hard drive partitions

[marty]

i have bought my son a acer aspire laptop 120gb hard drive.I noticed that
acer have given the hard drive 3 partitions "c" ,"data" and 1 hidden(approx
18gb which i assume is the recovery partition) is there a particular reason
why they are configured like this or can i merge the "c" and "data" call it
"c" and rename the recovery "d" this way he would only have one disc to worry
about with most of his available space in one place instead of moving from
one disc to another and if i did this would he lose his files and settings
.........thanks for any advice

 

[Tom Ferguson]

Typically, units with this sort of partition arrangement are set up so that
you can recover the system to the configuration it had when it came from the
supplier. If you make changes such as those you proposed, it is unlikely
that the recovery procedure, as detailed in their manual or on-CD/DVD
instructions, would work.

This might not be a problem if you have made some other provision for
recovering the system. Such provision might include backup disks or disk
image on some sort of backup device.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

i have bought my son a acer aspire laptop 120gb hard drive.I noticed that
acer have given the hard drive 3 partitions "c" ,"data" and 1
hidden(approx
18gb which i assume is the recovery partition) is there a particular
reason
why they are configured like this or can i merge the "c" and "data" call
it
"c" and rename the recovery "d" this way he would only have one disc to
worry
about with most of his available space in one place instead of moving from
one disc to another and if i did this would he lose his files and settings
........thanks for any advice

You can only merge the C and D partitions if they are contigious on the
disk. If the recovery partition is in the way, the merge command won't
work.

If you were to get a new hard disk, which wouldn't be unreasonable given the
amount of space Vista, movies and music take up, and install from the
original media, you'll likely still have the "data" partition. But, you
can delete both the recovery and data partitions, create a new one, and
merge that.

Then, you can investigate backup strategies.

But if you can't install from original media - if there is no recovery
option other than the hard disk - *now* is the time to contact the
manufacturer and get Vista install media on DVD. You may have to pay
something - do so. The cost will mostly be shipping.

Under no circumstances should you ever rely on a "recovery partition" that
will be as unavailable as the rest of the hard disk when it fails. That is
the fatal flaw in the "recovery partition" scheme, which saves the
manufacturer perhaps a dollar and shifts all the costs for a new license to
the end user.

Some systems require the end user to create backup media themselves, and
supply a means to perform this task. Do it, and also contact the
manufacturer for replacement media.

HTH
-pk

 

[marty]

thanks for the response,what i want to do is merge "c"and data drives but
leave the hidden partion in place i can see all three drives in disk
management and the 18gb recovery partition is is not named the other 2 are
approx 51gb each is it not possible to create a "c"drive approx 102gb and
leave the recovery as is

 

[DDW]

thanks for the response,what i want to do is merge "c"and data drives but
leave the hidden partion in place i can see all three drives in disk
management and the 18gb recovery partition is is not named the other 2 are
approx 51gb each is it not possible to create a "c"drive approx 102gb and
leave the recovery as is

You will need a third-party partition manager to do that - IF it won't
screw up your ability to either use the recovery utility at startup
and ALSO if it won't screw that utility up as well as your ability to
load Windows.


DDW

 

[marty]

thanks patrick,i can't think why acer have chosen to partion the drives like
this my laptop (compaq)only has 2 partitions "c"and "d" d being the 5.11gb
recovery it's much easier to use and i dont have to try and remember which
drive i put files in i think i'll do as you suggest and try to get the
installation disc after all i have paid for it

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

thanks patrick,i can't think why acer have chosen to partion the drives
like
this my laptop (compaq)only has 2 partitions "c"and "d" d being the 5.11gb
recovery it's much easier to use and i dont have to try and remember which
drive i put files in i think i'll do as you suggest and try to get the
installation disc after all i have paid for it

Assuming that your recovery partition only acts on the C drive when run, any
data will be preserved on the D part. While this should not be seen as a
backup solution, it can help greatly when you have to re-instate the
operating system on C.

Regarding finding files, Vista search will cover all drives, so nothing will
be lost. You can move your entire 'My Documents folder to D, and you can
also point the default 'open/save' location to D in applications like MS
Office and others..

Unless you have backups of the data held on your Compaq machine, running the
recovery partition will see all of your data disappear, never to be viewed
again..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[Tom Ferguson]

It's your computer so you can do whatever you want.

That being said, I repeat, be aware that if you change the maker's
partitioning arrangement, you will probably not be able to restore the
system to the as-delivered state by using the facility the maker intends.
You are certainly able to use another system if one is supplied. For
example, Toshiba provides an installed program you can use to make back-up
disks that can be used to recover the system. So does HP. I am not familiar
with what Acer does. I do not know what they place on each of the partitions
they set up. Also, third parties such as Acronis can supply you with a good
back-up solution to replace or supplement any that the computer maker
supplied.

Personally, my Toshiba notebook and HP desktop have an intact backup system
on the HD, backup DVDs made by the Toshiba or HP-supplied and installed
utility, Acronis disk images, and full and incremental backups done by
Windows Home Server. My two towers have Acronis disk images and home server
backups.

If you want, you can delete all partitions and install a full retail package
on whatever partitioning arrangement you set up using something like Acronis
Disk Director.

--

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007