partition question

[sandcracker21]

Hello.

When I look in my disk managment, I notice that I have 10 Gigs unallocated in my primary drive C

How do I get them to 'merge' back into my HDD?

Also I want to mirror my C drive onto my secondary HDD G, how can I do this? I already created a partition for recovery on the G drive

 

[PC eye]

We already went into this on the thread seen at http://www.computerforum.com/135116-question-primary-partion.html Did you end up removing the recovery partition?

If you went ahead and deleted that you voided the warranty plus will now need a full install disk in order to reinstall Windows. With that gone you would simply use a 3rd party tool like GParted in order to move the entire Vista primary to the front of the drive before seeing that expanded to fill in the remaining now unallocated drive space.

For cloning Norton Ghost, Acronis, or another disk imaging software would be needed. Then new mbr entries would be needed in order to boot from the second drive. You would be better off simply using the scheduled backup tool in Vista however for regular backups of the OS host drive to the second drive.

For seeing the current primary moved to the front of the drive GParted would be the better tool there. Review the documentation on that at http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry/generalities/gparted.htm

The download page for the live cd releases is seen at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=173828 The best release still for working with MS partitions is the 0.3.3 and prior 0.3.2 releases simply being the only two "platform independent" allowing you to create NTFS or even Fat16/32 partitions.

 

[sandcracker21]

Yes, I refomated the recovery drive a few weeks after getting the computer, so I figured what the hell, I already ****ed it up!

however, I did look through my documentation and I have two CDs with the drivers, utilities and Vista on them from Dell.

did i mess up bad by reformatting then deleting this partition? I recreated it on the second HDD though, with five times as much space

 

[PC eye]

That has serial number of the system as well as product key and preactivation for Windows stored there as well as the drivers and softwares that come preinstalled. For seeing a mirror image on the second you needed that left on the host drive intact. I don't know if copying it back will work out for you while that would be a thought.

The two disks are bound to the preinstall there using the information tucked away on the original 10gb recovery partition. On that model do you see the option for pressing the DEL key at post or another key or keys for restoration? A former neighbor come in one day discussing just having bought a new XPS model when those were first out mentioning the del key was assigned for that.

 

[sandcracker21]

I am not 100% sure what you are asking, I did infact do a backup through Vista, but it says that OS files and temp files will not be transfered, and it lists the files that will (documents, music, tv shows, etc.)

Is this back up sufficient? I am confused now to what to do, sorry I have never done this before


QUESTION: would simply copying some files from partition to partition be a backup? Two copys on two different partitions on the same HDD?

 

[porterjw]

I am not 100% sure what you are asking

Nobody ever is...

I am confused now

As is everyone after talking with PC... Best advice (and you'll get this from a lot of CF members) is to completely disavow *everything* PC posts - you'll come to see why very shortly.

Are you looking to do an *exact* copy of your entire disk (OS and personal files), or simply have a backup of your personal stuff in case you ever need to reformat or have a problem with the first HDD?

So...PC_eye...some of us were wondering... When you're completely owned and proven wrong in this Thread, are you going to delete all your Posts like you did in the cooling fans Thread earlier?

 

[PC eye]

The backup there allowed you to save various files you have added since new saved in case of a reinstall of Windows where you can then restore them using the same process. When simply copying things like family photos, audio, video, and other file types from one partition to another you are storing and can say backing them up with a basic copy+paste.

The hidden 10gb however is intentionally placed where it was by design for seeing the recovery option work with the preinstalled copy of Windows bonded to that one system. As mentioned on the other thread that was to be left alone in order to not see the warranty voided on you since it was part of the prepackaged deal you got from Dell there.