Partitioning

[Simonh1959]

Hi,
I have a VGN-BX197XP which has the main drive partitioned into three parts as follows (aproximatly), C = 40Gb, D = 40Gb & E = 80Gb.
My previous Vaio had the drive partitioned into two parts and I understand that this is done to keep aplications and data separate in case of system failures.
Could you please tell me though what the E section is for as it consists of half of my whole drive and with the other two filling up it would be nice to be able to use this space.

[Blencogo]

Hi Simonh1959 and welcome to Club Vaio.

The reason is probably because you have two 80 GB Hitachi Hard Drives not one single big 160 GB drive so it is not possible to create a partition greater than 80 GB.

I presume E: will remain an empty drive unless you save/move some of your data to it..

[Simonh1959]

Hi,
Thanks for the feedback.
Do you think that I could reformat C & D into one drive which would then become an 80Gb C drive and then my present E drive would become an 80Gb D drive or would this be an awfull lot of work?
Also, as my machine is starting to run slowly at times and sometimes locking up I have thought about using the backup facility to restore it to its original condition. If I do a complete system backup with Microsoft backup can I use this to reinstall all my programs and data in one hit or would I need to reinstall every program along with various settings one by one?
Any advice would be appreciated.

[Blencogo]

Hi,

There are a lot of things you could do. Have a look first and confirm exactly what you have at the moment:

Right-click on My Computer -> Manage -> Disc Management

Expand the window to the right and you will see your present configuration. You probably have something approximately like:

Recovery Partition 7.5 GB
VAIO C: 30 GB
VAIO 😧 40 GB
VAIO E: 80 GB

Before you consider anything, I hope you have made two sets of Recovery DVDs in case everything goes pear shaped !!

Easiest would be to move everything from 😧 to E: and then expand C: using something like Partition Magic to fill the first drive. You can then rename the old E: to D:.

As you have XP Pro, you could convert both discs to Dynamic Discs and configure them in striped RAID 0. This would make both discs appear like one disc in Windows and you could choose whatever partition sizes you want (eg C:=50GB and D:=100GB). However, this is not for the faint hearted and is a major exercise.

You mention that you are thinking of a re-install. This will wipe everything from drive C: - programs and settings - and return the Vaio to factory condition. The downside of this is that you will have to set your Vaio up from scratch and re-load all Vaio/Windows Updates and all programs (and their updates) added since new. You cant just back-up these programs as they need to be reinstalled to configure their settings on the new OS. You can make a Mirror of C: complete with programs and settings but this defeats the object as it will restore all the garbage that is making your Vaio slow at the moment.

If it was me, I would resize C: with Partition Magic, rename drive E: as drive 😧 (you will have to check all your shortcuts still work) and do a clean-up with Tune Up Utilities.. This is free for a 30 day period. Run all the Registry, Disc Cleaners and all the System Optimisers and them defragment your hard drive. For good measure, I would run sfc /scannow at the Run Command to check and replace any damaged Windows protected system files (takes about 30 mins).

But that's just my opinion - others may have other suggestions!

[Simonh1959]

Many thanks for the advice.
I will let you know how I get on.