Hard drive partition

I am developing a DB to run on network server with drive letter S: however on
my machine, I only have C:. To avoid having to update linked tables and code
each time I do a new release, I'd like to create a partition in my HD and
call it S:, using this to store my development version of the DB.

I have found the disk managment tool in XP under Control Panel/Admin, but as
my whole C: drive is allocated, I don't seem to be able to create a partition
in it called S:. Does anyone have any ideas how I could get around this?
(preferably without having to reformat my HD and start again!) I'm even
happy to not do this as an official partition, but rather just a folder with
a drive letter shortcut if there's a way of doing that.

Any and all ideas welcome (to stop me having to buy a completely
unnecesssary second HD!)

Many thanks,

SCM

"Simon Morley" <SimonMorley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F5D2EFF9-BF96-432C-B6FE-0E090B900092@microsoft.com...
|I am developing a DB to run on network server with drive letter S: however
on
| my machine, I only have C:. To avoid having to update linked tables and
code
| each time I do a new release, I'd like to create a partition in my HD and
| call it S:, using this to store my development version of the DB.
|
| I have found the disk managment tool in XP under Control Panel/Admin, but
as
| my whole C: drive is allocated, I don't seem to be able to create a
partition
| in it called S:. Does anyone have any ideas how I could get around this?
| (preferably without having to reformat my HD and start again!) I'm even
| happy to not do this as an official partition, but rather just a folder
with
| a drive letter shortcut if there's a way of doing that.
|
| Any and all ideas welcome (to stop me having to buy a completely
| unnecesssary second HD!)
|
| Many thanks,
|
| SCM

Windows resident disk partitioning tools cannot manipulate partitions on a
drive with no unallocated free space non destructively.

In order to create a partition with your current configuration you would
have to use a third party partitioning tool such as partition magic.

http://www.symantec.com/partitionmagic/

--
D

I'm not an MVP a VIP nor do I have ESP.
I was just trying to help.
Please use your own best judgment before implementing any suggestions or
advice herein.
No warranty is expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
See store for details.

Remove shoes to E-mail.

Two answers:

1) I understand BootitNG can adjust existing partitions and make a new one
in a fully allocated (but not full) disk.

2) The DOS command SUBST is just what you need. Open a command prompt and
type:
SUBST S: "full-path-to-folder".
Very useful for all sorts of things!

--
####################
## PH, London
####################
"Simon Morley" <SimonMorley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F5D2EFF9-BF96-432C-B6FE-0E090B900092@microsoft.com...
>I am developing a DB to run on network server with drive letter S: however
>on
> my machine, I only have C:. To avoid having to update linked tables and
> code
> each time I do a new release, I'd like to create a partition in my HD and
> call it S:, using this to store my development version of the DB.
>
> I have found the disk managment tool in XP under Control Panel/Admin, but
> as
> my whole C: drive is allocated, I don't seem to be able to create a
> partition
> in it called S:. Does anyone have any ideas how I could get around this?
> (preferably without having to reformat my HD and start again!) I'm even
> happy to not do this as an official partition, but rather just a folder
> with
> a drive letter shortcut if there's a way of doing that.
>
> Any and all ideas welcome (to stop me having to buy a completely
> unnecesssary second HD!)
>
> Many thanks,
>
> SCM

"Simon Morley" <SimonMorley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F5D2EFF9-BF96-432C-B6FE-0E090B900092@microsoft.com...
> I am developing a DB to run on network server with drive letter S: however
on
> my machine, I only have C:. To avoid having to update linked tables and
code
> each time I do a new release, I'd like to create a partition in my HD and
> call it S:, using this to store my development version of the DB.
>
> I have found the disk managment tool in XP under Control Panel/Admin, but
as
> my whole C: drive is allocated, I don't seem to be able to create a
partition
> in it called S:. Does anyone have any ideas how I could get around this?
> (preferably without having to reformat my HD and start again!) I'm even
> happy to not do this as an official partition, but rather just a folder
with
> a drive letter shortcut if there's a way of doing that.
>
> Any and all ideas welcome (to stop me having to buy a completely
> unnecesssary second HD!)
>
> Many thanks,
>
> SCM

Further to the subst command proposed by Philip, you could also create
a share, then map a drive letter to it.

