Community Newsletter: Q&A: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive
- 5/8/06 4:40 PM
Long quote from Mark Twain
by Gsteele - 5/6/06 6:43 AM In reply to: Long posts not always better by tbcassThe Twain quote could have been "Stay terse, or it's worse", so even Twain should follow his own advice. The fact is that when it comes to fixing PC's, the process can be very involved, requiring a tortuous set of instructions. For all problems, there is an answer that is quick, simple, and wrong. The right answer sometimes requires patience from the listener. Furthermore, answers that don't just solve the problem, but also illuminate WHY the answer solves the problem, often help the listener to see more of the big picture, and build mental guideposts to solve other, similar problems without outside help.
Sorry it took so long to express this.
Still too long
by tbcass - 5/12/06 2:54 AM In reply to: Long quote from Mark Twain by GsteeleIn this instance the answer was way too long and shouldn't have been chosen as the answer of the week. The poster could have said the same thing in half the space.
Tom
Longer or shorter, what would it matter in the real world ..
by PeteVfi - 5/12/06 3:23 PM In reply to: Still too long by tbcassHi!
Any length post OK ...
How would you in advance estimate the time for a new PC support call case, maybe some 30 minutes or 1 hour, maybe some 15-30 minutes more, or whatever ...
But, what would be the time required for it in reality to get it solved properly, not just quickly scratching the surface of it, probably 1-2-3+ hours, I think this is the reality ...
So, all this work with PC's would require a very patient talent for a hard and long lasting research type of work, so, how about if someone in this branch wouldn't have nerves enough to read a longer post ...
Best regards,
Pete V.
Partition Magic
by NickEales - 5/5/06 3:46 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have used Partition Magic on many different operating systems, and would endorse its use for your requirement.
Also consider Ghost from Symantec. About US$60. You can take a snapshot of your existing partition, and save to DVD or CD. Remove existing partitions.
(NT) Yes Lee Partition Magic is Good!
by eye2fun - 5/13/06 1:47 AM In reply to: Partition Magic by NickEalesBut Lee another prog you guys have for download is "Bootit" and if you gave it a try you'ld agree it's safer and can do much more for a lot less.
Oh and Congrads and hope you had fun on your time off, but nobody does this forum like you do! 
Removing partition
by wmarr - 5/5/06 3:56 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
First let me state that Darren is right. It will cost something in order to acquire the program needed to repartition you disk without data loss.
Here is what I do for backups. If open up your email program, open the saved email folders one by one. Each time, select all cut or copy to a created folder in my docs. Do this for email addys as well. Go to http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtmls for a key finder program that will retrieve your windows key for you. (pick your operating system for the proper download), write it down on paper. Same goes for all installed software, make sure you have the install key.
Backup your my docs folder etc, to disk( burned cd or networked computer or another hard drive). Download Active kill disk. This will wipe your hard drive. Make sure you burn or copy this program to a dos bootup disk. -turn off computer, restart, go into bios settings, choose floppy first boot, save changes, let it boot into dos from floppy diskette. At the A:\ prompt, type, "dir"(no parenthisis) look for killdisk.exe, At the a prompt, type "killdisk.exe" follow the instructions, it will wipe your drive. Now you must restart your computer, using same boot diskette, type fdisk, create partition, let it default to the whole drive, once verified, restart computer using dos diskette, format partition (fat32), restart computer, set bios to boot first from CD, insert windows disk, follow instructions, leave partition as is, type in install key when required. Once your computer is back up and running, reset up internet conection, register os, check for updates for your os, then reinstall all your programs, then put all your data back on and setup your email program, you will also need to reinstall all printers, scanners, webcams etc.
This process takes a lot of time, but, it will also insure you have a clean machine, because killdisk,overwrites the whole drive. It does not just format. I have used it many times to rid personal pcs of viruses.
I suggest the full reload, always, better Windows perf!
by dgattuso - 5/5/06 4:35 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Over time, Windows gets mucked up by countless programs, remnants of ones that have been uninstalled, all kinds of worthless files in your profile (slowing down your startup time), junk in your RUN section of the registry (progs loading at startup and staying running in the background, taking up system resources), etc. I rarely go more than a year without blowing away my entire OS partition and reloading things from scratch.
