Question 1: How can I partition a drive that already has Vista installed on it?
Question 2: Can I use the partitioning feature of Vista for this? I've read there's no need for Partition Magic any more since Vista has its own fine partitioning capability.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Bill Boylan

bill.boylan wrote:

To actually resize the system partition and create additional partitions, you'd still need to use a 3rd party partitioning tool.
However, you can use Vista's built-in Disk Management to extend, delete or shrink existing volumes, so you would then be able to create another logical drive in the freed space. The disk Management tool cannot create a new partition in the space freed by shrinking a volume, as the partitions remain untouched.

Bruce Chambers
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Hi Bill
You can partition a drive that already has Vista on it by putting in a Vista DVD if you have one and allowing it to format or using Disk Management to first shrink the volume to create an unallocated space from which you can then partition the volume. You can reach Disk Management easily by typing the term diskmgmt.msc into the run box>enter. One big difference was that in XP if you resized a disk, it was not fault tolleranti.e. you would lose everything in the process.
Before you can format a hard disk, you must first create one or more partitions on it. After you have partitioned the hard disk, you can format each partition. (Often, the terms volume and partition are used interchangeably.) You can partition the hard disk so it contains a single volume or several volumes. Each volume is assigned its own drive letter.
Partition Magic 8 now owned by Symantec does have additional features that the Native Disk Management in Vista does not have. I don't know of may intrinsic apps that could possibly have all the features of most major application by a 3rd party financially speaking.
These links should be helpful.
Create and format a hard disk partition
windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/d9a4d35e-efdf-406c-a049-0860180129a71033.mspx
Search results for "partition" windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/search.aspx?=&qu=partition
Can I repartition my hard disk? windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/f2e9a502-e63c-413d-8804-87326ef4f4cc1033.mspx
Formatting disks and drives: frequently asked questions windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/3ccec49c-2c67-4ff7-b672-ea1d32977aa81033.mspx
CH
"bill.boylan"

Another question on the same subject: Thanks to Messrs Chambers and Harris for a lot to think about. NEXT QUESTION: Would RAID make my life simpler or more complex? I can specify a “DataSafe” hard drive that is really three hard drives working together: the two for RAID 0 and a third which backs up everything. Would partitioning be easier if I got the RAID? Or, for other reasons, would I be walking into the lion’s den???

Bill Boylan
"Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net>