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Drive Repartitioning and Partition resizing
Before you start - it is recommended to do a disk clean up,
get rid of unnecessary files and defragment your hard drive to
create as much continuous free space as possible. If your drive is
very fragmented, you may want to defragment twice.
The partition table editors allow you to
create, resize, move, concatenate, copy, undelete (unerase) the
partitions that you have on your hard disk (or hard disks). For
example, if you wish to create more partitions from the existing one
(or more) that you already have on your disk, these tools will allow
you to resize the existing partition to make space for more
partitions (without losing your data that is currently on your
existing partition), as well as assist you in creating (and
sometimes also formatting) new partitions. Some of the tools may
have the ability to slide your partition, that is move your existing
partition from one location on the disk to another location, without
losing data, as well as convert a partition from one type to another
(for example, converting from NTFS to FAT32 or vice versa).
Still
others may be able to help you recover partitions that you have
already deleted, that is unerase or undelete partitions.
There are free tools and commercial tools. Among free tools linux bootable CD
are the most reliable. Among the commercial tools to manage your partitions the best
known is
Symantec's Norton Partition Magic. among most interesting
features:
- Allows you to copy, move, resize, split, or
merge partitions.
- Windows-based browser lets you
find, copy and paste files in both Windows and
Linux partitions
- Allows you to create and modify partitions
up to 300 GB. Supports USB 2.0, USB 1.1, and
FireWire® external drives. Supports FAT, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2, and Ext3
file systems. Note:
Supports operations on partition sizes as large as
300 GB when partition is less than 90% full. Larger
hard drives may require additional memory.
- Converts partitions among FAT, FAT32, and
NTFS without losing data
- Allows you to enlarge an NTFS partition
without restarting your computer. Resizes NTFS system clusters to the most
effective size.
For
additional information
about the differences
between the FAT and NTFS
file systems, click the
following article
numbers to view the
articles in the
Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
-
100108
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100108/)
Overview of FAT,
HPFS, and NTFS file
systems
-
310525
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310525/)
Description of the
FAT32 file system in
Windows XP
When you buy a new computer, the hard drive partitions are usually
already set up for you. If you put in a new hard drive, you need
to decide on the partitioning at set up time. The problem with both
of these situations is that things change. You may decide you don't
want everything in one big partition for a variety of reasons, but
Windows gives you no options for changing your partitions other
than reformatting and losing all of your data. There are excellent
programs, like Partition Magic, that will let you resize and create
partitions without losing data. But Partition Magic costs around
$60 and it isn't a program you are going to use everyday.
There is a way to change your partitions without reformatting
and without buying any additional software.
It uses a Linux live CD to boot your computer and prepare for
a Linux installation. Don’t worry; you are not actually going to
install Linux. Every Linux CD includes a program to resize your
Windows partition to make room for Linux because Windows usually
takes up the whole hard drive. Once we create the space for Linux,
we can actually format it as a Windows partition, either NTFS or
FAT32.
First, you need to download the Linux live CD. I recommend Simply
MEPIS 3.3, available here:
http://iso.linuxquestions.org/distro.php?distro=11
. These directions will assume you are using Simply MEPIS. Download
the ISO and burn it to a CD as an ISO image. Check your CD burning
software for info on burning an ISO. Once you have your CD, you
are ready to begin.
Before you start - it is recommended to do a disk clean up, get
rid of unnecessary files and defragment your hard drive to create
as much continuous free space as possible. If your drive is very
fragmented, you may want to defragment twice.
WARNING- backup all important files. Although unlikely,
it is possible to lose data. Even the programs like Partition Magic
give you this warning.
Set your computer BIOS to boot from the CD drive as the first
option. Most computers get into the BIOS by hitting the DELETE key
during start up. The start up screen will usually tell you what
to hit to enter set up. Look for something that deals with boot
options; it is often under advanced bios options. Boot from the
Simply MEPIS CD, choose the 2.6 option unless you have a CPU under
1Ghz. It will take a couple of minutes, but you will eventually
have a sign in screen. Sign on as root with the password as root.
It will boot to a red MEPIS Linux screen (actually running from
the CD)
Help2Go - How to Repartition Hard Drive without Reformatting
How to partition and format
a hard disk in Windows XP
- Ranish Partition
Manager
- Ranish Partition Manager is a hard disk partitioning tool
that allows you to create, copy, resize primary and extended
partitions. The later versions of the Partition Manager (2.43
and above) apparently allow you to work with up to 30 primary
partitions. Also available from that same site is the XOSL
(Extended Operating System Loader) Boot Manager that gives you
the ability to choose which operating system (OS) you wish to
boot from when you start your system. I think it works under
DOS, so you can simply put it on a DOS startup disk, reboot to
the disk, and work on your partitions from there.