This disk issue is the perfect excuse, as, if you use your machine a lot, you are already overdue (in my opinion) for a reload. I would wipe the thing out and repartition, then load just the OS, drivers, and all patches on. Then use a disk imaging utility (best one I have ever used is Acronis TrueImage) to create an image if the machine on an external hard disk (then, the next time you need to reload, you have a huge time saver, can get the machine back to a baseline without actually doing the reloading portion again). Once you've created your image, then you can load everything else you want on there. When finished, take another image, maybe this time an incremental one.
As far as specific reload steps, I'm sure Sony's web site would have something like this for their laptops. That would be a good start. Generally you must do the OS, then all the laptop and peripheral drivers, then all the OS patches. After that you would image, then add all your apps and saved data back to the machine.
Removing a Partition from a hard drive
by Oldveteran - 5/5/06 5:06 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I read some of the inputs to removing the partition and sit in wonder as to why no one suggested that you Ghost the partition that is so full, repartition the hard drive and ghost the information back to the hard drive. That will put windows and all your programs back on and ready to go to work. If you have data files on the larger part of the drive, put that on CD or DVD and you can either access them from the CD or DVD or put them back on the newly partitioned hard drive. I think it would be less time and pain. You would have to get Ghost from: http://www.symantec.com, but may be worth your while.
Before You Do Anything!
by Fredv41 - 5/5/06 5:10 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Before Partition your Drive Make sure that your Laptop Can reconize a 60 Gig Harddrive.. Because you said the laptop is a few years old. Why is because it might reconize only 50 gigs and thats it. To put larger drive more then 50 Gigs then have to partition so you
use the the drive.
What on other drive
by WALTER L POHLE - 5/5/06 5:45 AM In reply to: Before You Do Anything! by Fredv41Some computer companies use that partition as a restore Image or a set of tools I know Dell And HP do
some times drive is only accessable from start up
screen
Removing a partition from a hard drive
by jmatherne - 5/5/06 6:06 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have had good success with Acronis' Disk Director Suite. It is very easy and user friendly. It allows deletion of a partition and also the resizing of partition withing a hard drive.
Great free PM clone
by Angelinga - 5/5/06 6:40 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Not sure if anyone's brought this up or not, but there's a *really* handy utility CD that includes a Partition Magic clone (QtParted) that is free, graphical, based on Linux, and bootable from a CD. There's nothing to install, just create a CD from the downloadable image (ISO).
I've used this thing many many times. It's really simple. I recommend those who have not yet tried this utility to give it a go. For you Windows users, don't be scared by the fact that it is based on Linux. While Partition Magic is a great tool (been using it for years before finding this gem), not everyone has the means to purchase software for what might possibly amount to a single-use scenerio.
Change partition size
by patrickdk - 5/5/06 7:16 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi, Boy that is a lot of extra work. I use System Commander. I can move and or resize any partition with out losing any files. It can also change the cluster size if you want too. I have ver 7.02, but I think there is a newer one out. I also have PM, not as easy to use and it want to make it's own size partition, and not let you choose. Just my 2 cents.
Use Acronis to copy, delete and resize partitions
by Dagda - 5/5/06 9:25 AM In reply to: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I gave up using Symantec's products for handling partitions after I came across an excellent utility from Acronis that can copy create delete and resize partitions without loss of data. The software has never failed me and seemed to be much more user friendly that Norton Ghost or Partition Magic. The utility has now matured to a comprehensive Acronis Disk Director suite which is excellent and very good value for money. In this example the D partition could be resized to the minimum needed for it's existing data, the C partition could then be increased in size and the contents of D copied to it. Finally the D partition could be deleted and the C resized again to take up all the unused space available. All this can be done quickly using Acronis without losing data or having to reinstall Windows. See link www.acronis.com
Also Prefer Acronis
by Ribbink - 5/5/06 10:43 AM In reply to: Use Acronis to copy, delete and resize partitions by DagdaAlthough I've used and enjoyed PowerQuest products for many years, I share many other's opinion that Symantec has become too bloated. PM 7.0 and Drive Image were the last versions. I felt PM 8.0 wasn't worth the upgrade. In other Symantec products, I still have NAV. That may change since I've found an excellent Anti-Virus Application: Avast! 4.7. They are more adept in updating the definitions.
Ron
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