Partitioning

[jehraen]

Okies, I've been away for some time coz my power supply burned out. Anyways, am back now :p

Okies, my question is, to partition a hard disk, does it have to be formatted? Is it possible to use a partition program on it if it has data on it? What programs do you recommend? Appreciate some help on this newbie question :)

[Ian]

Hi, I'm a little rusty on this (haven't done it for ages)

You can partition your hdd from your windows boot disk. Boot up your computer using your windows boot disk (make one if you dont have one) start/settings/control panel/add/remove programs/startup disk(tab)

boot up on your disk to the "C" prompt and type "fdisk"(I think). it should then give you a heap of options asking you if you want to create a partition, delete, set active, bla, bla in there (its quite easy to follow) then you will have to create a secondary partion and activate it. (any data on the drive will be lost) . once these are set, you will have to reboot and format each drive before you can put any data on them.

NOTE!!! ALL DATA ON YOUR HDD WILL BE LOST, so back up on floppy or something what you want to keep.

I hope this helps.

[jehraen]

Ack, it's not possible to backup all my data. Oh well :( :)
Thanks Ian :)

[Ian]

If it is a question of space for back up...

If you have a spare or old hdd (or can borrow one), you can slave that onto your pc and back up your data on it.

Another option is to locate a free hosting service that allows storage and back up your data on there. you may even be able to do it on a free host providing it is only for a short time (make sure they have ftp).

hope this helps.

[kevin]

There are disk management programs that will allow you to create partitions on the fly without losing data, even use more than one HDD as a single HDD, and so on. While I have not had to do much in the way of partitioning lately, a program called Partition Magic comes to mind.

Regards,
Kevin

[Dr. Web]

I have used Partition magic, and it would suit your needs exactly. I partitioned a win98 laptop to run win98 and linux6.1 same time (dual boot). I didn't lose any data, but I agree with Ian.....find some way to back up your data.

[jehraen]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! :)

I survived for a long time on my old P90 laptop with a 1.2g HD till I got my desktop. Yes, a P90 with a 1.2g HD! :p Last year, I got a decent desktop with a 20g HD and should've partitioned it in the first place. It's not really for backup but perhaps to install linux and also keep my data in separate drives, even though it will only be virtual drives. Perhaps I'll look into getting a cheap HD but for the time being, I'm gonna look at the program, Partition Magic. Thanks again!! :)

[whkoh]

I always keep a copy of Partition Magic for my PC handy...you never know when you'll need it.

[Jacob]

I've used Partition Magic in the past as well and haven't had any problems (loosing data).


Regards,