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Repartition Hard Drive
Hello all. First I apologize if this question has been answered already in the forums. I have searched all over this forum and google but can't find a solid answer. I have come across variations, but not the solid answer I'm looking for.
So here goes: I just recently got a new Studio 1555 with a 500GB hard drive with Vista Home Premium 64 bit SP1. The only thing I've done is turn it on once and completed the Vista installation. But after snooping around and checking things out I wanted to make some changes.
The biggest is that I want to repartition the drive to isolate the OS into a smaller partition and then use the rest of the drive for personal files. I tried using Shrink within Computer Management, but it won't let me shrink the drive to the size I want, only about a 50/50 split of the remaining 425GB. I still have all the original partitions including the D Factory Restore and wondered if there is a way to repartition the hard drive to the size I am wanting and then use the Factory Restore on the newly partitioned drive allocated for the OS. I would prefer to do this without using any 3rd party software and/or having to do a complete reinstall.
I have read a few articles that when a repartition is done it wipes out some Link to the Factory Restore even though the Factory Restore data/partition is still visible. I don't wan't to wipe this out if possible as I like the idea of it.
Thanks in advance for any help.
ejn63
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August 29th, 2009 15:00
Where are you willing to compromise? You can't get what you want without a third-party utility, reinstalling, or losing the restore feature - or some combination of these. Which one(s) are you willing to give up?
Viva Las Vegas
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August 29th, 2009 23:00
Well, I was hoping to not have to give up anything...greedy I guess. If I must, then I would say that a re-install is the path I would choose to go down. However, I read a few things that a reformat and reinstall to create the new partitions wipes out some Link the Factory Restore has with the current state of the partitions and that errors occur after this process when trying to use the Factory Restore at a later time. Even though I have all the Dell Discs, I don't see where the OS product key is located and am not sure I could proceed with a re-install without that. I would prefer to keep the Factory Restore functionality intact. I would like to know what is preventing me from just using the Shrink function since nothing has been added to the drive as it is is fresh out of the box if anyone has any ideas.
Does the Factory Restore give any options for creating new partitions?
Would it be possible to begin the re-install process until I get through the repartition section and then cancel the remaining steps and then turn around and use the Factory Restore to complete the process?
Thanks again in advance!
Irktou
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August 30th, 2009 01:00
I have to admit I'm a bit dumbfounded that you feel that 250 GB is too small. But I'm pretty sure the answer to your last question is no. And in my opinion the factory restore should be the last thing you sacrificed.