Expanding a partition for WindowsXP?

[BobK]

Hi Folks,

I have WindowsXP Pro on a hard drive that was partioned so that the C drive
with Windows is only 4 gigs and the remainder of the hard drive is a second
partition creating a D drive. The D partition is empty. (There is a second
physical drive for all my data partitioned into E and F).

OfficeXP was also placed on the C drive so I am now running out of memory
when I cut and paste a graphic in Word or even when I want to defrag C.

I would like to make the C drive with Windows and Office on it larger.

Is there a way to increase the size of the C partition? Can someone explain
how to go about making C larger without loosing anything on C?

Thanks a lot,

Bob

 

[R. McCarty]

You will need a 3rd party tool for Partition resizing. Symantec's
Partition Magic, BootItNG & several others can accomplish it.
Do a Google for Disk resizing and you'll find a number of tools
are available.

 

[Testy]

My opinion is never install anything on C: other than your OS. I have a 3.5
gig c: and after over 2 years I still have over 60% free space.

Testy

 

[BobK]

Hi Testy,

Yes, I agree. I have installed all my programs and data on different drives.
The guy who sold me the machine created a 4 gig partition just for WinXP and
he would reinstall clean every few months. However, he re-installed WinXP
when I bought the machine from him and also installed OfficeXP on the same
drive. I think he may have done that by mistake. The bad thing is that I
don't have disks for either.

So, I guess I will have to resize the C partition and permit Office XP to
stay there.

Is there a program that lets you Move a whole program to a different drive?
I know that Cleansweep used to be able to do that. I am sure that would
create a lot of space.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[BobK]

Yes, I thought I would need Partition Magic. Another thought is to move
OfficeXP to another drive. Is there a good program to that these days?
Cleansweep used to have that feature.

Bob

 

[Testy]

There ate programs to do that such as this
http://www.funduc.com/app_mover.htm

but it is not recommended for large programs like Office. You could try
Bootit to resize though it is available here

http://www.bootitng.com/

Good luck, you really should have gotten the disks when purchased you may
get screwed in the future.

Testy

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have WindowsXP Pro on a hard drive that was partioned so that the C drive
with Windows is only 4 gigs and the remainder of the hard drive is a second
partition creating a D drive. The D partition is empty. (There is a second
physical drive for all my data partitioned into E and F).

OfficeXP was also placed on the C drive so I am now running out of memory
when I cut and paste a graphic in Word or even when I want to defrag C.

I would like to make the C drive with Windows and Office on it larger.

Two courses. Use a third party Partition manager, eg Partition Magic,
or BootIT NG, from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware - 30 day full
functional trial)


Or move data across - uninstall Office and reinstall with a custom
install where you tell it to install to D; Open a window on
C:\Documents and Settings\<your account>\ to show My documents; another
on D and use *right* drag; *Move* here to move it over.

But 4 GB is going to come under pressure; a basic raw XP install will
have used about 1.6 GB and you need space for other software that
refuses to go to D: and for restore points, so the third party software
and adjust is the better course

 

[BobK]

Thanks Alex. I will take your advice and make the partition larger.

Actually, I have BootitNG but I must admit that it scares me a bit. It is
not a very intuitive program but I know it would do the trick.

Bob

 

[Alex Nichol]

Actually, I have BootitNG but I must admit that it scares me a bit. It is
not a very intuitive program but I know it would do the trick.

It isn't difficult. If you are only using it for this, and *not* for
the Boot Manager functions, I suggest you do not install it, just boot
the CD and Cancel install - that takes you into Maintenance.

Click Partition Work. Your Hard disk should be selected on the left,
and the partitions will show up in the middle. Highlight the one
(lowest) that is your D and click Resize - choose the new size, and
OK. The spare space will then appear after it, so you use Slide to push
it along so the spare space is in front.

You may at that point find that it was a 'Volume' in an 'Extended
partition. If so, highlight the Extended partition entry and resize
that (which only takes a moment) so that Free space is all outside it,
rather than inside. You can then highlight the C and resize up into the
Free space, and the job is done.

It gives warnings about things possibly going wrong; don't worry too
much, but you should *always* be sure you have a backup of essential
data just in case (eg of a power failure at a critical moment). The
program is resilient, but there is always a *possibility* it could not
recover from that.

 

[BobK]

It isn't difficult. If you are only using it for this, and *not* for
the Boot Manager functions, I suggest you do not install it, just boot
the CD and Cancel install - that takes you into Maintenance.

Click Partition Work. Your Hard disk should be selected on the left,
and the partitions will show up in the middle. Highlight the one
(lowest) that is your D and click Resize - choose the new size, and
OK. The spare space will then appear after it, so you use Slide to push
it along so the spare space is in front.

You may at that point find that it was a 'Volume' in an 'Extended
partition. If so, highlight the Extended partition entry and resize
that (which only takes a moment) so that Free space is all outside it,
rather than inside. You can then highlight the C and resize up into the
Free space, and the job is done.

It gives warnings about things possibly going wrong; don't worry too
much, but you should *always* be sure you have a backup of essential
data just in case (eg of a power failure at a critical moment). The
program is resilient, but there is always a *possibility* it could not
recover from that.

Thanks a lot Alex. You gave me the courage to try it. I will let you know
how I do (if I can

Bob