IT Professionals

Parting With Extra Partitions

Posted by on Nov 27, 2007 | 2 Comments

Today, Brad asks:

Dear Matt, my new computer came with two partitions (C and D) on the hard drive, each 145GB. I use external hard drives for storage and back-ups. Do I really need two partitions and, if not, how do I get rid of the D drive and consolidate the space on C?

I hesitate to make any blanket assumptions as I seem to remember manufacturers using phantom recovery partitions. So before doing anything, double check with whomever sells that box to find out if that is some partition of consequence.

Now assuming you are a Windows user, I would get a copy of Partition Magic. It is to date, the safest, cleanest way to merge two partitions into one, especially when Windows is already installed. But again, double check FIRST before making any changes to factory provided partitions.

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[tags]Partitions, windows, computers[/tags]

  • GiM

    Actually I love 2 partitions. The first for system (5-10GB) plus other programs (5-10GB), total about 15-20 GB. Secondary, all the rest. ( Idea of a 16-32GB SSD for os is so appealing…)

    And I do recommend two partitions. Dell charge you $10 or $20 to “give” you two partitions…

    If ever you have a problem like virus, os corruption… you can keep data on second partition. Just reinstall os. You can keep as data even an image of the os partition… ;-)

    Maybe a third partition for swap file, but no, it should be on a separate hdd…

  • Eric

    Another thing to consider, especially when working with multiple partitions, is what manufacturer the computer came from.

    Certain mfgs will add an HPA or Host Protected Area to storage that doesn’t provide for diagnostics or recovery software, as most secondary factory partitions do.

    The HPA is mostly used for storing mfg information about the system and can even be used to hide data that would otherwise never be seen. An HPA can be wiped out entirely if it is used for this purpose.

    Though, as mentioned above, if it is used for diag or recovery, leave it be.