Hard Drive Partitioning

[chanchan05]

So I got me a Toshiba p300d-11m

-I got the old boot up errorI posted before diagnosed and it was a hardware problem.

Anyway, the thing was setup with 2 partitions, a 117gb C drive and a 113 D drive. Now I personally dont like it like this, and would rather partition it to like the on my HP desktop and old laptop (200++ C drive and 20GB D drive), so is there a way to repartition it without damaging the files? or having to go through the reinstall process?

By the way I'm on Vista Ultimate 32-bit.

 

[Hefemeister]

gparted:
http://www.techist.com/forums/f9/gparted-usage-tutorial-224994/

although I do not see much use for a 20gb partition unless you plan to use it as a swap drive.

 

[chanchan05]

I'm just going to use it for storing backups of my documents folders and memory cards.

I find the 117GB space too small, and I'm sort of at a loss as to how to manage my files on two 100GB drives. Hmm, ok, so maybe I'll try to see file management first. LOL. Everything is installed into program files in C drive. LOL.

What do you guys do when your PC is on two 110GB drives anyway?

 

[Hefemeister]

Get another hard drive

I usually run a fast hd around 80gb for OS and main programs. Used to use raptors, now waiting for a ssd.

I usually have about 1tb as a second drive for data with about 3tb of extra network storage. Games I want installed but do not play much I will install on the second drive. I do not do this much as I can usually manage a 80gb drive. I just uninstall programs I no longer use. I also reinstall Windows quite often to keep it fresh because I play with a lot of different programs from time to time.

 

[chanchan05]

Get another hard drive

I usually run a fast hd around 80gb for OS and main programs. Used to use raptors, now waiting for a ssd.

I usually have about 1tb as a second drive for data with about 3tb of extra network storage. Games I want installed but do not play much I will install on the second drive. I do not do this much as I can usually manage a 80gb drive. I just uninstall programs I no longer use. I also reinstall Windows quite often to keep it fresh because I play with a lot of different programs from time to time.

I dont think we understood each other. My laptop has 250GB HDD. Its partitioned to 117 and 113. Now I was used to having on my HP a 220 and a 10 partitioning. I cant seem to find the reasoning behind splitting it to a 117 and a 113, I can even find a reasoning as to why some laptops have equal partitioning as all programs do seem to want to go to C and D remains empty most of the time.

What I'm asking is what's the reasoning for this? And if I follow that guide posted above to repartition my drive, would it not damage my data?

 

[joelm3103]

I'm not totally sure but you may have to go through the whole reinstalling process if the data on the 2nd partition is more than the target you are trying to acquire. You may however be able to transfer the data from the 2nd partition onto another HDD, use a formatting tool (maybe Acronis or Partition Magic) and merge/split the current HDD accordingly.

PS: I'm not totally sure so you could wait around for confirmation. I used to play around with Partition Magic but can't remember all it's functions though.

Edit: Seems Partition Magic is no longer around and it did not support Win Vista and 7, Acronis Disk Director can do the trick though.

Partition Manager allows you to resize, move, copy, split, and merge partitions without losing your data.