How to partition HD and migrate data

Would like to partition a Seagate ST9160821A hard drive installed in notebook computer running Windows XP into two partitions, one for system files, another for data.

I began by connecting Seagate FreeAgent, 500GB SATA hard drive to the notebook's USB port; used Acronics,True Image Home 2009 to make an image file of only sectors containing data, stored the image file on USB hard drive and validated the image file. The internal drive capacity is 149GB, and the image file is 64GB.

I would like to make a 30GB Primary partition on the internal hard drive, and migrate the operating system and executable programs to it from the external USB hard drive. I have not been able to set the boot priority in the BIOS to make the system boot from a CD/DVD. How should I partition the drive and migrate the data?

 

You don't need Acronis for this.

Keep the image in case, but download a Partition Manager, (Gparted is free.) Defrag your present drive, Burn a cd from the download iso, and boot on the Partition Manager. Reduce the size of your C: partition as much as you wish or the program will allow. Create a partition on the unused space, and give it a format and name.

Reboot your machine and you are done. No image required.

The image will still fit into the smaller partition if you ever need to use it.

Good luck.

 

Well nearly done .

I read it that the OP has only one partition at present. This contains everything.

Having set up the new partition the data that needs to go there should be moved using normal Windows tools.

The OS partition should now be left with the OS and all programs. Having shifted out the data it may be worth making it a bit smaller with the partitioning tool, however I would recommend leaving about 20 to 30 percent free space for further expansion and running efficiency.

Xpilot

 

Thanks for the advice. I have downloaded GParted, and it was free, but it is a compressed file. Where can I get a free unzip tool to unzip a zb2 files?

 

Thank you for a thoughtful reply, Xpilot. Have a question. After creating a 30GB partition for the system files called (C), how large should logical drive (D) be? How does leaving a portion of the drive unallocated help performance?

 

Before answering the above I would like to go back to the original post.

You say that you have not been able to change the boot order to boot from the CD drive. This is a very necessary first change to make. Without it you will not be able to run the partitioning tool properly nor will you be able to use your backup image to recover should any errors occur with the partitioning.
I have no idea which button you should hold down during the boot to get into the Bios in your particular computer because different keys are used by different mfgrs. At the start of a normal boot the bios setup and safe mode keys to use flash up briefly. The relevant key should be hit as soon as this message flashes up.
If you do not have any documentation you can find the details by searching the help pages stored in the computer.

Your post implies that you only have one partition at present. It is normal for notebook computers to have one or two hidden factory recovery and toolkit partitions.
Before making any other changes I suggest you have a look at Windows disk management to see the full picture of the disk layout. You can also get this graphical view from a partitioning tool but a view of the disk layout for familiarisation before making any changes is worth the effort.
You should also run Msconfig and make a copy of the boot INI.
These steps are important because partitioning tools are very powerfull and one needs to be aware of the existing drive layout so that adding a new partition will fit in with the boot INI parameters. Placing the new partition after the others is usually all that is required but it is better to be prepared.

I suggested leaving a certain amount of free space on the OS drive, not unallocated space on the whole drive.
The reasons for this are the volume of files that are created by Windows as part of its normal operations. Examples are System restore points, hibernation files and un-cleared temp files. Without sufficient headroom it would be difficult to run a defrag of the drive. It is also good to allow room for the installation of future programs.
D drive can take up all the remaining unallocated space on the hard drive.

Xpilot

 

Hello KCav,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

You can also use Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 to split hard drive on two partitions. Here are features of the program:

* Automatically or manually resize, copy, and move partitions without losing data
* Reorganize the hard disk drive structure, optimize disk space usage
* Install multiple operating systems (OSes) on a single computer, boot an OS from any partition on any hard disk, or have several operating systems on the same partition
* Edit the hard disk at the sector level manually
* Protect your data recovering deleted or lost partitions

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

Hello Wandering2

I followed your advice and downloaded the latest version of Gnome Partition Editor GParted-0.4.4.TAR.ZB2. But I can't find a way to unzip it. I have downloaded three versions of BZIP2 and can not get any of them to work.

I found my way to the command line: Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Command Line. However the downloads are on a USB hard drive. I can't see the drive from the command line. I could copy them to the internal hard drive. Do I need to do that? Can you give me some instructions on how to open GParted?

