This information wasn't linked on the front page and even I was too lazy to find it through 60 pages of posts, so here we go.


Repartitioning your dv6's stock hard drive.

1) Get a free partitioning tool like MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition.

Yes, Windows 7 does have a disk partitioning tool built in (Right-click Computer -> Manage, Select Storage -> Disk Management), but because of how HP has kindly set up our HDDs, you will only be able to shrink your C: partition to a minimum of about 400-450GB only. A proper partitioning program will avoid this problem and allow you to partition as you like.

2) Plan your partitioning

One thing to note: Again, because of how HP has set up our HDDs, we will actually have 4 partitions:
- System (a hidden partition of about 200 MB)
- C:
- The recovery partition; and
- the HP_Tools partition.

Not necessary, but useful so you have an idea of how you will arrange your partitions. I split mine into a Windows drive (C ), a program installation drive (D) and a data drive (E). Separating your program installation drive and your system drive makes backups for the system drive smaller and faster to generate, plus it means you don't have to worry about installations fragmenting your Windows drive and affecting performance as often. Try to plan your partitions so that it looks like this:



3) Shrink your C: partition

I shrunk mine down to 60 GB to account for how some programs still insist on installing some data to your system drive even if you tell it to install elsewhere, and to provide space for swap files, update downloads and System Restore space.

Also, because some users have made this mistake and have everything stop working, do NOT change the partition type of C:. Leave it as primary, or your Windows will stop working and your partitioning program will simply fail to start when your computer reboots later.

4) Reallocate the free space

C:, System and HP_Tools are already primary partitions, and there is a restriction on the number of primary partitions that you can make on any one hard drive, which is exactly 3. This means that you will have to create any other drives as Logical drives.


Anyway, tl;dr:
1) Don't bother with the built-in partitioning program. It's designed to be safe and therefore limited in functionality. Use it only to change disk drive letters.

2) Get a third party partitioning program.

3) All new drives on the default hard disk should be logical drives because HP has already maximised the number of primary drives on the disk.

Also, make your recovery DVDs and then remove the recovery partition for extra space.



Repartitioning drive that has data on it without losing the data

Short answer: It can be done if you're careful, but try not to.

Long answer:

First, a short grounder on how partitioning programs work. Partitioning programs usually perform their operations in steps. If you want to resize your C drive, for example, first it will copy over all the information on the C drive to fit into the final drive size, and then it will reassign the drive size. This way, partitioning programs try to avoid data loss when shrinking partitions.

However, sometimes things can go wrong. For example, if the program asks you for a size in megabytes and your data is actually maybe a few kilobytes more than what you enter, you will lose those kilobytes. Good programs will catch this and warn you. Not so good programs will assume you know what you're doing.

So, to avoid potential data loss, follow these tips:

1) Never ever resize a partition to be smaller than the amount of data in it.

2) Never ever resize a partition to be smaller than the amount of data in it.

3) Give yourself some breathing space whenever you resize partitions with data in them, say, 5% - 10%. If Windows says you have 100 MB of data in that partition, don't resize it to anything less than, say 110 MB.


Breaking the rules

Let's say you screwed up and put in loads of data into your C: drive before deciding it's a good idea to partition off a data drive and make a smaller C: drive. All is not lost; you don't need to resign yourself to recopying all that data off from a USB hard drive. If you follow the previous tips, you can still actually pull it off.

1) Make a new partition that is as large as possible without making the original partition too small.

2) Move as much data as possible from the old partition into the new data partition.

3) Shrink the original partition again and merge the free space into the new partition. Your new partition should now be larger.

4) Repeat steps until your original partition is the size you want it to be.

5) Defragment both partitions, or at least the new data partition.

This is how I would do it if I was in that situation, but be warned: I'm not responsible for any data loss if you use this trick, so copy any irreplacable data into a backup USB hard drive before doing it. I would rather just take the more time-consuming path of recopying the data completely from a USB hard drive.

This post has been edited by ThisIsBoletaria: Jul 16 2011, 08:57 PM

Added into owner list. Welcome to the club.
Anything u can refer to the 1st post.

Added into the 1st post. Thank you for that.

Thanks thisisBoletaria, acid RuleZz and other gurus for your help. The info provided is really helpful. In the end I manage to split the partition using the partition manager boot cd.

Thanks a lot guys. Really appreciate it. :-)

Acid, add me into owner list.. Purchased today in Johor, RM3499 with Dr. Dre Headphone + Targus Magnum bag + Extended 3 years warranty.

Anyone interested to purchase Dr. Dre Headphone (RM500) & Targus bag (RM100) from me? PM me, I can COD at Klang/Subang/KL & Kulai.

Huh? Price dropped? RM3499 with 3 years warranty and Beats Solo Headphone?

I think only that store selling this price, I'm lucky

whoever wanted to buy hp care pack from tech hypermart can order now... they jz got their stock... mine will post tmr hope can reach this weekday

---

Added on May 17, 2011, 10:12 pmtat was quite a good deal...

This post has been edited by imationyj: May 17 2011, 10:12 PM

TS havnt put me in the list.......
laptop + 3yrs care plan + targus magnum bag + Beats Headset
RM3578 paid by creadit card~

@ leslie0880,

May i know where you bought your laptop from?


Thanks

This post has been edited by powerpack240v: May 17 2011, 11:04 PM

wow..both of u got quite a good deal

Done update.

Welcome to the club.

you guys can get 3499 dv6 with beats at navotech

^ damn... i went there to check before getting from hikari, they still don't have this model yet that time.

yup, I get it from Navotech

you get the new one..meaning new open box?

yup

then good...

Haiz ... i get from lowyat for RM3699 with beat , bag and extra rams ...

^ lol.. relax dude.

Ya its aldy worth for me
I just hope can get a unit without any problem LOL