As a general observation: I would never set up a server (or, in fact,
a workstation) with just one drive. In my opinion, the operating system
and the applications should reside on drive C:, and all data must go
somewhere else. Tossing everything into the one drive causes all
sorts of maintenance problems. You're experiencing just one of
them - there are several others.

Hi,

The best way is to buy a new Hdd and set it up as slave.
You can use disk management to partition the new HDD for DB and backup.
Keeping data files on the same Hdd with the OS without backup on other
physical drives is a very silly decision.
Hdd is cheap today, 80GB less than $80.-
I wouldn't spend $30 or more to buy a third party software for just
partition/resize the HDD.

Peter


"Simon Morley" wrote:

> I am developing a DB to run on network server with drive letter S: however on
> my machine, I only have C:. To avoid having to update linked tables and code
> each time I do a new release, I'd like to create a partition in my HD and
> call it S:, using this to store my development version of the DB.
>
> I have found the disk managment tool in XP under Control Panel/Admin, but as
> my whole C: drive is allocated, I don't seem to be able to create a partition
> in it called S:. Does anyone have any ideas how I could get around this?
> (preferably without having to reformat my HD and start again!) I'm even
> happy to not do this as an official partition, but rather just a folder with
> a drive letter shortcut if there's a way of doing that.
>
> Any and all ideas welcome (to stop me having to buy a completely
> unnecesssary second HD!)
>
> Many thanks,
>
> SCM

Quote
"I'm even
>> happy to not do this as an official partition, but rather just a folder
>> with
>> a drive letter shortcut if there's a way of doing that."

Wasn't that called 'virtual drives' way back when...?

r.


"Peter" <Peter@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F4517DFB-0DBC-4C31-B163-523E62E0E471@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> The best way is to buy a new Hdd and set it up as slave.
> You can use disk management to partition the new HDD for DB and backup.
> Keeping data files on the same Hdd with the OS without backup on other
> physical drives is a very silly decision.
> Hdd is cheap today, 80GB less than $80.-
> I wouldn't spend $30 or more to buy a third party software for just
> partition/resize the HDD.
>
> Peter
>
>
> "Simon Morley" wrote:
>
>> I am developing a DB to run on network server with drive letter S:
>> however on
>> my machine, I only have C:. To avoid having to update linked tables and
>> code
>> each time I do a new release, I'd like to create a partition in my HD and
>> call it S:, using this to store my development version of the DB.
>>
>> I have found the disk managment tool in XP under Control Panel/Admin, but
>> as
>> my whole C: drive is allocated, I don't seem to be able to create a
>> partition
>> in it called S:. Does anyone have any ideas how I could get around this?
>> (preferably without having to reformat my HD and start again!) I'm even
>> happy to not do this as an official partition, but rather just a folder
>> with
>> a drive letter shortcut if there's a way of doing that.
>>
>> Any and all ideas welcome (to stop me having to buy a completely
>> unnecesssary second HD!)
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> SCM

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
news:uElTyQawEHA.1396@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>
> Further to the subst command proposed by Philip, you could also create
> a share, then map a drive letter to it.
>

Never thought of that! SUBST is more flexible, though, if you just want a
drive letter to point to a folder on the same machine, although if you have
a folder shared, you could set the drive mapping to be persistent, and never
have to worry about it again. Hmmm....

> As a general observation: I would never set up a server (or, in fact,
> a workstation) with just one drive. In my opinion, the operating system
> and the applications should reside on drive C:, and all data must go
> somewhere else. Tossing everything into the one drive causes all
> sorts of maintenance problems. You're experiencing just one of
> them - there are several others.
>
>

On that point, it's easy enough to redirect your "My Documents" folder into
another partition, but what would be the best way to redirect the whole of
Documents and Settings, so that Desktop and all the rest go with it? A
junction point?

