What hard drive partitions can I delete, so I can resize or add a new partition?

I have bought a HP DM1 (Windows 7, 32GB hard drive, 4GB RAM), and I want to partition the C: (Windows) drive into two;

- one partition containing only Windows 7 and other Windows programs,

- the second partition containing games and data.

The reason for this is that I can then create an image of the fully working C: drive (containing only Windows and related programs), so that if (when) Windows 7 needs reinstalling in the future, I can just copy the image back over the C: drive, restoring the laptop to it's working state. I can do that even if there's only one partition, of course, but the image will be huge, so I' rather have two partitions, and only create an image of the first partition. Plus if there are two partitions, then the second partition will survive my 'rolling back' the laptop (when I put the image back onto the C: drive) so I won't lose anything I've put onto the second partition in the meantime.

So I was going to resize the current C: drive (which is 275GB) without losing the data (I've done this before, the software handles the data organisation automatically) into two partitions, but the problem is, the laptop's hard drive already has four partition, and aparently it's not possible to put another partiton on there. Is this correct, and if so, can I resize one of the existing partitions (say E:, the 22GB partition, and shrink the C: partition by a corresponding amount) and use that partition for my games and data? And if so, will the built in recovery software still work (I probably won't ever need it, as the C: drive image will be enough, but it would be nice to have the option)? If I don't need the built in recovery (if an image of the working C: drive is enough) then can I delete all of the software on E:, and resize E (reducing the 275GB partition) and use E: as my data partition?

Or is it possible to restructure the drive to give me two partitions I can use, as well as the three that already exist for the system?

The current (default, I've not altered them) paritions are shown in Acronis

Home Image as

C: pri, act 199MB
D: pri 275.8GB
E: pri 22 GB
F: pri 103 MB

Is it safe to delete F: (in which case I'd then have three partitions, allowing me to change the 275GB partition to two partiitons)? Or can I Also, how does Windows see the 275GB drive as C:, when Acronis (which I boot into via USB stick) sees it as D: ?

Thanks for any answers.

 

Something very basic first - Acronis doesn't know what drive letters Windows uses so assigns its own. Confuses a lot of ppl Because of this you should give your drives names, as Acronis does recognise and use those.

We could guess at which partition is doing what in Windows but I can't see anyone giving specific advice on repartioning until you have posted a screenshot of your disk as it appears in Windows Disk Management. But subject to seeing that then some repartitioning is certainly possible by using one of the four primary partitions as an extended logical partition. Once that has been done you can subdivide it into several more logical partitions. Apart from not installing OSs you can use a logical partition the same way as any other partition.

I would advise installing Partition Wizard for the sort of work you are hoping to do as it has all the facilities you will need (and won't find in Win 7).

 

Thanks for replying.

Sorry, I should have thought of that. Here's the jpg

I see, so can I, say, delete the C: partition (by 'C:' in this question I mean the 275GB drive that Windows is on), then create an extended partition in this 275GB space, then create a new C: drive, and a following partition, both in the extended partition?

If this is so, then could I create an image of the working C: partition (using Acronis Home Image) before I delete it, then when I've deleted it and created the extended partition in it's space, I can create a drive and put the image over it so that in effect I have an extended partition of 275GB, then I resize
it without losing any data, say to 100GB (using Partition Wizard as you say, or Acronis Disc Manager, or whatever) and fill the extra 175GB in the extended partition with a new partition?

 

Is this a typo? Surely the hd, unless it is an ssd is larger than 32GB.

 

Sorry, that should be 320GB.

 

You could do what you say but it would create a rather messy situation where you have an extended logical partition sandwiched between primary partitions. I can't be absolutely certain that won't ever cause any problems in future but it should normally be avoided.

If it was my computer I would first take a whole of disk image and store it on a DVD or an external. After that I would delete both the Recovery and HP Tools partitions. As an Acronis user you will have no need for Recovery, and I always remove all these OEM tools and use my preferred third party ones. That would leave you free to resize C and create an extended logical at the end of the drive, where it should be. If you want to retain HP Tools then you will have to leave it where it is and resize and split C and hope it still works OK. If you were to move HP Tools forward, ahead of C, it may or may not boot afterwards. I wouldn't recommend it myself.

The 199MB System partition is required by Windows and must be left alone.

 

Just re-reading what you were thinking of doing it needs to be done slightly differently. After imaging the drive you would have to delete the Recovery partition first, then shrink the C partition rather than deleting it, and finally create an extended logical partition in the vacated space. This is because Windows has to be in a primary partition and you can only have four primary partitions in an MBR drive. Creating an extended logical uses one of the four primaries so you have to lose one of the existing.

But as I said, if it were mine I would dump the HP Tools partition too.

 

I've decided I'll probably keep things the way they are, rather than risk messing anything up, as it's working fine now (I tried the built in factory restore function and it worked great). Thanks for answering, though.

 

It wasn't factory restore I was referring to. All that can do is put your system back the way it was when you bought it - not much use once the system has been in use for a couple of months. But Win 7 and 8 have a full imaging system built in as part of Windows Backup. With that you can backup your system as it is now, and restore that backup later if you are having problems such as virus infection, system instability and so on.

If you don't want to lose that HP Tools partition you are probably doing the right thing, but it's a pity as separating your data from your system has many advantages. First thing I do on any new system.