Partitioning a drive

[FONT= "Arial"][SIZE= "2"]I have a simple question however I haven't been able to find an answer to it so I think I will try one of you gurus in here. I am putting together a new computer and I only have 1 hard drive but it has 200GB of storage space. I want to partition it into 2 or maybe even 3 drives and I need to know this. Can I partition it after installing Windows XP, or, during the installation of Windows XP will I have the option of creating partitions before doing the installation, or, is there any other way I can do it? I hope I wasn't too confusing. Thanks in advance for any information.[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

You can partition during the installation of XP. However, you only have to create the partition that XP is to be installed into (the system partition). I would recommend that you only create your system partition during install. Leave the rest of the disk space as unused space.

Then once you have XP up and running, use Disk Manager to create and define the other partitions you want. The Disk Management GUI is accessible from the Computer Management console (in control panel > administrative tools). This Microsoft KB article has some information on using this utility. There is also a pretty good description in the help system once you are in Computer Management.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I am familiar with the Disk Management process since I used it to partition a removable hard drive on my current computer. Thanks again.

 

I has been a while since I have done much work with HDs but I use a Program named " Partition Magic " to partiton HDs BEFORE even thinking about installing the OS.
I know that it can be done after but I believe ( firmly ) that if it is done before it cuts down BIG time on problems later.
Also a couple of extra partition gives a better choice to keep different types of software separated better. And if one drive takes a trip South it takes less with it.
Again. I see more and more where there age old idea of " not putting all your eggs in one basket" fits.
YES !! It does require a bit more attention during the initiall setup and install of software but again over a period of time pays off.

BillyBob

 

Well I really do appreciate all of this. I am just putting this computer together to look at the intricacies of Windows Vista. I have my main computer with my server on it and I am sticking to Windows XP on that. Since I have 2 copies of the Windows XP Release disk I am putting that on so I can take advantage of the cheaper upgrade for Vista. The information everyone gave is great and what I believe I will do is partition a portion of the hard drive at installation time for the System so I can make that C:. Then after installation of the XP OS I will then rename the optical drives to get them out of the way and then create 1 or 2 more partitions on the unused portion of the 200GB drive and then change the letters of the optical drives back to their respectful sequential letters and I should be OK, if I understand everyone correctly. I do have an old copy of Partition Magic but since I am doing this at installation time I would prefer to use the Windows resources.
Thanks again