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Help With Hard Drive Re-Format

hi,

I recently re-partitioned and re-formatted my hard drive using a Windows 98 rescue diskette. I have a 12 GB hard drive. I used FDisk to create two partitions, then I thought I created two logical drives (C and D).

Anyway, as it turns out I made some sort of a mistake and only created one drive: a 2 GB drive C. I went ahead and loaded Wondows 98 onto that drive, plus all my programs. But now this means I have 10 GB of unused hard drive left.

How do I now go back and utilize that 10 GB of space? Do I use FDisk to creat a Drive D and then Format it? I'd hate to have to re-load all my programs. Can I do this procedure without destroying all I've put on Drive C?

Thanks :))

Marylyn

micro66

The best way is to use a third-party program, such as Powerquest's Partition Magic. You can use that program to partition, dual-boot to different operating systems, and a host of other things without destroying the data you already have on the drive. I've used various versions for years, and they've worked great. I think the latest version is 7.0. Here's a link:

http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/

Trying to solve the problem now with fdisk will likely lose the data you already have (depending on what happened to cause you to be where you are). What you really want is a "primary" partition, which would be your C: drive, and an "extended" partition, which would then have a "logical" partition in it that would be your D: drive. You can attempt it with fdisk, but either back up ahead of time in case you lose what you have on C: or take heed with the warnings when fdisk says you'll lose the data if you proceed. Again, depending on what really happened, you may or may not lose everything going that route. If you actually have a primary C: partition and the 10GB are in an extended partition, then you just need to make the extended partition into a logical partition. You can do that without affecting C:. Take a look at the status in fdisk and see if it makes sense, based on what I've said here.

micro66

More info:

From this link comes the info below: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q255867

Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Why does the Fdisk tool only partition 2 GB of space at a time?

Answer: If you can only partition 2 GB of space at a time, you may have pressed N when you were prompted to enable large disk support....

This may be where the problem lies. If that's the case, you have to either get Partition Magic (or a similar program), or back up all your data on C: and start over, realizing you'll lose everything.

bparnes

Marylyn, micro66 has given you a lot of options. Let's see if we can narrow things down quickly. Double click on My Computer, then right click on your C: drive and select Properties. On the general tab, near the top you should see an entry for File System. It will be either FAT32 or FAT (now called FAT16). Tell us what you see.

If it is a FAT drive, then it can only be 2 gb large since that is the limit for FAT. You can use a tool normally installed as part of the Windows install to convert your FAT drive to a FAT32 drive. It is called Drive Converter and you normally find it via Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Drive Converter (FAT32). Run that to get your drive converted to the more efficient FAT32 structure, if necessary. Once that's done, you'll still have only a 2 gb C: drive however.

Now let's find out what happened to the rest of your 12 gb drive. Open a Command Prompt window. At the prompt, type FDISK and indicate you want large disk (FAT32) support. Select the option to display the partition information for your master drive. From what you've told us, you should only see that you have a C: drive. However you may see that you have also created an extended partition.

There are several options for how you would proceed from here depending on what the actual state of your hard drive is. I'll wait to hear from you what it is before offering the next steps.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

rid

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Moondancer

marylyn and marylyn27.... Administration will be contacting you shortly regarding your accounts; duplicates violate site guidelines.

Moondancer - EE Moderator

marylyn

ASKER

Moondancer,

I've spoken with admin. I'd lost access to my old account because of a password snafu. It's all taken care of. Thank you, though...

Marylyn :)

marylyn

ASKER

RID

Thank you for your suggestion. That's exactly what happened. I created what I thought was two partitions...one of 2 GB and the other 8. I thought I'd given them "C" and "D" as logical drives. But...as you stated, only a 2 GB "C" was created.

I'll check the FAT status. I'll use Windows 98 to convert to FAT 32 and will go back and try FDisk in order to create a "D" with 8 GB. Do I have this procedure correct now?

Thanks everyone...you're all terrific...

Marylyn

rid

Sounds OK to me... You've got all your data securely backed up, haven't you?

Cheers
/RID

Ryan Rowley

Another Problem Solved.
Does this site rock or not. :)

Moondancer

Thanks, Marylyn, Admin advised me as well.

YES.... THIS SITE ROCKS!

:)
Moondancer - EE Moderator

akboss

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