Partitioning a hard drive

[Danyo]

I would like to partition my hard drive so I would have 3 partitions (drives). Right now I have 2 partitions C and D that I want to shrink, make a 3rd partition from from those blocks/spaces.
How would I do that, shrink 1st then make the partition or make partition then shrink.

Thanks

 

[crjdriver]

You need to post what os you are using ie win7, win8, linux, what?

Next before you do anything, you make a backup image of your drive as it is now. If something goes wrong, it is a simple matter to restore the image.

 

[vembutech]

First check with the operating system which you use as said and here some guidance http://www.disk-partition.com/resource/how-to-partition-a-hard-drive.html that might help you with some idea.

 

[Danyo]

I'm sorry I didn't include the operating system..running Vista Home premium.

 

[crjdriver]

It has been a long time since I used vista however I believe it has a built in partition mgr. Just shrink the last disk ie D and create a new partition in the now unallocated space.

As I said before make SURE you have an image backup of the drive prior to starting this task.

 

[Danyo]

crjdriver, what about Drive C, I also want to shrink that.

 

[crjdriver]

You have quite a bit of limitations with the vista built in disk mgt. If you have complex partitioning requirements, you should get a third party program such as EaseUs partition mgr here is a free one:
http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/resize-partition-on-vista.htm

Note you can also boot with a linux live disk and adj partitions with gparted. Up to you however the windows one is easier.

Again be SURE you have a backup prior to doing anything.

 

[Danyo]

OK, thanks will give that a try. I know if it was just shrinking 1 partition wouldn't be a problem, but 2 partition I wasn't sure.

 

[DaveBurnett]

It is more complicated with shrinking two partitions since you need to move the second one back into the free space left by shrinking the first one.
Easeus will make that easy to do though you will need to let it run at reboot to actually make the changes.

 

[managed]

Don't buy software to do this, there are plenty of free programs that can do it, personally I like this one :-
http://download.cnet.com/MiniTool-P...4_4-10962200.html?part=dl-&subj=dl&tag=button

Assuming C is the 1st partition starting from the left (if not swap C and D below)

1) Run partitioning software
2) Shrink C from right side to left
3) Move D to the left so it starts immediately after C ( the software may leave a small gap between C and D, that's normal).
4) Shrink D from right side to left
5) Make new partition in space to the right of D
6) Format new partition

Most of the partitioning programs don't actually do anything until you click on Apply button or similar. So you caqn enter all the steps first then click Apply to carry them out. It will ask you to restart the computer to resize C (provided C has the OS on it).

 

[DaveBurnett]

Easeus has free version as well, though I don't think Allan meant to imply it wasn't.

 

[crjdriver]

I thought I posted the link for the free one however it looks like my link is for the paid version. Yes, use the free one.

Just be sure to have a current backup before starting.

 

[managed]

I thought the OP might be misled into buying using your link crjdriver even though I was fairly sure you meant to link to the free one.

You're right Dave, I didn't mean to imply there was not a free version of Easeus, perhaps I should have said so in the post though.