Community Newsletter: Q&A forum: 5/5/06 Removing a partition on a hard drive

Answer:

Barnabas,

Holy Deja Vu! I just got done dealing with this exact situation a couple of weeks ago - the difference being the hard drive was only a 20 GB drive partitioned into 9.5 GB and 10.3 GB respectively.

The answer to this question is a resounding MAYBE. It all depends on what, if anything Sony did to the hard drive that MIGHT block anyone from combining the partitions into one big happy drive. The laptop in question originally came with Windows ME and was upgraded to Windows XP.

First of all, let's tackle the why of the situation. According to Sony, they set up their drives into two partitions so you have drive C: as your main drive for Windows and other software and drive D: as the home for your work files. Of course, this is silly as they leave the default My Documents folder (found under c:\Documents and Settings\etc... since Windows 2000) on the C: drive and NOT on the other partition. Most users have no clue as to how to reassign it so the one folder where MOST Windows apps want to put their work files is on the other drive partition. DOH! Makes NO sense...

The good news is that repartitioning a drive CAN be done using the right software. There are a few programs on the market that will allow you to repartition your drive(s) and not have to go through the pain of backing everything up. Paragon Partition Manager and Norton Ghost are two programs that will work.

The bad news is that these programs cost money. Paragon Partition Manager will set your wallet back about $49.95 (direct from Paragon's web site http://www.partition-manager.com ) though you should be able to find a copy for less elsewhere. They have a demo copy that will give you a "tease" to give you an idea how the program will look and function but won't do the actual job of repartitioning your drive.

Ghost, many moons ago, before Symantec bought them out was a great program. Since then, however, the application has suffered at their hands and has become bloated beyond reason. I tend to avoid Symantec products whenever possible.

DISCLAIMER: Be aware that Sony is quite rigid in their policy regarding their computers. Rigid to the point of where you wonder if you actually bought the laptop from them or they are merely being generous and are loaning it to you. If your laptop is still under factory warranty, modifying the partitions MAY void the warranty. You may not be able to get any support. Also, note that should you EVER have to send the laptop in for service, be sure to have your files backed up. Any laptop you would get back will have the hard drive restored to its original factory partitions. Data files will be purged off the drive. In fact, if you've added any extra memory to the laptop, you will probably want to remove the extra stick before sending it in. It should also be noted that should your laptop be Vista compatible, Sony will STRONGLY suggest you leave the version of Windows that came with the laptop. You can use the laptop all you want, you just shouldn't ever upgrade it - at least according to Sony.

Now then, with that disclaimer in place, we can begin. The first step - regardless of if you're using Paragon's product, Norton Ghost or are simply going to install a copy of Windows on a clean partition - is the same. Back up your data files! If you've got a CDRW or DVD RW drive in your laptop, you can burn the files to disc and stick it in a safe place.

Next, you will want to visit the VAIO's home page and download the latest set of drivers for the laptop. Windows MAY have all the drivers you need for the laptop, but it never hurts to have the latest version handy should you need to go the route of reinstalling Windows. You'll want to burn them onto another CD and stick them in a safe place with other software you will be wanting to reinstall later on.

Paragon Partition Manager/Norton Ghost:

Install the software from the CD. Once you've got it rebooted, launch the program. The programs have a merge partitions wizard. Run through the wizard and apply the changes. Once it's done, it will want another reboot and you should have one big 60 GB (or thereabouts) partition.

Now then, when I did my repartitioning, I ran into an unknown error. What the exact error is/was, I'm not quite sure. The program merely stated that it ran into an unknown folder error and the only way to fix it was to run Chkdsk - which I did and it came up without errors. Should you run into this problem, the only way to combine the partitions would be to wipe the drive partitions off the disk and start over.

Keep in mind that if you do this, you will need an actual bootable installation copy of the version of Windows on your laptop. A "system restore" disk will not do any good as it will put you back at square one - two partitions. On the bright side, you can get a copy of most versions and flavors of Windows CDs fairly cheap. Keep in mind, you will still need the CD KEY (usually found on the sticker on the laptop) for your version of Windows. You MAY be able to get a replacement disc from Microsoft. Or, if you know someone with the same version of Windows, you should be able to borrow their disc - provided you use YOUR CD Key. If all else fails, you may have to get an upgrade copy of the OS.

Insert the disc into your laptop's cd rom drive. Boot the machine and when the machine comes up to the prompt to Boot from CD... press any key - that should force the laptop to boot from the disc.

If you're using an upgrade disc, the setup program will detect that you've already got a copy of Windows on the hard drive and move on with the installation.

When you get to the part where Windows setup asks you if you want to repair or install, choose the fresh install option. Next, setup will ask you where you want to install it. At this point, you will want to delete ALL of the existing partitions and create a brand new one - and you're going to want to make it as big as setup will allow it. Select the new unified partition and continue. Setup will then format the partition and install the basic files onto the hard drive.

It will then reboot itself and load the graphical portion of the installation program. Continue through the setup procedure and finish installing Windows.

After the last reboot, Windows will want to activate. Go ahead and re-activate Windows.

After that's completed, check the Device Manager (found in the Computer Management Console) found in Control Panel\Administrative Tools to see if there are any devices flagged with a yellow icon. These usually require drivers that Windows did not come with. Insert the CD with the drivers and install any/all of the ones missing.

Once you're done with the devices, you're in the home stretch - install any other programs such as Office, and anything else you use regularly and copy the data files back from the data cd to the appropriate location on the hard drive.

At this point, you should have a hard drive with one partition and everything should be up and running.

Submitted by: Pete Z.

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Answer:

Dear Barnabas,

Partitions are a good thing! I have my 120 gig HDD partitioned three ways (C:,D:,& E: ). If you use the partitions to your advantage, they can protect your information from being corrupted by worms, viruses, malware, etc.

First, you need to know why the partition was put there in the first place. Many times partitions are created to install the most critical information on a secondary "drive" which will protect the operating system as well as some key folders and files from virus attacks. A partition on a single harddrive fools the computer into thinking that there are two physical harddrives installed instead of just the one harddrive.

Most viruses are written to attack the root directory which involves the operating system. Viruses are generally written for the Main or "C:" drive or to look for particular folders or programs in the root directory, which is on the Main or "C:" drive. Generally speaking, viruses won't "jump" a partition. Having a partition will allow you to hide whatever critical information you have onto the second drive thus preventing the need for reinstalling the operating system. If the need to reinstall the operating system does come about then you will only need to reinstall the operating system and your programs. You won't lose any stored info as you will only reinstall to the Main or "C:" drive.

Data corruption due to frequently accessing a particular folder on a particular drive; or, accidental deletions will cause a great deal of heartache. You need to get into the mindset of using your second drive as a storage or backup drive. When you create something in "Word" and want to save it, then save it to the "Word" folder that you created on your storage drive. This process will keep you out of the C: drive when you decide to clean out and delete old information. You will be deleting from the storage drive and not the actual program itself which is situated on the Main or C: drive. (I am going to assume that the Main or C: drive has the lesser amount of space.)

