Need To Partition A Hard Drive. Need Your Help. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Before posting out here, I did some research on hard drive partitioning and found out some important information. However, I want to be certain I am doing this properly. I am needing to do this because I got a new computer and need to run Adobe Photoshop 7 on Windows 7, but because I have 1.5TB hard drive, Photoshop 7 does not recognize such a large hard drive. Therefore, I need to split the hard drive in half so it can recognize it. If there is an easier way to get Photoshop 7 working (I can't buy an external hard drive - not an option), please let me know (I've already tried changing scratch disk preferences).

My PC is pretty new, so I don't have any important documents on it, but I need to know if I need to still worry about certain programs, etc.

I've looked over this tutorial at: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html?ltr=P

I still wanted to ask some questions before doing ANYTHING. Please know I know nothing about hard drive partitioning, so this is very new to me. I'd really be thankful for your input and help with this matter. Here they are:

- Can I partition my hard drive without formatting my computer?
- Do you have any warnings for me before going forward with partitioning?
- How will this effect my computer and access to programs, etc?
- Do I need to backup any programs, etc (Microsoft Word Starter, etc)?
- Once both partitions exist, how easy is it to move files from one to another?
- If there is any other tips, lay them on me please!

I can't thank you enough for your help with this. I am a graphic designer and really need to get Adobe Photoshop 7 working at this time. I am not wanting to upgrade to a new Adobe as I don't have the spare change at this time.

Thanks for your help,
Robby

 

It would seem you need to do this first http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html to get unallocated space. There are some 3rd party partion programs available that will do what you want. I, personally, have not done this.

 

That's a decent guide BillD, that's what I basically did. I'm surprised that the drive wasn't already partitioned into 500GB chunks like my 2TB drive.:confused

 

First of all, thanks so much for the responses guys. I appreciate it.

Let's just say I have never ever done anything like this and I do not want to screw up my hard drive. My HDD is basiclaly brand new and only includes a few videos I've edited, Sony Vegas, and of course Adobe Photoshop 7. I need to know if doing this can corrupt/ruin these programs or if I need to move them to the new partition, etc?

Also, why do I need to get unallocated space before creating a new partition?
And what does "shrinking" do exactly? I've done some reading, but it really doesn't explain some of the terms, or act like a guide for "dummies" like me - lol

I apologize for being such a newbie at this, which frankly I am, and I appreciate your help. However, I am, first of all disabled from severe chronic pain, and working with Adobe 7 has proven to be a really good distraction for me. I'd be so thankful for a sort of "Partition Guide for Dummies" from someone who might be willing to take the time out to help me.

I'm just thankful I have this new PC by the way - I never thought I'd have a rig this nice for myself. It is quite amazing really. The whole point of it was to work with Adobe PS 7 though for graphic design and website design, plus later down the road do my art...

Thanks again for the assistance...I hope I am not too much a pain in the butt for you all :-o

 

You can't screw it up unless you lose power in the middle of the shrink, even then you could probably recover. I'd back your videos up to optical media even though I've never lost a thing yet but crap happens.

That's because you're going to be creating new partition(s) with higher drive letters like E: and F: if you decide to break it into three for example.

Shrinking means exactly what you think, it will shrink your C drive from 1.5TB to whatever size you want, I wouldn't go below 200GB. The rest will be left unallocated and when right clicking the unallocated, you can then divide by creating new partitions that as you like as long as there aren't more than 4 total partitions. I hope that helps. Ask away if you need more help.

 

Oh okay, thanks for explaining that too me. Now I believe I understand how it works. I really appreciate your help.

I am planning on just shrinking C:/ to 750GB and the new partition will be the same size as well.

I do have one more question for you: Let's say I now have everything set up and I am saving a large video file. I am working with Sony Vegas on C:/ but want to save my file to the new partition (let's say it is called G). I am assuming that this is of course still possible? I believe I already know the answer, simply because you can save to thumb drives (externals discs), etc while working with Sony Vegas, Microsoft Word, etc. I just thought I'd double check.

And I actually just thought of another question: How long will it take to shrink the partition to 750GB? And how long to create a partition? I've watched a YouTube video and it really seems like it won't take too long. I have 3.4ghz processor w/ 8 GB RAM. Again, I'm quite fortunate to have this computer

Thanks once again for all of your help - it has been incredibly useful!

I suppose I'll be ready to commence operations tomorrow!

 

In principal I agree with all the advice given by the other members in this thread except the one in this Quote from @augiedoggie. That you should not go below 200GB.
My take on this is you should not go below 500GB. I really don't know if the Phothoshop7 will see 500GB.

The reason for 500 GB is as follows..Every time you render a finished project by Sony Vegas
(or any other Video editing program like splitting,editing an/or converting media files)
you will end up having less space on your Drive with System files. A 10 minutes video rendered by Sony V as an .avi format equals about 1.5GB - 2.5 GB file .mp4 format would eat about 100MB, as times go by this will start piling up.

Also I'm sure you would like to keep all your media files used in your projects handy in your Documents/Video/Picture folders. You have no idea how fast it eats up the free space.
Next, Sony Vegas will keep all your data in C:\Users\You\AppData\Roaming\Sony folder.

