[Renegade 13]

I grabbed the Setup.exe file and the I386 folder from the recovery disk, then burned them to a writable CD. I then ran the setup.exe file and tried to reinstall windows via this method. However, this was when I ran into the problem of the windows intstaller not allowing me to delete the main partition. I also couldn't find a way to delete the partition through other methods.

It then hit me that the recovery disk formatted the drive before reinstalling windows. So, I started the reinstallation process using the recovery CD, allowed it to begin its formatting process then ejected that CD. It didn't like that too much, but then I inserted the burned disk with the setup information on it, and it allowed me to continue. The formatting process had completed and now is allowing me to delete the one huge partition and create the smaller ones I had desired in the first place. That's where I'm sitting right now.

I'm wondering what the ideal number of partitions and partition sizes would be, considering the fact that my hard drive is 189 GB, I have lots of games and other files (music, pictures, etc.) that should probably be put on a separate partition.

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to all who have helped me with my massive screwup. It has been invaluable. I think I'm finally getting to where I need to be.