Converting a Hidden Partition to a Logical Drive

[jaugustine]

I use DOS programs every day, and all my hard drives are NTFS.

They do have problems in printing, though, so I have to send printed output to
a disk file and print it with Wordpad or some other Windows program.

Hi,

I am sorry I "goofed". I assumed that using a "Dos Box" system,
you can not write to a NTFS HDD.

Yes, I also ran Dos programs on my Wife's Dell WinXP laptop with NTFS HDD
without any problems writing to the HDD.

John

 

[John Williamson]

Hi,

I am sorry I "goofed". I assumed that using a "Dos Box" system,
you can not write to a NTFS HDD.

Yes, I also ran Dos programs on my Wife's Dell WinXP laptop with NTFS HDD
without any problems writing to the HDD.

John

IME, virtual machines use the native OS to handle HD and other IO,
converting it to whatever format is needed by the emulator.

 

[philo]

Hi,

I am sorry I "goofed". I assumed that using a "Dos Box" system,
you can not write to a NTFS HDD.

Yes, I also ran Dos programs on my Wife's Dell WinXP laptop with NTFS HDD
without any problems writing to the HDD.

John

So now you should not have to worry about re-partitioning your HD

 

[jaugustine]

Hi,

UPDATE:

My only interest for converting the hidden partition to a FAT32 logical
drive was to use "DosBox". I assumed you could not write to the
NTFS HDD using the "DosBox" system. I was wrong. Therefore I do
not need the hidden partition.

www.dosbox.com is the site I downloaded "DosBox".

Again, Thanks to everyone for your responses, John N3AOF

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I have a Dell laptop with Windows 7. The HDD (hard disk drive) has two
hidden partitions, one is less than 20 GB and it contains the "System Restore"
files. In the past, when you bought a new computer, you usually received a
"System Restore" CD/DVD rom disk(s). Note: I made a disk image copy of
the C: drive to an external HDD as backup. I do not need the "system restore"
partition.

I would like to "unhide" this hidden partition and make it a logical
drive so I can format it as a FAT32 drive and use a "Dos Box" to run Dos
programs. Note: I already did this (Dos Box) on a USB (FAT32) flash drive
plugged into this laptop.

Can you recommend a tool or procedure?

Thank You in advance, John

You can get rid of all the files with diskpart, a command in the Win7
DVD's repair environment. Then you can create new partitions with
the same utility, needing only that for both the boot files and the OS.
Use diskpart to set the OS's partition "active", then you can use any
no. of repair environment utilities to set up the boot sector (which MS
sometimes calls the Partition Boot Record) or use a combination of
BCDboot, bootrec, and BCDedit. These utilities won't destroy the OS
files, so experimenting is OK. (Using just one partition for both the System
and the Boot partition presupposes that the firmware is set to the Legacy
BIOS setting.)

*TimDaniels*

 

[Steve Hayes]

Hi,

I am sorry I "goofed". I assumed that using a "Dos Box" system,
you can not write to a NTFS HDD.

Yes, I also ran Dos programs on my Wife's Dell WinXP laptop with NTFS HDD
without any problems writing to the HDD.

I use Dos Box for programs written in Turbo Pascal (which will not otherqwise
run on a processor faster than 450 MhzO) and it works fine on my NTFS hard
disks.

The only circumstances in which it would not work would be of you wanted to
make a bootable MS DOS partition on your hard disk. That would need to be
formatted as a FAT partition. But to run MS DOS *programs*, whether under Dos
Box or in Windows, NTFS is fine. You might need to use 32-bit versions of
Windows, though.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Correct, however there are many utilities that will let you format that
recovery partition. Unfortunately, if that is all you do the machine will
no longer boot. On a Dell, that recovery partition is the boot partition
and no, you can't simply make the system partition the default boot
partition (well, you can, but it still won't boot). In order to remove
that partition, you need to move some boot files to the system drive. I
did that and the machine still didn't boot so I just forgot about it. With
today's huge hd's, there isn't much point to not keeping it. Even if as I
do, you keep up to date image backups, you might want some day to restore
to an 'as purchased' state like if you sell it. While we're on the
subject, that other small partition called Dell Utility is also worth
keeping. It is where the diagnostic tools are kept.
Note: you certainly can do as you want and make the system bootable, but
you will have to do some research.

