how do you make a separate partition on your hard disk?

[Dion]

hi how do you make a separate partition on your hard disk? and do you need
it? i installed a new hard drive and vista is installed on that drive,is it
worth having a separate partition?

 

[BigJim]

hi how do you make a separate partition on your hard disk? and do you need
it? i installed a new hard drive and vista is installed on that drive,is
it worth having a separate partition?

partitions are usually setup during the install of the OS. Under xp many
people use partition magic after the OS was installed. Not sure what works
well with Vista. It may be easier to install a second drive.

 

[Charlie42]

hi how do you make a separate partition on your hard disk?

Vista has a built in tool for that:

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/d9a4d35e-efdf-406c-a049-0860180129a71033.mspx

In some cases Vista may not let you apply changes to a disk, particularly
when it comes to system volumes and the boot volume. Then you may consider
using a third party partition manager, like Acronis or PartitionMagic (I'm
not sure it supports Vista yet). Or if you're familiar with Linux, you can
use a bootable live CD/DVD with the gparted app.

and do you need it?
i installed a new hard drive and vista is installed on that drive,is it
worth having a separate partition?

Personally, I don't think so, but that's for you to decide. Some like to
organize their files and folders in logical volumes. Also, for safety's sake
it can be a good idea to keep your OS/software files on one disk, and user
files on another. Different hard drives that is, not just partitioned
volumes.

Charlie42

 

[Not Me]

I prefer to have multiple partitons for orginization, but I generally have
my OS and programs on 1 HDD and my data on another.
That way I back up each separately and if 1 fails, I only have to restore
that one.
Any drive can fail, but I seem to have system disks fail more often that
data disks, maybe it's just the luck of the draw; but maybe the constant use
of the OS wears them a little faster.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Partition Magic does not support Vista. Acronis is the best route when it
comes to a third party tool.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Check out this guide on istartedsomething.com about creating partitions
using the built in tool in Vista
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20071211/guide-test-vista-sp1-rc1-partition/

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

hi how do you make a separate partition on your hard disk? and do you need
it? i installed a new hard drive and vista is installed on that drive,is it
worth having a separate partition?

The question of whether you should have more than one partition, is
not a question to which everyone has the same answer, and you'll find
different points of view. My view is that most people's partitioning
scheme should be based on their backup scheme. If, for example, you
backup by creating a clone or image on the entire drive, then as
single partition might be best. If, on the other hand, you backup only
your data, then the backup process is facilitated by having all data
in a separate partition.

Except for those running multiple operating systems, there is seldom
any benefit to having more than two partitions.