Resizing Your Hard Drive Partitions Using Free Software
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Resizing Your Hard Drive Partitions Using Free Software Standard Disclaimer: The Washington State Library can’t guarantee that these instructions will work with every computer. In other words, we aren’t responsible for any problems arising from the use of these instructions, though we’ll try to help you if you work for a library in the state of Washington. Do I need to read this article? This article discusses the use of a bootable CD containing a program called “QTParted” to resize hard drive partitions on a Windows XP or 2000 machine. Occasionally, you’ll need to change the partition structure on your hard disk. You might want to change the size of an existing partition, create a new partition, or create some free space (free space is space on your hard drive that doesn’t contain any partitions; in Microsoft terminology, free space is commonly referred to as unallocated space). For example, Windows Disk Protection, a tool that comes with the Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit, requires a certain amount of free (i.e. unallocated) space. Changing the partition structure usually can’t be accomplished from within the Windows operating system. In order to create free space or an extra partition on a fully-partitioned hard drive, you need to use partition resizing software. There are several fee-based products available, but they can be quite expensive. For example, Partition Magic 8.0, the best-known resizing product, costs $70 per license (a single license allows you to use the software on a single computer). If you need to resize partitions on ten computers, the cost can quickly become prohibitive for a small or mid-sized library. An alternative solution, discussed in this article, is to use free software to repartition your hard drive. What Is a Partition? According to the Data Leach website ( www.dataleach.com ), a partition is “a logical storage unit. One hard disk can be divided into one or more partitions….In the Windows operating systems (95/98/NT/2000) each partition is assigned one…letter (C:, D: etc). For the user it looks like there are several hard disks in the computer.” Most computer vendors will partition the drive before they send it to you, and they usually create a single large partition which uses all of the space on your hard drive. Prerequisites On the computer(s) where you need to resize the partitions, you’ll need a bootable CD- ROM drive. You’ll also need a bootable CD with QTParted on it (discussed below). Before you begin, make sure you back up any critical data on the computers you’ll be working with. Which Bootable CD Should I Use? For our purposes, the bootable CD (also known as a “Live CD”) should contain an operating system that can be run entirely from the CD-ROM drive and RAM without installing itself onto the hard drive. There are numerous free CD images available. For the purposes of these instructions, I’d recommend using either the Knoppix CD or the System Rescue CD. Both contain QTParted. The Knoppix CD has an easy to use graphical interface, but it’s larger than the System Rescue CD. Therefore, if you have a slow network connection, you might be better off using the System Rescue CD. Also, if the computers that you’re working on are old and slow, you should consider using the System Rescue CD as it loads more quickly than Knoppix. Elsewhere on WebJunction I’ve written short instructions on creating a Knoppix CD or a System Rescue CD . Booting to the CD and Launching QTParted Method 1: Using a Knoppix CD Make sure that your BIOS is set so that the CD-ROM drive is first in the boot order. Put your Knoppix CD into the CD-ROM drive of the computer that needs its partitions resized. Reboot the computer, and the machine should boot to a screen that says “Knoppix KDE 4.0” or something similar. You’ll see a “boot:” prompt and a message telling you to press the return key if you want to boot from the CD. Press Enter and the Knoppix operating system will scan for hardware devices and begin loading itself from your CD into memory. This process can take three to four minutes on a fairly recent computer, and could take much longer on an old, slow P.C. Once the operating system has loaded, you’ll see a blue button in the lower left corner with the letter “K” on it. This is the “K” menu, similar to the Start menu in Windows. Go to “K” System QTParted. The QTParted window will open. You may need to maximize this window. Method 2: Using a System Rescue CD Make sure that your BIOS is set so that the CD-ROM drive is first in the boot order. Put your Knoppix CD into the CD-ROM drive of the computer that needs its partitions resized. Reboot the computer, and the machine should boot to a screen that says “System Rescue CD”. At the “boot:” prompt, press Enter. At the keymap selection prompt, press Enter to choose the default keymap. You’ll see a bunch of messages scroll by, until finally you get to a “/root %” prompt. Type “run_qtparted” to launch QTParted. Resizing Your Partitions with QTParted QTParted refers to your hard drives and hard drive partitions in unix notation, which may be confusing if you’re used to Windows. In unix notation, UnionFS/dev/hda, refers to your first hard drive (in a Windows PC). In most workstations, you’ll only have a single hard drive, but if you have a second drive, it would show up as UnionFS/dev/hdb. The partitions on a hard drive are indicated by adding a number to the end of the hard drive notation. In other words, the first partition on the first hard drive, will be referred to as UnionFS/dev/hda1, and the second partition will be referred to as UnionFS/dev/hda2. In the left hand pane (the “Device” pane), click on “/UnionFS/dev/hda”. This entry represents your 1 st hard drive. You may lose control of your mouse for a minute or so as QTparted scans your hard drive. When the scanning is complete, you’ll see a list of the partitions, as well as any unallocated space. Your C:\ partition will almost always be listed as UnionFS/dev/hda1. If you have a D:\ partition, it will probably be listed as UnionFS/dev/hda2. Right -click on the partition you’d like to resize (e.g. /UnionFS/dev/hda1) and in the context menu select “&Resize”. A window appears labeled “Resize Partition”. At the top of the window, you’ll see a green box with arrows on the left and right side. Click on the arrows on the right side, and drag leftward until you have the desired amount of free space. To determine the amount of free space you’re creating, look at the “Free Space After:” text box. Click OK. QTParted may freeze for a minute or two before the changes are reflected on the screen. Go to File &Commit to make your changes permanent. In the warning box that appears, click Yes. A “Progress” window appears. It may take several minutes for your changes to be committed. Once you see a message stating “Operations completed successfully”, click OK. You’ll return to the QTParted window, where you’ll see your free space is colored in grey, with the label “UnionFS/dev/had-1”. The order and size of the partitions on your computer may be different from those in the screenshot below. Your next step depends on what you intend to do with this free space. N.B.: If you’re creating this space for use with Windows Disk Protection (part of Microsoft’s Shared Computer Toolkit), you’re basically finished. You can close QTParted, reboot your computer, and continue on with the installation of Windows Disk Protection. If you intend to create and format a new partition using your free space, continue on to the next section. Creating a New Partition (Optional) If you’d like to create a new partition out of the free space you’ve created, there are two tools you can use. If you’re familiar with Windows Disk Management (which is part of the Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems), reboot your computer into Windows, use that tool, and skip the rest of these instructions. However, it’s also fairly easy to create a partition using QTParted. First, right-click on the free space that you created above (it’s usually listed as free, with the name “dev/hda-1”), and click on Create. The “Create as:” menu should say “Primary partition”, and you can leave this alone. In the “partition type” drop down menu, choose ntfs. In the “size” text box, you can accept the default if you want to turn all of your free space into a single partition. Otherwise, enter the amount of space you’d like for this partition. When you’re finished making your changes, click OK. Go to File &Commit to make your changes permanent. In the warning box that appears, click Yes. A “Progress” window appears. It may take several minutes for your changes to be committed. Once you see a message stating “Operations completed successfully”, click OK. Close QTParted. Exiting the CD Operating System If you’re using Knoppix, Go to the “K Menu” in the lower lefthand corner, and then click “Log off”. In the window that appears, choose to “Turn Off the Computer”.