HELP ME! i did a stupid thing with Windows.

[jamtheguitarman]

Hi

I just built my first computer today and it went okay, but..... When it came to partioning my two drives i kept one at 160 gigs and my 80gig drive i partioned ino one 2gb partion, for XP. One 3gig partion for certain apps and the rest i just left. How could i be so STUPID . I now keep getting messages saying low disk space and the like. I want to just partion the drive into one 20gig for XP and apps and then leave the rest for samples. Is there anyway i can do this without having to reinstall windows?

I cant believe i got this far and the did something so stupid!

Thanks
Jamie

 

[distortedrumble]

yeah...do a full partition and have a folder for samples. dont make it more complicated than it has to be. remember that xp itself is or close enough to a gig itself. post mixed wav. files and odds and ends will hit a gig or 2 or 5 pretty quick too.

 

[twist]

There's a program called "Partition Magic" that will let you change partition sizes without starting over.

 

[crankz1]

Yeah, there's not really any benefit in partitioning your primary boot drive unless you plan to run a multi-boot system.
Well .... there can be some benefits, such as having a partition on the outer most section of the plater dedicated to the swap/page file, but it's not really necessary.
Best to just leave the boot drive at it's full capacity and use folders for your organizational needs.
You gotta figure, if the drive goes south on you .... all is lost. Partitions aren't going to help much. Sure if just the OS gets hosed, your data in the partitions may be safe but that's what backing up is for. If it's sensitive data that you don't want to lose, you better back it up to some external media and put it in a safe place.

You may be able to use the Disk Manager in XP to delete those unneeded partitions and make the whole capacity active. Not sure though, I've never done that. However, like has been said, Partition Magic will allow you to handle all of your partition needs.

 

[AGCurry]

As mentioned, Partition Magic is really an excellent program. You can actually change the size of a partition without losing data.

Another thing which wouldn't cost you anything is to put the Windows page file (AKA swap space) on a different partition - even better, on the other drive. That could save you lots of space on the system partition.

Disk management (My Computer -> Manage) can not delete or resize partitions without losing the data on those partitions.

 

[bilmo]

I was wondering about partitioning myself

Yeah, there's not really any benefit in partitioning your primary boot drive unless you plan to run a multi-boot system.
Well .... there can be some benefits, such as having a partition on the outer most section of the plater dedicated to the swap/page file, but it's not really necessary.
Best to just leave the boot drive at it's full capacity and use folders for your organizational needs.
You gotta figure, if the drive goes south on you .... all is lost. Partitions aren't going to help much. Sure if just the OS gets hosed, your data in the partitions may be safe but that's what backing up is for. If it's sensitive data that you don't want to lose, you better back it up to some external media and put it in a safe place.

You may be able to use the Disk Manager in XP to delete those unneeded partitions and make the whole capacity active. Not sure though, I've never done that. However, like has been said, Partition Magic will allow you to handle all of your partition needs.

When I first got my old version of CEP1.2 it was recommended to have 2 hard drives, but said nothing about partitioning.

Is the same true for Sonar3? The PC I'm getting in a trade deal has only one HD and 512RAM.

I'm thinking i should add a HD and double the RAM, but I don't know if it's necessary.....

 

[fraserhutch]

It is always a good idea to get as much RAM as you are able.

A second HD is also a good idea - put that and your primary hd on seperate controllers.

 

[Dracon]

You don't need partition magic or anything else.
You said you had 160GB HD and a 80GB HD you partitioned it into one 3GB & 2GB right? All you have to do is right click on that little icon that looks like a computer on your desktop and select Manage or go to your control panel and click on Administrative Tool and then click on Computer Management.
When the Computer Management Window opens click on disk management on the left side of the window. On the right side all of your storage devices will appear (including you CD, DVD, whatever). You will notice Disk 0 and Disk 1. Which ever your 80GB is will have about 75GB free of HD Space Un-allocated (meaning you did nothing with them). Right click on the Un-allocated space and it will give you the option to format that space to create a third fourth drive letter, to attach it to another drive letter to make say the C: drive (if its the 160GB into a 235GB) although I would not do this because it will do a lot of accessing between drives at a certain point.

However, if you have some information on those 2GB & 3GB partitions (unless it's the OS) copy it onto a DVD or just move them over to the other drive. Unpartition the whole thing (re-format them) and make it a whole drive un-partition.

 

[jamtheguitarman]

Thanks for all the help.

Right click on the Un-allocated space and it will give you the option to format that space to create a third fourth drive letter, to attach it to another drive letter to make say the C: drive (if its the 160GB into a 235GB) although I would not do this because it will do a lot of accessing between drives at a certain point.

However, if you have some information on those 2GB & 3GB partitions (unless it's the OS) copy it onto a DVD or just move them over to the other drive. Unpartition the whole thing (re-format them) and make it a whole drive un-partition.

I have windows xp on the small 2gb partion already and i cant find anyway to make that partion bigger using the disk management. i think im just going to start again.

 

[twist]

i think im just going to start again.

There's nothing like doing it right the first time.......believe me I know!

 

[jamtheguitarman]

Right. ive done it properly this time, just two seperate drives, no partions. Its all runninig perfectly. (touch wood)