Increase partition size without losing data?

[UsernameTaken]

Is it possible to increase the size of a partition without losing data?

I have an 80GB HDD and I put Windows on a 20GB partition, and I thought it would be better if I just partitioned the whole thing to 80GB.

Also I have a 320GB HDD that I still haven't partitioned, I should probably partition this and fix the 80GB partition at the same time.

I have a Hiren Boot CD which has a ton of programs, the problem is I have no idea how to use them.

 

[KSoD]

GParted should be able to do this.

 

[UsernameTaken]

Ok, is it possible to move my current C: Partition to a different letter like K: and then make a new C: partition to install Windows on again, and then I will have 2 Windows XP installs?

 

[KSoD]

You could just install Windows again and use a different letter for that install.

 

[EricB]

partition magic. make a 20-30 gig partition on the second drive. use one of the disc clone tools (or PM) to copy window to the partition. delete the first part. make it 80 gigs. clone the 20 gig


forget all of that. use pm to add that unpartitioned space to your windows partition and just partition the 2nd drive. back up your data to the 2nd drive first.

 

[UsernameTaken]

Ok so I'm going to use Partition Magic to do this:
copy/clone my 20GB partition to my 2nd drive
delete 20GB partition on 1st drive
make 60GB partition on 1st drive
copy 20GB partition from 2nd drive to 1st
partition 2nd drive to 320GB

the reason for this is I want to keep my current Windows installation, but make a new one as well. I want to keep my current Windows working until I get the new installation working because I can't have any downtime, I need to be able to use my computer should anything go wrong with the new Windows installation. Thanks.

 

[KSoD]

How would jsut installing again give you any downtime? It would still leave this boot intact and give you the new isntall.

 

[UsernameTaken]

I need my drives to be in order like

C: for my new Windows
D: for my 320GB
E: (or anything else) for my old Windows

and my new Windows is a custom install made using nLite so I don't know if it will work correctly or not. But when I get it tweaked right so it works, it will be a lot more stable.

Edit: unless I could edit the drive letters and move around the partitions and such. I want my new Windows install to be at the very beginning of the 80GB disk. If I could move the partitions then I would just install the new Windows on a new partition, and move it around later once I get everything working and drivers and programs installed.

 

[KSoD]

Anytime you install Windows from a CD it automatically takes the C:\ as its drive letter. Only when you install from within Windows should it give you a different letter. Your old XP will not show C: but when you are within it, it will. Just like my Vista and XP. Both show as being the C:\ drive when they both cant be.

Even though it is custom made it wont overwrite you current install. So even if it dont work your current install will still be there. So if it doesnt work you can still boot into a XP.

 

[EricB]

I explained the first way. then I remembered that you can add space to a windows partition with pm from within windows. you just have to delete the old partition 1st. you do need the regular version of Partition magic to do this , because hiren's only works in dos.