Plus other benefits better chance of having larger free chunks space as it is a factor while you defragment your drive. You can play with the size of your page file and allocated space for your restore points.

As for other 1TB that is up to you. Personally I would divide them into 500GB each. One for storage and the other for backups (external Drive is the best for the backups, just saying)

 

I don't know your programs but most ask you where to save it, especially if you click 'save as'. You can always move stuff between partitions, just not the OS in your case.

Nah, it won't take long at all if you do a 'quick format' on the new partition, same with shrinking the C: but don't format that!:-D (Just a joke). Maybe a minute at most? 3.4 GHz eh, is that an Intel 2600K?

 

The sevenforums guide is really quite comprehensive.

One question I have is what is photoshop saying about the large drive? I can't find any other threads about people having problems with PS and large drives.

Is your problem installing photoshop or saving files?

 

Thanks again for all of your help - it has been incredibly useful and I've actually learned a lot in the past few days.

@sach2, the exact error I get is when I run Adobe PS 7, it then says "Could not initialize because the scratch disks are full." The only option is to hit "Okay" and then the program just shuts down. I have tried doing the whole ctrl+shift thing and changing the disk preferences, but that does not work. I have tried running it in compatibility mode as administrator as well - this also does not work. My hard drive is brand new - in fact, there is 1.4TB free on it, so I have plenty of space left. So my problem is running the program - I can't even get access to it.

@augiedoggie, yes it is an Intel i7 2600k. Now I just wish I had the proper video card and I'd be set *drools* :drool

@not_guilty, got ya. I'll definitely take your advice as I too have noticed how space seems to just disappear when using any type of video editing program - or heck, Photoshop 7 even. I want to try to go for 750GB for each.

Or should I just split it more unevenly. For example, the partition I use for photoshop and vegas should be more like 800-900gb? Should I do this instead?

Also, can this process be undone if I have to "edit undo" so-to-speak (lol)? In all seriousness, could I undo this process? I don't see why I would have to, but my twin bro brought it up to me and I thought I'd ask just to have an answer...

Thanks again for all of your help everyone! You guys rock! :cool

 

I'm going to look into the Photoshop error tomorrow (I find hard to believe that a program know for creating huge files has a problem with the HD). I had seen references to that particular error but didn't read through the threads.

As far as partitioning goes undoing is possible but won't be necessary. You will be using Windows7 built in partitioning program which is the safest way. Basically you are just telling it how much space you want to take away from the current partition. It will then move any files that currently occupy that space closer to the beginning of the disk. When the space you want is empty and all files copied it marks the space unallocated. It marks the end of the OS partition to the new smaller size.

Then you format the unallocated space and it is assigned a drive letter and it is ready to have files put on it.

You still install all your programs on C: and keep most of your files there if convenient. Most people use extra partitions to keep pictures or movies or music which can take up a great deal of space separate from the OS. That way for example those 20gb of music files that never change don't sit in the middle of the OS partition taking up space and causing files that are used more often to get fragmented or separated from each other.

 

I won't Quote other members post in this thread regarding where to keep the media files.
I have Adobe CS5 Suite, Sony Vagas Pro 9 and 10, Corel Visual Studio Studio Pro X4, Corel Paint Shop Photo Pro, Photoimpact X3, Corel Graphics Suite X5 Cinema 4D and scores of other graphics programs.
Yes the finished rendered product can be moved/saved on a different partition but not the working media files like sounds,templates, textures and the likes.
My partition is 136GB and moving rendered files and working media files is the only option that I have but it creates a mess. Every time you open a project it will tell you that media is missing and will be offline.
True, you can search for it and if you remember where it its you just point to it or do the scan or create a simple shortcut
But the work flow is interrupted.
Trust me the best way is to keep working files in one place that is your documents folder.
As I mentioned up above because of my small drive I had no choice but to move my media files.
Further, my C:\Users\Me\AppData folder at the present time is 15 GB large, then C:\ Program Files folder [x64] is 11 GB then C:\ Program Files (86) [x32] is 20 GB large, then C:\Windows is 20 GB large. All these folders are untouchable.
And all this is without all the other folders including my documents and last but not least it does not include the System files like System Volume Info, Page File (15GB) and hiberfil.sys.(11 Gig file) Do your math.
I'm totally out of space, hibrerfi.sys will have to go

As for the Phothoshop7 not seeing the whole 1,5 TB drive it is very possible, the PS7 is an older version of Photoshop like 9 years old and while installing it checks if there is enough space, my guess would be that the writers of this app did not anticipated 1 or 2 TB large drives at that time

 

I'm beginning to agree I have seen a 1TB limit mentioned now in several threads related to PS7. I didn't realize it was 9 years old.

If this thread is correct then you want your main partition to be less than 1 TB.

Just as a side-note this thread implies that PS 6.0 runs ok on a larger drive which lends credibility to the first one which says it is a quirk of PS7.

I think going ahead and partitioning might be the easiest way. Sounds like once you get your OS partition below a TB that PS7 will run fine. You can just move your finished projects over to the new partition or leave it empty until you start running out of space on the main drive.