add new disk space

  • Thread starter Thread starter tex shalter
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tex shalter

When I installed win2000 the entire drive was formatted, but somehow I let
windows only use about half my disk space as two partitions C & D.

I want to go back have windows use the rest of my drive. Doesn't seem to be
possible from partition magic.

I'm pretty sure I can use the win2000 setup CD, but afraid of messing things
up

Thanks anyone
 
In Windows you can delete D and then recreate it to include the rest of
the space, or you can use PM to increase D to the size that uses the
unclaimed space.
 
Bob,
I remember waiting for win2000 to format the whole drive, but PM doesn't
recognize it as unused space. Pretty sure I need to reuse the windows CD but
very hesitant without some direction.
D has a bunch of files I don't want to swap around, maybe that's my only
option though
 
PM can merge the two partitions, unless there is something wrong with the
structure of the hd
 
If you say it formatted the whole drive, then the whole drive is
assigned. There wouldn't be any space left. I think you will need to
check and see what you really have there.
 
tex said:
When I installed win2000 the entire drive was formatted, but somehow I let
windows only use about half my disk space as two partitions C & D.

I want to go back have windows use the rest of my drive. Doesn't seem to be
possible from partition magic.
Click to expand...

How big is the drive?
 
Please allow me to join in. I have the same problem. I have two drives with
one partition each (C: = Win2K; D: = My Documents). Both partitions are
small, so they are both full, although both drives are 90% empty.

I cannot get Partition Magic 8 to expand the partitions. What am I doing
wrong? (I will supply as many details as desired.)
 
How big is the drive?

the drive is 250 gigs
C is about 62 gigs
D is about 63 gigs
wasted is about half

I really do remember formatting all 250 as NTFS
partition magic cant find that half
 
I think what your saying is that you have 2-partitions (C & D) on a single
(physical) drive.
If this is the case, PM8 will fix your problems. First you need to use PM8
to analyze both partitions to make sure they are good (no defects).

When this is done, on the left panel (of PM8) is the task "Merge
Partitions". When you select this, it will walk you through the process...
which is quite simple to do. After it runs, PM8 will load "Drive Maper" (I
think) which will go through your registry. This will process will remove
all occurrence of the D Drive and replace it with the C Drive (which should
be the only drive you have left).

Let me know if this helps
 
tex said:
the drive is 250 gigs
C is about 62 gigs
D is about 63 gigs
wasted is about half

I really do remember formatting all 250 as NTFS
partition magic cant find that half
Click to expand...

You don't format a drive per-se, you create one or more partitions and
format them.

If you formatted "all 250" it implies that you created a 250G partition
and formatted it. If you now have 62G and 63G partitions, you must have
re-partitioned somewhere along the line and the rest of the space is
(apparently) unpartitioned.

What do you see if you right-click on My Computer, then select <Manage>
then select <Disk Management>.

If I understand you correctly, it should show a Primary partition for C:
and either:

- a primary partition for D: plus some unpartitioned space (~125G)

- or an extended partition containing a Logical Drive D: plus some
unused space (~125G)
 
It looks suspicicially like you have come up against the Big Lba problem.
ie your Win2k cd doesnt support Big Lba and as a result the win2k
installation process was only able to see approx 137gb of your hd.
Somehow in the process you created two partions of approx 62gb each, leaving
the rest as unallocated (only visible once PC booted up)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305098

Also your Bios needs to be able to support large HD's
 
Thanks to everyone's ideas and suggestions:
My real question was this:
Can I use my win2000 CD to go back and find the unused space on my hard
drive without messing with the existing install ?
 
No, not that way.
In Disk Management does it show free/unused space?
If so create a partion / format there
 
No it doesn't, guess I'll live what I have.
Going form 40 gigs to 130 isn't the end of the world.
 
Then I would think you are up against the HD size limitation for your
copy of Win2K. However, as far as I know (others here would know better)
this was taken care of in subsequent service packs. Have you done all
the Windows updates? (If you haven't, you should do them as soon as
possible - if only from security considerations).
 
I would'nt advise leaving it.
If your hd is 250gb, and you have two partitions totalling 130gb approx then
Disk Management should show approx 100gb of free space available for
partitioning.
As it doesnt it might indicate there is a fundimental problem with your disk
structure, and as such the disk may become either corrupt or unusable.

1) Does your motherboard Bios support large Disks? (make/model of mobo?)
2) What sp edition of win2k are you using to install?
3) Did you allow win2k to partition/format or did you use any utilities?
4) You are *sure* that Disk Management shows no free space, or another Drive
that hasnt been 'prepared'
 
1) Does your motherboard Bios support large Disks? (make/model of mobo?)
Asus P5B, latest bios from site, on WD Pata drive
2) What sp edition of win2k are you using to install? SP 4 with all win updates
3) Did you allow win2k to partition/format or did you use any utilities? just win2000
4) You are *sure* that Disk Management shows no free space, or another Drive
that hasnt been 'prepared'
Click to expand...
'fraid so

Sure its something I did when I installed windows,
 
Then I cannot understand what you did, as sp4 supports Big Lba

If this was me I would blow the whole installation/Partitions away and start
over
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304868
The following article applies to winxp, but the actual installation
procedure is broadly the same.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

If after you have deleted both partitions, and then created a single new
partition it doesn't show approx 230gb of space available, I would abort.
Then download/create the WD bootable checking utility on a floppy, and test
your drive.
 
Sounds like you haven't done the following:
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305098>
To enable 48-bit LBA large-disk support in the registry:
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following
registry value:
Value name: EnableBigLba
Data type: REG_DWORD
Value data: 0x1
4. Quit Registry Editor.
 
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