non destructive partitioning

I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD comes
in a single partition plus a hidden restore partition.
I like to have a separate data partition for easier backups. Any
suggestions for a free utility that will permit resizing and creating
new partitions in W 7 64 bit?

On Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:38:05 -0400, d wrote:

> I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD comes
> in a single partition plus a hidden restore partition.
> I like to have a separate data partition for easier backups. Any
> suggestions for a free utility that will permit resizing and creating
> new partitions in W 7 64 bit?

Here are two of many:

http://www.partition-tool.com/

http://partitionwizard.com/index.html

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Hi, Jeff.

Sure. You already have it in Win7: Disk Management.

Just click the orb or press the Windows key, type in "diskmgmt.msc" (with or
without the quotes) and press <Enter>.

You'll need to furnish Administrator credentials because this program is
powerful enough to do harm if used carelessly, but you should have no
problems with it.

Select the Boot Volume (probably Drive C and use the Shrink volume...
command. Reduce the size of that partition to about 100 GB. The new size
is up to you, actually, but make it at least 30 GB; Win7 really grows with
use! (Careful: The size is shown in MEGAbytes, not GIGAbytes, so to shrink
it by 150 GB, type in 15000 MB.) Then right-click in the newly-vacated Free
Space and select New Simple volume... and follow the instructions. (The
defaults are usually correct.)

Be sure to name the new volume something descriptive; this "label" will be
written to the disk and will not change later, even if the drive letter gets
changed in some way. (The name will survive even if the disk is moved to a
different computer. It's a good idea to give a name to your existing
partitions, too.)

Of course, you can choose to divide your Free space into multiple volumes
depending on your needs/wants.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3538.0513) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1


> I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD comes in
> a single partition plus a hidden restore partition. I like to have a
> separate data partition for easier backups. Any suggestions for a free
> utility that will permit resizing and creating new partitions in W 7 64
> bit?

On Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:04:29 -0700, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

> On Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:38:05 -0400, d wrote:
>
>> I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD comes
>> in a single partition plus a hidden restore partition. I like to have a
>> separate data partition for easier backups. Any suggestions for a free
>> utility that will permit resizing and creating new partitions in W 7 64
>> bit?
>
> Here are two of many:
>
> http://www.partition-tool.com/
>
> http://partitionwizard.com/index.html

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

WOW, I had no idea that Windows diskmgmt can now shrink partitions. It
did not used to be able to do much more than delete and create
partitions in XP. I will look into it (after I create a full image backup).
Thanks.

On 9/24/11 5:29 PM, R. C. White wrote:

> Hi, Jeff.
>
> Sure. You already have it in Win7: Disk Management.
>
> Just click the orb or press the Windows key, type in "diskmgmt.msc"
> (with or without the quotes) and press <Enter>.
>
> You'll need to furnish Administrator credentials because this program is
> powerful enough to do harm if used carelessly, but you should have no
> problems with it.
>
> Select the Boot Volume (probably Drive C and use the Shrink volume...
> command. Reduce the size of that partition to about 100 GB. The new size
> is up to you, actually, but make it at least 30 GB; Win7 really grows
> with use! (Careful: The size is shown in MEGAbytes, not GIGAbytes, so to
> shrink it by 150 GB, type in 15000 MB.) Then right-click in the
> newly-vacated Free Space and select New Simple volume... and follow the
> instructions. (The defaults are usually correct.)
>
> Be sure to name the new volume something descriptive; this "label" will
> be written to the disk and will not change later, even if the drive
> letter gets changed in some way. (The name will survive even if the disk
> is moved to a different computer. It's a good idea to give a name to
> your existing partitions, too.)
>
> Of course, you can choose to divide your Free space into multiple
> volumes depending on your needs/wants.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
>
> Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
> Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3538.0513) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1
>
>
>> I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD
>> comes in a single partition plus a hidden restore partition. I like to
>> have a separate data partition for easier backups. Any suggestions for
>> a free utility that will permit resizing and creating new partitions
>> in W 7 64 bit?
>

