How to Partition a drive with OS

[satyre]

I have a new Sony notebook and it came without any partition. I would like to make three partions. It has two 120GB drives in RAID 0 set up. Vista Home Premium OS.


Do I have to format and start all over or any other method? They don't give the OS in CD. So, if I make a rcovery CD, does it give the option to format and make partitions?

I guess it is better to ask here before I get into trouble.

[YeOldeStonecat]

You can use some 3rd party utilities such as Acronis
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/

[satyre]

Thank you YOS.

For me it is a one time use. So, wihtout buying a third party software, is it possible to partition a system drive?


Does the recovery disk give the option to partition and format the hard drive?

If not, if I FDISK it to partition and format, does that recovery disk screw up the partitions and put it back the way it was before?

Also, I wonder what will happen to the Hidden recovery drive, if I FDISK it?

[Sava700]

your going to have to reformat and start over to do this without that 3rd party software.. I was in a similar boat but I wanted to combine partitions to one on a server I'm setting up. I didn't want to purchase the software cause it was very expensive and I only needed it once so I just reformatted and did it over

[YeOldeStonecat]

I haven't used any "free" 3rd party utilities which will organize/resize existing partitions without losing data.

I have heard of some out there..which are "free"...an example is one included in many Linux distros...called "GParted". I've not felt like taking the risk of trying a free one on my own systems.

The old DOS FDISK from the Win9X days gives you the ability to create delete partitions, and create partitions where there is free space on a drive. Same with the built in disk tools on an NT based OS CD such as Win2K/XP.

Usually "recovery CD's" from the OEM will wipe the drive clean, and put the OS and settings back the way they were the day you bought the computer and took it out of the box.




Thank you YOS.

For me it is a one time use. So, wihtout buying a third party software, is it possible to partition a system drive?


Does the recovery disk give the option to partition and format the hard drive?

If not, if I FDISK it to partition and format, does that recovery disk screw up the partitions and put it back the way it was before?

Also, I wonder what will happen to the Hidden recovery drive, if I FDISK it?

[satyre]

Thanks.

Does the Recovery drive will be erased, if we use FDISk or the XP utility to partition and format a disk?

I wonder how do OEMs make the recovery drive ? Do they use any utility to make a recovery drive? I don't remember an option to make a recovery drive when I have installed OS before. Once in a year I format and reinstall OS in my PC.

[ghettoside]

I haven't used any "free" 3rd party utilities which will organize/resize existing partitions without losing data.

I have heard of some out there..which are "free"...an example is one included in many Linux distros...called "GParted". I've not felt like taking the risk of trying a free one on my own systems.

Agreed. :nod:

Even the commercial apps fail to work properly sometimes. backup, backup, backup first.

To create and resize partitions, I use partition magic, never had a prob.

Ghosting or recovery discs haven't always worked so well for me.


...Usually "recovery CD's" from the OEM will wipe the drive clean, and put the OS and settings back the way they were the day you bought the computer and took it out of the box.

Yups. recovery will wipe out any partitions you created, that's been my experience.

[ghettoside]

Thanks.

Does the Recovery drive will be erased, if we use FDISk or the XP utility to partition and format a disk?

I wonder how do OEMs make the recovery drive ? Do they use any utility to make a recovery drive? I don't remember an option to make a recovery drive when I have installed OS before. Once in a year I format and reinstall OS in my PC.

There's a non-DOS partition that the recovery disc accesses. Wipe that out and I doubt recovery will work.