Partitions galore

N

N_Raged

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 8, 2004
Messages
446
partitions.jpg


The pic above displays the partition status of my one hard drive (WD Caviar 450AA). On the C:\ drive is the Windows 98se partition (came with my HP), which I divided up to organize and protect my files. D:\ and E:\ drives are just storage partitions for saving stuff and installing large applications etc. And finally the F:\ drive is where I installed Windows XPpro almost a year ago. As you can see, C:\ is the only primary partition, while F:\ is a logical partition and lies within an extended partition (which I've been booting into XP with since I installed it).

Nowadays I rarely use Win98, and now I want to get rid of it altogether and claim some more disk space. My question is, would my computer be okay if I were to erase the C:\ drive. I'm worried that I might have booting problems since C:\ is the only primary partition.

If I manage to pull this off successfully I plan to reinstall XP onto C:\ drive and have a traditional file structure like everyone else. But I don't want to lose any of my stuff I have in the D:\ & E:\ drives (too much to backup on CDRWs), that's why I don't simply wipe the whole drive and therefore wouldn't be posting this. Thanks in advance for any input.
 
DONT

upgrading the OS on that partition might work, but deleting it will be a real pain, Im not even sure how to start trying to recover an orphaned extended partition
it would likely entail manually editing partition tables with parameter you wouldnt know (and your dual boot would disappear)

personally Id backup and partition from scratch
 
Aw damn it, I should of known better than to install XP onto an extended logical partition.

How's this for a plan: I upgrade C:\ to XP as Ice Czar suggested, and slowly migrate back to the primary partition while converting some empty disk space to another primary partition where I would backup my stuff. Now if the newly upgraded OS on C:\ is stable enough, I get rid of the extended partition by deleting and/or merging it with the two primary's. Then I would be left with the primary C:\ (98se upgraded to XPpro) and the other primary with my backed up stuff. Now I completely format C:\ to do a fresh full install of XPpro, and still manage to preserve gig's of my saved files w/o resorting to DirectCD.

Does that sound safe?

P.S. btw I am using PowerQuest PartitionMagic 8.0 to do all the work ;) .
 
yes that should work
as a caution only perform one step with partition magic at a time,
it seems everytime that someone has issues they where trying to do multiple tasks (resize + move + ect)

Personally Id also avoid merging, and rely on resizing, moving and simply copying instead
your allowed 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and one extended (w\logicals) per HDD natively under windows

you may have permission issues to deal with before the old primary(s) are accessible by the new install, disable simple file sharing and take ownership of files and folders
(only applicable if the old primaries are NTFS which Id recommend you do far greater integrity features)

and use NTFS for the new\upgrade install


PS
XP will run faster at the outer edge of the platter where the access latency and sustained transfer is greater,
as opposed to the ass end (interior) of the disk, Left > Right \ Outside > In

enough that you might even notice it :p

PPS might be a good idea to lable your current XP logical drive something unique before you do the upgrade install

boot into XP, Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder options > View Tab > Check Show Hidden Files and Folders, Uncheck Hide protected operting system files > OK

Navigate to C:/ and open the boot.ini with notebook

change the descriptor that is inbetween the qoutes to "XP old" or something > Save
 
XP will run faster at the outer edge of the platter where the access latency and sustained transfer is greater, as opposed to the ass end (interior) of the disk, Left > Right \ Outside > In
Click to expand...
wow I never knew that.

Thanks again Ice Czar, you've been a great help. :)

Edit: btw how would I control where I install XP on the platter?
 
newpartitions.GIF


Well I'm done :) . OS and progs in C:, games and other progs in D:, and E: for storage.
 
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