Repartition or unpartiton

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by budhicks, Apr 16, 2006.

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  1. budhicks

    budhicks Registered Member

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    Can the hard drive be repartition or better yet un-partitionedo_O?

    I am out of space in one of my partitions and the other one has plenty of disk space. It is a 60 G hard drive. The hard drive is equally divided now. If it can’t be un-partitioned easily and safely it would be better if the C: drive could be enlarged by 10GB and the Backup E: drive decreased by that much.

    The only times I have ever needed a backup was when there were hard disk crashes. Someone set this up for me and said it was better to have the hard disk partitioned. I see no value in having a partitioned hard drive since I backup to another computer or DVD.

    The operating system is XP Pro Version 5.1 Service Pack 2. This is a Dell Inspiron 9200.


    The operating system is XP Pro Version 5.1 Service Pack 2. This is a Dell Inspiron 9200.
     
  2. DCM

    DCM Registered Member

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    The extra partition can be emptied and then deleted.

    After that, Partition Magic will let you resize partitions so you can either make the extra one much smaller and then increase the size of the C: partition to use up the unallocated space or you can delete the extra partition and then increase the size of the C: partition to allow full use of the drive.

    Do not use the "Merge" function in Partition Magic. My experience with that has been that it takes forever to work and when you get done, you may have some data loss. It is much better to use Windows Explorer, move your data to the C: partitoin and then either delete the extra partition or resize it as described above.

    If you don't have Partition Magic, the XP disk management may allow you to do the same thing. Not sure because I don't use it for this purpose. Partition Magic is easier.

    Another possiblity that I have not tried is the freeware called Partition Logic. Someone posted on another forum and said that it works but is slow.
     
  3. marshv

    marshv Registered Member

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    Partition Magic is your best bet and it is safe. Still a good bet as always to back up your data.. You can resize your partitions just like you want to. I would not use disk managment in your case because you will lose your data.
    As for deleting the extra partition I would keep it.You can move all your data there. I always have extra partitions. I keep all my data on one partition and apps on another. I only keep WinXP SP2 on my C drive. That way if your operating sysytem goes belly up you never lose you data. I have had many problems but never lost any data with this method, Good Luck:)
     
  4. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    25,885
    Hello budhicks,

    Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    We recommend you to use Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 to increase the size of your C partition.

    Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 includes Partition manager (resize, copy, merge, split and move partitions without losing your data), Boot manager (create dual boot and multiboot environments), Disk editor (edit hard disk manually) and Partition recovery (recover lost or deleted partition). So it will allow you to resize your partitions easily.

    You can find more information on how to use Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 in the respective User's Guide.

    Please visit Acronis online store to purchase the product.

    If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

    Thank you.
    --
    Tatyana Tsyngaeva
     
  5. Longboard

    Longboard Registered Member

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    Sydney, Australia
    IMHO the best bar none partition manager is BootIT NG from terabyte.
    Price :)
    Support :)
    Multifunction :) Partition management: resize, delete, rename, Create,boot order, boot direct, multiboot OS setup, Images, restores, disc copies, boot from disc etc.
    Newsgroup :)
    Seamless integration with Windows disc management. :)
    Ease of use even for dunderheads like me :D

    Video demos and tutorials on the home page and around the web.

    FRee trial.

    go see: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

    (sorry, over zealous convert, but, have alook and you will be amazed)
     
  6. Robyn

    Robyn Registered Member

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    I used Acronis Partition Expert (personal edition) for my laptop but when I defrag. there is information in the partition which cannot be defragmented (I think this is from the use of PE) I don't have this on my main PC as it was partioned via disk mangent on install.

    I would prefer to have my disc back in order to defragment fully and only have one partition would BootIT NG be the tool to use?
    I can resize partition or delete with PE but I don't want to end up with more data which doesn't defragment.

    I would definitely make sure I partitioned correctly if I choose to reformat laptop but trying to avoid this just now.
     
  7. Longboard

    Longboard Registered Member

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    @Robyn

    I'm probably ( certainly) not the best person to ask about your issue.
    Not expert by any means :blink:

    I'm not entirely sure what you are after.

    Why not ask in the Acronis support forum about uninstalling PE and /or any hidden partitions.
    That may remove all its' bits.
    Depending on your hardware some Manufacturers have their own MBR addon/hidden partitions/boot utilities
    (I think Dell and Toshiba and HP at least does this and this may be the type of thing you are seeing)

    I think the disc management in Xp will show hidden partitions.

    If you install the free trial of BootIt you will be able to see any hidden partitions.

    Bootit will do whatever you want, be careful waht you delete!
    Save an image first. !

    AND as noted better to ask some one who really knows OK :)
    Try Chris 12923

    Regards
     
  8. Robyn

    Robyn Registered Member

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    Thanks for this - I think I will ask before tweaking ;)

    I know I don't have hidden partitions on this laptop as it came with an XP disc plus drivers.
    I know I asked before partitioning if there was any hidden sections as there was on my old laptop but was assured all was on the discs supplied.

    I have used Partition Magic in the past but it didn't leave the bit I have after PE.
    I will investigate further and see if the disc can be freed for one partition without leaving any traces of the old.
    If not I will have to wait until a reformat at some stage - will keep a check when I next defragment for exact details.
     
  9. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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    As far as I can remeber there is a free linux Live CD partition manager also, but never used it and don,t know the details. May be somebody has used it. My main point for it to be free.
     
  10. PeterVO

    PeterVO Registered Member

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    Location:
    Belgium, Leuven
    Hello,

    it's called 'GParted' and stands for 'Gnome Partition Editor'.
    All info on 'http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php'.

    Kind regards,

    PeterVO
     
  11. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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    Thanks Peter.
     
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