I have bought a HP DM1 (Windows 7, 32GB hard drive, 4GB RAM), and I want to partition the C: (Windows) drive into two;
- one partition containing only Windows 7 and other Windows programs,
- the second partition containing games and data.
The reason for this is that I can then create an image of the fully working C: drive (containing only Windows and related programs), so that if (when) Windows 7 needs reinstalling in the future, I can just copy the image back over the C: drive, restoring the laptop to it's working state. I can do that even if there's only one partition, of course, but the image will be huge, so I' rather have two partitions, and only create an image of the first partition. Plus if there are two partitions, then the second partition will survive my 'rolling back' the laptop (when I put the image back onto the C: drive) so I won't lose anything I've put onto the second partition in the meantime.
So I was going to resize the current C: drive (which is 275GB) without losing the data (I've done this before, the software handles the data organisation automatically) into two partitions, but the problem is, the laptop's hard drive already has four partition, and aparently it's not possible to put another partiton on there. Is this correct, and if so, can I resize one of the existing partitions (say E:, the 22GB partition, and shrink the C: partition by a corresponding amount) and use that partition for my games and data? And if so, will the built in recovery software still work (I probably won't ever need it, as the C: drive image will be enough, but it would be nice to have the option)? If I don't need the built in recovery (if an image of the working C: drive is enough) then can I delete all of the software on E:, and resize E (reducing the 275GB partition) and use E: as my data partition?
Or is it possible to restructure the drive to give me two partitions I can use, as well as the three that already exist for the system?
The current (default, I've not altered them) paritions are shown in Acronis
Home Image as
C: pri, act 199MB
D: pri 275.8GB
E: pri 22 GB
F: pri 103 MB
Is it safe to delete F: (in which case I'd then have three partitions, allowing me to change the 275GB partition to two partiitons)? Or can I Also, how does Windows see the 275GB drive as C:, when Acronis (which I boot into via USB stick) sees it as D: ?
Thanks for any answers.
- one partition containing only Windows 7 and other Windows programs,
- the second partition containing games and data.
The reason for this is that I can then create an image of the fully working C: drive (containing only Windows and related programs), so that if (when) Windows 7 needs reinstalling in the future, I can just copy the image back over the C: drive, restoring the laptop to it's working state. I can do that even if there's only one partition, of course, but the image will be huge, so I' rather have two partitions, and only create an image of the first partition. Plus if there are two partitions, then the second partition will survive my 'rolling back' the laptop (when I put the image back onto the C: drive) so I won't lose anything I've put onto the second partition in the meantime.
So I was going to resize the current C: drive (which is 275GB) without losing the data (I've done this before, the software handles the data organisation automatically) into two partitions, but the problem is, the laptop's hard drive already has four partition, and aparently it's not possible to put another partiton on there. Is this correct, and if so, can I resize one of the existing partitions (say E:, the 22GB partition, and shrink the C: partition by a corresponding amount) and use that partition for my games and data? And if so, will the built in recovery software still work (I probably won't ever need it, as the C: drive image will be enough, but it would be nice to have the option)? If I don't need the built in recovery (if an image of the working C: drive is enough) then can I delete all of the software on E:, and resize E (reducing the 275GB partition) and use E: as my data partition?
Or is it possible to restructure the drive to give me two partitions I can use, as well as the three that already exist for the system?
The current (default, I've not altered them) paritions are shown in Acronis
Home Image as
C: pri, act 199MB
D: pri 275.8GB
E: pri 22 GB
F: pri 103 MB
Is it safe to delete F: (in which case I'd then have three partitions, allowing me to change the 275GB partition to two partiitons)? Or can I Also, how does Windows see the 275GB drive as C:, when Acronis (which I boot into via USB stick) sees it as D: ?
Thanks for any answers.
