Repartition HD w/out losing OS info?

[needhelpinnz]

Hi all,

So I currently have a 100GB WD HD that I originally partitioned into 6 different partitions, one for the OS that's about 8GB, then the other 5 for random things, like Music, Games, and so on.

I have looked through some other postings (https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic95028.html) and didn't find anything that directly answered my question, or at least if it did, I didn't understand it. I have an external HD that is 160GB and has free space, but really I just want to leave the OS partition alone and clump the other 5 together. I can backup the files on the other 5 without a problem to the external, but I just don't want to reformat the entire HD just to make my organizing woes less of a hassle.

I am also trying to avoid spending any money on programs like PM (gas prices and being a college student are my main reasons there). If anyone has any advice or things I can research to see if that is possible that would be awesome. Thanks a ton.

 

[Rick]

A GParted bootable CD would be a good, free alternative.

You can download the latest (non-beta) ISO here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=271779

And read a bit about the the project here:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php

And as always, if you have anything truly important, back it up if at all possible. There is no 100% SAFE software to resize and move your partitions, no matter how much you pay for it. Maybe your hard drive has a bad sector, maybe the power goes out abruptly, maybe some quirky program error arises... Who knows. So please back up your most critical data first.

 

[kimsland]

Here's the direct link to the Gparted LiveCD
http://transact.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/gparted/gparted-live-0.3.7-7.iso

Rick got in before I could reply
But he answered it better than me anyway

 

[needhelpinnz]

awesome, thanks guys I'll try things out and let you know how they go

Sorry it took so long to get back to this, things got hectic in life the last few weeks. But I realized after looking through several different guides online that none of them actually showed me how to really create a Boot CD for this purpose. I've found guides to copy img files from a floppy or bootable win CD already, but nothing for this.

I DLed the ISO to my desktop, wrote it to a CD using Nero Express and tried to boot from it (before realizing there had to be an option to create a bootable CD) to no avail. Seems as though my version of express doesn't support creating bootable CDs, but I also have ImgBurn, and couldn't figure out how to get that to work.

Do I need a program like WinImage? Someone also suggested this for a similar situation: "May I suggest you simply add a boot.bin or boot.bif to the image. Then when you burn using Image Burn, you'll have a Bootable CD" Does this sound okay, and if so, how would I even add those to the image? Thanks for any advice...

 

[surfersaiyan]

if you have the ISO you dont really need to muck about with the settings to make it bootable, all that garb should already be there.

just open nero express, go to Image, Project, Copy, then select Disc Image or Saved Project.

you will then get the open box where you select the ISO file and nero will do the rest for you.

 

[SNGX1275]

I don't use express, but apparently surfersaiyan does, so his way should be correct. If not, download CD Burner XP Pro (free). When you open it up, the 3rd option on the Action Selection box (which pops up when you open the program) is Burn ISO Image. There you go.

 

[needhelpinnz]

that was easier than i thought. im going to try to boot the CD now and see how things go.

well i tired getting it to work and every time i tried to re-size a partition it told me there was some error.

i also found 8gb of unallocated space but it wouldnt let me increase the size of any of my partitions, in addition to trying to resize them. just kept coming up with an error telling me it didnt work.

at this point rather than redo everything im thinking it might be easier to just backup the info i need, and format the whole thing. id have to reinstall the programs i use and reinstall winxp, which almost seems easier than sorting through error messages for the next week only to possibly find i should format anyway.

is there an easy way to save my drivers and hardware config? i know a few of my items ive had issues with so if i could avoid those and have everything on a cd/dvd for windows to load after the format, that would be awesome

 

[kimsland]

There are a few excellent tools to backup your drivers. Inside Windows.

But, normally I would say just download the most up-to-drivers from your manufactures website. ie no need to backup this h/w config stuff.

 

[needhelpinnz]

awesome. thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[kimsland]

Actually I found the one that I use in Windows: http://fileforum.betanews.com/sendfile/1170699160/1/DriverGrabber.zip

I know this presently doesn't help
But you could make a backup, once all is done, and updated on your system
Then run Driver Grabber