Need to Partition my Hard Drive

Discussion in 'Software' started by KeeTallman, Dec 13, 2010.

  1. KeeTallman

    KeeTallman Private E-2

    Hello, I am running Windows 7 and I'm trying to figure out how to partition my hard drive.

    Thanks!:)
     
  2. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

  3. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Win7 includes partitioning tools and I have read that it is best to use them when available. Plodr's second link uses Win7's built in tools and I think it would be wise to use them since they should help protect important system files.

    Do you know exactly what you want to accomplish as to the sizes of the partitions? If you list what you have and their sizes and what you want someone can help give you a plan.
     
  4. Earthling

    Earthling Interplanetary Geek

    There a a few things to give a bit of thought to before repartitioning a drive -

    1. If the process should hit a problem of any sort, like a power out or disk error, it could cause you to lose not only your Windows installation and personal data but it could also destroy any recovery partition too. It should never be undertaken without first creating an image of your entire disk and storing it on a second drive. Win 7 can do this with its built-in Windows Backup but you must provide a suitable external drive.

    2. As sach2 has said you must know exactly what you want to achieve. At its simplest you might want to shrink the Win 7 partition to about 50GB and allocate the rest to a data partition. Or you might want to leave some unallocated space where you could subsequently install say a Linux system. Whatever, this isn't anything you should expect to take on more than once so don't go ahead until you are sure you know what you want.

    3. If you want up to four partitions make them all Primary. If you want more than four then make three Primary and the rest Logical.

    4. The built-in repartitioning tool is inferior to 3rd party tools as it is unable to move some of its own files and so may restrict you from doing what you would like to do. Personally I would go for Easeus Partition Master.

    http://majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Partition_Master_Home_Edition_d5967.html

    My 2p ;)
     

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