formating and cd drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alex Marchevskiy
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A

Alex Marchevskiy

i have two problems on my computer,
1) low disk space because i formatted to FAT instead of
FAT32 and now i have ran out of disk space and i am aware
of my mistake. of course as we all know, formatting will
erase all files and windows, so my question is this, do i
absolutely have to format it to the correct FAT and
reinstall windows, or is there another way?

2) this isn't a major problem, but it is #2 in my
priority list. i have two cd drives, a cd-rw and a dvd-
rom drive. whenever i already have windows loaded and i
stick in a new disk my computer wont recognize the disk
and just say there is nothing there, but when i restart
the computer with the disk in there already at startup,
then it recognizes the disk with no problems (only the
first one, if i change the disk then i have the same
problem). i think that something is telling the cd rom
not to read it in the drivers or other stuff windows uses
to control cd-rom's.

okay, these are my problems, hopefully somebody out there
knows what to do. your help is greatly appreciated. thank
you.
 
Hi, Alex.

I'll let someone else handle your CD/DVD drive problem.

As to your problem 1: Your problem is that Drive C: is too small, not that
it is formatted wrong. FAT(16) cannot handle a volume larger than 2 GB. It
just can't, because of the math involved. You COULD convert that first
volume to FAT32, or to NTFS, but it still could not be larger than 2 GB
unless you go through the fundamental exercise of re-partitioning your hard
drive.

You haven't said anything about the size of the whole physical drive, or
about any other volumes. A "volume" may be a primary partition, or it may
be a logical drive in an extended partition. We often say "drive" or
"partition" when speaking of a volume. It is actually a volume which gets a
"drive letter"; each volume is created at a specific size during
partitioning, and each is formatted independently from all other volumes.
WinXP's Disk Management can create and delete volumes (and format or
reformat them), but it cannot shrink or expand a volume.

To make your Drive C: larger, you have a couple of choices, assuming there
is enough space on your HD, all included in other volumes:

1. Invest your time: Backup; repartition; reformat; restore.

2. Invest your money: Buy a third-party program like Partition Magic
(about $70) and use it to shrink the other volumes, move them out of the
way, and expand C:. This probably can be done without any loss or damage to
your existing files, so long as there is enough space available on the HD.

Tell us more about your computer, especially your hard drives, and we may be
able to help you do what you want to do.

RC
 
Hi, Alex.

Let's start with your...
P.S. what did u mean when u said "repartition"? (in #1 of
your suggestions)
Click to expand...

Your basic problem is that Drive C: is only 2 GB. The only way to make it
bigger is to repartition your 40 GB HD - from the present 2 + 38 to
something like 5 + 35. If you start over from scratch, that's easy; just
boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and let it handle the job. WinXP Setup will
first (if you choose) delete all existing partitions. Then, you can have it
create at least the System Partition (Drive C:) and format it. The default
is to use the whole physical drive for the one partition, but you can limit
it to the size you choose. As explained later, make this first partition at
least 3 GB and format it NTFS.

If you don't start over, then you must buy PM or some other product that
will first shrink the second partition (to 35 GB, for example); then "move
it to the right" by 3 GB, so that the now-unused 3 GB is contiguous to the
first 2 GB partition; and finally expand the first partition into that 3 GB.
PM can handle this job, and it may be your best solution. PM will also
offer to convert the partition to NTFS, calling WinXP's native convert.exe
to actually do the conversion.

WinXP takes a lot of space. And without vigorous maintenance, it grows over
time as we use it. My 2-year-old installation now has 17,000+ files taking
about 2.8 GB, even after some of the following techniques. I originally
installed it in a 2 GB volume that had originally been created (and
formatted FAT(16)) back in Win98 days, then upgraded to Win2K and finally to
WinXP.

Several techniques can be used to reduce the space required by WinXP in the
system partition and boot volume (both in Drive C:, in your case, which is
typical). First, you can specify that the swap file be on the other volume.
This file is typically 1.5 x your RAM; on my system with 512 MB, the swap
file is just over 800 MB. In your case, that's probably why you get a low
disk space warning - that big swap file is hidden, but it's there! Second,
you can empty the Recycle Bin, or skip the bin automatically when you delete
files. You can put your My Documents and similar folders onto the other
volume.

