Aug 19, 2008 - If you're running Mac OS X and Boot Camp you may need to. This article helped me resize my struggling 40gb Windows partition to a.

I'm trying to run Vista and Windows 7 on my computer.I want to partition my hard drive so I can do a dual boot.What I need to know is, I heard W7 would run smooth on 40gb.My hard drives main drive, (C:) drive has 217.83gb.how much should I shrink that in mb's.and I format the new volume before putting in Windows right?? I'm new to this as you can tell, but I'm trying to learn all I can.Hope the questions not too stupid.and my computer is everything in product box except I have 3GB RAM and a 250gb (?) hard drive edited by moderator: Post moved from Windows Vista Forum. The hard drive manufacturer always uses the decimal way of expressing the size of a drive. 1kb = 1,000 bytes, 1 mb = 1,000,000 bytes, 1gb = 1,000,000,000 bytes Your computer bios and Windows (or any operating system) always uses the binary way of expressing the size of a drive. 1kb = 1,024 bytes, 1mb = 1,024kb = 1,048,576 bytes, 1gb = 1,024mb = 1,073,741,824 bytes 1 tb = 1,024gb = 1,099, 511,627,776 bytes Whichever way the size of the hard drive is expressed, the total number of bytes is the same, or extremely close to the same.

~250gb drive manufacturer's size X 1,000,000,000 bytes per decimal gb divided by 1,073,741,824 bytes per binary gb = ~232.83gb binary size. That's the 'raw' size, the size the mboard's bios sees, and Windows Setup or Disk Management sees when the drive has no data on it - Windows uses up a small percentage of that when the drive is software partitioned and formatted that can't be used for the user's data, so, e.g. For a drive with only one partition (NOT recommended if you have only one hard drive), the total size of the partition seen once the drive is formatted in Windows in My Computer or Computer or Windows Explorer is a bit smaller. The ram size is always expressed the binary way.

3gb = 3,096mb. The size of your partition will depend upon what is on your computer now and what you plan on using windows 7 for. If you plan on using both about equally, and you have a lot of free space, you might need about half for each, BUT you would probably have trouble doing this since your data is not stacked all to the beginning of the drive. Outlook 2016 mac hyperlinks not working. Windows puts certain files in 'optimum' locations on the disk such as near the outer edge of one of the drives physical disks. Best gmail app for mac. If this were a desktop, I would recommend spending for a second hard drive and installing windows 7 onto the separate drive as a dual boot. Your BIOS might let you install as a bootable external hard drive, but that might not be convenient for you. As with any partitioning on an active drive, BACK UP everything first.

To prepare you drive for repartitioning, you will need to turn off system restore (that is a non-movable file that you will find will be in the way), do disk clean up, and defragment. Then use an aftermarket partitioning tool to move the files forward and shrink the partition, and recreate the new partition. AND make sure you choose 'custom' when you install windows 7 to choose the location and select the boot options. You should turn on system restore after partitioning and probably before installing windows 7. You should have access to your files across the partitions, but you will not have your programs 'installed' in windows 7 even if you can 'see' them. My preference: Don't sit on the fence, just convert to Windows 7 and move forward, don't look back!

If you plan on using Vista and Windows 7 about equally, then Fingers idea of 'If you plan on using both about equally, and you have a lot of free space, you might need about half for each,' is fine, However. - This is a very minor consideration. 'BUT you would probably have trouble doing this since your data is not stacked all to the beginning of the drive. ' I've been running operating systems on multiple partitioned drives for many years. - the operating systems in each partition favours loading data nearer to the beginning of the partition they're on, closer to the outside of the drive, in any case.