One of my backup hardrives is split into 3 partitions:

09.77 NTFS Primary
09.77 NTFS Extended
55.02 NTFS Extended

A long time back it was my main drive and I had intended for it to be system/games/storage but I no longer use it for that. Right now I have it as a pagefile/games/photography.

I would like to take my pagefile off that drive and make it two partitions.
Basically 20/60. Is there a quick an easy way to do this or do I need to move all files from all partitions off of it, whipe it clean, and repartition it.

You need to backup the files

I would set it up as a dyanmic disk so you can resize when needed.

So I should set up all my non main drives as dynamic?

I currently have the following:

Disk 0
111.79 GB NTFS Primary (Active)

Disk 1
019.53 GB NTFS Primary (System)
170.38 GB NTFS Extended

Disk 2
009.77 GB NTFS Primary (Page File)
009.77 GB NTFS Extended
055.02 GB NTFS Extended

Disk 3
019.53 GB NTFS Primary

Disk 4
Removable

Disk 5
Removable

Disk 6
Removable

CD-ROM 0
DVD

CD-ROM 1
CD-ROM

CD-ROM 2
DVD

I have 4 drives on my raid channel (not running a raid setup)
then my cd/dvd rom drives on my IDE channels

Also, what does marking a partition Active do? I have no clue why my 120gb backup drive is active.

u could use paritionj magic to redo the paritions - but me personal i dont trust it - i woudl rather move everything off the drive and format it fresh and do it in computer management.

resizing extended partitions is easy. If you dont boot of the drive format the whole drive to be an extended partition. That way you can resize the drive quite easily and quick.

Some Simple rules on Partitions:
If you boot off the drive set it was Primary
If you do not need to boot off the drive set it as extended (dynamic).

The difference between Primary and Extended partitions:

A Primary partition is only one partition. Where and extended partition is a petition inside a petition. Your drive will format that partion once and then it will make up the petitions inside the petition. This makes it 400x easier to resize partitions. The reason is that since the partion is already partitioned once and free space in the Extended partition can be made into a new parition quite easily. Where if its a primary partion the partition must be destroyed then recreated to make a new one.

Ahh... I think I'll have to sit down one day, move all my stuff around and start using these drives the right way. Thanks!

nothing like an early spring cleaning - get it ready for the new year!

So let me get this straight.... if I were to take one of my drives:

Disk 2
009.77 GB NTFS Primary (Page File)
009.77 GB NTFS Extended
055.02 GB NTFS Extended


which does not have my OS installed on it. It's just important files.... and I were to hit convert to dynamic... I wouldnt lose anything, and I could change my stuff around?