How to make a partition on vista

Here's how it went, I got done building my first pc about a month ago. When I installed the OS I was a little bit I start reading up about how to do a dual-boot, turns out that I need another partition. So, what I'm asking is if there is a way for me to create a new partition, say 20 gb, without having to format my hard drive, reinstall Windows, and all my other programs? Any help would be most appreciated. Yes, there is. But it isn't free. What you need is a non-destructive partition tool fdisk is not one of these.

Partition Magic is a popular example. After you have bought the software, refrag your hard drive until you get no further effect, then follow the instructions in the program.

Partition Magic? That seemed like one of the more popular ones when I was looking around. I didn't want to have to buy something that I'll only use a few times but I guess its worth it. You can extend a logical drive within contiguous free space in the extended partition that contains it. If you extend a logical drive beyond the free space available in the extended partition, the extended partition grows to contain the logical drive.

For logical drives, boot or system volumes, you can extend the volume only into contiguous space and only if the disk can be upgraded to a dynamic disk.

For other volumes, you can extend the volume into non-contiguous space, but you will be prompted to convert the disk to dynamic.

In Disk Manager, right-click the basic volume you want to extend. You can decrease the space used by primary partitions and logical drives by shrinking them into adjacent, contiguous space on the same disk.

You can however shrink primary partitions and logical drives only on raw partitions those without a file system or partitions using the NTFS file system. For example, if you discover that you need an additional partition but do not have additional disks, you can shrink the existing partition from the end of the volume to create new unallocated space which can then be used for a new partition.

When you shrink a partition, any ordinary files are automatically relocated on the disk to create the new unallocated space. There is no need to reformat the disk to shrink the partition.

Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences.

This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. How to Resize a Partition in Windows Vista.