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General discussion

Partitioning hard disk AFTER it is loaded with OS

Jun 30, 2010 11:06PM PDT

I have purchased a notebook -- Compaq with 320 GB hard disk. It came with three partitions: C, 286 GB and loaded with WIN 7, D:11.3 GB loaded with Recovery disk and E: 99.3 MB with HP Tools. I want to further partition C for two reasons: For better organisation of my files and two, if the OS crashes, my other files should not be affected and I must be able to reformat only that partition where the OS resides.
Is this possible and if so how? I wish to particularly know whether we can ensure safety of my files in the other sub-partitions of C in the case of a crash. Shall be grateful for your advice.

Discussion is locked

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The idea of partitions saving files is
Jun 30, 2010 11:14PM PDT

Classic. After many hundreds of machines I can write that I've yet to find this works often enough to make it a standard.

But there are many hurdles for you to jump to get to your goal. This biggest one is that you don't have a full Windows 7 DVD. You only have the restore media which in most cases wipes out your carefully crafted partitions.

So that's your first few hundred buck expense.

After that it's a breeze to install 7 with your partitions and install all the drivers and apps. Then and only then are you close to your goal of an OS crash and maybe that partition surviving.

Why not your classic external backup?

And to answer your question, there is no inherent safety in subpartitions. A trojan, virus, fault or user error will not limit itself to one partition.
Bob

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I agree wholeheartdely with Bob
Jul 1, 2010 5:41AM PDT

Separate partitions seem like a good idea, but in truth they are phantom safety measures.

If your OS fails such that you have to reinstall, then the Recovery Partition on D will 'return the machine to factory state', meaning you will end up with a brand new OS on the same sized partition you originally came with.

If your hard drive fails, (and they do), then it doesn't matter how many partitions you have, they are all gone. At the very least, some files may be recovered expensively through a professional disk recovery service.

As for organising, I have to admit that when I first started with PC's I thought separate partitions were a great idea, but I soon realised that "Folders" did that organising just as well.

We often see the 3 word phrase here. Backup, Backup, Backup. You don't have to back up the OS, just those personal files you can't afford to lose.

What does backup mean? It means this; whatever personal files you have on the hard drive, make a copy somewhere else. Then make a second copy, because if the originals fail for some reason, then that copy you have becomes your only copy. They become the originals.

Good luck and I hope that helps.

Mark

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Phantom.
Jul 1, 2010 5:50AM PDT

Love that thought here. Now imagine all the Cnet Mods as phantoms. Here's what they might say.


"We only lose what we didn't backup."

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Backup in this particular instance
Jul 2, 2010 6:53PM PDT

With Compaq & HP Tools, there is nothing easier but use the provided backup facility at regular intervals, with an automatic reminder that can easily be set up. All it calls for is a ready supply of blank DVDs (I should definitely stay away from USB for backup as the only source).
Indeed, HDs may sometimes fail (experienced on similar-spec HP notebook), and once they do, any sort of partitioning becomes a moot point.

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About this
Jul 2, 2010 3:55PM PDT

"and two, if the OS crashes, my other files should not be affected and I must be able to reformat only that partition where the OS resides."

Most hard drives fail mechanically. This means that the hardware becomes damaged. it is broken and in most cases the information is irretrievable.

You will need to buy and install a second drive to insure these files can be retrieved by creating an array of drives. For instance the OS on one drive the files are on another. Put copies of those files on both and then back up using yet another back up system like USB as well to insure there safety.

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On the other hand...
Jul 3, 2010 12:38AM PDT

The earlier posters are absolutely correct - if your hard drive fails mechanically or electronically, your partitions are toast - all of them, which is why you keep an external backup of each and every partition on your disks, don't you?

But there are reasons why you might want to partition your hard disk, possibly to match a multi-disk desktop configuration on a laptop with only a single disk, or to protect your data in case the OS itself fails. As Mark says, if it does and you use the restore partition to reload it, you will, indeed, restore the physical disk to factory status and overwrite any partitions you may have created and, of course, wipe out all your data! SO don't do it!

What you can do, is partition the hard disk and put all your data on the new partition and then before you do anything else, make a mirror image of the OS partition with a third party product like Trueimage or Norton Ghost and then if your OS fails or gets virused to the big computer graveyard in the sky, use your image copy to reload the OS partition. Do not use the recovery partition or you will overwrite your data.

There are arguments for and against partitioning - I do and use image copies as backup but others experience suggests it isn't worth it. Only you can decide in your environment.

If you do want to partition, DON'T use Partition Magic on an Enhanced NTFS partition, as created by Vista or 7, if you change a partition size your will wipe it. You could use Partition Wizard instead, it does understand Enhanced NTFS and the Home edition is free.

But I will re-iterate what everyone else has said BACK UP EVERYTHING BEFORE and AFTER anything you even think about doing with your disks.

And as a general rule on desktops, use a second physical disk instead - mirrored RAID if you want automatic protection. But take an external backup as well.

Z.

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Partioning - my take
Jul 9, 2010 10:24AM PDT

I also thought that partitioning was a good idea, but I have since found that the partitions were a pain when the disks got half-way full, since the empty space was divided between the several partitions, and one partition was always left with not enough space.

My new laptop came with 2 partitions, and the partition for the operating system had the data folders in it as well. In addition, it was less then 20% of the capacity of the drive! It looked like they wanted to use most of the drive for back up. I was able to change the size of the C partition without wiping it using Windows 7 Administrative Tools. I did have to wipe the D partition, as I was unable to move the starting point, but I copied what little data that was there into the C partition first, and recreated it as a small partition after enlarging the C partition. Thus, in Windows 7, at least in the home deluxe version, you should be able to create a second partition or third if you really want to. I wouldn't, unless I wanted to run a second operating system in a separate partition.