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I have an emachine which comes with a system restore disc rather than simply a windows XP disc. I'm running my system now on a 150 gig drive, and I'm wondering if there is some way to partition the drive, so just 30 is for XP, and the rest for data.
What would I need to use to do this, and if I do this, should I need to reformat in the future, would I be able to restore my system to the 30 gig partition, while the data on the other partition would remain intact, or would restoring the system overwrite the entire drive?
I am basically looking for a way to make things easier for future reformating, since trying to backup all the data on a 150 gig drive before reformating is a very laborious task!
IF my system only took up a 30 gig partition and could be restored to that partition, that would make things a lot easier.
I would install a second HD like street1 suggested. Be aware that restoring the system overwrite the entire drive - i.e., bring it back to factory-installed state. Always remember to first disconnect the second HD before using the restore CD or else the 2nd HD will be nuked too.
i_XpUser
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So, is this only because I have to use a eMachines restore disc that it overwrites the whole drive?
If I get a regular Windows XP disc, will I be able to partition my drive like this, and only write my system to the partition I choose?
Thanks for your help
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The restore disc has always told me only drive "C" would be affected when I've done restores in the past. That is why I thought if I partitioned the drive I wouldn't lose the data on the second partition. I do have a second drive on my computer, and it has never been affected by a restore... What I am looking to do is simply get my system on a smaller partition, to make the reformating process easier, since my C drive is a big drive with a lot of data on it
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The restore should only affect the C: drive.
You can repartition the drive with a program like Partition Magic. However you would have to move any data over 30GB to another hard drive or optical drive first. To be safe, I would strip the drive down to about 25Gb or less first.
Or you could do the repartitioning a bit at a time. Each time moving some more data to the second partition. But keep in mind that partitioning programs, although pretty reliable, do fail occasionally. If they do, you have a serious problem.
But anyway, your idea in doing that is very good. It's an excellent plan to have a small OS partition and all your data and maybe even some programs on another partition.
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The restore should only affect the C: drive.
Interesting.
Here's what HP tells me:
Full System Recovery
This option completely erases and reformats your hard disk drive. It also deletes any data files that you created after purchasing the PC. The Full System Recovery reinstalls the operating system, programs, and drivers from the recovery discs. However, you must reinstall any software that was not installed on the PC at the factory. This includes software that came on CDs included in the PC accessory box and software programs you installed since your purchase. Additionally, the Full System Recovery option creates a recovery image on your hard disk drive. This recovery image contains a copy of the files distributed on the recovery discs that you can use if you need to recover again in the future. This recovery image uses a portion of the hard disk drive that cannot be used for data storage.
i_XpUser
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Hmmm. that seems kinda weird. Why would they put a special partition on the hard drive with the recovery files and then erase it when they do the recovery. Sounds kinda dumb to me.
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It is. All machines sold by the brand name System builders uses a mechanism that completely nuke the entire HD. It happened to me. I used PM to create a separate partitions for data & archiving (I always copy them to DVDs anyway). Then I was curious to see what the recovery CD does. Lo and behold the partitions I created are gone.
i_XpUser
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I Have Emachine Also, it came pre partitiomed into 2 partions 1 for windows and the other is only 4 GB for system resotore , i think they put a boot file on your c drive so it will ask u if u want system resotre at the screen when u start windows.well i didn't like that so here what i did.. i got xp installation cd,and driver guide program. i downloaded drivers for all third party devices that i have using driver guide,then using partition magic i made 2 new partitions the first for windows and the second for all the junk that i save on the computer ,then i installed my new windows xp.
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The restore partition typically contains the files to rebuild your system the way it came out of the box. It is designed to not touch the restore partition and only affect the remaining ones on the drive. It will delete and re-create the c: partition on the drive. Normally you have no choice of partition size, only that you wish to continue or not. It does not back up your files and it will remove any other partitions on your drive. The restore normally takes ALL space other than the restore partition and uses it for C:. The quickest way to get a data only partition would be to slave another drive in and use it for data. Then no matter what you do for restore that drive would not be affected (it would need to be temporarily disconnected during the restore process). Another point on the restore is will it let you create a restore CD/DVD set from the START menu? I get systems in for service that the owner does not have a recovery CD and if the drive is damaged or needs replaced the new one does not come with the restore partition on it (they are normally blank drives).
Partition Magic would be the best choice to modify and change the sizes, but remember that doing a restore wipes all of that out. Also make sure your data is backed up prior to doing anything that modifies your drive. I have seen too many instances where I am trying to recover data for a customer when the changes fail and the drive will not boot. Data recovery is expensive.
Good luck
Richard
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