4. With that step done (or not, if you're okay with Vista's default findings), enter a size for your new volume (I entered 300000 for 300GB, for example) and click OK. After a few minutes, Disk Management will show you a new "Unallocated" space on your drive.

5. Right click Unallocated, choose New Simple Volume, and then follow the steps indicated by the utility.

When you're done, you'll have a brand spankin' new partition that's ready to receive Windows 7. I'll cover that part of the process next week. Stay tuned!