Any way to "move" a Windows install from one parition to another?

Mr.Radar · May 6, 2005

When I was partitioning my hard drive I made the C drive way to small (right now there is only 30 megs free). Is there any way I could move my Windows install onto my 2nd parition which has more than enough space? (I'd then delete the old C drive and expand the 2nd parition to take up its space).

redduc900 · May 6, 2005

Check out this thread...

Non-destructive partition resizing
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=384306

The only difference is you need to increase the size of the volume on which Windows resides...the thread starter (eNightmare) was interested in making the partition smaller. The only reason I mentioned this is because of the fact that there's free partitioning software available (noted in the above thread), so you don't necessarily have to purchase a program like Partition Magic or Acronis Disk Director.

TollhouseFrank · May 6, 2005

resize the partition man. Windows doesn't like when you change the partition its on. It gets all strange. However, it doesn't matter if you just resize it.

firebat45 · May 6, 2005

norton ghost, snapshot your current install, then load it onto the drive after your done resizing

Mr.Radar · May 6, 2005

I'd just resize it, but wouldn't that mean I'd also have to delete the D partition (which has over 150 gigs of files on it)? I'd like to avoid that if possible... Maybe I'll just end up reinstalling Windows (in that case I'd delete the C parition and expand the D partition, then install Windows onto the formerly-D partition).

redduc900 · May 10, 2005

Mr.Radar said:
I'd just resize it, but wouldn't that mean I'd also have to delete the D partition (which has over 150 gigs of files on it)? I'd like to avoid that if possible...

When resizing the primary partition C: with the intent of making it larger, the D: partition needs to first be decreased in size. Any modern partitioning software can resize both the primary and logical volumes (I'm assuming the D: partition in your case is a logical one) without losing data in the process. Any of the software noted in the thread I linked you to, or a program like PM or Acronis Disk Director can do just that.

Lonew0lf · May 11, 2005

firebat45 said:
norton ghost, snapshot your current install, then load it onto the drive after your done resizing

Thats what i'd do. Snapshot, fdisk then restore.

Its a lot quicker that shuffling all that data round making a partition bigger.

I've also had problems with Partition Magic, it caused a few files to get corrupted, and I had to manually restore the MBR because it was no longer bootable.

.02

orion456 · May 13, 2005

Casper XP makes exact copies of a drive.

http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/

Any way to "move" a Windows install from one parition to another?

Mr.Radar

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