I have just bought a new PC with WinXP. It has an 80gb hard-drive which I
would like to split into smaller, more magageable, logical drives.

The Help tells me that I must have unallocated space before I can create a
new logical drive.

I would be extremely grateful if someone is able to tell me where the Help
explains how to get unallocated space!!!!!!!

(This was all much simpler with the Partition Magic which I used with Win98.
It simply asked "Where would you like to take the space from?" So easy and
user-friendly!!)

XP's DiskPart utility is capable of only partitioning a hard drive that is empty
or has "unallocated" free space.
For example, if you were to install a new second drive, DiskPart can be
used to partition and format it. DiskPart cannot segregate current files from
free space, therefore, only a sophisticated third-party partitioning program,
such as Partition Magic 8 , can be used with a drive that already has Windows XP
installed.

The only way you can create, delete, resize or merge existing partitions,
and not harm your existing Windows installation, is to purchase and use
a third-party partitioning program such as Partition Magic 8.
http://www.symantec.com/partitionmagic/

The alternative is to perform a "clean install" of Windows XP:

How to Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"peter_cologne" wrote:

| I have just bought a new PC with WinXP. It has an 80gb hard-drive which I
| would like to split into smaller, more magageable, logical drives.
|
| The Help tells me that I must have unallocated space before I can create a
| new logical drive.
|
| I would be extremely grateful if someone is able to tell me where the Help
| explains how to get unallocated space!!!!!!!
|
| (This was all much simpler with the Partition Magic which I used with Win98.
| It simply asked "Where would you like to take the space from?" So easy and
| user-friendly!!)

Hi

You'll have to use a 3rd party partitioning program such as Partition Magic
or Acronis's PartitionExpert. I know don't if the PM version you have now -
used for Win 98 - will work with XP. You may have to upgrade to v8.

--


Will Denny
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

"peter_cologne" <petercologne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:EE6DFFE4-033D-43A1-B8CE-C5CDAE4DAC1C@microsoft.com...
>I have just bought a new PC with WinXP. It has an 80gb hard-drive which I
> would like to split into smaller, more magageable, logical drives.
>
> The Help tells me that I must have unallocated space before I can create a
> new logical drive.
>
> I would be extremely grateful if someone is able to tell me where the Help
> explains how to get unallocated space!!!!!!!
>
> (This was all much simpler with the Partition Magic which I used with
> Win98.
> It simply asked "Where would you like to take the space from?" So easy
> and
> user-friendly!!)

Starting with Partition Magic 7, you can use Partition Magic to change the
partition sizes/location/format without most problems.

Starting with Partition Magic 8, you can do these changes in the Windows GUI
interface instead of having to reboot in DOS CMD mode.

On 21/11/2005 "peter_cologne" <petercologne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>I have just bought a new PC with WinXP. It has an 80gb hard-drive which I
>would like to split into smaller, more magageable, logical drives.
>
>The Help tells me that I must have unallocated space before I can create a
>new logical drive.
>
>I would be extremely grateful if someone is able to tell me where the Help
>explains how to get unallocated space!!!!!!!
>
>(This was all much simpler with the Partition Magic which I used with Win98.
> It simply asked "Where would you like to take the space from?" So easy and
>user-friendly!!)

--
---

Y.

or as someone usually says ...try "boot it ng" or BING for short

Dave

"Yves Leclerc" <yvesleclercNOSPAM@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:Oo5$X$q7FHA.1420@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Starting with Partition Magic 7, you can use Partition Magic to change the
> partition sizes/location/format without most problems.
>
> Starting with Partition Magic 8, you can do these changes in the Windows
> GUI
> interface instead of having to reboot in DOS CMD mode.
>
> On 21/11/2005 "peter_cologne" <petercologne@discussions.microsoft.com>
> wrote:
>>I have just bought a new PC with WinXP. It has an 80gb hard-drive which I
>>would like to split into smaller, more magageable, logical drives.
>>
>>The Help tells me that I must have unallocated space before I can create a
>>new logical drive.
>>
>>I would be extremely grateful if someone is able to tell me where the Help
>>explains how to get unallocated space!!!!!!!
>>
>>(This was all much simpler with the Partition Magic which I used with
>>Win98.
>> It simply asked "Where would you like to take the space from?" So easy
>> and
>>user-friendly!!)
>
> --
> ---
>
> Y.
>

peter_cologne wrote:

> I have just bought a new PC with WinXP. It has an 80gb hard-drive
> which I would like to split into smaller, more magageable, logical
> drives.
>
> The Help tells me that I must have unallocated space before I can
> create a new logical drive.
>
> I would be extremely grateful if someone is able to tell me where the
> Help explains how to get unallocated space!!!!!!!


It doesn't explain where to get it, because you *can't* get it.

The help article is largely useless, since almost nobody has unallocated
spece. It's like buying an 8-room house and sealing off one of the rooms and
not using it. Nobody has that either.


> (This was all much simpler with the Partition Magic which I used with
> Win98. It simply asked "Where would you like to take the space from?"
> So easy and user-friendly!!)


The situation is exactly the same in either Windows 98 or Windows XP (and
every other version of Windows). Unfortunately, no version of Windows or DOS
has ever had the ability to change the partition structure of a drive
without losing all the data on it. To do so requires the use of a
third-party program. Partition Magic is the best-known such program (it
wasn't part of Windows 98, but it can be used either with it or Windows XP),
but there are shareware/freeware alternatives. One shareware product that
gets good reports from several MVPs (although I haven't used it personally)
is Bootit Next Generation.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup