Can I Partition Disk with XP-Pro already on it ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tmb
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tmb

I heard you couldn't partition your hard disk with the Operating System on
it unless it was partitioned before the OS was installed.

My Laptop came with XP Pro on the hard disk... and no partitions

Can I partition it now or must I wipe it and start over?

Thanks,

tmb
 
tmb said:
I heard you couldn't partition your hard disk with the Operating
System on it unless it was partitioned before the OS was installed.

My Laptop came with XP Pro on the hard disk... and no partitions

Can I partition it now or must I wipe it and start over?

Thanks,

tmb
Click to expand...

You could, using a partitioning program like Partition Magic from PowerQuest
(not freeware)
 
I heard you couldn't partition your hard disk with the Operating System
on
it unless it was partitioned before the OS was installed.
My Laptop came with XP Pro on the hard disk... and no partitions
Can I partition it now or must I wipe it and start over?


tmb:

I used Partition Magic to partition my new portable (Win XP Pro) without any
loss of data.

IMO, the safest method of using PMagic is via floppy boot, and to do one
process at a time (not batched),
 
In
tmb said:
I heard you couldn't partition your hard disk with the Operating
System on it unless it was partitioned before the OS was installed.

My Laptop came with XP Pro on the hard disk... and no partitions
Click to expand...


Yes, you necesaarily have at least one partition--the one that XP is on.

Can I partition it now or must I wipe it and start over?
Click to expand...


You presumably want to repartition it, and have more than the single partition you have now. You can *not* do this non-destructively with native Windows facilities. If you're not willing to wipe out everything you have, your only choice is to use a third-party utility. Partition Magic is the best-known such product, but there are also freeware/shareware alternatives, such as Boot it Next Generation.
 
Thanks everybody.

I have partition Magic, just wasn't sure I needed to use it with XP Pro.

tmb
 
In
tmb said:
Thanks everybody.

I have partition Magic, just wasn't sure I needed to use it with XP
Pro.
Click to expand...


If your partition is NTFS, make sure that your copy of Partition Magic is a recent one. Older versions won't have support for NTFS.
 
If your hd is formatted NTFS then you may find that XP
pro and Partition Magic will not work and you will get
the infamous PowerQuest 1513 error message (Im still
waiting for Powerquest to find a solution to this). It
may be better, as suggested, to use another product.

Whatever product you use, back up your data BEFORE
attempting any partitioning.

Good Luck
 
FWIW, Partiton Magic 8.0 resizes partitions and creates new ones here on
my NTFS XP Home system.
 
If your hd is formatted NTFS then you may find that XP
pro and Partition Magic will not work and you will get
the infamous PowerQuest 1513 error message

John:

I use PMagic v7.01 on NTFS partitions with Win XP Pro/Home, Win2k server,
Win2k3 server w/o problems.
Note that I only use PM via floppy boot.
 
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