That "recovery partition" contains both the boot files (that's why it's
"active") and Dell's system restoration files. Since you can buy an OEM
Windows installation DVD for next to nothing ($10 as I recall), you can
get rid of the restoration partition and put the boot files into the OS's
partition and use that slot in the partition table for another primary partition,
perhaps for WinXP or Linux. As for the proprietary Dell utility partition,
its files can be downloaded from Dell's website, so you can use diskpart
to get rid of that partition, too, and gain another slot in the partition table.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

On 2013-08-12 5:34 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message <[email protected]>,
(e-mail address removed) writes:
Hi,

I have a Dell laptop with Windows 7. The HDD (hard disk drive)
has two
hidden partitions, one is less than 20 GB and it contains the "System
Restore"
files. In the past, when you bought a new computer, you usually
received a
"System Restore" CD/DVD rom disk(s). Note: I made a disk image copy of
the C: drive to an external HDD as backup. I do not need the "system
restore"
partition.

Are you sure - that, for example, you can restore from your "backup"?
[]

That depends on the imaging software he OP used. In any case the
following may be useful information.

The system restore partition is used to repair the OS, or if need be to
return the computer to factory-fresh condition. This is not the same as
a backup and restore of the C: drive, nor an image >> replace corrupted
partition operation.

OP should make repair DVDs or USB flash drive. AFAIK, he can do only one
or the other. The repair media can then be used like the system restore
partition.

To the OP

1- When you have the system working well and have no problems then
make a backup of your C drive with Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image
or whatever backup program works best for you. This is better than the
manufacturers backup because it is newer, requires a lot less updating
and isn't filled with the bloatware that comes with the original
system. I would also make a backup (or two) of the backup and put it
in a safe place. You should test that backup to make sure that you can
restore from it. This is important as the backup will be your only
means to restore your system once you delete the manufacturers backup
partition.

2- Use a program like EASEUS Partition Master to delete the hidden
partition, then resize the C partition to fill the unallocated space.

Windows' own diskpart (a command line utility) can also delete
Dell's "hidden" partition.



Disk Management in Vista, Win7 and (I presume) Win8 can shrink
a partition from its "tail" towards its "head".

Sorry reading the header you want to just convert it to a logical
drive and use the 20gb partition?

use EASEUS Partition Master:

Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete
Right click the partition and select Create
Select logical drive
Apply the changes

All the above operations can be done with diskpart -
a Windows utility in both the OS and the installation DVD's
Recovery Environment (using the Repair option instead
of the Install option).

Jim

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

On 2013-08-12 5:34 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message <[email protected]>,
(e-mail address removed) writes:
Hi,

I have a Dell laptop with Windows 7. The HDD (hard disk drive)
has two hidden partitions, one is less than 20 GB and it contains
the "System Restore"
files. In the past, when you bought a new computer, you usually
received a "System Restore" CD/DVD rom disk(s). Note: I made a
disk image copy of the C: drive to an external HDD as backup. I do
not need the "system restore"
partition.

Are you sure - that, for example, you can restore from your "backup"?
[]

That depends on the imaging software he OP used. In any case the
following may be useful information.

The system restore partition is used to repair the OS, or if need be to
return the computer to factory-fresh condition. This is not the same as
a backup and restore of the C: drive, nor an image >> replace corrupted
partition operation.

OP should make repair DVDs or USB flash drive. AFAIK, he can do only
one or the other. The repair media can then be used like the system
restore partition.

To the OP

1- When you have the system working well and have no problems then make
a backup of your C drive with Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image or
whatever backup program works best for you. This is better than the
manufacturers backup because it is newer, requires a lot less updating
and isn't filled with the bloatware that comes with the original system.
I would also make a backup (or two) of the backup and put it in a safe
place. You should test that backup to make sure that you can restore
from it. This is important as the backup will be your only means to
restore your system once you delete the manufacturers backup partition.

2- Use a program like EASEUS Partition Master to delete the hidden
partition, then resize the C partition to fill the unallocated space.

