Windows XP Reinstall/Partition Size

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I recently installed Windows XP on a new hard disk which I formatted as 2
partitions...... approximately 50G and 110G. With the benefit of hindsight I
should have create 3 partitions...Windows, Programmes and Data.

Is there any anyway I can reduce the size of the 50G partition to say 20G so
I can just use it for Windows or do in need to reinstall. If it is the
latter, how to I change and/or create new partitions during the
reinstallation of Windows XP?
 
You either need to use a third party tool, eg Partition Magic, or use wincd
to delete partitions then create new partitions of the size required.
Having a seperate partition for Programmes doesnt really add much, other
than showing what Programmes are installed, as if you have to wipe your Win
partition you will still have to reinstall all your programmes.
15gb should be more than adequate for a win partition.
 
Hi,

You can't do it with Window's drive tools, as they cannot resize an existing
partition. You would have to start from scratch, deleting all existing
partitions during the initial phase of setup and creating new ones that meet
your needs.

However, you can use partitioning software to accomplish what you want
without having to start over (if you just completed installing, I would just
start over, but if you've started installing software and gathering data
files, then this can be a huge PITA). Here are some that can do the job of
dynamically resizing the existing volumes and freeing up space for an
additional one.

BootIT NG www.terabyteunlimited.com
Partition Magic www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic
Partition Commander http://www.v-com.com/product/pc_ind.html
Ranish Partition Manager http://www.ranish.com/part/

The first one (which I heartily recommend) can be used without installing
it. Simply create the installation program from the download, then boot the
system with it. Cancel the installation and you will go to maintenance mode.
From here you can use the drive tools to do what you need to do. Make sure
you have plenty of time to run this, as these tasks take considerable time
to complete and should not be interrupted when started.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Rick is right on the money. All I would add is that when I was faced with a
similar problem I bought a down level Partition Magic from eBay for $10 and it
worked as well as the new version -- given that one doesn't need all the new
bells and whistles just to repartition a disk. You need ver 7.0 or newer to
work with XP, and as with all software once you install it go immediately to the
company's web site to down load all fixes and updates before using it.

Good luck...

Bill
 
Bill Martin said:
Rick is right on the money. All I would add is that when I was faced with
a
similar problem I bought a down level Partition Magic from eBay for $10
and it
worked as well as the new version -- given that one doesn't need all the
new
bells and whistles just to repartition a disk. You need ver 7.0 or newer
to
work with XP, and as with all software once you install it go immediately
to the
company's web site to down load all fixes and updates before using it.

Good luck...

Bill
Click to expand...


I had to do this awhile back and used Knoppix. It is a Linux installation
that runs entirely from CD. You can download it free from here
http://www.knoppix.org/ and burn a CD. Boot from the CD and when the
Linux desktop appears (similar to Windows desktop) click on K (equivalent to
Start) then System Tools and then Qparted. This is a partition editor and
you can resize, create, delete and format Windows partitions. Note that
changes you make are not actually carried out until you click File/Commit.
It worked fine for me on a couple of occasions but you should cover yourself
and back up any important data just in case. It is also a very simple way
to sample Linux.
 
davygravy said:
I recently installed Windows XP on a new hard disk which I formatted as 2
partitions...... approximately 50G and 110G. With the benefit of hindsight I
should have create 3 partitions...Windows, Programmes and Data.

Is there any anyway I can reduce the size of the 50G partition to say 20G so
I can just use it for Windows or do in need to reinstall. If it is the
latter, how to I change and/or create new partitions during the
reinstallation of Windows XP?
Click to expand...

The third partition probably isn't necessary. If you have to format and
reinstall your operating system you will have to reinstall all of your
programs too to recreate all of the registry entries. I typically have
one hard drive for OS and programs and a second for backups and data.
Hard drives are very inexpensive these days.

gls858
 
davygravy said:
I recently installed Windows XP on a new hard disk which I formatted
as 2 partitions...... approximately 50G and 110G. With the benefit of
hindsight I should have create 3 partitions...Windows, Programmes and
Data.
Click to expand...


First, let me point out that there may be much less value in having your
programs in a partition separate from Windows than you realize. Some people
want to do this because they think they can save their installed programs if
they ever have to reinstall Windows. However that's wrong; Except for an
occasional trivial program, all programs have many references to them
throughout Windows, in the registry and elsewhere. If you reinstall Windows
you will also have to reinstall your programs.