On 9/24/2011 4:29 PM, R. C. White wrote:
> Hi, Jeff.
>
> Sure. You already have it in Win7: Disk Management.
>
> Just click the orb or press the Windows key, type in "diskmgmt.msc"
> (with or without the quotes) and press <Enter>.
>
> You'll need to furnish Administrator credentials because this program is
> powerful enough to do harm if used carelessly, but you should have no
> problems with it.
>
> Select the Boot Volume (probably Drive C and use the Shrink volume...
> command. Reduce the size of that partition to about 100 GB. The new
> size is up to you, actually, but make it at least 30 GB; Win7 really
> grows with use! (Careful: The size is shown in MEGAbytes, not
> GIGAbytes, so to shrink it by 150 GB, type in 15000 MB.) Then
> right-click in the newly-vacated Free Space and select New Simple
> volume... and follow the instructions. (The defaults are usually correct.)
>
> Be sure to name the new volume something descriptive; this "label" will
> be written to the disk and will not change later, even if the drive
> letter gets changed in some way. (The name will survive even if the
> disk is moved to a different computer. It's a good idea to give a name
> to your existing partitions, too.)
>
> Of course, you can choose to divide your Free space into multiple
> volumes depending on your needs/wants.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
>
> Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
> Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3538.0513) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1
>
>
>> I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD
>> comes in a single partition plus a hidden restore partition. I like
>> to have a separate data partition for easier backups. Any suggestions
>> for a free utility that will permit resizing and creating new
>> partitions in W 7 64 bit?

You did leave out one thing... Disk Management will not resize a mounted
partition. So if the OP wanted to do this on his wife's laptop he would
have to remove the drive from the laptop and put it in an enclosure,
then connect it to another PC running Windows 7.


--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Thunderbird 6.0.2
Saturday, September 24, 2011 6:02:17 PM

On 9/24/11 7:02 PM, Roy Smith wrote:
> On 9/24/2011 4:29 PM, R. C. White wrote:
>> Hi, Jeff.
>>
>> Sure. You already have it in Win7: Disk Management.
>>
>> Just click the orb or press the Windows key, type in "diskmgmt.msc"
>> (with or without the quotes) and press<Enter>.
>>
>> You'll need to furnish Administrator credentials because this program is
>> powerful enough to do harm if used carelessly, but you should have no
>> problems with it.
>>
>> Select the Boot Volume (probably Drive C and use the Shrink volume...
>> command. Reduce the size of that partition to about 100 GB. The new
>> size is up to you, actually, but make it at least 30 GB; Win7 really
>> grows with use! (Careful: The size is shown in MEGAbytes, not
>> GIGAbytes, so to shrink it by 150 GB, type in 15000 MB.) Then
>> right-click in the newly-vacated Free Space and select New Simple
>> volume... and follow the instructions. (The defaults are usually correct.)
>>
>> Be sure to name the new volume something descriptive; this "label" will
>> be written to the disk and will not change later, even if the drive
>> letter gets changed in some way. (The name will survive even if the
>> disk is moved to a different computer. It's a good idea to give a name
>> to your existing partitions, too.)
>>
>> Of course, you can choose to divide your Free space into multiple
>> volumes depending on your needs/wants.
>>
>> RC
>> --
>> R. C. White, CPA
>> San Marcos, TX
>>
>> Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
>> Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3538.0513) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1
>>
>>
>>> I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD
>>> comes in a single partition plus a hidden restore partition. I like
>>> to have a separate data partition for easier backups. Any suggestions
>>> for a free utility that will permit resizing and creating new
>>> partitions in W 7 64 bit?
>
> You did leave out one thing... Disk Management will not resize a mounted
> partition. So if the OP wanted to do this on his wife's laptop he would
> have to remove the drive from the laptop and put it in an enclosure,
> then connect it to another PC running Windows 7.
>
>
Ah! Have to look elsewhere .....

On 9/24/2011 3:38 PM, d wrote:
> I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD comes
> in a single partition plus a hidden restore partition.
> I like to have a separate data partition for easier backups. Any
> suggestions for a free utility that will permit resizing and creating
> new partitions in W 7 64 bit?