Don't delete your partition. Look at the 10% that is used on your D: drive. See if there is anything that is worth saving. If so, then back it up to a CD or floppy. If not, then the next step is to reformat the partition. Right click on My Computer, select "manage" from the menu. This will bring you to the Computer Management window. Select "Disk Management" which will display all of the non-removable drives (the two drives of your harddrive). Right click on the D: drive and select "Format." This will completely clean out the D: drive. When the formatting is finished, close everything. Now you can create new folders in the D: drive and move any information you want to save to that new folder from the C: drive thus insuring its safety. You can also use the "send to" feature when you right click onto a particular folder. It will take some time and probably seem quite tedious. It will require you to inspect every program on the Main or C: drive, checking all the information you have saved to that program. Re-organization is never pleasant, but worth it in the end. From now on, always save everything to the Storage D: drive.

I would not suggest resizing the partitions as the Storage D: drive will be holding music and movies which take up quite a bit of space as well as all the information you will be adding initially from the C: drive. You will be surprised at how much space you will get back in your C: drive after you go through and clear out and move all the saved items to the D: drive.

If you are sure you want to delete the partition and go back to just one drive, you are looking at starting from scratch. This will mean deleting the partition, reformatting the harddrive, and reinstalling the operating system and all the programs that you normally use. If you just delete the partition, you run the risk of corrupting any information that is on the C: drive.

1) Back up any information that you want saved to a CD or floppy disk. Be diligent to label everything correctly for later purposes. Write down in order of importance all of the programs you use and find those disks. This is very important for later purposes. Reformatting will cause you to lose everything on your harddrive.

2) Insert the operating system disk that came with your laptop. Reboot to this disk. Follow all the instructions, including the part about deleting any partitions. Allow the system disk to be reinstalled onto your harddrive. This will take some time (about an hour or so). You will need to be present when this happens as there will be some questions to answer as well as entering your "Key Code" for Windows.

3) Reinstall all of the programs that were lost at the time of the reformat/reinstall. This will be a tedious chore.

4) Create new folders that will be used as "save to" folders. This will allow you to have all of your saved information separate from your actual programs (which will cut down on frequent accessing and data corruption) as well as being better organized.

5) Fix in your mind how your harddrive is set up and remember to save all your info to the appropriate folder. This will eliminate most of the confusion and keep your harddrive in some type of order.

I know this is a lot of information. It would be best to print it out before doing anything to your laptop. I hope it helps and good luck.

Submitted by: Mike A.

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Answer:

My first suggestion would be to use Symantec/Norton's Partition Magic (originally made by PowerQuest). It is very easy to use. If you do not have room to install it, it can even be used if you are able to boot from the CD, although not as easy. It has an easy to use visual interface with various ways to see what you are doing, and an undo. In Windows, all the changes you make require a reboot, and all the work is done in DOS.

You didn't say which Windows operating system you have, but this will work with them all. If you can boot from the CD, you can even setup everything for a fresh or new install of Windows.

I have rearranged partition sizes, combined partitions, and created new partitions many times in the past few years, and on about a dozen different computers, including those with XP. I've rarely had the resources to do the suggested back ups, although I have made the rescue disks. I've moved well over a terabyte of data in the various changes and never had a problem.

If you want to keep 2 drive partitions, the program will allow you to resize the C: partition to use any portion of the unused storage space on the drive (including all partitions). You can split up the amount of unused drive space any way you see fit. You can do this as many times as you wish. You can split your drive(s) into as many partitions as you have drive letters available, C:-Z:

If you want to combine the 2 partitions into 1, Drive Mapper is included with Partition Magic. In computers using Win95, 98, & Window ME that are using FAT or FAT32, this wizard makes the various changes to driver letter information so that the programs still run. Basically lets the computer know the stuff on D: has been moved to C:. If there are references to a single CD or DVD drive, it will also update these changes in drive letters.

Partition Magic works with FAT, FAT32 and/or NTFS partitions. You change them from one format to another if you wish or need. You will be warned about making any changes your operating system does not support.

I like having a partition for storing just the data: document, photos, and anything else that you create or is unique. This makes it much easier to backup the really important stuff. The programs can always be reinstalled. Your pictures, documents, databases, tax info, etc.,
can't, unless they are backed up. It also has a backup program called DataKeeper.

If you are using the FAT or FAT32 system, you can also use this to change cluster size to reduce wasted space. It has a bar like chart showing you how much space is currently being wasted and can be saved by changing cluster size.

Once you have done the changes, you can uninstall Partition Magic and your changes are not affected. It doesn't have any special programs that make you keep Partition Magic so you computer will continue to run or continue to recognize the changes.

Submitted by: David H.

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Answer:

Dear Barnabas,

There is no "easy way" of repartitioning your hard drive. Moreover, if it took you a couple of months to realize that your hard disk is partitioned. Nevertheless, partitions are not bad by their own. Sure, you own a wardrobe and you realize it has some internal divisions or partitions. It is your duty to fill it up in a wise-way to later easily find what you need fast. Moreover, when you have to organize your stuff, it is best to clean up one partition (or should I say division), at a time. Believe me: your computer runs faster and smoother with a partitioned Hdd. 10 Gb is not a wrong size for a primary partition.

At this point I wonder what clogs your primary partition, because my work-horse machine has a 15 Gb partition for OS and programs but still it is 50% empty after 4 years of more or less intense web design (Dreamweaver + Photoshop + Ms SQL + MySQL + Ms Visual Studio .Net + virtual memory + Ms Office XP + etc., etc. to add up to a total of more than 60+ installed and running programs).

Big hard disk space hogs are music and movies and if you store them in the default My Documents folder, for sure your primary partition will be full in days if not sooner. Assuming you use Ms Windows, it is thousands times easier to move My Documents to secondary (or "D") partition than repartition you hard drive. Just right click on My Documents, select Properties, and then Move to move it to an appropriate folder on D drive. Maybe you have to create a new folder in advance. Repeat the procedure for every user you have on your machine, set owners and permissions as appropriate.

However, if you insist on resizing your hard drive you can use Power Quest's Partition Magic software. Then I recommend as Power Quest does, to make a full backup of your disks before any resizing. There are other resizing software, some of them GPL, some free but for sure those are not for the faint heart people.

I have successfully used versions of Partition Magic from 6 to 8 to accomplish the reverse, i.e. create partitions on a one full size partitioned hard disk to speed up a crawling computer or to install another OS. Many times, I have not made any backups at all and still I have had no issues yet (but I knock hard on wood!). Prior to resizing I always check disks for consistency (i.e. a full scandisk or chkdsk) and defrag it (I love Executive Software's Diskeeper).

Power Quest's Partition Magic GUI is as easy as it can be and very user friendly. Then it is hard to get lost or to make a mistake. Partition Magic double checks every step before making any change, but once you start and software scripts begins crunching FATs, MFTs and clusters you are in Computer Gods hands.

Good Luck.

