New Partition on XP Home machine

[Steve--]

When I purchased my Compaq laptop it came with one 40 gig
partition on the 40 gig HD, and the operating system
installed.

Is it possible to create a new partition (i'd like to have
two 20 gig partitions as drives "C" and "D")without having
to format the drive and re-install the OS and all the
software?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

When I purchased my Compaq laptop it came with one 40 gig
partition on the 40 gig HD, and the operating system
installed.

Is it possible to create a new partition (i'd like to have
two 20 gig partitions as drives "C" and "D")without having
to format the drive and re-install the OS and all the
software?

You can not change the existing partition structure
non-destructively with native Windows tools. To do so requires a
third-party program such as Partition Magic or Bootit Next
Generation.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The only way you can create, delete, resize or merge existing partitions,
and not harm your existing Windows installation, is to purchase and use
a third-party partitioning program such as Partition Magic 8.
http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/pmdetails.cfm

P.S. If you do use Partition Magic 8 to partition your drive, bear in mind
that if ever the need arises to use the Compaq restore procedure to
reinstall Windows XP, it will automatically delete all the partitions
and recreate just one partition, thus returning your system to its
original factory configuration.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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| When I purchased my Compaq laptop it came with one 40 gig
| partition on the 40 gig HD, and the operating system
| installed.
|
| Is it possible to create a new partition (i'd like to have
| two 20 gig partitions as drives "C" and "D")without having
| to format the drive and re-install the OS and all the
| software?

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

You can do this with third party software - see if Partition Magic looks
good to you. As always, it is wise to back up all your data before doing
anything like this.

 

[archie]

yes

 

[Steve]

Thanks for the advice - I'll have a look at the Partition
Magic product - knowing that if I do make a change, and
need to use the restore disk in the future, the system
will revert to only one partition.

 

[Bruce Phillips]

Steve,

That wasn't the case with my Compaq Presario Win98 machine. After I got my
XP machine, I decided to network the two together and use the W98 for
backup/storage. I had previously partitioned its HD into two partitions, but
I thought I would run the restore disk to get a clean install of W98,
figuring I would again have only one partition. To my surprise, even after
all of the warnings about the restore process destroying all data on the HD,
it only touched the C drive, leaving the D drive alone.

I suspect all of those restore caveats are based on the assumption that the
user has only one partition on the HD, since it was only the C: partition
that was over-written. This is only my experience, of course; I don't know
how different restore disks on different OS's might operate.

Bruce

 

[Alex Nichol]

When I purchased my Compaq laptop it came with one 40 gig
partition on the 40 gig HD, and the operating system
installed.

Is it possible to create a new partition (i'd like to have
two 20 gig partitions as drives "C" and "D")without having
to format the drive and re-install the OS and all the
software?

Only with third party software - Partition Magic 8.0 or I use BootIT NG,
from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware - 30 day full functional
trial)

And there is a fair probability that if you ever have to reinstall, the
Compaq provision will put you back with the setup you have at the
moment. So be *sure* to back up that second partition properly and
regularly