Recently I purchased a new computer with a 750 GB SATA hard drive. I understand that I can partition the hard drive to provide 40 GB as a home folder for Windows Vista, so that if there is a problem I can simply reinstall Vista in that portion of the hard drive without losing my data. However, it is quite expensive if Dell create the partition for me, and I’m told I should be able to do it easily myself. Can you help with this process?

You are correct that you can partition the hard drive with a system volume and also a data volume. The system volume will hold the Windows Vista system together with any programs that you install, while the data volume will hold all of your personal data and documents. This is a very smart idea for the reasons that you outlined – if there is a problem with your Windows installation then you just need to reinstall Windows on the system volume, leaving all your personal data on the data volume intact without the need to backup or then copy the data back onto your computer.

There are several ways you can proceed with the process of partitioning the drive. If your computer is brand new then as soon as you receive the machine you could wipe the hard drive and then reinstall Windows from scratch, repartitioning the drive at this point. This procedure would be my recommended solution, as it will also remove all the additional add-ons which are factory installed by the computer manufacturer (such as free internet trials, unwanted Internet Explorer toolbars, etc). When you reinstall Windows during the setup a screen will appear asking you to select the destination of the Windows installation. At this point you can enter the advanced options and then delete all partitions on the drive and manually create the partitions at the desired size. I would recommend that you create the system partition to be around 200 GB. This is because that partition will also be holding all programs which you install. It would not make sense putting the programs on the data partition, because they often install shared files in the Windows directory. As such, if you reinstall Windows the programs will no longer function so they also need to be reinstalled, negating the benefit of keeping these programs on the data drive. Therefore, you should only put documents and other personal data on the data drive itself. That said, should you need to complete a reinstallation, and wish to backup other data which is located on the system drive, such data could just be copied across to the data drive and then copied back to the system drive once the reinstallation has been completed. You will probably want to do this for things such as email, which would normally be stored on the system drive.

We have dealt with the situation where you can repartition the drive during a clean installation of Windows. We now need to deal with the procedure when you already have an existing installation of Windows and you need to repartition without reinstalling Windows and losing any data. This is known as a non-destructive repartitioning. Windows does not support non-destructive repartitioning, so you will need to use a third-party utility to undertake this procedure. The easiest way is to use a commercial program such as Acronis Disk Director (www.acronis.com.au/homecomputing/products/diskdirector). While I have not specifically used this software, it does have a good reputation and is able to be used within Windows Vista to non-destructively repartition drives. An alternative free option is to use a Linux-based program called GParted (gparted.sourceforge.net). This allows you to boot off a CD and then repartition the drive through a Linux-based interface. However, it is much more difficult to use than a program like Acronis Disk Director. If you would like to use GParted then I suggest that you use Google to find some instructions on how to non-destructively repartition drives using this program, to avoid problems. Additionally, be aware that repartitioning is a dangerous activity and things can go wrong. Before embarking on any such procedure make sure that you have a full and current backup of all important data, just in case things go wrong and you lose all data.

As a final note, also be aware that having separate partitions for the system and data is not a substitute for backing up the data on your computer. If the hard drive in your computer fails then you will lose all data, regardless of partition (as all partitions are on the same physical drive). Therefore, make sure that you regularly backup all important data. My recommended method for backing up large amounts of data is to use an external hard drive. This is really the only cost effective and convenient method, as using other media such as CDs and DVDs will often not have the required storage capacity. You may also like to investigate using backup software to help automate the process as well. If you are satisfied with Acronis Disk Director then they also offer a good backup solution called Acronis True Image (www.acronis.com.au/homecomputing/products/trueimage) which I have reviewed in this column previously and found to be a good solution for home computer backup.