3- I always make my C partition about 70 gigs or so and partition the
rest of the drive to a D drive to store my data. Making a smaller C
drive makes it a lot easier to make backups in the future as your system
changes.

Note: One giant C drive with all your stuff on it makes no sense to me.
You can make a new D partition at anytime with EASEUS as it is not
destructive to data. Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to back up all
your data before you partition just in case something goes wrong.

Jim

Sorry reading the header you want to just convert it to a logical drive
and use the 20gb partition?

use EASEUS Partition Master:

Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete Right click the
partition and select Create Select logical drive Apply the changes

Jim

Jim, please read my post. The recovery partition is the boot partition and
you need to copy over some boot files from it to the system drive (which
will need to be marked as the default boot partition).
[ . . . ]

The boot files can be rewritten into any partition using BCDboot/BCDedit
(in both the installation DVD and the OS) and/or bootrec (in the installation
DVD). They are not hard to acquire or to install. The partition must also
be marked "active", which can be done using diskpart or Disk Management.
BTW, in MS-speak, the "System Partition" contains the boot files, and the
"Boot Partition" contains the operating system - yes, it's counter-intuitive
but those terms have been around since before Win98. And when using
the legacy BIOS firmware mode, they can be the same partition.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Hi,

I may purchase a 500G HDD and install that as a "test" HDD. Then I will
use the HDD images of the 3 partitions from an external HDD on this "test"
HDD. Note: I used Acronis True Image to create these partition images to
an external HDD.

John

Partition images and clones can be made by a number of free utilities
as well. One of them that I've used recently to make clones is
Macrium Reflect, a product of a software company in the U.K.
I happen to prefer clones since I keep them on secondary internal
and external hard drives from which they can be immediately
booted without using software installed on a functional operating
system to expand them from an image file. They are not compressed
like images are, but virtually all cloning utilities now can put a clone
of an OS partition into a smaller partition as long as the actual space
used by the OS files will fit in the smaller partition. Given that, you
can usually put a clone into each of the 4 primary partitions on
today's HDs and multi-boot into any one of them within a minute
of the primary HD going south.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Jim]

That "recovery partition" contains both the boot files (that's why it's
"active") and Dell's system restoration files. Since you can buy an OEM
Windows installation DVD for next to nothing ($10 as I recall), you can
get rid of the restoration partition and put the boot files into the OS's
partition and use that slot in the partition table for another primary partition,
perhaps for WinXP or Linux. As for the proprietary Dell utility partition,
its files can be downloaded from Dell's website, so you can use diskpart
to get rid of that partition, too, and gain another slot in the partition table.

*TimDaniels*

The OP solved his problem but for discussion sake, since he has a
working Windows 7 already, instead of installing a new system and
reinstalling programs, it might be easier to use a program like Easeus
Partition Master to delete the partitions and expand the C: Drive to
fill the unallocated space. There are other programs but Easeus is
easy to use for this.

The boot problem can be fixed from the command prompt after booting
from a Win 7 or a repair disk. The Dell Utility tools can be dowloaded
as you said.

Those repair partitions are fairly useless so I delete mine. I prefer
an up to date Acronis Image because it's such a pain getting rid of
Norton Systemworks and all the bloatware that comes with the original
setup plus the hours installing updates. The only reason to keep it
would be to restore to factory condition if you want to sell it later.

Jim

 

[Jim]

On 2013-08-12 5:34 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message <[email protected]>,
(e-mail address removed) writes:
Hi,

I have a Dell laptop with Windows 7. The HDD (hard disk drive)
has two
hidden partitions, one is less than 20 GB and it contains the "System
Restore"
files. In the past, when you bought a new computer, you usually
received a
"System Restore" CD/DVD rom disk(s). Note: I made a disk image copy of
the C: drive to an external HDD as backup. I do not need the "system
restore"
partition.

Are you sure - that, for example, you can restore from your "backup"?
[]

That depends on the imaging software he OP used. In any case the
following may be useful information.

The system restore partition is used to repair the OS, or if need be to
return the computer to factory-fresh condition. This is not the same as
a backup and restore of the C: drive, nor an image >> replace corrupted
partition operation.

