Go with the best in times like this. Partition Magic is the only answer. Certainly there are other opinions about this, but Partition Magic has such an excellent record that other options should be given short shrift.I don't know if MS has an inbuilt disk manager for what you need but I would not use it if they did, same as with anything concerned with security - always use the top quality follow on programs.

Hi Staffan,as it's a new drive, I would go down the path of least resistance - format the entire drive with the partitions you want and reinstall XP. You'll have the added benefit of being able to deselect Windows options you do not want to have installed :).As far as Partition Magic goes, this program has caused major grief in our household with XP. My wife used it to add a partition, and a couple of hours after it was done, her computer restarted itself numerous times. At first we thought it was a power surge, but then it restarted again, and some Windows error messages popped up. Before we could read them, it restarted again. This time we got the black Windows screen, asking her if she wanted to boot in safe mode. Before she could choose an option, it restarted again - only this time it said 'No operating system detected'. And sure enough, when I put her HD into my computer, all that was on it was a .log file detailing the time the partitioning was completed (about three hours earlier).We got a full refund, but no compensation to cover the lost data.So I would strongly recommend a reformat before you install any programs. This way you have nothing to lose...Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Partitions were more important when using FAT16/32 than NTFS. The problem with FAT16/32 is that the larger the disk drive/partition, the larger the cluster size. The larger the cluster size, the more wasted space on your hardrive. NTFS uses the same cluster size no matter the physical size of the hardrive or partition.It may still be wise to partition a large hardrive even if you use NTFS since you may want to reformat a large portion of a partition without affecting the other partitions.I would check to see if Dell formatted your drive with FAT32 or NTFS. If FAT32, I would definitely repartition the hardrive to smaller partitions. If NTFS, your choice.See http://www.xmission.com/~comphope/jargon/hdd.htm for more information. Your operating system does provide FDISK which is a hardrive partitioning program. Partition Magic is a commercial program that provides a better interface to the novice.W. Sieffert

With my 80GB HD I just used the partition part with XP, was part of the setup, for me I found it the easiest to use and worked good for me.

Hi,Would like some help by any of you PC gurus out there. :-)Today I received my new Dell system P4/3.0 GB, with a 120 Gb HD. However, Dell didn

Thanks all for your input. :-)Guess I will format the whole disk and reinstall W XP, and devide it into several partitions, before I install a whole bunch of programs. I also think that Dell installed things I never will use. After all, they provided me with CD

Ever considered Partiton Magic? It allows you to create partitions whilst using Windows. It'll save you a reinstall.

Hi John,Hmmm,....did you read the posts above? ;-)Anyway, I got Partition Magic today, but chosed to do a complete formatting and reinstallation regardless.Take care,Staffan AhlbergSweden/Stockholm/ESSA

:-lolAhum, no I didn't as you can see :-hah