Help with partitioning hard drive.

hi.

i just built a computer, and noticed that for some reason i have 127gb partition(have a 500gb hdd) and found that the rest is unpartitioned. and i read that it was good to have 2 partitions, one for os, and the other for everything else.

now, i was just gonna go ahead and partition the other space and use that. but i already have, games, data, ect. on 127gb partition. is there a way to transfer data from one partition to another?

also how exactly does having 2 partitions work? not too familar with it. so any info, help, advice. would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

If you have 2 partitions, all you have to do is copy the data from one partition to the other. You can't copy and paste programs that are installed. Don't know the how it's accomplished but basically a partition is like another drive, it's really dividing the drive up. If your keep your OS/programs on the C drive and your data is on the 2nd partition and have to do a clean install of Windows, i.e., format before the installation, it will only wipe out the data on the C drive, won't affect the data on the 2nd partition. This is why I always partition. Partition Magic is a great program for partitioning because you can do it while in Windows and the only times I ran into problem was one time when there was a power outage while it was partitioning and couple times I got stupid. It's easy to resize partitions as well as create new one. There are free programs out but I'm not familiar with them. Partition Magic is one of my must have programs. Can't remember if you just format the unused area it will create a new partition and not affect the area the OS/programs are installed on. You could back up your data and see what happens. I know Partition Magic can create a 2nd partition when it formats the space and not affect your C drive

Not sure I understand the question. If you currently have 2 partitions you can copy your data, docs and games if they're data files not associated with a program, to the second partition and then format the OS/programs partition and reinstall Windows and the programs and run them off the first partition keeping your data on the second. If all you wan to do is back up your data, i.e., there is no reason to reinstall Windows, then just copy the data to the 2nd partition. I don't game so I don't know how saved games work. Some data is linked to a program and if you move the data, e.g., saved games, the program can't find them. In some cases one of the options is to tell the program where to look for the data. Most data isn't linked to a program, e.g., .doc, mp3, but again I don't know about saved games. Someone else will have to answer the game question. You could check the game and see if there's an option to find the game file you want. If there is, then moving the saved games shouldn't be a problem, just have the game search the folder they're in on the 2nd partition

i have 1 partitioned space. and on unpartitioned space.

If that is a separate unformatted partition, you should be able to format it and not affect the C drive, although I'd back the data up just in case