[Noyb]

AND to put ALL the stored Data in.

Obviously, the 35gig C: partition has Data in it that needs to be moved to the new partition once it's created.

This means Not using the desktop or My Documents for Data storage ... It's in the C: drive

[Elvandil]

Have you decided how much you want to shrink your partition by, makada?

Right-click your partition in Disk Management and enter the amount that you want to shrink the volume by. Note that the amount may be restricted by the presence of hibernation files or page files near the partition boundary. It is incorrect that your system partition cannot be resized--it can, just so long as no unmovable files are within the area you are shrinking into.

I'd suggest you leave yourself at least 60 for Vista, especially since you have used so much space already. It looks like you may need it.

After you have shrunk your system partition, you will see some new unallocated space. Right-click that space and choose "Create" to create a new partition. Follow the prompts and choose all the defaults. You can change the drive letter after you are done so long as it is not in use.

Let us know how you make out. good luck .

(PS. If you are not allowed much shrinkage due to unmovable files near the boundary, we can fix that by defragmenting with an offline, third-party tool.)

[prose072]

Originally Posted by Noyb

AND to put ALL the stored Data in.

Obviously, the 35gig C: partition has Data in it that needs to be moved to the new partition once it's created.

This means Not using the desktop or My Documents for Data storage ... It's in the C: drive

Listen, I am not throwing darts with you, I agree with you. The ultimate question still remains "How musch Data is she going to use?" Therefore she would have to determine that by Her Documents and Data folders that she currently has that does not consist of OS files, then calculate. Those e do not take up that much memory unless they are a whole lot of serious graphics involed and I mean Cad or 50x50 scan into Adobe Acobat Professional or something of that sort. She has to calculate the usage so that it doeas not take away frm her OS and Applications that she places into C: Her Properties will tell her the size of the folders on her data files and the multiplle it by 2 or 2 1/2 or a little more if thats not enough.

120GB is not that much space and the file she places in there determines the size. If an OEM 12-15GB partition can recover your OS what makes you think that her data files will not fit in there unless she says otherwie. Thats the important part, how she dertemines to use that partition in size and usage as well without crossing into the OS and Applications unless she intend to place all her Applications in the Partion drive. and you know what, If the drive goes and she doesn't have a back-up its all gone anyways. I still agree with you, but these circumstances in size and usage must be determined by the user not an outside party when it comes to another persons unit.

Post #4

think having a single partition on the hard drive is very dangerous. In case of a virus or so, And the need arises to format my c: I will end up losing all my data files.
The OS is replaceable
But not the Data files

[Elvandil]

Let's assume that this person has a brain and offer advice when it is asked for.

[prose072]

I concur Elvandil. Lets see what she wants and needs and all your directions have been correct in the process and get r done.

[makada]

Sorry for the delay, But I was busy with work.

My c: has lot of free bloatware which came with the laptop. I intend to uninstall all of that.
Now my primary aim will be to have a d: to store his photos, medical literature files and a recovery image of his OS and drivers.

Now tonight I intend to do something for my buddy's computer. Kindly guide me.
1) Should I first defragment my c: ?
2) If the shrink option is available on my c:, does it mean that it is safe to use it? I dont think vista is so dumb that it will damage itself! Or am I wrong?
3) Do I ruin the warranty if I partition the drive?

BTW, thanks all of you for your advice. I really like this forum.:-)

[Noyb]

1) I agree w Elvandil .. Yes
I had trouble with Vista's Defrag .. don't know what 3rd party to use ...
I used XP's defrag on my Vista partition ... But I have two OS HDs

2) Most likely, It will work Great ... But things can always go wrong ... sometimes at the operator end.
3) NO .. You should have the recovery DVDs .. can always put it back to the way it was shipped.

Are you sure the Toshiba didn't come supplied with an OEM restore Partition ?
This is used to make the recovery DVDs in many computers... and recover OEM apps or the OS.

How are you going to make your recovery Image ??

I'd like to see a screen shot before you start surgery.

[makada]

Will post one. Right now am at work.

[Noyb]

OK.
Was doing some studying on Vista "system" Backup ... Which my version of Vista Home doesn't have.

Seems like that will work for making your "System Image" to the Data partition ...
But I can't figure out how one would restore from the Image ... If Vista Ultimate wouldn't boot.
Wouldn't that make it sorta useless ??

[Elvandil]

There is a "Restore Entire Computer" or similar option in the booted DVD menu.

[prose072]

Is she has Vista live one care inside ultimate, there is a system backup and restore option built in sorta like the HP advisor but better and more efficet. I have it and it also can be downloaded from link @

http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm

[Courtneyc]

Okay, let's nip this one in the but really quick so we can close this thread.

Nyob, right-click on the System drive, not the Z: drive and look for Shrink volume (or even Extend volume).

If it comes up, select it. Take note of the pop-up window that comes up.

"The selected volume is a system or boot disk or was created on a basic disk in an earlier version of Windows and cannot be extended (or shrinked)."

Now, imagine that being your only drive. Worse yet, imagine that being the only drive on a laptop that has even more restrictions.

Folks, there is a very good reason Windows doesn't allow this. I know this; I teach it on a daily basis.

Now can we please go to something else?

Courtney

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by makada

Will post one. Right now am at work.

Let us know how you make out.

It is unfortunate that Courtneyc has chosen to post incorrect and misleading information. In addition, the superfluous information about dynamic disks, rarely used and not relevant to you, was not needed and was needlessly confusing. If he intends to remain a member here, I hope that he will make an effort to be correct when advising others since bad advice can have very serious consequences for people whose personal information is stored on their computers.

I suggest you pay attention to the advice given by Noyb and me. I'm sure your resizing will go forward easily if you take the preliminary precautions of chkdsk and defrag.

[makada]

How do i post images (bmp or jpg format) in my posts here?

[makada]

My friend also read all of these posts and has now developed cold feet over partitioning his drive.

Will post snapshots of his "my computer" screen and "disk management" screen here. ( as soon as I get to know how).
Meanwhile he has taken back his laptop from me!!

Everyone is scared of Vista guys!