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Hard Disk Partitioning


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Guest takadimi
Posted

By partitioning the hard drive and having the OS and applications in the

system partition, can we setup auto system recovery (ASR) only for that

partition?

 

Also, if I don't have any partitioning in my hard disk right now, do I have

to wait until I reformat the disk next time to start having partitions? In

other words, can we partition the disk anytime without affecting any data on

the drive?

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Guest LVTravel
Posted

Re: Hard Disk Partitioning

 

Don't know about ASR but you will need a third party program

such as Partition Magic, and there are many others, to

change the partition layout on any hard drive that has data

on it without destroying the data.

 

And BTW, just for formalities, since the drive is formatted

it also has at least one partition already there so you

already "start having partitions".

 

 

"takadimi" <takadimi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in

message

news:2CB68852-C7DB-4AED-839E-BB663AEC8C56@microsoft.com...

> By partitioning the hard drive and having the OS and

> applications in the

> system partition, can we setup auto system recovery (ASR)

> only for that

> partition?

>

> Also, if I don't have any partitioning in my hard disk

> right now, do I have

> to wait until I reformat the disk next time to start

> having partitions? In

> other words, can we partition the disk anytime without

> affecting any data on

> the drive?

Guest takadimi
Posted

Re: Hard Disk Partitioning

 

Oh Yeah... sure! It does have one partition now :-) But that is obvious and

hence can be assumed though.

 

Thanks for your response.

 

===============================================

 

 

 

"LVTravel" wrote:

> Don't know about ASR but you will need a third party program

> such as Partition Magic, and there are many others, to

> change the partition layout on any hard drive that has data

> on it without destroying the data.

>

> And BTW, just for formalities, since the drive is formatted

> it also has at least one partition already there so you

> already "start having partitions".

>

>

> "takadimi" <takadimi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in

> message

> news:2CB68852-C7DB-4AED-839E-BB663AEC8C56@microsoft.com...

> > By partitioning the hard drive and having the OS and

> > applications in the

> > system partition, can we setup auto system recovery (ASR)

> > only for that

> > partition?

> >

> > Also, if I don't have any partitioning in my hard disk

> > right now, do I have

> > to wait until I reformat the disk next time to start

> > having partitions? In

> > other words, can we partition the disk anytime without

> > affecting any data on

> > the drive?

>

>

>

Guest Patrick Keenan
Posted

Re: Hard Disk Partitioning

 

"takadimi" <takadimi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:2CB68852-C7DB-4AED-839E-BB663AEC8C56@microsoft.com...

> By partitioning the hard drive and having the OS and applications in the

> system partition, can we setup auto system recovery (ASR) only for that

> partition?

 

You should be able to, but there are probably much better choices for

creating images, in particular ones that don't rely on floppy disks as ASR

does. Acronis TrueImage comes to mind, along with other imaging utilities.

> Also, if I don't have any partitioning in my hard disk right now, do I

> have

> to wait until I reformat the disk next time to start having partitions?

 

If your system is running, if there is any data on the drive, it does have

partitions. It's just that there is only one.

> In

> other words, can we partition the disk anytime without affecting any data

> on

> the drive?

 

You cannot re-partition with any tools within XP at any time other than

during setup, and it is destructive. You will normally delete a partition

and specify a new one at a new size. You can use 3rd party utilities,

such as Partition Magic, to resize existing partitions.

 

However, as to "not affecting any data", if you look at their

documentation, you will find that there are probably references to backing

up data before altering the partitions, which is a reference to a risk of

data loss.

Guest Gary S. Terhune
Posted

Re: Hard Disk Partitioning

 

Dunno about ASR, but I believe so. As for repartitioning, check out BootIt

NG from http://www.bootitng.com. Download the EXE, run it to create the floppy or

CD boot installation disk, boot to it, Cancel the installation and use

Partition Work. Lets you create, delete, move, and resize partitions.

 

--

Gary S. Terhune

MS-MVP Shell/User

http://www.grystmill.com

 

"takadimi" <takadimi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:2CB68852-C7DB-4AED-839E-BB663AEC8C56@microsoft.com...

