Gaming Partitioning question.

[Tom Bombadildo]

Well...I have a question. A friend of mine did something to his Windows install, I have no idea, I didn't ask, he just said he wanted to do a full reinstall and of course keep his current files and settings...Well he's made it complicated. You see, he has a 1TB HDD that contains about...500GB worth of files he absolutely needs. Amount of free space left is about...250GB...I think. He says he wants me to take his 500GB folder and create a separate partition for it. Well, seeing how I don't have any external/internal/whatever hard drives around to fit the entire 500GB folder and he doesn't have enough space on the HD itself to make a 500GB partitions I was wondering if its possible to make a 500GB partition out of the folder...like, create a separate partition and instead of being blank have the contents be said folder. Is that possible? I'd rather not create a small partition, move files, delete it from the first partition and etc etc. If not I suppose I'll have to figure something else out but I'd rather just have it quick and done.

 

[marcus134]

why don't you just make a 100gb partition from the 250gb free and install windows on it.

sometimes, you have to see the problem the other way.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Tried that, got some weird error telling me it couldn't locate a system partition...which is odd, obviously. Anyone know what's up with that?

 

[marcus134]

does your partition shows as logical partitions?

you can always read about dual boot.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Sure does. Like I said, he kinda fucked this up big time.

 

[marcus134]

does your partition shows as logical partitions?

Sure does. Like I said, he kinda fucked this up big time.

That might be the problem, the partition you are installing windows on is supposed to be a primary partition (not a logical one), you can easily convert it with a partition manager, or even the windows installation disk (fdisk).

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I see...Hmm. Well. I'll have to give that a try tomorrow because fuck doing that today haha. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[DiscostewSM]

Don't quote me on whether this works, but I believe with Windows 7 (if that is the OS you are working with), you can take an existing partition, and shrink it. Basically, it'll take the free space left on the partition (or a range between 0 and the amount of free space of your choosing), and move that into unpartitioned space. You could then partition that unpartitioned section to a new one. Recommended to defragment the original partition first so that as much free space will be clumped together. In actuality, if that works, you could do that, then move files to it until you can't move anymore, defrag/shrink the original some more, expand the newer one, copy over, and repeat until you get all the important data over, leaving the original partition smaller with what's unwanted. Then, reinstall Windows over that partition.

A long process, but you work with what you've got. I prefer having an external drive for backing up these sort of things.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Don't quote me on whether this works, but I believe with Windows 7 (if that is the OS you are working with), you can take an existing partition, and shrink it. Basically, it'll take the free space left on the partition (or a range between 0 and the amount of free space of your choosing), and move that into unpartitioned space. You could then partition that unpartitioned section to a new one. Recommended to defragment the original partition first so that as much free space will be clumped together. In actuality, if that works, you could do that, then move files to it until you can't move anymore, defrag/shrink the original some more, expand the newer one, copy over, and repeat until you get all the important data over, leaving the original partition smaller with what's unwanted. Then, reinstall Windows over that partition.

A long process, but you work with what you've got. I prefer having an external drive for backing up these sort of things.

Right, that's what I wanted to avoid really.

 

[xephos]

Just create a big torrent file and download it to a copmuter with space and when needed re-download it. Seems a bit outrageous I know but what else is there todo?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Just create a big torrent file and download it to a copmuter with space and when needed re-download it. Seems a bit outrageous I know but what else is there todo?

Uhh...no. Don't have the time or the bandwidth. He needs it done by Wednesday which is why I wanted the quickest option out.

 

[DiscostewSM]

Unfortunately, I don't think there's really any other option with that you've got to work with. Having an extra HDD (external or internal) really helps in these situations. No one you know with one lying around that could hold that 500GB content temporarily?

 

[xephos]

Just create a big torrent file and download it to a copmuter with space and when needed re-download it. Seems a bit outrageous I know but what else is there todo?

Uhh...no. Don't have the time or the bandwidth. He needs it done by Wednesday which is why I wanted the quickest option out.

Oh....... that sounds like so much fun in your end. Good luck

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Thought I should update with the results here. I ended up making him buy a 500GB external and used that to backup his files. I formatted the 1TB HDD (which I found out has a few bad sectors as well) and made it into 3 partitions:200GB for Windows install/programs, 250GB for game installs, and whatever was left for his files. I also took the external out of it's casing and just put that in the PC as well, so he has another 500GB for whatever as well. He decided to split it between 2 groups: one for music, games, and videos and the other for miscellaneous stuff (probably his porn).

Anyways, thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[DiscostewSM]

Thought I should update with the results here. I ended up making him buy a 500GB external and used that to backup his files. I formatted the 1TB HDD (which I found out has a few bad sectors as well) and made it into 3 partitions:200GB for Windows install/programs, 250GB for game installs, and whatever was left for his files. I also took the external out of it's casing and just put that in the PC as well, so he has another 500GB for whatever as well. He decided to split it between 2 groups: one for music, games, and videos and the other for miscellaneous stuff (probably his porn).

Anyways, thanks for the suggestions guys.

Heh, you could say that he needed more space sooner or later. Anyways, glad it worked out.