Is there any anyway I can reduce the size of the 50G partition to say
20G so I can just use it for Windows or do in need to reinstall. If
it is the latter, how to I change and/or create new partitions during
the reinstallation of Windows XP?
Click to expand...


Unfortunately, no version of Windows 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, 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.
 
davygravy said:
I recently installed Windows XP on a new hard disk which I formatted as 2
partitions...... approximately 50G and 110G. With the benefit of hindsight I
should have create 3 partitions...Windows, Programmes and Data.
Click to expand...


Your hindsight really isn't doing you any favours, in this case.

There's really very little point in having a separate drive or
partition for just applications. Should you ever have to reinstall the
OS, you'll still have to reinstall each and every application and game
anyway, in order to recreate the hundreds (possibly thousands) of
registry entries and to replace the dozens (possibly hundreds) of
essential system files back into the appropriate Windows folders and
sub-folders. Placing applications on a separate drive/partition is a
useful solution only if your system partition lacks sufficient space for
all of your applications, and you cannot readily resize it.

However, placing data files on a partition or physical hard drive
separate from the operating system and applications is a good idea.
Doing so can greatly simplify system repairs/recoveries and data back-up.

Is there any anyway I can reduce the size of the 50G partition to say 20G so
I can just use it for Windows or do in need to reinstall. If it is the
latter, how to I change and/or create new partitions during the
reinstallation of Windows XP?
Click to expand...


WinXP has no native capability to resize formatted partitions. You can
either use a 3rd party partitioning utility, or perform a
reinstallation, deleting and created partitions as part of the process.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
Bruce said:
Your hindsight really isn't doing you any favours, in this case.

There's really very little point in having a separate drive or
partition for just applications. Should you ever have to reinstall the
OS, you'll still have to reinstall each and every application and game
anyway, in order to recreate the hundreds (possibly thousands) of
registry entries and to replace the dozens (possibly hundreds) of
essential system files back into the appropriate Windows folders and
sub-folders. Placing applications on a separate drive/partition is a
useful solution only if your system partition lacks sufficient space for
all of your applications, and you cannot readily resize it.

However, placing data files on a partition or physical hard drive
separate from the operating system and applications is a good idea.
Doing so can greatly simplify system repairs/recoveries and data back-up.




WinXP has no native capability to resize formatted partitions. You can
either use a 3rd party partitioning utility, or perform a
reinstallation, deleting and created partitions as part of the process.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
Click to expand...


I think there are some knowledgable people here on Windows XP, so I
want to ask something since I think I have much to learn, and here`s my
question-

The other day while using my laptop with Windows XP Home sp2, I saw my
computer do something
I had never saw any computer do. My computer blinked, some horizonital
lines appeared
and went to the desktop, my wallpaper went horizonital on my screen. I
restarted the
computer and it was sill messed up. I shut it down,and several minutes
later when I turned it on,it was still horizontal-with my taskbar on
the right edge of the screen. I deceided I would take it in for
repairs, but overnight I deceided I would try to reinstall win xp
myself. Well I accomplished the re-install and now it works fine,but I
would like to know if the re-install
was needed, and if I could have fixed it without re-installing.

James
Thank You
 
James said:
I think there are some knowledgable people here on Windows XP, so I
want to ask something since I think I have much to learn, and here`s my
question-

The other day while using my laptop with Windows XP Home sp2, I saw my
computer do something
I had never saw any computer do. My computer blinked, some horizonital
lines appeared
and went to the desktop, my wallpaper went horizonital on my screen. I
restarted the
computer and it was sill messed up. I shut it down,and several minutes
later when I turned it on,it was still horizontal-with my taskbar on
the right edge of the screen. I deceided I would take it in for
repairs, but overnight I deceided I would try to reinstall win xp
myself. Well I accomplished the re-install and now it works fine,but I
would like to know if the re-install
was needed, and if I could have fixed it without re-installing.

James
Thank You
Click to expand...

I'd suggest you start a new thread for this new topic.
 
To add just a bit to the preceding: by placing your applications on a
partition separate from your OS, you run the risk of some applications
getting out of sync with the corresponding Registry entries. This could
occur, for example, if one day you decide to RESTORE one partition but
not the other from some backup.
 
Back
Top