> By partitioning the hard drive and having the OS and applications in the

> system partition, can we setup auto system recovery (ASR) only for that

> partition?

>

> Also, if I don't have any partitioning in my hard disk right now, do I

> have

> to wait until I reformat the disk next time to start having partitions? In

> other words, can we partition the disk anytime without affecting any data

> on

> the drive?

Guest Ken Blake, MVP
Posted

Re: Hard Disk Partitioning

 

On Wed, 8 Aug 2007 13:34:04 -0700, takadimi

<takadimi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> By partitioning the hard drive and having the OS and applications in the

> system partition, can we setup auto system recovery (ASR) only for that

> partition?

 

 

I'll pass on that question, since I don't use ASR.

 

 

> Also, if I don't have any partitioning in my hard disk right now, do I have

> to wait until I reformat the disk next time to start having partitions? In

> other words, can we partition the disk anytime without affecting any data on

> the drive?

 

 

 

First, a word on the terminology. You *do* have partitioning on the

drive right now. To partition a drive is to create one or more

partitions on it, and the drive can't be used unless at least one

partition has been created. So you do have a single partition,

presumably C:.

 

So your question presumably is about repartitioning so you have

multiple partitions, rather than just one.

 

Unfortunately, no version of Windows before Vista provides any way of

changing the existing partition structure of the drive

nondestructively. The only way to do what you want is with third-party

software. Partition Magic is the best-known such program, but there

are freeware/shareware alternatives. One such program is BootIt Next

Generation. It's shareware, but comes with a free 30-day trial, so you

should be able to do what you want within that 30 days. I haven't used

it myself (because I've never needed to use *any* such program), but

it comes highly recommended by several other MVPs here.

 

Whatever software you use, make sure you have a good backup before

beginning. Although there's no reason to expect a problem, things

*can* go wrong.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Guest John John
Posted

Re: Hard Disk Partitioning

 

takadimi wrote:

> By partitioning the hard drive and having the OS and applications in the

> system partition, can we setup auto system recovery (ASR) only for that

> partition?

 

If you use the ASR Wizard it will only backup the System and Boot volumes.

 

> Also, if I don't have any partitioning in my hard disk right now, do I have

> to wait until I reformat the disk next time to start having partitions? In

> other words, can we partition the disk anytime without affecting any data on

> the drive?

 

If you have no partitions on the disk you can use the Disk Management

tool and partition the disk as you please. If the disk has partitions

but still has available unallocated space you can create partitions in

the unallocated space. If the disk contains 1 partition that uses all

the disk space then you cannot create new partition with the built in

Windows Disk tools, you will need a third party utility to resize the

existing partition and create new ones.

 

John

Guest dobey
Posted

Re: Hard Disk Partitioning

 

 

"Gary S. Terhune" <none> wrote in message

news:OCP$5Zg2HHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> Dunno about ASR, but I believe so. As for repartitioning, check out BootIt

> NG from http://www.bootitng.com. Download the EXE, run it to create the floppy or

> CD boot installation disk, boot to it, Cancel the installation and use

> Partition Work. Lets you create, delete, move, and resize partitions.

>

 

Actually when you create the bootable disk you can specify partition work

and it will boot straight into maintenance mode.

Guest Gary S. Terhune
Posted

Re: Hard Disk Partitioning

 

I don't see that option. How is it done?

 

--

Gary S. Terhune

MS-MVP Shell/User

http://www.grystmill.com

 

"dobey" <a@v.nox> wrote in message

news:Ol0UDhi2HHA.5884@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>

> "Gary S. Terhune" <none> wrote in message

> news:OCP$5Zg2HHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>> Dunno about ASR, but I believe so. As for repartitioning, check out

>> BootIt NG from http://www.bootitng.com. Download the EXE, run it to create the

>> floppy or CD boot installation disk, boot to it, Cancel the installation

>> and use Partition Work. Lets you create, delete, move, and resize

>> partitions.

>>

>

> Actually when you create the bootable disk you can specify partition work

> and it will boot straight into maintenance mode.

>


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