Drive partition - how to remove?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jorg
  • Start date Start date
J

Jorg

RELEVANT SYSTEM DETAILS
Windows XP Home
3 GHz Pentium 4
200 GB Seagate HDD

PROBLEM
The 200 GB drive was split into 3 partitions which I want
to remove so that there is only one logical drive (C:)
comprising the total size of the drive.

I managed to remove the partitions but now have about half
the size of the drive "not allocated", i.e. the size of C:
is only about 100 GB.

What do I need to do to get all of the drive under C:?

Note: I would be happy to run a format on C: but I am
concerned that the format will only do a format of the 100
GB which are currently under C:.

PLUS, I noticed that I can't run format on C: - neither in
XP nor at the command prompt. There is always an error
message to the effect that the drive is in use and can
therefore not be formatted.

Can you help?
 
The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

--------------------------------------------------------------------


| RELEVANT SYSTEM DETAILS
| Windows XP Home
| 3 GHz Pentium 4
| 200 GB Seagate HDD
|
| PROBLEM
| The 200 GB drive was split into 3 partitions which I want
| to remove so that there is only one logical drive (C:)
| comprising the total size of the drive.
|
| I managed to remove the partitions but now have about half
| the size of the drive "not allocated", i.e. the size of C:
| is only about 100 GB.
|
| What do I need to do to get all of the drive under C:?
|
| Note: I would be happy to run a format on C: but I am
| concerned that the format will only do a format of the 100
| GB which are currently under C:.
|
| PLUS, I noticed that I can't run format on C: - neither in
| XP nor at the command prompt. There is always an error
| message to the effect that the drive is in use and can
| therefore not be formatted.
|
| Can you help?
 
Hi
I have just sorted my mates out with exactly the same problem,.
I booted with a win 98 boot disk,went into Fdisk, removed all partitions,
rebooted with 98 boot disk, made 1 partition and formatted, insert windows
XP, take out win 98, re boot with XP only and XP should instal ok, you may
have to change your boot sequence, but if you have it as CD first and floppy
second you should be ok
Dave
 
Under the old OS' (98/95 and to some extent 2000), you can
create a boot disk. Either download one from the internet
(try and ask jeeves or similar) or create one on a old 98
machine (control panel, add remove programs, create boot
disk tab).

Ensure along with other files, fdisk, and format.com are
present, if not, search your HDD for it, and copy to disk.

Reboot from disk, and run fdisk to repartition your disk,
then format the individual partitions, and reinstall
XP .... alternatively use disk partition software such as
drivemagic which will probably negate the need for
formating your HD again.
 
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