File Partition No Unallocated Space

[Guest]

Is there a way of creating an additional file partition with no unallocated
space. The system partition has several gigabytes of unused space.

 

[Rich Barry]

If you have unused space on your hard drive you can try rt clicking
MyComputer>select Manage>Disk Managment.
On the right you will see a list of Partitions and drives that are on
your system. You should see the free space and be able
to click on it and set up a partition.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Is there a way of creating an additional file partition with no
unallocated space. The system partition has several gigabytes of
unused space.

I'm not at all clear as to what you'ree asking, but see if the following
helps:

The term "unallocated space" refers to space that it not in any partition.
Therefore you can't have a partition with unallocated space.

"Unused" space, on the other hand, is space in a partition, that doesn't
have files in it. When you create a partition, you normally make it big
enough to hold all the files you expect to put there, but you don't normally
know the exact size in advance, or how much you may want to add later, you
make it bigger than necessary. That's good, not bad. You don't want to have
a partition with no room to add files to it.

Think of it as like having a bookcase to keep your personal library in. If
it's full now, you can't add any more books (at least not without getting a
larger bookcase).

So unused space in a partition is both normal (because it's very difficult
to calculate in advance exactly how much space you need for what you have)
and desirable (because you always want room for expansion).

 

[Guest]

I agree with your definitions. I am trying to create a third partition. If
I understand Disk management correctly, creation of an additional partition
requires "unallocated space". The only available space on the disk is
"unused space" within the partition, this is the several gigabytes I refer to
in the note. Is there a way to take some of the "unused" space within the
already defined partition for the creation of an additional partition.

 

[Rich Barry]

Ken, was I correct in saying that you can create another partition from
the unallocated space on the hard drive. From what
you said, if you have a 5G partition and 4G is used, then the remaining
1G is unused space.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I agree with your definitions. I am trying to create a third
partition. If I understand Disk management correctly, creation of an
additional partition requires "unallocated space".

Correct.


The only
available space on the disk is "unused space" within the partition,
this is the several gigabytes I refer to in the note.

Yes. The Microsoft Knowledge Base article about this is very confusing, and
not generally helpful. It tells you how to create a partition in unallocated
space, but alnost nobody has unallocated space available.

Is there a way
to take some of the "unused" space within the already defined
partition for the creation of an additional partition.

No, not with built-in Windows facilities. Unfortunately, no version of
Windows or DOS has ever had the ability to change the partition structure of
a drive without losing all the data on it. To do so requires the use of a
third-party program. Partition Magic is the best-known such program, but
there are shareware/freeware alternatives. One shareware product that gets
good reports from several MVPs (although I haven't used it personally) is
Bootit Next Generation.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup




"Ken Blake,

 

[Sharon F]

Ken, was I correct in saying that you can create another partition from
the unallocated space on the hard drive. From what
you said, if you have a 5G partition and 4G is used, then the remaining
1G is unused space.

The extra 1 GB is *unused* space, not unallocated. It is allocated space,
currently attributed to the 5GB partition. To trim off that 1 GB of unused
space and create a new partition from it, third party software is needed.

Using XP tools, the entire partition would need to be destroyed. The space
then becomes unallocated. At that point, you can divvy up the unallocated
space into multiple partitions.

Unused space is not unallocated if it's part of an existing partition.
Unallocated space is unused but it also does not belong to a partition.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken, was I correct in saying that you can create another partition
from the unallocated space on the hard drive. From what
you said, if you have a 5G partition and 4G is used, then the
remaining 1G is unused space.

No, you're mixing up "unallocated" space and "unused" space. You "allocate"
space to a partition. If space is "unallocated" it's not in any partition.
The 1GB unused space you are talking about above is unused, as you say, but
it's not unallocated.

Microsoft's KB article (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309000) telling
you how to create a partition in unallocated space is correct, but not
really very helpful to people (in fact I think it confuses people more than
it helps them) because hardly anybody has any unallocated space. Unallocated
space is unusable until you allocate it to a partition; since nobody wants
unusable space, you hardly ever have unallocated space.

Unallocated space is like a drawer in a file cabinet that is taped shut with
duct tape--unusable.