Submitted by: N. B. of Ontario, Canada

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Answer:

Barnabas,

I have been there myself and it was a result of my own doing. I thought having a second partition would prove to be a big advantage for storing data files. The problem arose, just as it did in your situation, when the end user installed more "stuff". Most people accept the defaults for any new program installations, which is always somewhere on the "C"
drive. They do not realize that they actually have the option to install software anywhere they wish simply by modifying the installation path.

Why does that happen? I would guess that it would be in anticipation of needing a larger storage area for such files as music and pictures, or whatever. But most folks simply click through without doing a bit of analysis because they just want to be up and running. That's just human nature as it relates to computers, which are anything but human, of course.

Ok, no recriminations. What to do? As the above implies, saving the data from those program hogs, then uninstalling and reinstalling to the "D" drive following up with either a relocation of the data or simply pointing the program to the location of that data, is one option. Takes a bit of time, but patiently plodding through it will work.

Next option, buy some more software. I hereby disclaim any affiliation with Symantec, but I regard Partition Magic pretty highly. It will allow you to resize your partitions without having to do any of the first proposal. You can shift the balance as you wish, even create other partitions if you wish.

No doubt there are other ways to skin that cat, but the choice is yours. I took the second route on my brother-in-law's computer, which he uses to run his advertising business. Yes, that was a bit more mission critical than the typical home pc and that is why I have no hesitation in offering it as a very viable solution. It just worked, with a minimal of time outlay.

Hope this helps.

Submitted by: Mark S. of Clinton, SC

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Answer:

Your laptop has a C: drive at 10 GB, 7.5 GB used and a 50 GB D: drive, 5 GB used, right?

I guess whoever partitioned the machine intended to separate the system software from the data, a strategy that I use and recommend. The advantage is that, in most cases, the data changes faster than the system software and so you can run different backup cycles. A second advantage is that if your system gets (logically) damaged in some way and you have to re-install the system software, possibly wiping the C: disk, your data is safe. I made the assumption here that you are running Windows of some flavour but the same situation applies to Linux, Solaris, etc. So unless you really really want just the one hard disk, I'd recommend that you keep the two partitions for the reasons above.

What is clear, is that the 10/50 split is unrealistic. My laptop has an 80 GB drive and I have mine partitioned as 20 GB for C: running Windows XP Pro SP2 and the remainder as a logical data drive in an extended partition. In fact, my data drive is also split into two, one for my data and one for my clients (I'm an independent consultant).

So in your case, you could partition your drive as 20/40 and retain the data separation. Or you can revert to a single partition. Either way, you don't need to lose or reload any software or data, assuming the D: drive is all data! I use and recommend Powerquest Partition Magic for this purpose, though other dynamic disk partitioners are available. I've never lost data using PQmagic, so I stick with what I know, your mileage may vary. I have no connection with the company, by the way.

So, how does it work?

Step 1 - Back up all your software and data! It's a chore but better safe than sorry. Of course, you may not need to do this if you have a current backup!

Step 2 - Defragment both drives. It will make the next step quicker.

Step 3 - Reduce the size of the logical D: drive. If you have decided to keep the two partitions set up, reduce it to the new target size (40 GB in the example I used). If you are going to merge the disks into one, reduce it to release most of the free space (say reduce to 10 GB).

Step 4 - Reduce the size of the Extended partition to the size of the logical drive you created in Step 3.

Step 5 - Move the Extended partition to the end of the physical disk, so the unallocated space is adjacent to your C: drive.

Step 6 - Extend the C: drive to take up all the unallocated space.

If you chose to maintain the two partition set up, you are done. Make a new backup of both drives to restart your normal backup regime.

If you chose to merge the drives to a single volume, then there are a few more steps.

NOTE I have assumed that your current D: drive contains only data and doesn't have any software installed on it. If there is software installed there, I recommend you uninstall it from the D: drive and re-install it on the C: drive at this stage. That will keep your registry, etc., clean.

Step 7 - Copy the data from the logical D: drive to the C: drive (normal Windows copy or whatever utility you currently use). Change the settings in your programs to point at the C: drive, rather than the D: drive (Office documents, etc.).

Step 8 - Delete the Logical D: drive with Partition Magic..

Step 9 - Delete the Extended Partition.

Step 10 - Extend the C: drive to take up all the space you unallocated in Step 9.

You are done. Backup the C: drive to restart your normal backup regime.

Running Partition Magic.

ALWAYS make sure you have a valid backup of all the data on any drive you are meddling with before you start. I've never had to use any of these backups but there could always be a first time - probably if I didn't make the backup!

Partition Magic can be installed on your usual system drive (normally C: ). When you install it, it will offer to make you a bootable floppy disk recovery set. If you have a bootable floppy drive, I strongly recommend you make these disks. You can then run PQmagic from the hard drive, from the installation CD or from the recovery floppies.
Personally, I am happy to run it from the hard disk EXCEPT where I am changing the partition on which it is installed. So in my case, I run it from my C: drive to adjust the Logical drives in the Extended partition but I always run it from the installation CD if I am changing the C: drive (I don't have a floppy).

You can combine multiple steps in one run of Partition Magic, it stacks them in sequence until you click on "Apply". Perhaps I'm over cautious, I don't recommend this, especially when working with existing drives, I always run one step at a time. It takes a bit longer but if I were to encounter a problem, it's much easier to roll back one step than several. Note that PQmagic needs to switch into command prompt mode for some operations - it handles all this by itself, just be patient.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Submitted by: Sav. M. of the United Kingdom

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Answer:

Hi Barnabas,

Rather like you, my laptop arrived with a 60Gb partition split in two, and a recovery partition (now deleted). I quickly set up 4 partitions - one for Windows, as far as possible, one for installed programs, and two for data.

It's a really good idea to have more than one partition, as I'll explain. Use what you've got wisely, rather than take a step backwards to one single partition. After reading this, you may want to create more partitions! If Windows 'dies' - or maybe when- you want your personal data as far away from the windows partition as possible.

Basics:
- Keep your data safe: Keep your personal data separate from the partition containing the operating system as far as possible. If you need to completely reformat and reinstall Windows, your personal data will be completely untouched.
- Back up strategy: Smaller partitions make backing up easier to manage each takes less time and the backup file is smaller. It's helpful to be able to get backup image files - a compressed exact copy of a partition- to fit on one DVD, for example.
- If your partitions are smaller, that's much easier. You can then choose which to back up more frequently, reducing back up time.

If you're running XP, a 10Gb partition should be sufficient, provided most of your programs are installed in a separate partition. You mention you've some 'program hogs' - I'm going to assume you mean programs that take up a lot of disk space, rather than occupy lots of system memory and resources.

You also say some 10% of your 50Gb partition is used - I'll assume you want to keep this data.

So here's what I suggest:
- Uninstall your bulkiest programs and reinstall them using a base path of, say, D:\Programs.
- Progressively move all programs to D:\Programs
- Either relocate 'My Documents' (right click, set target) or simply use another folder for your personal data on a data partition. Many programs create odd folders in 'My Documents' so you may wish to keep your data separate from this anyway.
- If you use Outlook Express, say, you can relocate your message store to D: - Tools, Options, Message Store.