OP should make repair DVDs or USB flash drive. AFAIK, he can do only one
or the other. The repair media can then be used like the system restore
partition.

To the OP

1- When you have the system working well and have no problems then
make a backup of your C drive with Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image
or whatever backup program works best for you. This is better than the
manufacturers backup because it is newer, requires a lot less updating
and isn't filled with the bloatware that comes with the original
system. I would also make a backup (or two) of the backup and put it
in a safe place. You should test that backup to make sure that you can
restore from it. This is important as the backup will be your only
means to restore your system once you delete the manufacturers backup
partition.

2- Use a program like EASEUS Partition Master to delete the hidden
partition, then resize the C partition to fill the unallocated space.

Windows' own diskpart (a command line utility) can also delete
Dell's "hidden" partition.



Disk Management in Vista, Win7 and (I presume) Win8 can shrink
a partition from its "tail" towards its "head".

Sorry reading the header you want to just convert it to a logical
drive and use the 20gb partition?

use EASEUS Partition Master:

Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete
Right click the partition and select Create
Select logical drive
Apply the changes

All the above operations can be done with diskpart -
a Windows utility in both the OS and the installation DVD's
Recovery Environment (using the Repair option instead
of the Install option).

Jim

*TimDaniels*

I recommended Easeus because he can expand his present C drive without
destroying any data. Using diskpart is good if there is no data
involved but diskpart will destroy the data if used to expand the C
drive. He already has a working Win 7 so why not keep it?

Jim

 

[Timothy Daniels]

"Jim" commented:

The OP solved his problem but for discussion sake, since he has a
working Windows 7 already, instead of installing a new system and
reinstalling programs, it might be easier to use a program like Easeus
Partition Master to delete the partitions and expand the C: Drive to
fill the unallocated space. There are other programs but Easeus is
easy to use for this.

The boot problem can be fixed from the command prompt after booting
from a Win 7 or a repair disk. The Dell Utility tools can be dowloaded
as you said.

Those repair partitions are fairly useless so I delete mine. I prefer
an up to date Acronis Image because it's such a pain getting rid of
Norton Systemworks and all the bloatware that comes with the original
setup plus the hours installing updates. The only reason to keep it
would be to restore to factory condition if you want to sell it later.

Jim

The tutorial on the Easeus website seems to say that a partition
can be moved or shifted by a fraction of a partition width - that is,
a partition's contents can be shifted forward or backward as the
partition is resized. Another way to think of that is overlapping
a partition with its clone - something that MS's Disk Management
cannot do. All that Disk Management can do is to move the end boundary
of the partition back or forward while not moving the contents -
what MS calls "shrinking" and "extending". This has always been a
limitation of MS's partitioning utilities. I got around that limitation
on movement by simply cloning the contents of a partition to be
moved, and then cloning the contents back when I had gotten the
partitions deleted/adjusted to where I wanted them. That's probably
safer than shifting the contents piecemeal, which would be equivalent
to segmented cloning. And since the recommendation is to make a
clone before the process, anyway, it doesn't take more time. But I
do agree that conceptually, Easeus does provide more convenience.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

On 2013-08-12 5:34 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message <[email protected]>,
(e-mail address removed) writes:
Hi,

I have a Dell laptop with Windows 7. The HDD (hard disk drive)
has two
hidden partitions, one is less than 20 GB and it contains the "System
Restore"
files. In the past, when you bought a new computer, you usually
received a
"System Restore" CD/DVD rom disk(s). Note: I made a disk image copy of
the C: drive to an external HDD as backup. I do not need the "system
restore"
partition.

Are you sure - that, for example, you can restore from your "backup"?
[]

That depends on the imaging software he OP used. In any case the
following may be useful information.

The system restore partition is used to repair the OS, or if need be to
return the computer to factory-fresh condition. This is not the same as
a backup and restore of the C: drive, nor an image >> replace corrupted
partition operation.

OP should make repair DVDs or USB flash drive. AFAIK, he can do only one
or the other. The repair media can then be used like the system restore
partition.

