Partitions

Conor108

I have a 10GB Partition with XP and a 60GB partition with Vista and a 12GB partition for iTunes library.

Now I rarely use Vista so I want to switch the partitions so that Vista will have 10 and XP has the 60gb. How do I do that? Would I just format the Vista partition, copy/paste my XP files in there, then format the 10gb and install vista?

Thanks

BopNiblets

No no no, copying and pasting whole operating systems rarely results in victory!
Format the Vista partition then resize the XP partition to include 45GB of the newly freed space (I think Vista uses/needs 15GBs) using Partition Expert or Partition Magic.
Then there will be 15GB you can format for Vista to install on.

XP might not like all the new space at first ("What's all this then? More gigawatts?!") but I think I did it before and it was fine.

Lazarus2.0

Bob is right - Vista Home Basic requires 15Gb free space on a (minimum) 20Gb HD , going by M$ recommended minimum requirements . Home Premium and upwards require the same free space on a (minimum) 40Gb HD .

I think partitioning the bare minimum for Vista might lead to problems so would be inclined to go to 20Gb at least - but that's just my own opinion . If you use Vista you're probably quite used to problems anyway

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919183

quaidox

BopNiblets wrote: »

No no no, copying and pasting whole operating systems rarely results in victory!
Format the Vista partition then resize the XP partition to include 45GB of the newly freed space (I think Vista uses/needs 15GBs) using Partition Expert or Partition Magic.
Then there will be 15GB you can format for Vista to install on.

XP might not like all the new space at first ("What's all this then? More gigawatts?!") but I think I did it before and it was fine.

can partition expert/magic format active system partitions without needing them to be converted to dynamic paritions first, or does it do the convert as part of the procedure??

Sherifu

What you would do is shrink the vista partition to 20/25 gigs and expand the xp partition into the free space. This is assuming they're side by side on the disk.

4Xcut

If you rarely use vista, why not just format the large partition. Then just leave all partitions as they are. Then you'll have a partition for file storage and one for OS and programs. I always thought this was one of the main reasons for having partitions, so that if your OS needed to be reinstalled, you didn't have to back-up or loose all your data.

DonalN

4Xcut wrote: »

one of the main reasons for having partitions, so that if your OS needed to be reinstalled, you didn't have to back-up or loose all your data.

noob question here - is that why partitions are used? mainly to save data if an OS reinstall is required.

are there any other advantages?

reason I ask is- i need a new hdd, and I'm thinking of getting a 750gig - should I partition ?

4Xcut

Well, when i was building my pc a few years ago, that was the advise a mate of mine gave me and for that reason. I believe they also run a tiny bit faster or boot a tiny bit faster if your OS is on a small partition of a large hard-drive, though I could be wrong.

My advise would be to partition. If you're getting a 750Gb HDD, then i assume you have a lot of data to store. It's not something that you notice but like me(and i assume anyone else who partitions), if you have to reinstall windows for whatever reason then its something you'll be glad you did

Lazarus2.0

Partitioning also reduces (doesnt eliminate) the damage viruses can do across a HD . Some can migrate across partitions , some cant .Another advantage in partitioning is ease of backup .

Conor108

Thanks for the replies guys:)

I've got that set up now but can someone tell me how to share programs between the 2 OS's? So that there'll be the same Firefox/Thunderbird profile, and so I don't have to install the same program twice on the HDD:) I think I just install stuff to my Data partition but I'm not sure.

Thanks