There are other areas of user data you can move too, often not obvious. You really don't want to lose your browser favourites, mail accounts, dial-up connections, or the folders a surprising number of programs create within C: by default. Fred Langa's site has clear write-ups on the advantages of such a strategy:

http://www.langa.com/backups/backups(6).htm

You can also consider moving your 'swap' file (pagefile.sys) to either a separate partition or a partition where data is relatively fixed and needs infrequent back up. That means your Windows partition back up is smaller.

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-03-15.htm

has more detail. This can grow to up to 1Gb, depending on your RAM and usage, so you don't really want to back it up! It also may mean a marginal speed benefit in having your swap file less fragmented. (Control Panel | System | Advanced, click Settings in the "Performance" Section).

A more detailed review can be found here, for example:

http://aumha.org/a/parts.php

and more on these issues at:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.smith25/pcXPtweaks.htm.

Note: Some programs insist on being located in C:. I've recently found one large program from a very well-known camera company (Canon) where the installation path could be specified, but which, as Canon eventually admitted, failed to install if this was changed.

Submitted by: David L. of Shaanxi Province, China

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Answer:

Hello Barnabas,

Before you do anything with the D: partition, you want to be sure that any stuff that is present there is copied off onto CDs or DVDs - make sure that you verify that the data is actually on the burned disks before deleting anything. Make several copies just in case. Often computers from the big brand names have recovery software on there (or in a hidden partition) that can cause much misery if lost. Once you have the stuff on D: safely stored away, you can continue exploring the choices below.

One way to rearrange things is to create "Program Files" and "My Data"
folders on the existing D: partition and start installing any new programs and saving your data files into them. You could even uninstall some programs currently residing in C:\Program Files\ or other folders on C: and reinstall them there to free up more space on C:.

Another way to rearrange your drive space is to take unused space from the D: partition and transfer it to the C: partition. Programs like Partition Magic (from Symantec, http://www.Symantec.com , now) and Partition Commander (from VCom, http://www.v-com.com ) make easy work of doing that with their built-in wizards. I use VCom's product here. I have found legit copies at great prices on eBay. OTOH, there are partition management programs that you can download for free (from Download.com or MajorGeeks.com) that you could use to accomplish the same thing, but perhaps not quite as easily.

A third option would be to delete the Extended partition in which the D: logical drive exists, and add the resulting free space to your C: partition using the software mentioned above. I like to have several partitions on large drives, so I don't really recommend this option. I almost always set up (on Windows computers) a minimum of two partitions: Primary (C: ) for the Operating System and critical utilities, and an Extended partition containing three logical drives on systems I build: D: for application programs, and E: for the data I create, and F: for aggregating files for burning CDs or DVDs and other scratch or temporary files.

I have drive letters from C: to O: across three hard drives here and it is not as confusing as it might seem. So yet another choice is to subdivide the Extended partition (in which the current logical drive, D:, resides) into separate drive letters (logical drives) for your programs and data as I do. You just reduce the size of logical drive D: and make the resulting free space within the Extended partition into new logical drive(s) E:, F: etc. The above referenced programs are handy for this as well.

I would change the drive letter(s) of your optical drive(s) down toward the end of the alphabet (I usually use O: and P: for my opticals, but I have too many logical drives for that now so mine are down at Y and Z, which can be problematic for some programs) prior to creating new logical drives by using the Storage Manager (under Admin Tools in Control Panel) tool of Windows 2k/XP. That way the drive letter(s) of your opticals won't change as logical hard drive letters are added.

I hope this provides adequate food for thought and didn't muddle things up too much.

Submitted by: Bill H. of Groton, NY

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Barnabas, it looks like you better start looking for that windows boot CD and begin backing up your data. (At this point, I should tell you that you should back up the install files for your drivers. You would be amazed when you finish reformatting and then find out you have no sound, crappy video and etc. Backing up your drivers before going ahead is important.)

Probably the most serious blunder many people make when reformatting their hard drive (besides not backing up their drivers) is to:
1) Turn on the computer
2) Sign in
3) pop in the CD and then
4) start clicking a whole bunch of buttons

That will just create another partition and we don't want that. Instead, you want to erase all other partitions that you may have and start a brand new one.

1) To do that, first you have to make sure that you can boot off the CD. As your computer boots up, press a special key to bring up the setup utility. The key is different based on your computer but is usually delete, insert, or F8.

2) Go to the boot section and then boot priority. Make sure that your computer boots up from your CD drive before your Hard Drive. This is extremely important. After you're done doing that, escape and save the changes.

3) After doing that you can go ahead to pop in your windows CD and restart your computer. The computer will now boot up from the Windows install disk. When you reach the partitions, delete your 10 gig and 50 gig partitions and other stuff that may be eating away your space if there is others.

4) Create a new partition under empty partitions and make sure you set the new partition as 60 gigs. Usually, the maximum amount will already be there so you just have to press enter.

5) Finally format your drive using NTFS. NTFS is a more efficient file system that XP uses natively and it's a really good idea to do it this way over say, FAT.

Now all it is to just let your computer do its own thing. It will install itself and you'll get other stuff done like creating user accounts and password. After it's done, you should start up and see a window telling you that you have 30 or 60 days to register your copy of windows by calling a special hotline. You should do that right away and then you're done.

Install your drivers and then begin moving in your other files.

Good luck.

Submitted by: Joseph C.

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Answer:

This is a common problem, and its very easy to deal with, but it does require purchasing a commercial software product. Get a copy of Partition Magic, from Symantec (the company that puts out the Norton products; this product was previously published by PowerQuest, which was acquired by Symantec, and you may find some PowerQuest labeled copies still floating around). The current version is version 8, you might find an earlier version, but I would not go back too far because issues have arisen with newer drives and older versions of utility software not designed to accommodate todays newer, larger drives.

Partition Magic will allow you to repartition the drive without reformatting the drive or reinstalling the operating system(s). Basically you will make D: drive smaller (or perhaps eliminate it entirely), and then, using the space thus freed up, make the C: drive larger. You can do the entire reallocation in a single operation if you have no files on the D: drive, or if the C: drive has enough free space on it to allow copying the entire contents of the D: drive to C: before you start (which apparently isnt your situation). Otherwise, you may need to perform the operation in a couple of steps, first making D: smaller, then C: larger, then copying D:s contents to C:, then taking D: all the way down to its final size (or eliminating it).

At your option, you can either end up with two more appropriately sized partitions, or just a single partition [however, there are good arguments for keeping the OS in one partition and data in a separate partition]. Note that if an actual program has been installed on D:, you cannot simply move the program to C:. In that case, you would need to uninstall the program(s) from drive D: and reinstall it on C: after you have completed the repartitioning. But it still beats reinstalling Windows itself.

Partition Magic is generally reliable; however this is the kind of an operation that does involve some risk, so you always want to backup your important files and data before undertaking this type of operation. Personally Ive never lost a partition due to using Partition Magic, but other people have, occasionally.

You may find some other commercial products or even freeware that performs the same task, but the nature of doing this (repartitioning a hard drive without reinstalling the operating system(s)) is so critical that in this case I would recommend sticking with Partition Magic, which is a tried and true and proven product that does this and does it generally very well.