--
####################
## PH, London
####################

"Philip Herlihy" <foof8501@herlihy.eu.veil.com> wrote in message
news:uXNCC4ewEHA.3908@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
> news:uElTyQawEHA.1396@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> >
> > Further to the subst command proposed by Philip, you could also create
> > a share, then map a drive letter to it.
> >
>
> Never thought of that! SUBST is more flexible, though, if you just want a
> drive letter to point to a folder on the same machine, although if you
have
> a folder shared, you could set the drive mapping to be persistent, and
never
> have to worry about it again. Hmmm....
>
> > As a general observation: I would never set up a server (or, in fact,
> > a workstation) with just one drive. In my opinion, the operating system
> > and the applications should reside on drive C:, and all data must go
> > somewhere else. Tossing everything into the one drive causes all
> > sorts of maintenance problems. You're experiencing just one of
> > them - there are several others.
> >
> >
>
> On that point, it's easy enough to redirect your "My Documents" folder
into
> another partition, but what would be the best way to redirect the whole of
> Documents and Settings, so that Desktop and all the rest go with it? A
> junction point?
>
> --
> ####################
> ## PH, London
> ####################
>
>

Right-click "My Documents" on the desktop, click "Properties", then
change the location.

You can get the Task Scheduler to issue the subst command automatically
at start time. The substituted drive should be visible to all accounts.

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
news:%237CIKwfwEHA.3976@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>
>> On that point, it's easy enough to redirect your "My Documents" folder
> into
>> another partition, but what would be the best way to redirect the whole
>> of
>> Documents and Settings, so that Desktop and all the rest go with it? A
>> junction point?
>>
>> --
>> ####################
>> ## PH, London
>> ####################
>>
>>
>
> Right-click "My Documents" on the desktop, click "Properties", then
> change the location.
>

That's the easy bit - what I'd want to do is carry over the Desktop, and the
hidden folders like Application Data, Local Settings and Favorites too.
I've been meaning to research how to do all that, but just wondered if you
knew the best way, given your earlier comment. The fact is, I store _far_
too much stuff on my desktop not to back it up, but (when I finally get
round to re-partitioning my drive) it'll be in the OS/Applications partition
(which I'll ghost whenever anything significant changes)

--
####################
## PH, London
####################

"Philip Herlihy" <foof8501@herlihy.eu.veil.com> wrote in message
news:%23olvQ2fwEHA.3320@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
> news:%237CIKwfwEHA.3976@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> >
> >> On that point, it's easy enough to redirect your "My Documents" folder
> > into
> >> another partition, but what would be the best way to redirect the whole
> >> of
> >> Documents and Settings, so that Desktop and all the rest go with it? A
> >> junction point?
> >>
> >> --
> >> ####################
> >> ## PH, London
> >> ####################
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Right-click "My Documents" on the desktop, click "Properties", then
> > change the location.
> >
>
> That's the easy bit - what I'd want to do is carry over the Desktop, and
the
> hidden folders like Application Data, Local Settings and Favorites too.
> I've been meaning to research how to do all that, but just wondered if you
> knew the best way, given your earlier comment. The fact is, I store _far_
> too much stuff on my desktop not to back it up, but (when I finally get
> round to re-partitioning my drive) it'll be in the OS/Applications
partition
> (which I'll ghost whenever anything significant changes)
>
> --
> ####################
> ## PH, London
> ####################

The location for "Documents and Settings" is kept in
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
and in the keys underneath. To move it, you probably have to do this:
1. Log on under some maintenance account.
2. Use xcopy.exe with the appropriate switches to copy "Documents and
Settings" to the new location.
3. Change the above key and all its subkeys to reflect the new path.
4. Log off and on again.

I have never tried this and I do not know what other registry keys
need to be changed. To do it with confidence I would create a new
post with an appropriate subject line in a general WinXP newsgroup
and see what the experts say.