Partition Vista Hard Drive

[Phil]

I tried to partition my 120GB Vista hard drive using the following:

"Resize Partitions with Vista Disk Management
Posted 6/28/2006 by Steve Sinchak - Total Views: 22,896 - Views Today: 25
In Windows Vista it is now possible to resize partitions without any data
loss in the new Disk Management console.

Resizing Partitions with Windows Vista:

Click on the Start Button and right click on Computer and select Manage.
Expand the Storage section and select Disk Management.
Then just right click on any partition and select either Expand or Shrink to
change the size of the partition.
This will allow you to safely resize your partitions without any data loss."

I had a 99GB C partition and a 10GB D Recovery partition as well as a 2GB
Blank partition. I tried to partition the 99GB C partition. Using the above
instructions I was left with a 63.1GB C partition, 10Gb D Recovery
partition, a 2 Gb blank partition and a 37GB unallocated partition.

When I tried to allocate the 37GB using the New Simple Volume Wizard an
error window popped up saying
"There is not enough space on the disk to complete this operation" so now I
have 37GB of space unallocated.

I can boot the PC and use the programs with no problems. Would like to
allocate the 37GB as another partition.

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Phil B.

Dell E1705 Inspiron
2Gb Ram
120GB HD
Vista OS


--

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

I'll bet you've reached the max # of partitions on your disk. See
http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/arc...-a-volume.aspx
for details.

[Phil]

Jill,

You would win the bet.. Had 4 partitions on the hard drive. Was trying
to create a 5th which I could use and leave C just for the OS. Makes it
easy to backup.

Would 3rd party software (Acronis Disk Director 10) be able to create the
additional partitions I would like or is 4 partitions the max?

[Michael Solomon]

There are other such applications as well and these allow you to create an
extended partition that will then allow an unlimited number of partitions on
your hard drive. NOTE:In Disk Director Suite, the extended partition
creation is automatic and it is hidden. You simply partition your hard
drive as desired and Disk Director does the rest.

[Richard Urban]

You can only have 4 *primary* partitions, no matter what program you use to
partition.

Using a 3rd party Vista compatible partitioning program (not Partition Magic
please) you can create an extended partitions (which counts as one of the
four allowed). Within this extended partition you can have many logical
partitions, going out to the end of the alphabet if you desire.

[Michael Solomon]

Note, as Richard Urban points out in this thread and I failed to mention in
my suggestion, I was referring to logical drives within the extended
partition. But, as I noted, in the case of Acronis, the Extended partition
is created on the fly automatically in Acronis and is hidden, you will only
see the logical drives in the main GUI of the application.

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Phil, if you can delete that 2 GB partition, you should be able to create a
new partition. I believe the unallocated space must be consecutive if you
want to create a new partition that consumes all of that space. (Otherwise
you'd have to leave that 2 GB unallocated.) When you do create that 4th
partition, Vista will create an extended partition with a logical drive
inside of it. This gives you more flexibility if you ever want to shrink
that logical drive and create another within the extended partition. With
logical drives, you aren't subject to the limit on primary partitions.

[...winston]

What was the fourth partition ?
Before:
100
10
2
After
63
10
2
and 37 unallocated(no partition yet).

If the above numbers are correct(they total to 3 before and after), then a smaller partition would still be present(maybe a hidden partition the OEM placed that is separate from the 10GB recovery ? If the 4th partition is hidden do not delete it, some OEM's create these for diagnostic purposes or additional OEM setup and configuration)

What was the 2GB blank partition used(for) ?

Jill provided a good suggestion, if the 2GB was not used for anything. Delete that partition with Vista Disk Mgmt leaving 39GB unallocated space, restart the machine...then create a extended partition and assign a logical driveIf you still need the 2gb something one may create two logical drives within the extended partition.
- (see Note below).
- If you follow this route is functional(see note on limitation), you'll end up with three partitions(or four if there is another partition).

Note: What's not been asked or answered is the ability of Disk Mgmt in Vista to create an extended partition using unallocated space when it resides in between other primary partitions or if the unallocated space resides between and after the primary partitions(e.g. the 2GB if deleted may be not adjacent and contiguous with the unallocated 37GB).
- if the above is true, then some rearrangement may or may not work.

[Phil]

Fourth partition is a 55MB EISA Config. partition. The 2GB partition does
not have a drive letter assigned or have a name. Don't know what it is or
what it was used for.

[Phil]

Jill,

Learned that the 2GB partition is the Media Direct function. All the
media direct buttons on the Notebook would be useless if I deleted that
partition.

[jude]

i m trying to partition my drive ...i went till the part of allocating space..it showed i could make only abt 19GB...i wanted more so i cancelled it and deleted a lot of stuff from hard drive so i had 60GB of free space and i defragmented...but now my allocation has reduced to less than 6 GB ..what do i do ? i m not a techie so could u please tell me in detail... I ve a vista premium and only a C and D(recovery) drive ... i dont see another partition can i make 2 more?

i think mine is the newer vista ... so there is no hidden partition .. i ve seen it on other older version but not mine

[R. C. White]

Hi, Jude.

It looks like your post was relayed here from http://forums.techarena.in,
rather than having been posted here originally. And it was a Reply posted
today to a thread that had started there in June 07 and ran until November.
Your problem seems to only partly relate to that thread. I'm not sure how
this forum-relay stuff works, so I'm reluctant to post here, not knowing
where my comments would end up. :>(

But your problem looks solvable. So, if you will post back here in the
Microsoft public newsgroup (also known as Discussion Groups or the Microsoft
Communities) where I am reading it, I will try to help you.

Click here:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof....vista.general

Unless blocked by something like a corporate firewall, that one click should
start your default news reader (probably Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail);
create a News Account for the Microsoft public news server, which is free
and does not require a logon; subscribe you to this newsgroup; download the
300 newest messages; and display the latest one in the Reading Pane. In
other words, it should bring you right back here, but via a different route
and using a different interface: a news reader, rather than a browser.

After you've read a few posts to get the flavor of the reader, you can click
Tools | Options to customize it in several ways to suit yourself. Then you
can post your question and we'll try to help.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"jude" <jude.3439bd@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:jude.3439bd@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> i m trying to partition my drive ...i went till the part of allocating
> space..it showed i could make only abt 19GB...i wanted more so i
> cancelled it and deleted a lot of stuff from hard drive so i had 60GB
> of free space and i defragmented...but now my allocation has reduced to
> less than 6 GB ..what do i do ? i m not a techie so could u please tell
> me in detail... I ve a vista premium and only a C and D(recovery) drive
> .. i dont see another partition can i make 2 more?
>
> i think mine is the newer vista ... so there is no hidden partition ..
> i ve seen it on other older version but not mine
>
>
> --
> jude
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> jude's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?userid=40771
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=761848
>
> http://forums.techarena.in

[scttmill]

I have an hp with vista and I have. been trying to partition my drive as follows C as system dJ data into a 5gb E@ programs 5gb F@home pics 62gb G@ empty 5gb F@ Software 20gb G@ movies 5gb H@pics 10gb I@games 10gb J@papers 6gb K@trips 10gb but I do a few and not able to go further due to logical drives any hints on this what I can do for this please please help

[scttmill]

Any help please email me at miller764@comcast.net