Partitioning ?!?

[omegaRED]

Hi guys, i need your help. I want to do a "Clean" install of WinME, but the problem is, i have lots of data i HAVE to keep, ~2Gig ( mostly scanned pics, 3dSmac projects etc. ), but i dont have a CD Burner, and my PC is still under warranty, and i dont want to lose it ( the warranty ), so opening the case, taking the HDD to a friend or something is out of the question.

Now, i came up with an idea, but i dont whether it will work. I was thinking of making 2 partitions, the main ~10 Gb, and a smaller one ~5Gb, then setting the partition where WinME is currently installed ( that would be C:, obviously ) as D:, formatting C:, transfering all of the data from D: to the empty C: partition, then formatting D:, and then installing WinMe on C: ? Did anyone get this? OK ...

1. Make 2 partitions, C & D
2. C: ~10Gb, D: ~ 5Gb
3. WinMe will be then on C:, while D: is empty
4. Make C: Partition D: ( rename, transfer or whatever ( if possible ))
5. C: is now empty, WinMe is now on D:
6. Format C:
7. Install WinMe on empty C:
8. Transfer my Data from D: to C:
9. Format D:

Is this possible? If not, has anyone got any other suggestion?
Any replies will be greatly appreciated !!!

Thanx in advance.


[This message has been edited by omegaRED (edited 11 April 2001).]

[cbman]

Hey Omega.. what up

I have been in that situation many of times... and I know what you are trying to do...

I would suggest you get your hands on Partition magic to repartition your current drive (If you change partitions with FDISK or the like you will more than likely loose your data.)

That way you can reduce your drive to just what you need (~2GB in your case) and then create a second partition (which can be made as a primary partition) use the program to format it.

Then boot with boot disk to dos and FDISK and set the new partition as active (this will also hide the other drive so you don't accidentally overwrite your other data)

Reboot with the boot disk again to OK the changes.

From the prompt do a DIR of C and see if it is your new partition

If such is the case you may go ahead and reinstall ME

Then you may copy what you need to keep to the new partition after you get into windows and then use Partition Magic to delete the old partition and attach all that empty space to your new main drive (if thats what you would like to do.. or you could just change it into a backup partition)

Just my 2 cents and the way that has been most reliable for me

It should also be easy to find someone with PM because when I was at college there were bootleg copies everywhere.



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Hang Low and Limber

[Jorden]

One warning though when using PM. Do not reboot your PC before PM tells you that everything is okay and done with. I lost 5Gb of data once because I thought PM had crashed. So I rebooted... Turns out, it takes a long time to repartition a 10Gb drive...

Jord.

[Casey Jones]

[omegaRED]

Hey thanx cbman ... i was planning on using Partition Magic to do it ... so it is possible ... you know, i was planning on keeping that small partition to store the data i need, i think it`s possible to resize the partition in PM afterwards if i need the space or something ...

Anyways, thanx again, cbman, i`ve already started uninstalling & freeing up space on my HDD.

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Seth, are you ok ?
I`m peachy, Kate. The world is my oyster.