Submitted by: Barry W. of North Canton, Ohio

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Sorry to hear about the issue with the partitions. Any manufacturer that does that to their hard drives with the operating systems we have to day are nuts. Sorry to inform you there is no easy way to remove the partition.

Windows will want you to setup another physical drive with the unpartitioned space. So the advice I would have to you is back up all of your information and get ready for a reinstall. With a Sony VAIO I believe you can do this online at their website. You will also get all the drivers needed from their website as well. Unless you were one of the fortunate soles to ask for hard copies.

You asked if there was an easy way to do this. Only suggestion I have is back up information only. Do not back up programs. Such as MS Office, just the documents you have created yourself. Also make a list of all of your favorites and put them on a cd, floppy disk or even a key fob. When doing the reinstall, if you have windows XP, XP professional you will need to get into your setup and select your cdrom drive as the first boot device. To get into setup you will have to press your (ESC) key when you see the message at the bottom of the screen. It should read something like this...(Press ESC to enter setup). You will then look for boot devices, when you find boot devices use your arrow keys to scroll down and highlight it. Then use your left or right arrow key to change it to cdrom. Then press F9 to exit and save setup. However before exiting setup make sure to put in your Windows disk in the cdrom drive and then save and exit setup. After exiting setup your system will reboot, it will then try to read from the cdrom drive. You will see something on your screen that says boot from hard disk or boot from cdrom, select cdrom.

Then after booting from cdrom you will then see setup is now inspecting your computer. This is where the reinstall starts. Just follow the on screen prompts and it will guide you through the rest of the setup. After it has installed the first portion of windows on your computer it will reboot. It will ask again to boot from hard disk or boot from cdrom just let the timer run out if there is one, you will see it at the bottom right corner just after the question. If it does not ask, select boot from hard disk and your computer will boot from hard disk and setup will continue. At some point it will ask you about your product key. Your computer manufacturer should have supplied you this at time of purchase. It will either be a piece of paper/certificate from Microsoft saying certificate of authenticity. Or you will have a Microsoft logo on your computer with the product key located on it. There should be five sets of 5 lets and or numbers. You need to enter this number in exactly as you see it. Then click continue or press enter. Setup will continue. At this point it should take about 39 minutes to complete. After completion it will ask you're for your name and time zone. After this is done your Operating system will be completed. You will then need to install your drivers and I hope you have a hard copy of these drivers. You will need to find your video driver install it, then your chip set driver, then your sound driver, modem driver, net work card driver if installed. Do not install any software on your computer before installing your drivers. This could cause a lot of issues. After all the driver are installed you then should start installing your software. You can start with any software that came with your computer. If you have any issues with software or driver install I would contact Sony support hotline.

I hope your reinstall goes well.

Submitted by: Leroy N.

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You can convert both partitions to Dynamic and span the 50 Gig partition to the 10 Gig through computer management. Heres what XP Pro help files says about creating a spanned volume:

To create a spanned volume

1. Open Computer Management (Local).
2. In the console tree, click Disk Management.
-Computer Management (Local)
-Storage
-Disk Management
3. Right-click the unallocated space on one of the dynamic disks where you want to create the spanned volume, and then click New Volume.
4. In the New Volume Wizard, click Next, click Spanned, and then follow the instructions on your screen.

Notes
To open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings might also prevent you from completing this procedure.
You can create spanned volumes on dynamic disks only.
You need at least two dynamic disks to create a spanned volume.
You can extend a spanned volume onto a maximum of 32 dynamic disks.
Spanned volumes cannot be mirrored or striped.
Spanned volumes are not fault tolerant.

Hope that helps.

Submitted by: Sam

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I've experienced this also with a laptop. You could use a live Linux CD like Ubuntu or Simply Mepis, boot your machine with this (no change is made in the Windows system), and there's an utility software called QTPART which allows you to resize partitions. First reduce the biggest one ans after, you can increase the other one. I've tested this and it's working (even better than Partition Magic).

Hope this could help.

Regards.

Submitted by: Bruno

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My first bit of advice is to keep the two partitions. It is better to have your data and program separated. The, if/when you need to reformat and reinstall the opsys/program drive, you don't lose all your data. This is an old data processing standard that dates way way back, but seems to have been lost in the PC world.

My second bit of advice would be to increase the opsys/program drive (C: drive) space and decrease the data drive (D: drive space). You can purchase a program such as Partition Magic from Symantec that will allow you to adjust your drive sizes. If you already have large data files on your C: drive because you store a lot of photo, music or video files, this step might not even be necessary. Just transfer those files to the D: drive. This will free up space on your C: drive.

Also be sure to clean up your C: drive by deleting old temporary files, unneeded install programs, etc.

Submitted by: Jack C. of New York, New York

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Easy solution to partition headaches: Partition Magic

When I had a similar problem a while back I used PartitionMagic (from PowerQuest, which now is a part of Symantec, the traditional way to eliminate competition - buy it).

Some good advice from the user's manual (I don't usually read manuals, but when my whole system depends on it I read):

Before Running Partition Magic

It is wise to run a file check (such as CheckDisk or ScanDisk) before running PartitionMagic. Doing so can help you avoid problems you could encounter if you try to manipulate partitions on a disk with bad sectors or file system errors. See Checking Partitions for Errors on page 50.

You should back up your hard disk before using PartitionMagic. While PartitionMagic has been thoroughly tested and is reliable, other factors, (such as power failures, operating system bugs, and hardware defects), can put your data at risk. Before using any utility that makes extensive changes to your hard disk, you should back up your data. PowerQuest Drive Image is ideal for backing up partitions.

PartitionMagic cannot run while other low-level disk utilities (such as virus detection software, defragmenting software like Diskeeper, or backup software like GoBack) are running. Close all such utilities prior to starting PartitionMagic.

For your problem, I would probably resize the large partition first. Partition Magic will resize it and move all your data automatically. Then after that you can expand the size of your C: partition and move your files from D: over to C:. Once D: is empty, just delete the partition using Partition Magic (still) and then expand the C: partition again to make it 100% of the available space. Of course, after you see how easy it is to manipulate partitions you may want to keep a D: partition for some reason (I did and I use it for quick backups).

If you are careful to follow instructions this will work for you and will be easy as apple pie. Doesn't cost an arm and a leg either - $69.95 as a downloadable from Symantec, or buy it from Amazon and if you're lucky maybe you'll get a rebate like I did (of course I bought before Norton took over) and save $20.

Submitted by: Philip M. of Kailua, Hawaii

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You have several options available, some of which will cost you in time, others in money. You can purchase a program to repartition your drive (PartitionMagic is one example). Most of these programs will repartition without disturbing your data, but you should always do a full system backup beforehand, just in case.

If you would prefer to have your system software (O/S) and general application software separated, the partitions are probably large enough as is. You can use the windows uninstall utility in Control Panel to uninstall all of the applications for which you have the original distribution disks, then re-install them on the larger D: drive. If you use this method, any applications for which you do not have distribution disks can stay on the C: drive. Hopefully, they will not add up to a large percentage of the available 10GB.

