Partitioning Question.

[aenimic]

Currently, I have a 40GB Hard Drive which is partitioned in two:
10GB as the primary partition C: with windows installed to it.
30GB as an extended partition D:
I have just recently purchased a 250GB Hard Drive and I would like to know whether or not it would be possible to have my new hard drive listed as D: and have the D: partition on the old 40GB hard drive transferred onto this, then to have the old D: drive merged into my primary partition to give more space for windows.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TriplexDread]

Not sure if you can merge different partitions m8. You may have to start again.

ie Backup, repartition and format

Maybe someone else know if you can do that

As for using the 250 as D: you can change the drive letters of the two separate drives using Disk manager in computer management

Start/settings/control panel/administrative tools/computer management/disk management

If the dirve is installed partition and formatted then right click on it goto properties the option is there. If you havent partitioned and formatted then all the tools you need are there too

 

[aenimic]

If I can't do that, is there any way in which I can mirror the whole contents of my 40GB onto the 250GB and alter the partition sizes there?

 

[Anon_F]

Have you tried Ghosting it? Using Norton Ghost or similiar, it may work.

 

[TriplexDread]

Yeah norton ghost may do it. But as u have to separate partitions i'm not sure if Norton ghost allows verging of separate drives as it will see them as so. By all means try it

 

[aenimic]

Ok, so If I imaged my whole hard drive, then transferred it to the new one, would i be able to set different partition sizes?

 

[TriplexDread]

I have in the past tryed to image a drive. It only imaged the contents of the drive tho


So I had a 60gig drive, it only had 25gig on it. When I imaged it, it only copied the 25gig onto the new 160gig drive and would not allow me to access the remaining 130gig of my new drive. Never did understand why it did this. Maybe I didnt set a preference or something I dunno.

 

[Anon_F]

this may help

Try www.acronis.com and download the Acronis True Image 9.0 Home 15 Day trial. This may help as it does copy partitions as well. Suggest you read the instructions in full before using it

 

[aenimic]

Ok, 1 last query before I make my mind up.
c:\ - windows installed
d:\ - my documents and program files
i:\ - new hard drive

I've been viewing from a perspective of Partition Magic. Would I be able to, by hand, move everything from my d:\ drive to my new i:\ drive, then change the drive letters around, without causing too much corruption?

 

[muckshifter]

Ghost can adjust the partitions accordingly from a small HD to a newer bigger HD ... however, back-up all data first, just in case.

Me, I would take the 40 out, install the new 250 and use my Win XP CD to install afresh ... then "slave" the 40 off that and copy my data over.

It actually would help if you told us a little more about the OS & hardware you have ... some older PCs will not "see" all of your new HD.

 

[aenimic]

I bit the bullet and chose to give it a go. Thanks to partition magic, it all went swimmingly. Thanks for the additional advice.

 

[TriplexDread]

Excellent. Know if you hear of anyone else with the same problem make sure you pass on ya knowledge. Thats all we ask