HD partition question

**Blodrast** · 02-09-2007, 20:03

hey, not fair, I thought we were only talking windows proggies!
Naturally, Beirut, if you really want the most you can get from partitioning disks, I would recommend linux. That's how I've always partitioned all my drives. BUT, as with other things linux, things tend to be not extremely user-friendly.

Never tried gparted myself, always been a fan of fdisk

(although I think I have played with parted at some point).
However, a weird thing I've noticed is that some of the friendlier ones (i.e., ones with a GUI), are less flexible, and offer you less functionality, than some of the unfriendlier ones. Disk druid is a classic example of that. So it's all up to your personal taste in the end.

So, in conclusion, sure, if you are willing to use Linux, by all means, do use one of the (many) utilities available to partition your disk.

**sapi** · 02-10-2007, 03:32

@bloodrast - i've read nice things about gparted, including user friendlyness ;)

I am wondering why you've even considered a distinction between windows and linux partitioning tools. you never partition from within an OS so it really makes no difference what mini-os they use to present the ui

**Xiahou** · 02-10-2007, 08:03

Originally Posted by sapi

you never partition from within an OS

Sure you do- in fact that's what Beirut did. Depending on circumstances, you can't always from within your OS, but people can and often do. If you want to do non-destructive repartitioning, then you have to use other self-booting progs.

Originally Posted by Beirut

Hey! I had his autograph back when I was in high school. A chick friend of mine at school did some movie and tv extra stuff. She got the gigs because her dad worked for the CBC. Anyway, when I found out she'd be working near (under?) G.P., I asked her to get his autograph for me and she did.

Small world eh?

**Blodrast** · 02-10-2007, 10:11

If you're not trying to partition the disk that the OS is residing on, I see absolutely no problem whatsoever doing the repartitioning from within an OS.

If you're repartitioning the disk that the OS is residing on, yes, things can get trickier, and slightly riskier, but it's still quite doable. Even then, if you're not partitioning the partition that the OS is residing on, it might be ok (although you may need to reboot).
Partition Magic, for example, does exactly that - moreover, it can even repartition the partition that the OS is residing on (hehe, but remember my experiences with PM... however, it can do it.).
I don't know if fdisk can do it, I'm not even sure it's possible under linux.

And thanks for the gparted tip - functionality AND user-friendliness, that has to be a first for a linux proggie!

edit:

Originally Posted by Xiahou

If you want to do non-destructive repartitioning, then you have to use other self-booting progs.

hmm, I've been trying to think of any such self-booting proggie associated with a partitioner, and can't think of one. Can you give me an example, please ? Or were you referring to booting into some (whatever) mini-OS (e.g., a linux boot cd), and doing the repartitioning with the tools that you can access from there ?

**sapi** · 02-10-2007, 10:38

Most partitioning tools are self-booting with a mini-os

The one i got with my seagate drive is, and so is gparted, from what i read...

**Dave1984** · 02-10-2007, 14:28

So is it possible to remove a partition from Windows XP? I've "inherited" a laptop that someone has partitioned and it's annoying the hell out of me because I haven't got the space on either half of the partition to install a game, but I have the space on the hard drive as a whole.