Creating your backups onto the same physical hard drive as your OS is
not a wise idea. Even though it may be on a different partition, when
the drive fails not only would you lose the OS partition, you'd lose the
backups as well. It's better to use a network attached storage device,
or a USB drive for storing your backups instead.


--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Thunderbird 6.0.2
Saturday, September 24, 2011 6:08:23 PM

"Roy Smith" <> wrote in message
news:gktfq.195449$...
> On 9/24/2011 4:29 PM, R. C. White wrote:
>> Hi, Jeff.
>>
>> Sure. You already have it in Win7: Disk Management.
>>
>> Just click the orb or press the Windows key, type in "diskmgmt.msc"
>> (with or without the quotes) and press <Enter>.
>>
>> You'll need to furnish Administrator credentials because this program is
>> powerful enough to do harm if used carelessly, but you should have no
>> problems with it.
>>
>> Select the Boot Volume (probably Drive C and use the Shrink volume...
>> command. Reduce the size of that partition to about 100 GB. The new
>> size is up to you, actually, but make it at least 30 GB; Win7 really
>> grows with use! (Careful: The size is shown in MEGAbytes, not
>> GIGAbytes, so to shrink it by 150 GB, type in 15000 MB.) Then
>> right-click in the newly-vacated Free Space and select New Simple
>> volume... and follow the instructions. (The defaults are usually
>> correct.)
>>
>> Be sure to name the new volume something descriptive; this "label" will
>> be written to the disk and will not change later, even if the drive
>> letter gets changed in some way. (The name will survive even if the
>> disk is moved to a different computer. It's a good idea to give a name
>> to your existing partitions, too.)
>>
>> Of course, you can choose to divide your Free space into multiple
>> volumes depending on your needs/wants.
>>
>> RC
>> --
>> R. C. White, CPA
>> San Marcos, TX
>>
>> Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
>> Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3538.0513) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1
>>
>>
>>> I'm setting up my wife's new laptop which runs W7 64 bit whose HD
>>> comes in a single partition plus a hidden restore partition. I like
>>> to have a separate data partition for easier backups. Any suggestions
>>> for a free utility that will permit resizing and creating new
>>> partitions in W 7 64 bit?
>
> You did leave out one thing... Disk Management will not resize a mounted
> partition. So if the OP wanted to do this on his wife's laptop he would
> have to remove the drive from the laptop and put it in an enclosure,
> then connect it to another PC running Windows 7.

He can shrink the volume while he's running from it. I just did it on my
Win7 C:\, so that I could install the Win8 Dev on a separate partition.

On Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:29:46 -0500, R. C. White wrote:

> Hi, Jeff.
>
> Sure. You already have it in Win7: Disk Management.
>
> Just click the orb or press the Windows key, type in "diskmgmt.msc" (with or
> without the quotes) and press <Enter>.
>
> You'll need to furnish Administrator credentials because this program is
> powerful enough to do harm if used carelessly, but you should have no
> problems with it.
>
> Select the Boot Volume (probably Drive C and use the Shrink volume...
> command. Reduce the size of that partition to about 100 GB. The new size
> is up to you, actually, but make it at least 30 GB; Win7 really grows with
> use! (Careful: The size is shown in MEGAbytes, not GIGAbytes, so to shrink
> it by 150 GB, type in 15000 MB.) Then right-click in the newly-vacated Free
> Space and select New Simple volume... and follow the instructions. (The
> defaults are usually correct.)
>
> Be sure to name the new volume something descriptive; this "label" will be
> written to the disk and will not change later, even if the drive letter gets
> changed in some way. (The name will survive even if the disk is moved to a
> different computer. It's a good idea to give a name to your existing
> partitions, too.)
>
> Of course, you can choose to divide your Free space into multiple volumes
> depending on your needs/wants.
>
> RC

Agreed, but the other programs were handy when disk management wouldn't
do what I needed.

Don't ask - I have forgotten, since I don't do it all that often, but I
seem to recall something related to rearranging partitions on an
external backup drive.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)