Hi, I have a new Dell with a large hard drive, tons of memory and a decent CPU. I know very little about computers and want to know if there's any way to divide my drive into 2 partitions; 1 for program files (C:\) and one for my regular docs, photos, etc (D:\). I already have 3 profiles set up, 2 with admin rights and 1 for friends and family. Is there a way to partition keeping these profiles and all my settings intact? Thanks for any/all guidance!

To partition your HD without losing data, you'll need a third-party program such as Partition Magic. There's also some freeware programs, but I haven't used any of them myself, so I can't give any endorsements to them. One that I often see recommended is Ranish Partition Manager. You can download it here. Of course, backing up important data is NEVER a BAD idea before attempting any partitioning. HTH Dave

I'm a little "old school", so I think the time to do this is when you first setup your hard drive, before you install the operating system. That being said, a very good program to do what your asking is "Partition Magic". I believe it's by "Powerquest". It will partition your drive any way you choose without loss of data and is very "user friendly". Of course, BACKUP anything important first. Good luck!

Thanks! The computer came with OS adn apps installed so I didn't get a chance to do it on the install like I did with my W2k machine. I'll take a look at Partition Magic and the others you recommended.

Partition Magic is a great program, in fact XP licenses some of their code for the Disk Manager. However, this forum is full of folks who have trashed their harddrives trying to do the type of things you want. My suggestion is to first find an old computer to practice on before attempting a "1st timer" on yours.