I would suggest that you separate your data as well, which would require a third logical drive. This option would best be implemented by your suggestion to format, repartition and re-load the laptop, or by using one of the many available programs to repartition. If you do this, you can define folder paths on the data drive that mirror each of the installed application's data paths (but on the data drive instead of the application drive), point your applications to the new data path and then backup (you do backup regularly, right?) only the data drive. You can also point Outlook Express, Outlook and most other email programs to the new data drive for your inbox and local folders, and your MyDocuments folder can be moved there as well.

Submitted by: Larry J. of Eugene, Oregon

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Free Up Space on your "C" Drive (System Drive) and Protect My Documents too!

System Restore will not change or touch anything in the My Documents folder. The files you place in My Documents are not backed up or restored by System Restore. So it's important, if you keep valuable files in this location, that you make sure you keep the My Documents folder safe.

Windows sets up "My Documents" folder on your "C" or system drive, and as many of you know, this can become quite a large folder. If you have more then one hard drive (or hard drive partition) on your system, you can move "My Documents" to another drive. Generally, "My Documents" uses the maximum space for all kind of data and other storage and this not only frees up space on your C drive, but it helps you protect "My Documents" in case you have to format your C drive.

Note: If you are using signature files with Outlook Express or Outlook, you will have to reassign the new location from Outlook Express / Outlook. Don't worry about other programs being able to find "My Documents" such as MS Word etc; Windows knows right where to lead them if you move! If you decide you want to revert back to the original location, there is a "Restore Default" option with Windows XP.

Here is the easiest way to do this in Windows XP:

Step I. First, go to the drive where you want to store "My Documents" and make a folder in that drive called "My Documents"

Step II. Now, click Start, then right click on where you see "My Documents" on the menu, then click Properties. A window will open.

Step III. Type in the name of the directory and new folder you made then click "Move" and Windows will do the rest for you. Be sure you type the Drive Letter, the colon and the backslash.

Submitted by: Sitangshu B.

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Partition Magic -

1 - Always have a good backup before making big changes! I know, everybody tells you the same thing, they ARE right.

2 - Boot the computer using the Partition Magic CD (or if you can't boot from CD create the two (2) floppy discs to boot).

3 - Start Partition Magic and verify that the displayed partitions match your expected values (read from Disk Management).

4 - Select the larger (second) partition and choose 'resize'. Note that PM uses a two step process; Plan the action then execute.

5 - Either as part of the resize or as the next step move the free space to the area between partitions.

6 - Resize the first partition to use the free space you made available.

7 - Exit PM, remove disc used to boot and restart. Enjoy!

I have done this over a hundred times without a problem.

Twice I have had a failure, both times power related. Major changes on laptops demand the AC adaptor be attached and WORKING.

As a side note, while Microsoft recommends the default of installing ALL Applications in "Program Files", a better practice is to put them in folders off the root. (i.e "C:\something" versus "C:\Program Files\something") Most will work quite happily on another drive (i.e. all of my Adobe/Macromedia apps are on the G: drive).

Microsoft applications have a disturbing tendency to throw bits and pieces into multiple folders under "Program Files" even when rooted ("C:\Microsoft Office" versus "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office"). They work better when on the same drive as \Windows and \Program Files.

Good luck.

Submitted by: Howard P.

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Why would you want to ruin a good thing? Get away from the thought that you only need one, leave the drive parted. I'm going to presume that the 10GB is C: and the 50GB is D:. Leave your operating and support programs on C: and move all the Programs/files to D. Then operate (open/close/save/etc.) in D:. Use the admin to access C: & D: but you as the user only accessing D:. This will allow you another level of protection to the OS.

An example would be - C: XP, Explorer, DSL interface, Anti-virus/firewall, printer drivers, and anything else that's either a pain or difficult to reload.

Have the easy stuff and your pictures, wav's, doc's, games, etc. on D:. PLEASE always backup your system, then you only have to backup D:. Unless, you change something on C:.

My phy. system has two drives, a 40 and a 250 GB. the 40 contains C: items, the 250 is broke into two parts (D: 200 and E: 50 GB). All my programs are loaded to C:. All my other stuff is in D: and E: contains a ghost of C: plus a few special items (business related). C: has it's own backup CD and DVD, D: is always backed up on DVD and E: is also backed up on CD by its self and on D:"s DVD.

Submitted by: mudhawaii

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There are commercial programs that willhelp you re-partition drives without having to reinstall everything. I came across one that is called Acronis Partition Expert. I first used it when I installed a larger drive and put the old image on that drive.

The original drive was 20 gigs. The new drive was 40 gigs. So, when I imaged the new drive, it used only the 20 gigs. Using Acronis, I was easily able to expand the system to use the full 40 gigs.

I'm sure there are other ways to do this (and maybe even some free), but this one worked extremely well and easily for me.

Submitted by: Ed B.

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Not an answer as such but thought I might convey my experience. My colleague and I both bought Vaio VGN laptops a year ago with the same partitioned drive. (Why do Sony do this on such small drives, 2 OSs on a laptop, is that the plan?). My colleague used Partition Magic and it worked fine got rid of his D Drive and he had one nice C:\ 60GB partition. Took him 15 minutes. Impressed, I thought Id try it. The result: total wipe out!! Couldnt boot, couldnt rebuild OS, Drive C trashed. So there followed the grand reformat and reinstall, which, after 18months of good use revealed to me a very fast laptop, nice clean registry, fast booting and loading programs - I had forgotten how good the laptop had been in the beginning, I was even thinking of buying a new one before the reformat. My advice is therefore: forget un-partitioning (unless you can figure out Ranishs command lines which I couldnt safely) and just re-format and re-build.

Good luckand Oh! Back-up first (and preferably not with that dodgy DVD drive on the Vaio)

Submitted by: Mark T.

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It is an easy thing to fix. I had the same surprise too. Just buy a disk partition manager software program such as Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 from http://www.acronis.com. This will easily allow you to re-size your D-drive and expand your C-drive. Your D-drive usually only carries a few trivial items. For around $50 the problem is quickly and safely fixed so that you can enjoy your Vaio as much as I do!

Submitted by: Roger M. of Edmonton, Canada

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You can use a utility like Partition Magic to redo the partitions on the PC non-destructively.

I would recommend finding out WHAT is using up the space first. If its mostly documents, pictures, etc, Id relocate the MY DOCUMENTS folder to the D: drive and change Windows to know where the folder is located.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147/en-us

If the problem is the number of programs you have loaded, consider either uninstalling from C and reinstalling on D, or using a program like Application Mover

http://www.funduc.com/app_mover.htm

However, it has become a more accepted practice to use the multiple partitions with Windows XP in a manner more like Novell and Linux. You reserve the boot partition (C) for the operating system and operating system extensions, like device drivers. You should use a different partition (or physical drive) for your programs and data.

The advantage of doing it this way is when you run out of space on the programs and data partition (or drive), you can move the data to a larger space which then becomes your new D drive without needing to reinstall the OS. On a laptop this isnt as good of an option, since your drive options are more limited.