KC

 

Hello Dmitry,

I notice Disk Director Suite 10 cost $49.99. Not bad, except I have four computers and my girl friend has two.

KC

 

Hi Expilot,

I was able to enter the BIOS Setup and change the boot order, but when I rebooted instead of booting from the external optical drive, the system continued to boot from the internal hard drive.

I went back into the BIOS, clicked on the Advance tab, and found that the external optical drive was listed first. I exited BIOS Setup without making any changes; rebooted the system and while the computer was starting I kept tapping on the ESC key, and the system booted from the external optical drive.

What do you make of that?

 

Hi Expilot,

Thank you for pointing out that Disk Manager shows all disk partitions including hidden partitions. I encounter a problem with a hidden factory recovery partition on another notebook, but on this one, according to Windows, Computer Manager -> Disk Manager there is one internal hard drive, Disk 0. It has one partition and no unallocated space. It's format is NTFS, 149.05GB. I plan to create separate partitions on Disk 0, one for programs another for data, and install Acronics, Safety Zone. Here are the steps I plan to follow. Please advise if you would use a different approach.

Step 1 - I have an image file of Disk 0 stored on a USB hard drive.

Step 2 – Boot from external optical drive using Actronics Bootable CD, and wipe Disk 0 clean.

Step 3 – Partition Disk 0 into drive (C)Sys and (D)Data; format both partitions with NTFS;
a) make partition C twice the size of the files to be stored there.
b) make drive D 80GB,and leave the rest unallocated.

Step 4 – Migrate system files from USB hard drive to primary partition C. Then move the data files. Then install Acronics Safety Zone.

I am very interested in your comments. I like the features in Acronics True Image, and I would like to make good use of them.

KC

 

I agree totally with step 1. With that image safely stored you can always get back to the starting position if anything goes wrong.

Step 2. 3 and 4 could get you into trouble.

If you now have a partitioning tool downloaded you should make a bootable CD for it.
I am assuming that you have cleaned up your hard drive and run a defrag.
The next step is to boot from the partitioning CD and create a new partition and format it to the file system of choice. Space for this can be taken from the free space you have currently in your existing partition.
Now you can re-boot into Windows and decide what data you want to move to the new partition let's say "D".
You should use Windows tools to Move this data, that way the registry entries will be in step with your changes and the system will know where everything is.
You don't have to shift everything at once you could make a start with say My Pictures followed by My Documents.
That would probably take care of most of the data volume.

Having done the above re-check the free space on "C" if this is more than say 20% you can use the partitioning CD to allocate it to "D"

There is no point inleaving any un-allocated space on the hard drive because it cannot then be used by either the OS or for data storage.

Plase note that TI is only used as backup to these operations and is not used to shift data or operating systems from place to place.

Xpilot

 

I forgot to mention the Secure Zone . Whether you need this or not depends on where you want to store backup images in future. You already have an external drive to store at least one image of your complete system. If there is room for some more full or another full and some incrementals that may be sufficient to give you the security you require.

I would not use a secure zone on a single main internal hard drive. Unless you are only using it for "try and decide" purposes.

Xpilot

 

Hi Xpilot,

In search of a partitioning tool:

1) I downloaded GParted-0.4.4.tar.bz2 from SourceForge
2) Discovered it was not self-extracting and Windows XP does not have a decompression routine to unzip a BZ2 files
3) Downloaded and installed a program called WinRAR
4) After unzipping GParted with WinRAR I clicked on Install and instead of installing the program I was asked what program to run it in.
5) I have made two boot disks using True Image. One is on a CD the other a DVD. i can boot the system when I place either the CD or DVD in the optical drive.

I have Nero Ultra 7 installed on this notebook which allows you create a menu driven boot disk, and is Light Scribe enabled. I would love to create a bootable Utility disk with a partitioning Tools and programs like SeaTools on it. Could you help me?

KC.

 

Xpilot said and I agree,

1) Good idea to use Secure Zone on signle internal hard drive for Try and Decide purposes.

2) No point in leaving unallocated space on a hard disk

3) Create a partition for data in unused space, format it to file system of choice, and latter modify its size to fit needs.

KC