Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 50870 2004-11-04 03:46:00 Formatting Hard Drive typographer (6363) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
287774 2004-11-04 03:46:00 I have already formatted my hard drive into C and D drives. All software and files are on and being used. I had an idea that I would like to break it up into 3 drives, C, D and E. I want to do this if possible without having to reformat the whole drive and without having to buy a partitioning programme, mean beggar ay.
Can anyone tell me if I can simply reformat say my D drive after shifting my data onto C drive, and then re-partition D into D and E. The idea behind all this is to use C for the operating system, D for programs and E for data.

Can anyone help or am I going to have to reformat the whole darn hard drive and then break it up into 3 separate drives.

Typographer
typographer (6363)
287775 2004-11-04 03:54:00 If u have XP you could copy whats on D to C, then goto control panel/admin tools/computer management / disk management. Highlight the hdd and see if it gives u the partition option.

Then partition D into D and E.
Spacemannz (808)
287776 2004-11-04 03:58:00 Thanks, unfortunately I am running Win 98SE.

Regards
Typo
typographer (6363)
287777 2004-11-04 04:06:00 Then with Win98 you will have to use FDisk.

You can launch it from the dos box, but I would recommend just booting the command line, as it saves rebooting Windows.

Bletch
Bletch (244)
287778 2004-11-04 04:11:00 DONT DO IT!

Its destructive partitioning and will kill your data!

Grab this:
http://www.sysresccd.org/

Boot from it and use the Non-Destructive partitioning program qtparted

Enjoy!


Chill.
Chilling_Silence (9)
287779 2004-11-04 05:36:00 >Its destructive partitioning and will kill your data!
Of course it is but there will be nothing on the D drive as he is going to shift the data to the C Drive in the meantime.
Use FDISK, delete the D Drive then create your logical Drives D & E inside the extended partition specifying how much you want for each
Format them when you get back into windows
45South (4769)
287780 2004-11-04 07:32:00 "The idea behind all this is to use C for the operating system, D for programs and E for data."
Wait a minute -- I thought your programs had to sit and run on the same partition as your O/S or am I wrong?!
Chemical Ali (118)
287781 2004-11-04 07:49:00 You're wrong
Programs can be installed to any drive, but if C crashes for any reason & a complete reinstall is necessary most of the programs installed on the other drive will also need reinstalling as all the associated registry files will have been deleted when C was formatted & they won't run.
The only real advantage to installing the programs on another drive is to retain user/program settings & some data files such as saves in games etc.
One has to be careful though as more & more games & programs use My Docs or the root of C drive to store saves & settings despite the application being on another drive
45South (4769)
287782 2004-11-04 07:50:00 see the partitioning FAQ. tweak'e (174)
287783 2004-11-04 07:51:00 You are talking about separate hard drives and just partitions aren't you??

Mucking around an resizing partitions will nix the data on the entire drive, that is, the other partitions as well unless, you use a non-destructive partitionaing tool although, even then it's not guaranteed to be completely safe .

Back up everything off disc if the partition scenario fits you before attempting anything .

Cheers Murray P
Murray P (44)
1 2