partitions

[Baz]

is it possible to alter partition sizes. My son has a laptop and he wants to change sizes if possible.using Windows 7 its split already to OS  C: 149.05GB NTFS   system,boot,page file/active/crash dump, primary partition; DATA  D: 134.39GB  NTFS  Logical Drive; and there also shows a 14.65GB    Primary partition  which doesnt seem to have any thing showing.All drives show as healthy.

how much space would he need for each partition like the OS say.he just wanted more space for music and photos and seems that the OS partition is bigger than needed.is this right


also what would be the best way to do a back up on the laptop

thanks

[kinmel]

It is easy to alter partition sizes, use a freeware program such as EASEUS Partition Master

Check howe much of drive C: is actually used now and resize the partition to be 20GB greater than that and give the unallocated space to the D: partition. Keep all data and backups on the second enlarged partition.

Windows 7 has an excellent backup facility built in, look for "Recovery" in Control Panel.

[Baz]

Thanks. i have just found the part in win7 to alter partition size, is this any good to use.why the 20GB more size Kinmel

have you used the EASEUS software

[kinmel]

Thanks. i have just found the part in win7 to alter partition size, is this any good to use.why the 20GB more size Kinmel

have you used the EASEUS software

I prefer Easeus to the windows partition manager, it gives more options and seems easier to me, I use nothing else.

I like to give the OS partition some headroom for future program installs, but since you can move the partition boundaries at will it is all down to personal preference

[Baz]

so theres no set size for sizes especially the OS one?

[kinmel]

so theres no set size for sizes especially the OS one?

No, it merely needs to be bigger than current requirements, just be aware of the pagefile requirements, I usually put that on the Data partition too.

My current Windows 7 partition is 60Gb with 47Gb used at the moment.

[Technical Ben]

Windows 7 allows you to do it straight from control panel. You can "shrink" and "extend" the partitions.
Control panel:
      Administrative Tools
           Computer Management
                Storage
                     Disk Management

I split my spare drive into two partitions, a backup partition and a spare bit of storage.

[Baz]

I just found that bit Ben tahnks.have you used it successfully.what will the bit showing 14.65GB be,there doesnt seem to be any thing on it.Also today we had an external hard drive plugged into it and it wouldnt 'safely remove....' etc kept saying it was in use.it also showed up as another partition

[Technical Ben]

I do believe new partitions need to be formatted. If it shows as "unallocated" right click and then select "simple partition". As to the removable drive, even my CD drive shows on the manager. I think it just lists all drives. No idea why it got stuck in use though.

[Baz]

thanks all  some useful tips there