Free Partition and Hard Disk Backup and Imaging Software
Free DVD and CD Burners and Copying Software
Free Defragmentation Programs / Free Defrag
- Partition Logic
- Partition Logic allows you to create, delete, format and
move partitions and modify their attributes. It can also clone
hard disks, that is, make a copy of an entire hard disk onto
another (possibly new) hard disk. It boots from a CD or a floppy
disk and runs as a standalone system. At the time this was
written, it has some limitations, including the ability to only
format FAT partitions, the inability to partition SCSI hard
disks, the lack of support for USB mice and keyboards, etc.
-
SwissKnife
- SwissKnife is a Windows program that allows you to create
and format partitions on fixed or removable disks as well as
change cluster size during formats.
- SystemRescueCD
- SystemRescueCD is a bootable system rescue CD-ROM for PCs
containing utilities that allow you to manage and edit your hard
disk partitions (GNU Parted and QTParted), image your hard disk
partitions (Partimage), a partition table backup and restore
utility (Sfdisk), various file system tools that allow you to
format, resize and edit existing partitions on your hard disk.
It does not depend on the operating system you have installed on
your hard disk - the CDROM is self-contained and is designed to
serve as a rescue disk. There is also a version for the blind
(it incorporates a speech reader).
- Ultimate Boot CD
- Ultimate Boot CD is a bootable CDROM for PCs that contain a
variety of software for diagnosing and fixing problems on your
computer, managing your hard disk partitions (including
creating, resizing, copying, moving, etc), imaging or cloning
your hard disk partitions (it includes Partition Saving, see
elsewhere on the
Free Hard Disk Backup and Image Software page, resetting
your (forgotten) password on NT, Win2k, or XP, scanning your
hard disks for viruses (it includes some
free antivirus utilities), etc. The software included on
this boot CD include a number of those already listed on
this page.
- The Partition Resizer
- The Partition Resizer resizes and moves your existing
partitions for hard disks up to 2 TB (that is, 2 terabytes). It
can handle both primary and extended partitions. It is able to
move your data (where necessary) so as to make space for (say)
an expanded FAT which may be needed if you are increasing the
partition table. You can resize (expand or shrink) or move FAT
partitions (including FAT32 partitions) and move NTFS partitions
(though not resize). The program is a DOS program, and you can
put it on a startup disk, reboot to it, and work on your system
from there.
- Diskman
- The author calls Diskman a "hard disk manipulation program".
It essentially allows you to create, format and manipulate
partitions, backup and restore long filenames, as well as search
and edit data on a hard disk. It has a scripting language that
you can use to automate the things you want to do. It supports
FAT partitions. The current version (at the time I write this)
is a DOS program.
-
NTFS Resize
- NTFS Resize is a Linux program that non-destructively
resizes NTFS partitions (enlarges and shrinks). It supports all
NTFS versions, including those created and used by Windows NT,
2000, XP (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions), 2003 and Longhorn.
-
TestDisk
- TestDisk is a tool to check and undelete partitions. It
essentially searches for lost partitions, and allows you to
repair errors in the partition table, create a partition table,
create a new MBR, etc. It works with FAT32, FAT16, FAT12, NTFS
(Windows NT, If you have accidentally lost (or deleted) a
partition, you might want to try TestDisk to see if it can find
the partition and recover it. 2000, XP), ext2, ext3, BeFS (used
by BeOS), BSD disklabel, CramFS, IBM Multiboot, JFS, Linux swap
(versions 1 and 2), NSS (Netware), ReiserFS 3.5 and 3.6, and
XFS. The program runs under DOS, Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP/2003,
Linux, FreeBSD, and Sun Solaris. It is licensed under the GNU
GPL.
-
Extended FDISK
- Extended FDISK allows you to create and delete partitions
and logical disks on your hard disk. It appears to come with a
boot manager (that allows you to choose between multiple
operating systems when you boot).
- FreeDOS' FDISK
- The FreeDOS FDISK supports hard disks of up to 128GB. You
can use it to create and delete primary and extended partitions.
It works under DOS (FreeDOS, MSDOS and PCDOS).
- FIPS
- FIPS supports the non-destructive splitting of hard disk
partitions. The program is distributed under the GNU GPL.
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Last modified:
March 15, 2008