Submitted by: Coyt W.

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The "secret" partitions on many brand name computers are where the return to factory condition files are stored. While some end users can avoid ever returning to factory condition, that is one bridge you NEVER want to burn. Besides, you will want it if you ever trade in your cpu or give it away.

You are running out of hard drive space so get an external hard drive or unload to a desktop's huge hard drive. You want two distinct copies of precious photos, for example, but you should stop thinking of your laptop as a portable server. Music, video, and photos can quickly fill up a drive. An eight megapixel camera shooting in RAW format has a larger than eight megabytes file per photo! A few DVD movies will saturate your laptop's hard drive.

Many home networks should set up one, perhaps the oldest cpu, as a storage only file "server." A great way to go is to have that storage backed up to an infrequently used external hard drive or even better, an off premises device, such as cheap Internet storage. With the reliability of laptops setting a new bar, too many forget the three rules of computing: backup, backup, and backup.

You do not have a storage problem; you have a backup problem.

Submitted by: Thomas D.

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Your question is all so familiar. 60 GB sounds like a huge repository of space, a place we can save everything and never worry about how much room is left. I remember the day when I stepped up and got this huge 10 MB hard drive that could hold more data then hundreds of double sided 5" floppy disks. I did imagine at that time a day would come that tiny full height drive, tiny compared to the Mass storage drums and double height disk stacks used in industry, would soon be too small. I did not anticipate how soon that would be!

To un partition your Hard drive or move some of the free space from your "D" drive (partition) over to the "C" drive, there are several ways to accomplish this. I recommend a very user friendly program you can purchase called Partition Magic by Power Quest. The program is very well written and is relatively inexpensive considering its many features. This program will re-partition your drive any way you desire and do it in a safe way as not to cause any data loss. Partition Magic will allow you to go back and undo your changes if need be and you can even format on the fly.

Now one thing to consider is why your computer manufacture has created a 10 GB space as a second logical drive at the expense of the primary "C" drive. System backup or support of the restore feature used by some programs and windows XP may use the "D" drive as the repository for this backup data. Since you learned that the "D" drive is virtually empty, you may not be using these features. If you are using Windows XP, look in the Control Panel and in performance and maintenance, see basic information about your computer. Under the tab for "system restore" look how it is set up. You may have this feature turned off. Then again you may not want this feature then there may be no need for a large "D" partition or any at all.

Submitted by: Jack

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Having a hard drive partition is actually a good thing. If something goes wrong and a partition is trashed, you other partitions are usually safe. If your 10GB partition is already bursting by the seams, you might be better off backing up and do a clean install to get rid of all the waste accumulated in two years.

If you do plan to play with the partition, you *have* backup all your stuff. Fiddling with partitions might be the most dangerous thing you can do with a hard drive and are definitely not for the faint of heart. I found an excellent partition manager utility to do the job from TerraByte (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com) called BootIT. You don't need to install their boot manager (unless you want to be able to load multiple OS).

Curiously enough I had to deal with a partition issue just last week. I have a C: partition for a Windows 98 SE boot (500MB), a D: partition for Windows 2000 Pro (1.5GB) a 15GB partition for Linux and several other for the rest of my Windows stuff (all FAT32). My 1.5BG partition for W2K was just not enough anymore. Because I just "play" with my Linux partition, using BootIT I wiped my Linux partition and then split this unused 15GB partition into 5 and 10GB. Then I joined the current W2K partition with the contiguous and unused 5GB partition to make my D: partition 5.5GB. (Happy to say I went through the pain of backing up 60GB of data and not having to use them because my partition resizing when smoothly).

That gave me enough breathing room to run all the Windows update patches and still leave me about 3 GB of free space on this D: partition.

In any case, when I first configured this PC, I used a Windows utility (free, you can find it in Microsoft's site) called TweakUI. I used this to set my Program Files folder to my E: partition. That is I wanted to keep all those programs you install out of the system partitions (drives C: and D: in my case).

I would actually suggest that you kept the 10GB partition for the Operating System only and use the 50GB one for everything else.

Regards.

Submitted by: Luis K.

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My suggestion to you would be to invest in a partitioning program, suck as Diskeeper that will allow you to merge the partitions together. I have done this successfully before, but please be aware that it does not guarantee that everything will work out just fine. There is the slim chance that it could corrupt the data on your drive, so I would recommend having a backup of the vital information from your hard disk just in case.

Submitted by: Ken M.

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VAIOs have long been delivered with a partitioned disk. I remember getting one of those flashy purple superslim models in the late 90s configured that way. My first thought was it was a function of the system's ability to recognize "large" drives [it may have been 5GB!], but after a while realised that this is an efficient way of keeping your OS disk optimised.

If you really want a single drive you can get any of a number of partitioning software packages. I particularly like VCOM's Partition Commander, especially since it comes with System Commander, which enables you to boot multiple OSes on one computer. It's very simple to use and costs less than 50 bucks. If you want to go the cheap route, you might be able to find a demo version of one of these types of programs, and use it the one time. Whether you choose one of these, or try the FDISK brute force method, you HAVE TO BACK UP YOUR DATA! Don't risk it, even with Partition Magic.

That said, I recommend you NOT repartition. Sony sets up Windows on a separate disk for a good reason: It's easier to manage and it runs better. If you've started to run out of space on the C: drive check to see what you've added. If it's not directly related to running Windows, remove it and reinstall on the D: drive. Your virtual memory, browser and drivers should be on C, but not software packages, including Office. Store all your applications, data, downloads. and email on D. You can be [relatively] disorganised and not affect your operating system. Run disk utilities to clean and defrag the C: drive regularly. Your computer will run faster and more reliably than if you repartition to a single drive.

Submitted by: Anonymous

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There is no way to remove the partitions without formatting. Your hard drive has 3 partitions.(1) System recovery (2) Working section (3) Storage section installed primarily for DVD storage I assume that your VAIO laptop like mine came without disks. The first thing you have to do is make a set of recovery disks either 2 cds' or one dvd to ensure you have all the drivers required. You can of course reformat using the system recovery section on your hard drive. Back up all the info you will need.

The second decision is, do you want to re-install all the original software. I personally did not as I had my preferred software. To reformat with the system recovery will re install everything back to ex factory specs with a lot of high volume media type software. However using system recovery gives you the options to alter the partitioning. If you elect to reformat I suggest you download Bellarc Advisor and print out a copy of your current setup making note that you have the correct info on your built in modem / sound card. I personally reformatted using Windows XP Pro SP2 removing all partitions and inserted my system recovery disk if windows was looking for drivers. However in my case I had to download a modem driver and Realtek HP Audio files.

Submitted by: John G.

I totally agree. Keep the drive partitioned, and simply install programs to the D drive whenever it is possible. The D drive can also be used for storage, like photos and Word documents. In addition, you can create a file on the D drive to store downloaded install files. That way you have them on hand, just in case something dies and needs to be reinstalled.
Craig C

Hi!

