How To Repartition Your OS Drive In Windows XP
This article is part of Windows Vista Backup Strategies For Home Users

Partitioning And Organizing Your Files

   Separating your data from your Operating System is the best way to simplify the backup process. A structured approach allows you to have a place for your OS, a place for your data, and a place for your backups.

   As an example:

   I helped a family setup their new Dell computer. It had a 160GB SATA hard drive with a single partition. Can you imagine trying to backup this thing after Mom, Dad, and the kids start using this?  Mom's pictures, Dad's documents, and the kids music and pictures would quickly make the task of backing up a long, arduous task (I won't even get in to drive maintenance).

   Separating your data from your Operating System is the best way to simplify the backup process. A structured approach allows you to have a place for your OS, a place for your data, and a place for your backups.

   There are 2 very important steps and 1 recommended step before we proceed:

1 - You should defrag your hard drive before going any further. Use your favorite defrag software or the Windows Disk Defragmenter.

2 - You should backup your ENTIRE DRIVE in case something goes wrong.

3 - Optional but recommended. Move your My Documents folder to another drive/partition. If you only have one drive/partition I would suggest you burn this entire folder to CD or transfer it to another computer. Then delete the contents of the My Documents folder before continuing. I do this for 2 reasons. The first is that it keeps the contents of the My Documents safe in case you need to restore your OS drive from backup. The second is that it saves space on the OS partition and can reduce fragmentation. I also highly recommend having 2 drives in a computer if possible. Why? Speed, space, and redundancy.

Move Your Documents

Vista really hosed things by replacing the My Documents folder.

Moving this info has two benefits:

1 - These files are safe from any OS problems and are unaffected if you need to restore the OS from backup.

2 - Cuts down on disk fragmentation.

   If you do not have a second partition on your hard drive or you do not have a second hard drive you will have to complete this step after resizing the Vista partition.

In the Classic Start Menu, Click on your User Name icon or In the new menu style click on your User Name.
For each of the folders you want to replace, Copy and Paste them to the desired new location.
(ensure you do not have a folder there by that name)
Next, for each folder you copied,
Right-click on that folder and choose Properties.
Click on the Location pane and then click the Move... button.
Navigate to corresponding folder in the new location
Click Apply, answer Yes in the resulting pop-up (choose Copy and Replace for any other screens).
You can do this for any folder here but I recommend moving:
Contacts
Documents
Downloads
Music
Pictures
Videos

With that done we can proceed.

Vista Partition Requirements

   Microsoft states that Vista requires at least 15 GB of space (the computer I'm on now is using 18 GB). However, your requirements will vary and Vista is somewhat of a space hog. I cannot give you an absolute recommendation on your partition size. It depends on the features you have in place. If you have the disk space I would highly recommend you leave a healthy sized partition (+20 GB) to avoid problems.

Resizing The Vista Partition Using The Built-In Disk Tool

(more info at Microsoft)

Press the Windows + R keys > type compmgmt.msc and hit Enter > In the Storage section click on Disk Management > Right-click on the partition Vista is installed on and choose Shrink Volume (to make it smaller) or Extend Volume (to make it bigger, this option will not be visible if the partition is at max size) > Vista will limit the size you can shrink it to. I would suggest sticking with the options you are presented.

When finished you'll need to create a new partition in the unallocated space. Simply Right-click on the unallocated space and choose "New..." and follow the wizard.

Resize The Vista Partition Using Acronis Disk Director

Open Acronis Disk Director > In the top toolbar go go View, choose Manual Mode > now right-click on the drive Vista is installed on and choose Resize. In the resulting screen choose a size for your new partition and then click OK. Click on the checkered flag to commit the changes.

When finished you'll need to create a new partition in the unallocated space. Simply Right-click on the unallocated space and choose "Create". In the resulting screen choose your options. I recommend using NTFS, and Primary Partition.

Click OK, then click on the checkered flag to commit the changes.