New partition

[Yipster]

Hi,

I am currently running Windows XP. It allocates 100% of my free space in my hard drive. However, I have about 30GB free. I am a recent Linux convert, so I was wondering is there any way I could unallocate that free space and make a new partition so I can install Mandrake. I really don't want to delete anything from my current primary partition, because it has over 40GB of media content, pictures, etc.

Cheers,
Yipster

[budman7]

The title of your post says it all. Use WinXP's Disk Management tool to create a new partition out of the unallocated free space.

and during the installation let Mandrake come up with an automatic partitioning plan. If it doesnt suit your needs, you can use Mandrake's manual partitioning tool.
Delete the partition you just created with WinXP, then create a swap partition, should be double the size of your ram, but not larger than 1 gig.
Then use the rest for /.

Hope this helps.

[Yipster]

I have to rephrase my post. My primary partition(C: ) is used fully by Windows XP. Its a 80GB harddrive. There is only 30GB left in C: and I was wondering can you convert that to unallocated space?

[budman7]

I am not sure if this will work or not.
But, if you use the automatic partitioning tool, it will resize your primary partition. Then, if it took to much of your hard drive, see, if you can come up with another plan based on the first.
Give Mandrake 10 or 15 gig's + the swap.

Oh yeah, backup your data and defrag Windows before starting.


The only other thing I could think of would be to find yourself a cheap hard drive on E-bay.

[Yipster]

Do you think the resizing tool for Partition Magic will work?

[budman7]

Yes, you should use PM, that would take care of your problems.

[Yipster]

Well I guess its time for back upping. Got about 40GB of media I have to burn on CD. After that I will try using Partition Magic.

[Yipster]

Partition Magic doesn't seem to be working for me. I resize my partition down to a reasonable size. Leaving me about 25GB of unallocated space. I then press Apply. After, all it does is revert back to what it was before. Any possible solutions?

[budman7]

I have never used PM. Only heard about it. Do you have a manual? Maybe you are missing an important step.

[Yipster]

Lol, I figure out my problem. I can't resize my partition with a trial verson. So does anyone know of any free partition resizing applications for Windows?