OK, ok, it could be the most easy to keep the division into two partitions and stand the fact of it, and not to do the risky repartitioning hassle, but ... then I would concentrate on keeping just all the important and system related things, e.g. Windows/system/drivers, programs files, documents and settings etc., on the C:\ partition, even also "small" Word/Excel documents, but using the ''big'' D:\ as a store for ''simple'', large space demanding user files/folders, e.g. photos, music, videos etc., despite maybe even requiring to be moved or re-directed to the D:\ from each users Docs and Setts on the C:\ ...


Best regards,

Pete V.

Hi!

I have already been writing some replies to this thread, and now still one more ...

OK, you have two choices
a) repartitioning the drive into one partition rightaway
b) keeping the two partitions and re-arranging/re-directing the storing of different types of files/folders

and ...

sure you'll get into some mess sooner or later, on case a) with chances getting into some kind of unexpected deep drive/file system technical trouble, and on case b) 100% sure messing with the re-arrangings/re-directings by regular usage during the coming months or even rightaway, having something here, something there and something anywhere ...

As I have already been writing, I would prefer the case a) for several practical reasons, and have been doing the repartitions successfully 10's of times, but must admit some case has been taking some 5 hours to get back ''from the woods to the right track'', but no case totally failing or lost ... so, this case a) is maybe only for PC support pro's ...

The case b) will be requiring much detailed and strict work to get all the folder paths functioning as expected, and quite sure some ''hidden'' path definition is still left unchanged and causing some type of files spread around anywhere ...

OK, if choosing the case a), please, make two, repeat two, full bit-by-bit back-up copies of the drive before beginning the process, you may need them, even both, if something happens ... and, of course, please do not forget also considering and planning how and from where later to restore the files/folders now residing on the second partition, which will be totally lost from the disk upon the repartitioning ...

I would prefer taking the 2.5'' hard disk out of the laptop and make the copies of the 2.5'' disk on an desktop with an adapter on the IDE cable onto two regular 3.5'', or with an adapter onto two 2.5'' hard disks, even it may need some fixmbr/fixboot or other similar tricks before got restored, i.e. copied back and working, in case if needed. If taking DVD back-ups e.g. by Ghost, the hard drive is not needed to be taken out, but it will take much more time to back-up and restore, and please, do not overlook/forget to do the integrity checking even it takes about the same time as the backing-up, and all this double work has to be done twice ...


Happy repartitions/re-arrangements ...


Best regards,

Pete V.

(excuse the double post - this fits better here)

SystemRescueCd

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

Contains "QtParted", which is a Partition Magic clone. This CD is free, graphical, easy to use, downloadable and bootable.

The rescue disk boots linux and allows you to manipulate NTFS/Windows partitions.

U have another alternative by using Norton Ghost which will copy your old Hard Disk to new one with the possibility to change your partitions size.
Big time saving compared to re-Format solution (Max of 2 dummy hours / compared to several assisted hours)

Positive points:
1. No need to backup your data
2. No need to re-install Windows & all related patches
3. No need to re-install all applications as well as related patches & settings
4. Possiblity to use larger & Faster Hard Disk with reasonable price (159US$ for a Samsung 120Gb/5400/8Mb)

Negative points:
1. Need Norton Ghost and additional Hard Disk
2. Have to remove your Hard Disk from Laptop in case of failure to use Ghost via Network

Final advise:
Better to go with re-format solution if your are facing major problems with your Laptop otherwise consider Norton Ghost.

Good Luck

Did you know that you can move your ''my documents'' folder. If that is of a significant size then that might be a simple option to get back some disk spce on C.

Right-click on the desktop icon, select properties and click on ''move''. Then browse to where you want to put it. Simple!

There IS an easy way to free up some space moving the bulk in two easy steps without even have to restart you PC once:

1) Moving the "Documents" folder
1.a) In the Start menu, or on the desktop, there's the "My Documents" icon: right click on it, and click on "Properties";
1.b) Click the "Move" button, and select the destination (the empty partition) - you can even create a new directory tree on the spot;
1.c) Confirm and wait... That's it!

2) Moving the Outlook Express message storage folder
2.a) Tools | Options, Maintenance tab, "Store folder" button, "Change" button, select the empty disk, create a new directory and confirm.
2.b) That's it!

Moving for good those two storage areas on the second disk / partition mean you're not using anymore the primary disk / partition for the mail you receive and send, and all the documents you create. The C: disk should now have more space (and if you have more than one user on your XP, do it for all of them) and should stop growing.

Also, keep in mind that most of the software installation procedures ask you where to store the program, if you go for the "Custom" installation: it's NOT compulsory to install your new programs in C:\Program Files!

Happy moving!

I would vote for Partition Magic I use for eons now.
It has a cost but consider the conveniences and time savings.
Together with DriveImage I consider them as a must for PC users.
One word of caution : If you have a Principal and a logical partition, don't delete the principal partition because the logical will be gone with it. You could delete the logical without any effect on the principal one.

I have been working with multiple drives and partitions for well over 10 years. Every program from Partition Magic to Bootit!


You can use "Bootit" as "try before you buy" software, that is fully functional. And by function I mean this little program is a Mean Machine. Download and put it on either floppy or CD. It will run at startup and walk you thru setup. Once installed you reboot and this thing shows you everything you've got no matter what OS it has on it. Now the list of what it can do:

1. Clean n Install new sector boot information on windows partitions. Manage boot sequence and all your partition information and booting information. Hide and Unhide partitions with a click.

2. Partition and re-partition any hard drive. Even if you make a mistake it can restore lost partitions and the info! Even if they were lost by someone else.

3. Use as many hard drives as you want and even partition beyond the max of 4 per drive up to 200 partitions.

4. All with graphical interface ease with mouse support.

5. Change the size of a partition either way smaller or bigger. Slide one partition to another spot. Slide a small first partition to second position and increase the size of the first one.

6. Copy and clone either whole drives or partitions to other drives or devices.

7. And at this point let me just say this tool has "Saved My Life", so many times. Always dependable and safe with built-in backup capabilities.

C/Net has it for download at www.downloads.com or get it here:

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

After using over dozen such programs I have just settled on "Bootit"! I'm now well into the hundreds of computer drives I've used it on both Professionally and at home. I take it about everywhere I go and it has saved the day for my friends and customers all over the country.

You are correct except that it uses ntfsprogs which can't move NTFS partitions - and from the linux-ntfs site, doesn't intend to. Otherwise, great.

I like partitions. It enables me to keep occasional unstable windows installtions away from my programs and documents. This way you can install windows on the smaller partition and all you programs on the large partition.
That way if ever Windows goes very wrong you are able to reinstall or over install it without loosing all your data.
Copyinh you documents on to the larger partition is going to be easy but you will have uninstall and reinstall the preograms from the windwos partition to the large partition. It shouldn't take too long and it will give you a chance to organise your files properly!

This post goes on and on when the answer could have been much more concise. It seems the winners on this Q&A forum always have long posts that ramble. When I was a teacher I often would receive homework like this when the students seemed to think longer must be better. Please CNET, Start rewarding concise, to the point posts.

Mark Twain:

''To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.''