Windows 10: Want to reinstall into smaller partition

Dell XPS i7 16GB, 1TB HDD

I have been trying (for way too many hours now) to shrink the existing OS partition to approx 100GB (more on this later) and have decided to stop beating my head against a wall. No matter what options I choose, it just will not shrink to less than 600+GB.

So I now want to reinstall Win 10 on my HDD, put the OS in one partition, and use the balance for win data files and linux data files (each of these two in their own partitions). Linux will be on a separate SSD and I want to dual boot.

When I do a clean reinstall, will I have an option in that process to make a partition for Win 10 OS (and the two data partitions), or should I reformat the HDD and make the three partitions first and install into one of them (presumably the first?)? If the latter, what software is best for this partitioning?

I do not plan to use Win 10 much but want to keep it alive and there for when I do want it. Given that the Win OS and Win data will reside on two different partitions, how much room do I need for the OS?

any other observations/guidance welcomed.

:)

 

W7 Hard drive partition issue

to get rid of that 100 meg windows partition that setup creates for you on a new install on a blank hdd:

- press shift+f10 when on the partition management screen in setup <-- this opens a command prompt
- diskpart <-- start the windows command line partition management tool
- list disk <--- list the installed hdds in this computer for the next step
- select disk 0 <- might have to replace 0 with the number of the correct disk
- clean <-- this will erase all data on the disk you selected one step up- dont use the wrong disk!
- create partition primary <- creates a primary partition taking up all space on the drive, adjust the command if necessary
- exit, exit to exit diskpart and the command prompt
- click refresh in partition manager and select your newly created partition and install to that

 

Help! Data partition not showing under my computer

This is happening on a windows 2000 server. Our second partition of the system, for data is not showing under my computer. Here are the properties of it in disk management:





Now under logical drives its listed as F and shows free space available.

Suggestions on how to fix this?

 

hard partition

Hi Prasad,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

I understand that you are trying to extend the Volume of Drives and create partitions from C: drive.

I would suggest you to follow the steps and check if it helps you.

• Press Windows + R keys, type diskmgmt.msc hit
  enter.
• Disk management will open. Right click on the C: drive
  below in the segments of the partitions.
• Select Shrink Volume. Select the Amount of space
  you want to extend in MBs (1GB = 1024MB).
• Follow the instruction and check if it creates a Unallocated Drive.

Later after the Unallocated drive is created follow the below steps to crate a partition.

• Right click on the Unallocated drive and select
  New Simple Volume.
• Select the Drive letter and follow the instructions and check if it
  creates a partition.
• Follow the same to Create partition.

Note: C: drive must be not less than 100GB if you are using a 1TB hard drive. partitions must not be more than 3 drives to have a better functioning of the system.

Keep us posted to help you better.