Is there a built-in tool in Vista to partition a disk?

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aa

Tried to install Partition Magic 8 on Vista and failed
Is there a built-in tool in Vista to partition a disk?
 
System Recovery Console, or Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer
Management, Disk Management just like in XP. If you want to change the size
of or move an active partition it won't do it.

Cheers,

Earle
 
Thanks everybody.
The plan is to make another partition, install w2k or XP there, test to see
if all the drivers are OK and if OK to bin Vista for good. Has anybody have
such experience?
 
You can use the disk management tools in Vista (Control Panel>Administrative
Tools>Computer Management>Disk management). Alternatively, there are third
party applications, such as Acronis Disk Director and Paragon Hard Disk
Manager 2008 Suite that will also partition a disk.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
Tried to install Partition Magic 8 on Vista and failed
Is there a built-in tool in Vista to partition a disk?
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a CRUDE set of tools, nothing any serious user would
trust and least not if you don't backup all your files first just to
be safe.
 
Ringmaster said:
Yes, there is a CRUDE set of tools, nothing any serious user would
trust and least not if you don't backup all your files first just to
be safe.
Click to expand...

Maybe for you Adam since you don't know how vista works. If used right, the
tools work. Since Adam doesn't have a clue how to properly use his
computer, he just ****s up everything he touches and blames Vista. You
should take a "Vista for Dummies" class or have someone purchase the book
and read it to you. Having someone read the book to you will take awhile
because they will have to read it 4 or 5 times so it just might SINK into
that fat head of yours.

I'm sure Vista is way over your head. You should really use Ubuntu or
Windows 98 and leave the other Operating systems to people who know what
they are doing.
 
Vista uses its own boot manager incompatible with XP's and W2K's boot.ini
system. The short answer is you have to install the older system first, and
then install Vista, so the Vista boot manager can gain control first. The
long answer is that it is possible, but more involved, to install an earlier
system later. This article may help.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933179

For more information go to TechNet and put bcdedit in the search box, press
the magnifying glass icon.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx

Cheers,

Earle
 
Earle BCDedit is far to complex for the average user. There is no reason to
even attempt to edit it. As for installing XP you can install it on another
partition even though Vista is already installed, and then use VistaBootPro
to add XP to the Vista boot menu (see this link from my website:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/install_windows_xp_on_machine_running_vista.htm
)

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
See this link from my website:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/install_windows_xp_on_machine_running_vista.htm

It may be that not all XP drivers will be available. I know that when I
installed XP on my new machine (now 9 months old) there were a number of
missing drivers. You may have to do a bit of digging to find the relevant XP
driver for your hardware - the manufacturer's website is the best place to
start.

To be honest Vista is far better than XP, you just have to get used to it.
Had it simply been a case of 'some' of your software not working on Vista I
would have suggested trying 'compatibility mode.'

Initially there were a few applications of mine that refused to work with
Vista; however, I wasn't prepared to replace them with newer versions: a)
because the software was expensive to start with and b) I don't use it very
often. I installed XP alongside Vista and that solved the problem for quite
a while. Finally I got fed up with closing down and restarting just to move
from Vista to XP and visa-versa. I quickly solved the problem by installing
VMware Workstation Virtual Machine Software. This software is not free,
however, Microsoft have a 'similar' application called Virtual PC 2007 which
you can download and use for free. It isn't supported by Microsoft on Vita
Home and Vista Premium, but people have installed it and VPC 2007 has worked
well.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
aa said:
Thanks everybody.
The plan is to make another partition, install w2k or XP there, test
to see if all the drivers are OK and if OK to bin Vista for good. Has
anybody have such experience?
Click to expand...

To dual-boot with software, it's usual to install the latest Windows OS
*after* the installation of an earlier Windows OS. Then the latest Windows
boot loader will understand how to boot the earlier Windows OS. For them
to be independently booted, you'll have to use 3rd-party software, or use
Disk Management to set the "active" flag in the partition of the desired OS.
The latter may be the easiest for you since it would be free and without the
hassle of later having to remove the boot menu entry for the deleted OS.
To use the "active" flag to dual-boot, just install the XP normally as if there
were no other OS in the system. Then, using Disk Management in the
running OS, set the "active" flag in the partition that you want to boot next.
At the next startup, the OS in the "active" partition will boot. When you're
satisfied that XP is working well, just use its Disk Management to delete
the Vista partition. XP will probably have been installed to refer to its
own partition as drive "D:" (instead of drive "C:"), but as long as there are
no shortcuts that include the names of partitions, that is of absolutely no
consequence.

There is one danger with setting and re-setting the "active" flag: If you
accidentally set the "active" flag for a Primary partition that does not contain
an OS, nothing will boot up and you've got a problem. To get around this
roadblock, you can use the Repair facility in the Vista installation CD.
Invoke the Command Prompt, and run "diskpart".
Use the diskpart command
"select disk 0" to put attention on disk 0, then
"list partition" to list the partitions on that disk.
Find the no. of the partition that you want to set "active", then
"select partition x", where "x" is the no. of the partition. Then enter
"active". Then exit the utility with
"exit".

If you no longer have access to a Vista installation CD, you can download
a free .iso file for Gparted, the Linux-based partition editor, and burn it to
CD
to make a "live CD" that runs a GUI-based instance of Gparted. If your PC
can boot from USB devices, you can also download a free .zip file to make
a "live USB" stick containing Gparted. Then, if you ever set the "active" flag
in a non-OS partition, you can correct the mistake with the live CD or live USB
stick. (In selecting the startup parameters for Gparted, I found that all the
defaults worked for my Dell laptop, except that I had to select "1" - for
Moderately Experienced User - and then to decline the offer to automatically
detect the type of graphics card. Otherwise, just keep hitting Enter to accept
the defaults.)

*TimDaniels*
 
While it may not be as fully featured as other products I've never had an issue with the provided tools in any MS OS for handling my disks.


Now the issues I've had with 3rd-party tools I could write a large novel on.
Tried to install Partition Magic 8 on Vista and failed
Is there a built-in tool in Vista to partition a disk?
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a CRUDE set of tools, nothing any serious user would
trust and least not if you don't backup all your files first just to
be safe.
 
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