my Gateway just a few weeks back for the installation of W7 RC.

A personal note - I defragged both notebooks before performing this "shrinking" and partitioning. A habit I carry either with a 3rd party app from outside the comps or within Vista.

cheers ...

 

qhn,

Sure it CAN be done, sorry if I implied it could not. It's just that, as I said, the success rate is rather low, because too many times the "unmovable" files are too far out on the end of the exiting partition. Using a bootable cd with a third party tool, has a success rate MUCH higher. So to save the OP the possible frustration I suggested not trying to do this while the OS is running.

Gary

 

Very true about some files are at the far end.

That is the reason why I always defrag the current drive first, regardless if I use Vista Disk Management tool or "outside" tools like GPart (my fav ) before partitioning any non-empty drives.

cheers ...

 

There isn't any success rate with shrinking a new partition.. Either you have the space or you don't. Don't get the OP scared now. I did alot of partitioning on vista and always used the shrink. If your hd isn't defragged, vista will be limited as to how much you can shrink.

 

Really? It's just that simple huh? You might want to go find some of the many threads where folks who had 30 gigs of space available were unable to shrink the C: drive more than 2 or 3 gig, because things like the page file or other unmovable active files happened to be way out near the end of the partition. I am sure they will be glad to know it was just their imagination that prevented them from using shrink.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=375804&highlight=shrink+partition

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=344056&highlight=shrink+partition

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=340575&highlight=shrink+partition

These folks and several others await your illumination.

You can defrag all you want, but if you don't defrag AND get those files out of the way, Vista cannot do the shrink job. BTW just defragging will NOT move those files. Some defrag tools only put the pieces of a file into a contiguous block, but do NOT try to have all those contiguous blocks near the front of a partition. And the Vista defrag cannot do this to things like the pagefile while the OS is running.

I am not trying to "scare" the OP. I'm trying to tell them the way that they can, with 100% certainty, accomplish their goal. They MIGHT be able to use shrink, but it's a roll of the dice if Vista will allow you to or not.

Gary

 

what ??
i did that and nothing happened,
what are the consequences?

 

maybe its time for a sticky thread about partitioning

 

Beige,

Was your drive originally PARTITIONED using the VISTA partitioning tool? If you bought your computer with Vista preinstallted, it was probably set up with a disk image.

The problem with the Vista partition tool is that it is new and Partition Magic is old and doesn't recognize that Vista partitioning scheme is slightly altered.

The end result is that you can ruin your master boot record or partition boot records.

 

With all due respect, the built-in _Vista partition manager is way too conservative (to put it nicely) when it comes to shrinking the system partition. Third party tools do a much better job of that, regardless of the fragmentation condition of your drive (although, ceteris paribus, defragmenting the drive first definitely helps).

 

oops i am sorry i posted wrong info it was the xp laptop that i used partition magic with it , i use paragon partition manager with vista ,
sorry again

 

Speaking of partitions, a family member was just asking me if it was possible to change partition sizes. He has something like a 20gig C: and a 80gig D: partition and wants to know if its possible to move some of that D: space over to C:

He has Vista home premium x64.
can this be done with partiton magic, or Easeus?
could I use Gparted from a boot disk to do it?

 

What I did on my Gateway 64 bits, where D: only contains data only and no apps. All this was being done within Vista Disk Management.

. defrag
. back up all D: data to an external
. zap the D: partition (delete the partition)
. extend the C: partition to however you want (I just combine mine into 1, having a 2nd drive for data anyway)
. re-create the D: partition

Easeus is what I now would use besides Vista Disk Management.

cheers ....

 

back to the topic. at the end the safest and most effective way to make partition is to format the HDD. But i am too lazy to re-install all apps that I have now. can someone help me how to make partition w/o formatting? If disk management is effective, I'll try it. Thx

 

Use a good partitioning tool like Partition Magic. You can also use GParted to manipulate partitions.

 

I recommend using paragon partition manager , its free for this function , but be sure to select an option that can make u continue session if something wrong happened (like power going out ) , and try to backup at least ur contacts and important emails,
paragon has pretty easy user interface, also it makes u do changes in a virtual mode so u don't really apply your changes unless u choosed the right options.

 

The built-in partitioner in _Vista is not particularly good, and will frequently hiccup on the system partition. I managed to use the built-in partition tool to slice a bit off of the system partition on a 500GB hard drive that initially had two partitions, a c:\ system partition of about 451GB and a d:\ recovery partition of about 14GB, but it would only cut 166GB off the system partition, even though, at the time, I was using only about 50GBs worth on that partition. I left it at that since 166GB was sufficient for what I wanted in a third partition, but a third-party utility, such as EASEUS' Partition Manager, would have been able to cut a lot more off of the original system partition.