Is it safe to partition my hard drive with files on it?

[bonjovikimmayong]

Hi guys,

My PC only has Local Disk C and all my files are on it, games OS etc.. I want to make a partition to separate my OS to my game files. Question is, is it still safe for me to partition my hard drive? and how do i do that? do i have to install an program that transfer game files to Local Disk D? or my files will automatically transfer to my newly Local Disk D?

 

[RememberThe5th]

Well you had to do that when you were installing Windows now you cannot do it, unless using some softwares and transfering every single file to it "Part of HDD" and then you maybe could do it.

 

[jaslion]

Hi guys,

My PC only has Local Disk C and all my files are on it, games OS etc.. I want to make a partition to separate my OS to my game files. Question is, is it still safe for me to partition my hard drive? and how do i do that? do i have to install an program that transfer game files to Local Disk D? or my files will automatically transfer to my newly Local Disk D?

You can do it but why? A secondary partition doesn't do anything really. The most you'll get is a very small security increase which is super easy to bypass.
There is always a risk that the partitioning fails and you lose data so thats why I never do it when I don't have a backup of my data.
A program like easeus partition master (free edition) is quite good at it and can do more than what windows's built in partitioning software can do.

 

[lordmogul]

Would work fine in case you decide to reinstall Windows. Since your files are on the other partition nothing gets removed there. Ofcourse it neither helps against drive failure nor malware.

If you want it on an already formatted drive you have to shrink your current partition first. For that there needs to be free space.
From your description it sounds like you would need to move stuff off the drive first. You can shrink a partition only up the point where it's size is as big as the used space on it.

 

[RolandJS]

You want the game data folders and files on D, correct? Game data can be copied from C to D. Once confirmed the copy went aok, then delete game data from C.

You're not meaning game installations, correct? Game installations will have to uninstalled from C and reinstalled into D.

 

[RolandJS]

Auslogics or Wise disk defraggers are your best bet to "shovel" all material as close together as possible and as far away as possible from your intended OS partition and Data partition dividing line. That's what I do just before resizing or creating another partition, which I do very rarely.
AND, before doing anything -- using Macrium Reflect or anything similar, make two full images of your present partition which is called "C" onto any affordable, reliable, external media.