How to change partition size without booting?

I have a damaged Windows XP partition. Some files are missing.



The way i'm approaching this is so i can create a partition and install another windows on there so i can view my other damaged partition and retrieve the files (which are insanely important), but when i try to create a partition via windows installation, it limits me to 8MB partition because my damaged partition takes up the whole hard drive.



How do i change the partition size without booting?How to change partition size without booting?
Here's an easier solution and probably safer. Create a bootable Linux CD.



http://www.knoppix.com/



Download the ISO and burn it to a CD. Once you insert it in your CD drive it will boot up a basic version of Linux that doesn't install anything on your hard drive but runs entirely off the CD.



From here, you can browse the contents of your hard drive and then transfer over any files you need to a USB flash drive or external hard drive.



If the contents of the drive are still good (and readable), then it should be accessible. If the hard drive is physically damaged though, then you will not be able to read it regardless of what method you use.How to change partition size without booting?
If the %26quot;damaged partition%26quot; takes up the whole hard drive, your data is probably hosed anyway. You will need to start with a new, fresh drive, load XP on to that, and configure your bad drive as a secondary slave (D drive). Good luck, but don't expect to retrieve anything. Next time back important stuff up regularly onto an external drive or DVD-RW. If the data is really valuable, you can send the drive to a data recovery company. They will charge you upwards of $5,000 to get everything salvageable off the drive.How to change partition size without booting?
try this one... it may help....in the run command type diskpart.

This utility has may options explore and find the right one for yourself. if not Linux live cd may be your only other option.