Partition with Windows still installed?

[Matarael]

I am not to knowledgeable when it comes to partitioning, so I was wondering if anyone can answer the question above as my friend may have to reformat soon and neither of us are sure whether or not it is possible to make a partition whilst windows is still installed so he can keep his files without having to burn them onto a CD. Or is that not possible?

Thanks.

[hkgonra]

It is possible but dangerous.
I think you will need something like partition magic.

[dark_15]

It is possible, but you need some special software to do that. The best one comes that comes to mind is Symantec's Partition Magic Pro (http://sea.symantec.com/content/product.cfm?productid=1). However, it is not free, and I don't know what the limitations are on the trialware version.

Hope that helps!

EDIT: Before doing any partitioning or messing with the file system, make sure you have full and recent backups... it's easier to recover from a CD or DVD than a screwed up hard drive partition!

[clockless]

just use partion magic works great no problems

[jchsatx09]

another vote for partition magic

[FSBxtreme]

I have used PowerQuest Partition Magic a lot and it works flawlessly. Couple clicks and confirmation, you can partition any size you want. It has automatic check so you don't write over another partition. Very cool.

[apu318]

I have had partition magic fail on me before so DO backup your data. It destroyed my file tables.. I had to recover everything with a program, install windows again, and then i rewrote everything i recovered back ontop of the fresh install, and everything was good again. No thanks to partition magic.

[hkgonra]

EDIT: Before doing any partitioning or messing with the file system, make sure you have full and recent backups... it's easier to recover from a CD or DVD than a screwed up hard drive partition!

I guess that is why I never try it, if I am doing a backup of my stuff anyway then i just format the whole drive and partition it the way I want.

[Matarael]

I was thinking about partition magic when I first talked to my friend, but I wasn't sure it could do it. Thanks for the help guys.