Re: Is there a built-in tool in Vista to partition a disk?


Microsoft's offering is described here:
'Windows Vista Help: Can I repartition my hard disk?'
(http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/f2e9a502-e63c-413d-8804-87326ef4f4cc1033.mspx)
Windows Vista Help: Can I repartition my hard disk?
Windows XP had a disk partitioning tool built in, located the same way
as you find it in Vista: under Disk Management. But XP's version
allowed you only to create a new partition or extend an existing
partition using unallocated space already present on the disk. Vista
now allows you to create this unallocated space by "shrinking" an
existing partition that isn't full. It does this without destroying any
data on the partition to be shrunk.
You must be logged on as an administrator to do it. Begin by clicking
the Start orb, selecting Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenace,
then Administrative Tools, and then double clicking Computer Management.
In the Navigation pane of Computer Management, under the item labeled
Storage, click Disk Management. You will be presented with a screen
showing all your disk volumes. You then right click the volume you want
to create unallocated space on and click the option Shrink Volume from
the Context Menu that flies out.
A screen will appear that tells you the partition's size, how much you
can shrink it by, and letting you type into fields where you specify the
desired amount of shrinkage. Then you click on the button labeled
Shrink. After the process finishes, you can then use the right click
method on the unallocated space to select Create Partition. Or, if you
already have another partition that you would like to add the
unallocated space to, you can right click that one and select Extend
Partition. In each case, you are presented windows telling you the
amount of free space you're working with and allowing you to enter the
amount you want to use for the new or extended partition.
There are some important limitations to the Vista partitioning tools
that you should keep in mind: you can only shrink and expand NTFS or
RAW (unformatted) partitions; when you shrink, there are some unmovable
files such as page files or shadow copy storage areas that inhibit the
amount of shrinkage allowed; you cannot extend a partition into
unallocated space to the left (lower disk addresses) of the partition to
be added to; you cannot move around unallocated space; if you have too
many bad clusters on the disk, then you cannot shrink a partition on it.
Many of these limitations are removed by commercial products such as
those from Symantec and Acronis...


--
LeeTutor
.

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