Hi everybody,

I just built a PC for my grandparents and I was wondering about how to setup Windows. I created a Windows partition and a larger partition for storage. I was wondering if there was anyway to make the larger partition the main partition when installing new programs, etc. I made the Windows drive D: and the larger one C: but that still doesn't seem to work. I just don't want my grandparents to have to worry about changing the drive letter everytime they go to install something new. I appreciate your help!

It looks like what you want are two partitions, with the Windows partition being the biggest, correct? First, as with any other changes to your partitions it is important to back up all important data to CDs/DVDs/other harddrive/etc. before editing anything.

Gparted has a free Linux Live CD (you will be booting off of the cd so setup your bios accordingly) with a simple GUI that can help you manipulate your partitions the way you want. I would recommend having one big partition since this is a single Windows installation and the Windows partition is going to be the biggest anyway.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

go to the "LiveCD" download the latest version, you will be downloading an iso

to burn this iso to a disk and have it boot, install the free version of Deepburner:

http://www.deepburner.com/?r=download

When it asks you what you want to do upon starting Deepburner, you will want to burn an iso image.

You will use that cd to boot into Gparted, and do your work from there.

This post has been edited by MNOB07: Jun 29 2006, 01:41 PM

He seems to have that done allready, you should really have windows as C can cause problems if it isnt although you might neever have a problem. unfortunately most apps are designed to be default on the same partition as the OS the reason for this is two fold, A some apps need to be on that partition(not all but some) B if the windows partition goes you usually need to reinstall the applications anyway in order to get them to work so a seperate app partiton doesnt make as much sense.

I would just keep everything on the main for apps and leave storage to storage, you will end up with more confusion. Maybe set up a backup folder for saving the application data and preferences in the storage partion or onto a CDRW.

Ignore the above posts partition size advise doesnt make much sense the way you have said is fine.

This post has been edited by warriorscot: Jun 29 2006, 03:40 PM

I agree with you but



Huh? My post doesn't make sense... how come? If he runs out of space on the smaller Windows partition when installing applications it will be best to resize the partition to accomodate the data because as you said it's best to have the the main drive with Windows and all apps.

Then again, if it's a fresh install... it may be the cleanest to delete all partitions, format the drive with one partition, and install Windows again on that. Allocating a "storage" partition for Windows is unneeded.

This post has been edited by MNOB07: Jun 29 2006, 04:35 PM

That's what I did. I get what you're saying, but I was thinking about it & I really don't need to be confusing my grandparents with all of this. I just made one large drive & left it at that. But thanks for all your help.

Actually, since I'm on the subject here, let me ask you this...If I want to reinstall Windows on an existing computer with 2 partitions, could I move all the data I want to save onto the storage partition & not have to worry about it being deleted when I reinstall Windows? My version of Windows is kinda messed up & I really need to fix it. I figured a clean install will be the best way to go, but I wanna make sure that all my data isn't gonna be destroyed when I do so. So would it be ok if I moved my important stuff from my Windows drive to my Storage drive while I install Windows?

Of course.

Just be careful to format the right drive when installing Windows again... it can turn into a bad experience if you're not careful...

Exactly thats why you have a second partition, te reason for having a second storage partition instead of a big single drive is that it the OS goes south or the partition the data goes along with it, on a second partition you can reinstall the OS and leave the data unaffected.