Increasing capacity of hard drive partition

Monique

I partitioned my hard drive into two sectors (I installed windows on one).. it turns out to be too small (sp2 makes a backup of the whole system ).. I'm at a loss how to redistribute the size though

Anyone a clue? I'm running Windows XP (I guess I need to go into BIOS at reboot? *edit* just tried bios, didn't find anything).

alexkerhead

you made a partition too small, you need to format, repartition, and reinstall windows..

Monique

really?

I looked in XP disk management tools and only found a delete partition button and no make or alter disk partion buttons, so I guess you're right :P

So how big a partition would be the bottom size for XP home edition do you think?

*edit* windows is silly, why can't I just move things around a little.. everything is still empty but the one system partition

Greg Bernhardt

Windows unfortunately doesn't let you manage your partitions. You'll have to look for 3rd party products. I would recommend: http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/

russ_watters

Greg: control panel->administrative tools->computer management->storage->disk manager

You can create, delete, format, etc., you just can't resize or work on the active partition (which Partition Magic can do).

alexkerhead

I recommend 10GB for winXP minimum, becuase of swap and everything.

NateTG

You might want to look around. There are (non-MS) tools for resizing partitions. http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html might not be what you want, but it's a start.

alexkerhead

hehe, I might use that myself, thanks.

Kenneth Mann

I second this. I've used Partition Magic several times, and it has always worked beautifully for me. Also, it isn't extremely complicated. One caution though; it's been over a year since I last had a need for it.

KM

Anttech

Do you not put your VM on another partition? Makes the system run faster by allowing contiginous writing of data in swap area, also it allows for less fragmentation of VM (Swap)...

alexkerhead

I recommended a 10GB partition for XP minimum, for large swap and room for OS, becuase she asked what is the bottom size a XP partition should be..

Monique

Actually I've put swap on a separate partition and inactivated the system restore function of XP. I now am using 2.35 Gb, so could have done with the original partition of 3 Gb that I had for the OS.. oh well :)

alexkerhead

3GB!!!!!!!!!!
A regular XP install uses 2.6GB....wohaaa!

Monique

That's what my friend in ICT recommended don't give windows any room, it will perform better.

alexkerhead

I can garentee that a 10GB partition will run better, becuase in time, "extra file" will build up and fill the HDD, and 3GB will not be enough, even if you clear stuff out.

BoulderHead

It has been some time since last I used it, but the program is called bootitng.

Homepage;
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

Unlike other bloated software, this one fits onto a single floppy disk and never failed me or caused loss of data. As I recall, when not wanting to actually install the program so as to have a boot loader, simply boot from the floppy and resize your partitions.

Good luck

flexten

No. You will not gain speed via putting the swap file on another partition on the same HDD. Think about the pickup head must fly between partitions .. back an fourth. Put the swap on another drive is the only way to gain speed ... the head remains over the needed area to read/write. Better to leave the swap on the same partition on a single drive (less motion).

Best