To the OP

1- When you have the system working well and have no problems then
make a backup of your C drive with Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image
or whatever backup program works best for you. This is better than the
manufacturers backup because it is newer, requires a lot less updating
and isn't filled with the bloatware that comes with the original
system. I would also make a backup (or two) of the backup and put it
in a safe place. You should test that backup to make sure that you can
restore from it. This is important as the backup will be your only
means to restore your system once you delete the manufacturers backup
partition.

2- Use a program like EASEUS Partition Master to delete the hidden
partition, then resize the C partition to fill the unallocated space.

Windows' own diskpart (a command line utility) can also delete
Dell's "hidden" partition.

3- I always make my C partition about 70 gigs or so and partition the
rest of the drive to a D drive to store my data. Making a smaller
C drive makes it a lot easier to make backups in the future as your
system changes.

Note: One giant C drive with all your stuff on it makes no sense to
me. You can make a new D partition at anytime with EASEUS as it is not
destructive to data.

Disk Management in Vista, Win7 and (I presume) Win8 can shrink
a partition from its "tail" towards its "head".

Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to back up all
your data before you partition just in case something goes wrong.

Jim

Sorry reading the header you want to just convert it to a logical
drive and use the 20gb partition?

use EASEUS Partition Master:

Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete
Right click the partition and select Create
Select logical drive
Apply the changes

All the above operations can be done with diskpart -
a Windows utility in both the OS and the installation DVD's
Recovery Environment (using the Repair option instead
of the Install option).

Jim

*TimDaniels*

I recommended Easeus because he can expand his present C drive
without destroying any data. Using diskpart is good if there is no data
involved but diskpart will destroy the data if used to expand the C
drive. He already has a working Win 7 so why not keep it?

Jim

My comment "All of the above operations" pertained to the block:

"Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete
Right click the partition and select Create
Select logical drive
Apply the changes",

and not to any process that moves the contents of the C: partition.
For that, you would use Easeus, and I would use a cloning utility.
My preference for a simple cloning utility is because those that I
would use explicitly state that they adjust the partition boundaries
according to the operating system AND the destination medium -
different offsets for rotating HDs versus solid-state drives, for
instance. Right now, I don't know what Easeus does in this regard.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Jim]

On 2013-08-12 5:34 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message <[email protected]>,
(e-mail address removed) writes:
Hi,

I have a Dell laptop with Windows 7. The HDD (hard disk drive)
has two
hidden partitions, one is less than 20 GB and it contains the "System
Restore"
files. In the past, when you bought a new computer, you usually
received a
"System Restore" CD/DVD rom disk(s). Note: I made a disk image copy of
the C: drive to an external HDD as backup. I do not need the "system
restore"
partition.

Are you sure - that, for example, you can restore from your "backup"?
[]

That depends on the imaging software he OP used. In any case the
following may be useful information.

The system restore partition is used to repair the OS, or if need be to
return the computer to factory-fresh condition. This is not the same as
a backup and restore of the C: drive, nor an image >> replace corrupted
partition operation.

OP should make repair DVDs or USB flash drive. AFAIK, he can do only one
or the other. The repair media can then be used like the system restore
partition.

To the OP

1- When you have the system working well and have no problems then
make a backup of your C drive with Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image
or whatever backup program works best for you. This is better than the
manufacturers backup because it is newer, requires a lot less updating
and isn't filled with the bloatware that comes with the original
system. I would also make a backup (or two) of the backup and put it
in a safe place. You should test that backup to make sure that you can
restore from it. This is important as the backup will be your only
means to restore your system once you delete the manufacturers backup
partition.

2- Use a program like EASEUS Partition Master to delete the hidden
partition, then resize the C partition to fill the unallocated space.


Windows' own diskpart (a command line utility) can also delete
Dell's "hidden" partition.


3- I always make my C partition about 70 gigs or so and partition the
rest of the drive to a D drive to store my data. Making a smaller
C drive makes it a lot easier to make backups in the future as your
system changes.

Note: One giant C drive with all your stuff on it makes no sense to
me. You can make a new D partition at anytime with EASEUS as it is not
destructive to data.


Disk Management in Vista, Win7 and (I presume) Win8 can shrink
a partition from its "tail" towards its "head".


Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to back up all
your data before you partition just in case something goes wrong.

