NTFS Partition Resizing
 

Hi Everybody,
The situation is that I have a new PC with WinXP installed on a 80GB hard disk with no partitions. Now I want to resize the WinXP partition (NTFS format) so that I can create new partitions to install Linux/QNX/FreeBSD. I would like to do this without removing WinXP(i.e. formatting the whole hard disk). I want to know if this is possible. And if yes, how?
Any information will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.


DA

Partition Magic can most likely do this for you. There's a similar free piece of software called FIPS, too. I don't know whether this can handle NTFS partitions, though.


Regards

Hi
From what i saw; fips doesn't handle ntfs see;
www.linux-mag.com/2001-12/newbies_04.html
for inst. (december 2001)
Maybe use partimage http://partimage.org/
it says there it can handle ntfs. (experimental that is ?)
Haven't tried this myself cause i dont use ntfs anyway.
regards

what will it hurt to reinstall? maybe even knock ol xp'z off yown boxen might be da best ding for ya hoss!

Isn't that what he said he wanted to try to avoid, which doesn't help him in anyway. :rolleyes:

Using partition magic and other such programs is dangerous and will put crap onto your harddisk. By rights, partitions cannot be resized, but these programs cheat heavily to do so.

The best way to go is reinstall XP on a partitioned HDD. and then install linux. But PM and the like do seem to work well enough...

Maybe " ... should not be resized ... " would be a better statement. Resizing always involves some risk, so read the instructions thoroughly, back up critical and important data and then apply the resizing.

Maybe not!! In theory partition resizing is impossible.

It however can be achieved by some serious cheating, and screwing up your disk in the process, though you may not notice that the disk is corrupted, which is what everyone who resizes partitions hopes for ;)

Again, I would disagree with the word "impossible". Since partitioning is a function of addresses, not physical size, it is possible -- RISKY -- WORTH THINKING ABOUT TWICE -- REQUIRES GOOD SOFTWARE -- REQUIRES A STEADY HAND AND A CLEAR MIND -- but clearly not impossible :D !!

LOL!!

We are talking apples and oranges! I know that it _can_ be done, I think that I mentioned PM earlier, but it _not_ possible without 'cheating' the FS and doing damage that con only be fixed with a full format.

Try reading up on the FAT filesystems and you might understand what I've been talking about. ;)

Would _you_ recommend that someone damage their disk? possibly destroying data??? Hell, would you even use PM or other such programs!! If you know what you are doing then probably not!! I would rather rebuild a machine (well, my machine) with 3 OSs than use some crap like PM to screw my disks...

For the thread starter, sorry about all this ;) You can resize if you want, but understand that the disk will suffer perm damage (the data and part tables - not the actual disk itself), and will remain damaged until it is cleaned with a format anyway.

You should not short cut, but if you don't really care about the machine that the work is being done on then go for it ;)It will probably work out alright for you, in the short term at least, but if it doesn't, then tough :D

fatgod

We don't disagree that resizing a partition -- whether FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS -- involves a great deal of risk. And YES, IT IS POSSIBLE TO SEVERELY DAMAGE YOUR WINDOZE SPACE BY DOING SO. Having "yelled" what I have already said numerous times, I hope you are satisfied :D .

What I object to is your use of the word "impossible". It's a matter of semantics, perhaps. It's a matter of word choice, perhaps. Look up the meaning of "impossible" and you will see as the definition "Incapable of being or occurring".

Technically, it is not "impossible", because there are products that do just that and it is done successfully every day. It can be damaging because people do not pay attention to what they are doing and are consequently not successful in their attempts. However, that does not make doing a resize "impossible".

Also, FAT-based and NTFS-based filesystems are significantly different ;). I do not doubt your prowess with filesystems, I do not doubt your concern with actually doing a filesystem resize, but do not confuse the issue by saying what is clearly not true.

Yes, I have noticed that you have been yelling. Thanks for making that clear though.

Anyway "we" I said, "In theory partition resizing is impossible" which is exactly true. Practise is another matter, of course. I think that if you read my comments carfully you will see that I did not say that it cannot be done. I was trying to point out that breaking rules to achive something, ie shortcutting, does not make for happy computers nor their users,

Anyway good luck darkangel, I hope it all works out for you. And jglen490, see you around mate ;)

Enjoyed the "discussion", fatgod :D !!

Thank you all for your replies. You have been a great help. I shall be posting a new query soon regarding the linux installation. Hope for your help then.

darkangel