I myself have used partition manager which has split my HD into three seperate compartments, my C drive now has my windows folders within it, and is hidden from all users that access my comp. My D and E drives now have certain folders that i have renamed like, downloads, and sys utils that are kept ON the system even if i lose windows, I tend to use the sys util folder on the D drive for programs like mozilla, Msn messenger and any antivirus or spyware program to reintergrate if the inevitable happens and the system crashes, my download file I use for music and any photos or videos that have been downloaded from different scouces to transfer into different subfolders within the D or E domain of my main drive, which is the C: drive. there are two ways you can partition the hard drive.
NO 1 Format the hard drive and partition from the windows disk itself which is self explanatory, ( Only from the XP setup disk).
NO 2 you can find partition manager on a trial basis from download.com, but it is an only 30 day trial, this months computer active magazine explains it fully with a step by step advice column,.
Good advice is hard to find, use it when you can.