Partition Frenzy ~Win 2k Partition

[embj]

Ok, I've got DOS 6.22, Windows 98SE, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows XP Media Center Edition, and Windows Enterprise Server 2003. I've got a separate partition for my documents and a bunch of other junk. It's about 60gb. I need to make the partition larger for it but, I don't have any place for the 60gb of stuff to go as I have about 15gb that I need to add to the 60gb. So I was wondering what I could do to get rid of 2k and still let the other OS's work and then merge the 2k partition into the 60gb partition. Is this possible?


Please let me know. Thanks.

[Chuckiechan]

If I understand you properly, you have 60 gigs of "my stuff" and want to add 15 Gigs to it? And to make the space, you want to dump win2k?

I think you will be able to do it with Partition Magic ok, but I'd definately advise you to borrow another large HDD or two from someone to back up to. You may not have enough space to complete the change-over. Partition Magic is good, but if it stalls with a "no space" message you could be in deep trouble.

[embj]

Ok....this is my setup.

I have a 160gb hdd and a 40gb hdd. I have dos/98 on a 2gb partition, 2k on a 25gb partition, XP MCE on a 25gb partition, Server 2k3 on a 25gb partition, 55gb partition with "the stuff" on it, and a 23gb partition with 14gb that I want to add to the 55gb partition. My plan was to move the stuff from the 23gb partition to the 40gb. Then merge the 23gb partition with the 2000 partition but, first to do that I have to dump 2000. I need to know that if I just do a format on the partition with 2000 on it if it would still allow me to boot up any other OS ok. And if I can Then I can take 23gb from "the stuff" and add it to the 40gb hard drive leaving 32gb on "the stuff". Then I planned to take 18gb from "the stuff" and add it to the partition that I have for Server 2003 leaving 14gb on "the stuff." Then take the rest of the 14gb from "the stuff" and move it to the XP partition. Then merge the 48gb partition that I created from the 23gb and the 2k partion into the 55gb partition that before had "the stuff" on it. Lastly I planned to move all the stuff from the other partitions back onto the newly created 103gb partition. So would this work? I no it sounds very complicated but, I really need this to work.

[Chuckiechan]

What do you have for a partitioning utility? I'm a fan of Paritition Magic myself.

How much experience do you have with partitioning? Just asking so I don't get too basic.

First, we need to assume that all of the files you want to move are readable by the operating system that is on the destination partition.

Using your partitioning utility, try making the win2K partition a logical parition, not bootable (IE set to "not active"). Then you should see your files in explorer when booted with the partition you wish to save (dos/win98?). If you can, you can move them. Once your files are moved, you will reallocate (add) the space to be included in the target partition.

By making it logical, it becomes just another parition with a letter.

You better back this stuff up! In fact, try making several large zip files and see how much space you need. Some files are very compressible, like 80% or so.

[SeanC]

After reading it several times I still don't quite understand what you're looking to do but that's fine. I can give you several tips on doing this.

1) BACKUP EVERYTHING!!
2) BACKUP EVERYTHING!!
3) Use a good partitioning utility like Partition Magic
4) Write down on paper what you want to do just to make sure you have it correct before you start making changes
5) Make the changes one or two at a time just to make sure things still work properly

Sean