[makada]

My friend brought his Toshiba laptop over. It came preinstalled with Vista Home Premium.
SO far so good.
But then he told me that his hard drive was not partitioned and it showed only drive C: only.
Now considering drive C: already has the OS loaded onto it and also many programs, how do I partition it to give him drive D: without Ruining his laptop?

[Noyb]

What do you want a D: partition for ???
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/viewstory.php?t=78111

[DrewUberAlles]

Why do you need to partition the drive?

[makada]

I 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

[Noyb]

Good answer ... Down size the C: with Vista resize ... then add the D: in Disc management.

[makada]

Will doing disk management on my c: damage the content already on it?

[Noyb]

Originally Posted by makada

Will doing disk management on my c: damage the content already on it?

What do you intend to rewrite the C: with .. I use Acronis true Image from a data file in my external.
I would suggest backing up your computer before resizing (partitioning) ..
I assume you know you should not make the C: smaller than it is occupied.
I'd suggest something like a 60gig C: Vista partition .. with NO data in it.

I did it a couple of times in Vista .. no problem.
But after fooling around some more .. it wouldn't work anymore.

I call mine X: and Y:

[makada]

Wait a minute here.
Do I have to make a total backup of my hard drive first. You mean I have to buy this ACronis... also.
The Toshiba came with a 120Gb drive
I thought a decent 55-55 Gb partition will be ok
Currently there are a total of 35 GB of matter on C:

[DoubleHelix]

A virus infect can infect any files on a system. It doesn't matter if they're on a separate partition. The only benefit is when formatting which hopefully isn't something you need to do that frequently.

[Noyb]

Backing up would be a VERY good idea.

I showed my XP drives ... Vista takes more.
Sounds like your Vista C: already has some Data in it.
I get very nervous under 50% working available desktop space.

The trial DL is fully functional for 15 days ...
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/
Or buy .. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832200004

You got an external HD ??

[makada]

I dont have an external drive.
Is my buddy stuck with this single drive?

[Noyb]

In a Laptop .. Yes .. Hope you have the recovery DVDs
One drive .. two partitions will be OK

Had to reboot to show you my Vista HP Boot drive ... Disc 2 my eSATA external .. the last one

[Courtneyc]

First of all, having a single partition is just as dangerous as having multiple partitions on the same drive. It doesn't make any difference. Your drive information is still stored in the same place; if any of it is damaged, you lose everything, including the partition information. You also get absolutely no operating system benefit in partitioning your drive.

Benefits come in with two or more independent drives, not partitions.

By the way, if your friend has a laptop, he no doubt got the operating system on a restore disk. That disk will wipe out any partition you put on the drive if you try to install the operating system with it.

Note that most people have only one partition (or two, one being a restore partition), on their laptop. That's really all you need. I also have a 320GB external drive that I use with mine.

Courtney

[Noyb]

A partition for the operating system only ... has many advantages...
especially if you have a lot of stored Data.

I can backup my OS and recover it in less time than one can read a DVD.
It's also a lot quicker and easier to maintain such as defragging and scanning for malware.

How much Data does your buddy intend to collect ???

I was wondering about recovering one of two partitions with the recovery DVDs .. that's why I mentioned Acronis.

[Noyb]

Just for grins .. My 320gig USB externals .. are even partitioned with emergency Boot partitions.
I know .. this is backup overkill .. But I was playing around last week.