Jim

Sorry reading the header you want to just convert it to a logical
drive and use the 20gb partition?

use EASEUS Partition Master:

Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete
Right click the partition and select Create
Select logical drive
Apply the changes


All the above operations can be done with diskpart -
a Windows utility in both the OS and the installation DVD's
Recovery Environment (using the Repair option instead
of the Install option).

Jim

*TimDaniels*

I recommended Easeus because he can expand his present C drive
without destroying any data. Using diskpart is good if there is no data
involved but diskpart will destroy the data if used to expand the C
drive. He already has a working Win 7 so why not keep it?

Jim

My comment "All of the above operations" pertained to the block:

"Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete
Right click the partition and select Create
Select logical drive
Apply the changes",

and not to any process that moves the contents of the C: partition.
For that, you would use Easeus, and I would use a cloning utility.
My preference for a simple cloning utility is because those that I
would use explicitly state that they adjust the partition boundaries
according to the operating system AND the destination medium -
different offsets for rotating HDs versus solid-state drives, for
instance. Right now, I don't know what Easeus does in this regard.

*TimDaniels*

The other problem with diskpart is that it is a command line utility
and one needs to know the commands. This can be a bit daunting for
some users. Tools like GParted and Easeus have a GUI which is easier
for most semi technichal people to work with. I've worked with the
command line for a long time but as I get older I start to forget the
commands for operations that I don't do often, so I pick the easiest
tools to do the job at hand. I follow the K.I.S.S. rule.

I used Easeus recently to remove the recovery partition from a HP
laptop and expanded C: to fill the unallocated space. Easeus let me do
the job from a running Win 7 but the actual operations are carried out
on the reboot. The HP didn't have the boot files on that partition so
the job was easy but even with a Dell fixing the boot is still an easy
task.

Jim

 

[Timothy Daniels]

"Jim" prefers the convenience:

:


:
Jim wrote:

Wolf K wrote:

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
(e-mail address removed) writes:
Hi,

I have a Dell laptop with Windows 7. The HDD (hard disk drive)
has two
hidden partitions, one is less than 20 GB and it contains the "System
Restore"
files. In the past, when you bought a new computer, you usually
received a
"System Restore" CD/DVD rom disk(s). Note: I made a disk image copy of
the C: drive to an external HDD as backup. I do not need the "system
restore"
partition.

Are you sure - that, for example, you can restore from your "backup"?
[]

That depends on the imaging software he OP used. In any case the
following may be useful information.

The system restore partition is used to repair the OS, or if need be to
return the computer to factory-fresh condition. This is not the same as
a backup and restore of the C: drive, nor an image >> replace corrupted
partition operation.

OP should make repair DVDs or USB flash drive. AFAIK, he can do only one
or the other. The repair media can then be used like the system restore
partition.

To the OP

1- When you have the system working well and have no problems then
make a backup of your C drive with Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image
or whatever backup program works best for you. This is better than the
manufacturers backup because it is newer, requires a lot less updating
and isn't filled with the bloatware that comes with the original
system. I would also make a backup (or two) of the backup and put it
in a safe place. You should test that backup to make sure that you can
restore from it. This is important as the backup will be your only
means to restore your system once you delete the manufacturers backup
partition.

2- Use a program like EASEUS Partition Master to delete the hidden
partition, then resize the C partition to fill the unallocated space.


Windows' own diskpart (a command line utility) can also delete
Dell's "hidden" partition.


3- I always make my C partition about 70 gigs or so and partition the
rest of the drive to a D drive to store my data. Making a smaller
C drive makes it a lot easier to make backups in the future as your
system changes.

Note: One giant C drive with all your stuff on it makes no sense to
me. You can make a new D partition at anytime with EASEUS as it is not
destructive to data.


Disk Management in Vista, Win7 and (I presume) Win8 can shrink
a partition from its "tail" towards its "head".


Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to back up all
your data before you partition just in case something goes wrong.

Jim

Sorry reading the header you want to just convert it to a logical
drive and use the 20gb partition?

use EASEUS Partition Master:

Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete
Right click the partition and select Create
Select logical drive
Apply the changes


All the above operations can be done with diskpart -
a Windows utility in both the OS and the installation DVD's
Recovery Environment (using the Repair option instead
of the Install option).

