Built in Partitioning Tool in Vista setup ?

[tim]

Hello,

Does Vista have a partitioning tool in the setup that can add/delete/change
partitions on the HDD in the setup process that does not affect files on at
least one partition like Partition Magic?

If it doesnt,would anyone know a good but reasonably priced software to do
this,as it is a once off problem.

Thanks

 

[JerryM \(ID\)]

Vista has a limited partitioning tool in Disk Management.
You can Shrink C: drive, creating an Unallocated space that can then be
created into another partition.

Following through with this, Right click Computer and select Manage,
Select Disk Management,
Expand to full screen to see the drives,
Click to select C: drive, then Action at the top,
Select All tasks.
You can select Shrink and go from there.
It will tell you the minimum size, but be sure to leave room for extra
files.
I use 50 gb for C: drive as a minimum.

--

Jerry

One thing money can't buy,
The wagging tail of a dog.

 

[R. C. White, MVP]

Hi, Tim.

Yes, Vista Setup does have several partitioning functions available. First
is the limited option to create or delete a partition or to format one,
which is an integral part of Setup. And there is also the ability to press
Shift+F10 at almost any point during Setup to open a Command Prompt window,
making many DOS-like commands available. I don't recall if the full
DiskPart.exe shell is available at this point, but there is access to tools
to do most of the things that we forgot to do before starting Setup.

As JerryM said, once Vista is up and running, we can use the familiar Disk
Management tool that has been a part of Windows since Win2K. This does
almost everything that Partition Magic can do. The Vista version has added
the ability to shrink and expand volumes. And, from Vista's Command Prompt,
we can run the DiskPart.exe shell, which has a few more functions that were
left out of Disk Management (such as creating an extended partition as the
first partition on a HDD).

If you tell us specifically what partitioning job you need to do during
Setup, we probably can answer your question. Partition Magic is - or at
least, it was - a great tool, but I haven't needed it for several years
because Disk Management (with occasional help from DiskPart.exe) handles all
my partition management needs.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Mail in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[tim]

Hi R.C.,

I am wanting to create a 3rd partition on my HDD from the space in D Drive
only without affecting any files on D Drive or in C Drive.

Its something Partition Magic can do.Are you saying that Vista can do the
above,as you said below "almost everything that Partition Magic can do" ??

Thanks

 

[R. C. White, MVP]

Hi, Tim.

Yes. In Vista, Disk management has gained the ability to "Shrink volume".
Assuming that you've not used all the space in Drive D:, you should be able
to shrink that volume and use the excess space to create Drive E: (or X: or
whatever you choose to name it).

For example, assume you have a 100 GB HDD divided into a 20 GB Drive C: (the
System Partition and Vista's Boot Volume), plus an 80 GB Drive D:. If you
have only 30 GB of files on Drive D:, but want to keep another 20 GB for
future use, you could use the Shrink volume command and tell it to shrink
Drive D: to 50 GB. This would free up the final 30 GB on the HDD, and you
could then create a 30 GB Drive E: in that space.

This Shrink volume function is not available during Setup, but it is a part
of Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc), which is a part of Vista, so it is
available after Vista is up and running.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Mail in Vista Ultimate x64)