Should I purchase a external hard drive ?

KaneStatton · 20 Jun 2009 at 22:45

I want to completely wipe my hard drive as my computer is shared and is getting bogged down. All I want to keep are my STEAM files as it would take weeks to re-download it all, they are a touch over 30GB all together so is it best to just purchase a small external hard drive ? Or are there cheaper alternatives?

Also is there anything else I need to backup like windows vista ? or does it do this automatically ?

Thanks Kane.

adren · 20 Jun 2009 at 23:03

If you have free space you could always partition some off and use it for data, then format the windows partition.

KaneStatton · 20 Jun 2009 at 23:05

adren said:
If you have free space you could always partition some off and use it for data, then format the windows partition.

I do indeed have around 100 GB of free space how do I go about doing this ? I feel such a noob

KaneStatton · 20 Jun 2009 at 23:14

Googled it

Will try it now.

adren · 20 Jun 2009 at 23:16

Well, there are a bunch of tools that all do the job, I think the disk management in Vista lets you resize them, then create a new one in the free space.

If your on XP then I think Gparted is a free tool that seems to have a decent rep.

raptormonkey · 20 Jun 2009 at 23:29

KaneStatton said:
Googled it Will try it now.

Be interesting to see how you got on.

KaneStatton · 21 Jun 2009 at 21:19

I cant bloody do it ?????
I'm on disk management what do I do from there >?

leexgx · 21 Jun 2009 at 21:48

on XP on that 100gb of unpartitioned space Right click new partiton (or simple volume) unless your talking about free space left on your c: drive

KaneStatton · 21 Jun 2009 at 22:03

On vista

leexgx · 21 Jun 2009 at 22:09

Right click on the HP c: and click Shrink hdd

if you use the HP recovery it may Wipe c: and the new Partition you make

download Vista SP2 (and sp1 if your recovery does not come with sp1) and put it onto an USB pen

Buy an ext HDD http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-000-NS&groupid=701&catid=1240&subcat=170 , or do you have an laptop or an second desktop

JonJ678 · 22 Jun 2009 at 02:28

Hey. Resizing the partition your data is on is risky. If something interrupts the computer partway through you're likely to lose everything. An external hard drive /second internal one, possibly in an enclosure / big usb stick is the way forward. You can then use it for back up later, which is important.

If its avoiding any capital outlay, gparted or an ubuntu live cd (which has gparted on it) is absolutely the way to go. Safest graphical option out there by a long way. If you choose this route you'll have to download a 700mb iso, or for gparted a roughly 50 mb one. Id get the Ubuntu disk, download it overnight, ideally from a torrent. Then later on you'll have an amazing back up system; ubuntu can access your data when a virus attacks windows hard enough that it can't boot and is very unlikely to be affected by the same virus.

If you go with ubuntu post back and I'll provide detailed instructions, alternatively with gparted I can do the same. It'll take a while to type up though, so if you're getting the external anyway (better choice) I won't bother.

Cheers

KaneStatton · 22 Jun 2009 at 13:36

In the end I'm just going to buy a big USB pen or a ext HD but thanks for your help guys

.