Jim

*TimDaniels*


I recommended Easeus because he can expand his present C drive
without destroying any data. Using diskpart is good if there is no data
involved but diskpart will destroy the data if used to expand the C
drive. He already has a working Win 7 so why not keep it?

Jim

My comment "All of the above operations" pertained to the block:

"Right click on the 20gb partition and select delete
Right click the partition and select Create
Select logical drive
Apply the changes",

and not to any process that moves the contents of the C: partition.
For that, you would use Easeus, and I would use a cloning utility.
My preference for a simple cloning utility is because those that I
would use explicitly state that they adjust the partition boundaries
according to the operating system AND the destination medium -
different offsets for rotating HDs versus solid-state drives, for
instance. Right now, I don't know what Easeus does in this regard.

*TimDaniels*

The other problem with diskpart is that it is a command line utility
and one needs to know the commands. This can be a bit daunting for
some users.

I agree that command line utilities are inconvenient. I had to
use "/help" a lot plus experimentation while getting familiar with them.
The beauty, OTOH, is that they are ubiquitous, and they can be found
on any Windows system that you work on - even your neighbor's.

Tools like GParted and Easeus have a GUI which is easier
for most semi technichal people to work with. I've worked with the
command line for a long time but as I get older I start to forget the
commands for operations that I don't do often, so I pick the easiest
tools to do the job at hand. I follow the K.I.S.S. rule.

I don't even remember them! I have to relearn what they do each
time I use them. But knowing how the Windows boot procedure
works helps a lot with that, and facility with even a GUI'd utility can
require the same ramp-up.

I used Easeus recently to remove the recovery partition from a HP
laptop and expanded C: to fill the unallocated space. Easeus let me do
the job from a running Win 7 but the actual operations are carried out
on the reboot. The HP didn't have the boot files on that partition so
the job was easy but even with a Dell fixing the boot is still an easy
task.

Jim

Hooray for different strokes!

*TimDaniels*

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

It took me a number of years to get her to dump WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS
and use MSWorks. I did download a couple of windows bridge programs but
she complained about using a mouse. On some things I just give up.
By the way, she now just loves MSWorks. I don't think it's being supplied
with later windows. Dell included it on media when I got my 2010 laptop.

Ah, I remember Works! In its initial form, it was a small office suite
(word processor, spreadsheet, and I forget what else) that offered
somewhat more than Wordpad, while being cheaper (and also requiring a
lot less in terms of resources) than Word and the other Office
heavyweights.

I always imagined the Works team as a small team inside Microsoft who
wrote code that didn't demand lots of resources - processor, memory, and
- in those days, significant - disc space to store the code (installed
software) itself.

I always suspected they were "terminated" because MS thought Works was
eating into the potential market for Office. (This was after Office -
or, at least, Word - had captured the majority of the market, and before
the free suites had really got going. Anyone who wanted to do more than
WordPad could had only Works or Office/Word to choose from, or thought
they did [WordPerfect - and, I think, one or two others - _were_ still
there, but people weren't aware of them, and/or found them too different
to use].)

(Latter versions of Works included Word - but not the rest of Office -
instead of the original Works word processor; presumably because the
word processor was the only part most people used. And maybe to prepare
users for the eventual switch [Works-with-Word seemed like a bargain,
IIRR even being cheaper than Word alone].)

Should it ever become necessary to leave Works for her, it might be
worth seeing if WordPerfect still exists in a 7-compatible (or 8-?)
form! I remember WP5.1 well: I particularly liked the "reveal codes"
aspect, which survived at least into the GUI version (6 IIRR), and may
still. WP was/is very much a minority thing these days, but I know it
certainly survived up to at least a couple of years ago: I know a
college archivist who was still using the latest version (8? 12? not
sure), under Vista, then. (I'd be surprised if he's not still using it,
but I don't know if it's still being upgraded.) The "reveal codes"
aspect reminds me of one of the most irritating (of many!) aspects of
Word, that of where sometimes when you delete a newline character, the
format of the preceding paragraph changes. (Present from at least Word
95 to Word 2010.) Being able to see the codes would avoid that.