OT: Computer's...gotta hate 'em. - Page 4

Renegade 13 · #31 April 4th, 2006, 06:22 PM

I have a bit of a problem that someone might be able to help me with. Yep, another problem

I thought my hard drive wasn't partitioned. Well, turns out it was. Into one big chunk that is C: and encompasses most of the hard drive, then there's 8 MB that were unallocated. Anyways, I've managed to mess with the recovery CD and copied files onto a writable CD that will now allow me to install XP without the OEM files automatically choosing the options. So I can now, when installing the OS, choose to repair, create partitions, etc. Good so far. Well, I can't create the partitions that I want to, since the hard drive is already partitioned!

Is there a way to remove the partitioning so it's all unallocated space (doesn't matter if I lose data, all I have is the basic XP install right now)? Or even to just re-adjust the partitioning so the OS is on it's own partition, then everything else on another?

Thanks!

Alneyan · #32 April 4th, 2006, 06:28 PM

Actually, you probably don't have 8 MB left: what you have left is 0 MB, but 0 looks very much like 8 in the Windows XP install. I know I have the same figure, but cannot create any partition there, and 8 mb is either way too much or useless for other uses.

You can delete your partitions from the XP installer directly, or you can use another program elsewhere. You may get away with resizing your partition (the partition must be defragmented for that to work), making room to create new partitions; the XP installer does not support this feature however, so you will have to look elsewhere. It might also mess up with the way XP handles boot and the like, depending on how you go about it. I know XP can be annoying when setting up a multi-boot on a single harddrive.

Renegade 13 · #33 April 4th, 2006, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Alneyan said:
You can delete your partitions from the XP installer directly, or you can use another program elsewhere.

Hmmm...I tried to do exactly that from within the XP installer, but it said setup files were on that partition, so it couldn't delete the partition. But I have an idea...might work...

**runs off to try**

Alneyan · #34 April 4th, 2006, 06:45 PM

Odd. The only message to this effect I got was "Hey, it's system files, are you sure you want to blast the partition back to Vasuda Prime?". Are you sure you don't have an option to accept? Of course, the program will ask you a second time if you are sure about deleting all your files. The installer shouldn't mind those system files; if it did, it would have some serious trouble when installed on a "barren" harddrive.

If for one reason or another (the same problem as with the auto-format?) it doesn't work, format c: is a pretty powerful spell. Power Word: Kill, that sort of powerful. You might have to boot up a Win 98 boot disk or some such to cast the spell, though; if you don't have a floppy disk, you can also burn a CD that will act as a floppy boot disk (it worked well enough when I installed Win 98 and did some fdisk/format).

douglas · #35 April 4th, 2006, 06:52 PM

That 8 MB of unpartitioned space is actually where the information on what partitions you have and what parts of the disk they are on is stored. No, it almost certainly doesn't actually require the whole 8 MB to store that information, that's just the smallest section of hard drive space it can allocate, just like a program requesting one extra byte of RAM is probably going to get a 4 KB chunk (which further requests will use until it's all gone) instead. Keeping track of space in units much smaller than that would require too much extra space dedicated to keeping track of it than the extra precision is likely to be worth.

Alneyan · #36 April 4th, 2006, 07:04 PM

Isn't all this information supposed to be stored in the MBR? (Or the EMBR, as applicable, and similar records) I know that's where I would expect to find my bootloader link and partition tables stored. Of course, XP isn't very informative either way: this space is labelled as unpartitioned (implying it isn't used at present), but if it really was empty, it isn't terribly useful to show the space up.

On the other hand, if XP is using some other space for a similar purpose, that could explain the difficulties when using this particular OS in a multi-boot. In particular, XP loves to "convert" FAT32 partitions created with fdisk, requiring a reboot afterwards (FAT partitions created via the XP installer are fine), so this could be a consequence of this behaviour.

Do you have any link with more info about this behaviour? I suspect it is linked to XP, since I've never seen it pop up on other OS (my current partition table does not show any unallocated space, if I fill it up to the max).

Renegade 13 · #37 April 4th, 2006, 07:09 PM

Hmmm...still won't let me delete the partition, and I also can't format C:. It says something like "Can't do it, are you sure you don't have any windows open that are displaying drive contents or information?" which I don't. Frustrating!

Thermodyne · #38 April 4th, 2006, 07:29 PM

Tell me how you got to where you are now. Did you build a bootable CD? Or did you run setup from windows?

To use the partition tools from the setup cd, you need to have booted from it. Otherwise, if you booted to windows on c:, the files are in use and it won't let you whack them.

Once your boot to the cd, select the partition, hit d then enter then L IIRC. It tells you what to hit as needed. Then select the unused space and hi c. It will ask you how much space to allocate. With all the apps that have to install at least part of their content to c: and patches and such, at least 10gigs, 20 would be better if you can afford the space. Put the rest in a second partition up to 50gigs or so. Any larger than that and you are really starting to waste space. Two 40's would be better than 1 80gig partition.

Renegade 13 · #39 April 4th, 2006, 07:43 PM

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.

Thermodyne · #40 April 4th, 2006, 07:59 PM

I�d go with 40 on c: (system) and then make three more of equal size. Two for files, music, and such and the last one to hold those images that you are going to make as backups from now on.

Seriously, when you get done, get Ghost or something else that does the same thing and make a restore image. You can create one that spans several cd�s if needed and keep it as a master. They have a shelf life of at least 2 years if stored in a cool dry place. For working backups, just write them to the last partition. Compress them as much as you can and keep at least two. That gives you two points to restore from just incase you end up backing up something that you would like to be rid of.