Unless you plan to install Win9x/ME on this computer, there is no reason to
continue to use FAT. NTFS has several advantages, including on-the-fly
compression, which you mentioned. It is far more secure than FAT, both in
the sense of security from prying eyes and in the sense of less chance of
accidental loss or corruption of your files.

I hope this helps, Alex. If you can locate a good reference book - like the
WinXP Pro Resource Kit ($60 list from Microsoft Press) - and invest a
half-day in reading the chapters on disk drives and file systems, it will
pay you big dividends in time saved for as long as you keep using Windows
and x86 computers. You can read the Resource Kit online for free at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...winxppro/reskit/prork_overview.asp?frame=true
but it will take a while; the book is about 1,700 pages. Or study the
excellent Help file in WinXP's Disk Management.

RC
 
-----Original Message-----
Hi, Alex.

Let's start with your...


Your basic problem is that Drive C: is only 2 GB. The only way to make it
bigger is to repartition your 40 GB HD - from the present 2 + 38 to
something like 5 + 35. If you start over from scratch, that's easy; just
boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and let it handle the job. WinXP Setup will
first (if you choose) delete all existing partitions. Then, you can have it
create at least the System Partition (Drive C:) and format it. The default
is to use the whole physical drive for the one partition, but you can limit
it to the size you choose. As explained later, make this first partition at
least 3 GB and format it NTFS.

If you don't start over, then you must buy PM or some other product that
will first shrink the second partition (to 35 GB, for example); then "move
it to the right" by 3 GB, so that the now-unused 3 GB is contiguous to the
first 2 GB partition; and finally expand the first partition into that 3 GB.
PM can handle this job, and it may be your best solution. PM will also
offer to convert the partition to NTFS, calling WinXP's native convert.exe
to actually do the conversion.

WinXP takes a lot of space. And without vigorous maintenance, it grows over
time as we use it. My 2-year-old installation now has 17,000+ files taking
about 2.8 GB, even after some of the following techniques. I originally
installed it in a 2 GB volume that had originally been created (and
formatted FAT(16)) back in Win98 days, then upgraded to Win2K and finally to
WinXP.

Several techniques can be used to reduce the space required by WinXP in the
system partition and boot volume (both in Drive C:, in your case, which is
typical). First, you can specify that the swap file be on the other volume.
This file is typically 1.5 x your RAM; on my system with 512 MB, the swap
file is just over 800 MB. In your case, that's probably why you get a low
disk space warning - that big swap file is hidden, but it's there! Second,
you can empty the Recycle Bin, or skip the bin automatically when you delete
files. You can put your My Documents and similar folders onto the other
volume.

Unless you plan to install Win9x/ME on this computer, there is no reason to
continue to use FAT. NTFS has several advantages, including on-the-fly
compression, which you mentioned. It is far more secure than FAT, both in
the sense of security from prying eyes and in the sense of less chance of
accidental loss or corruption of your files.

I hope this helps, Alex. If you can locate a good reference book - like the
WinXP Pro Resource Kit ($60 list from Microsoft Press) - and invest a
half-day in reading the chapters on disk drives and file systems, it will
pay you big dividends in time saved for as long as you keep using Windows
and x86 computers. You can read the Resource Kit online for free at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp? url=/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/prork_overview.as
p?frame=true
but it will take a while; the book is about 1,700 pages. Or study the
excellent Help file in WinXP's Disk Management.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP




.
Click to expand...

wow. THANK YOU for all your help. i really didnt know any
of this and i will hope to use all of your help in a good
and progressive way. my friend loaned me partition magic
and i used to using your help and now i just have one 40
gb drive. i know i would be beter off with a partition,
but i think it would be better this way. well thank you
for all your help once again. this is like the best guide
i EVER read.
-Alex M.
 
wow. THANK YOU for all your help. i really didnt know any
of this and i will hope to use all of your help in a good
and progressive way. my friend loaned me partition magic
and i used to using your help and now i just have one 40
gb drive. i know i would be beter off with a partition,
but i think it would be better this way. well thank you
for all your help once again. this is like the best guide
i EVER read.
-Alex M.
Click to expand...

You can also download a trial copy of BootIt Next Generation (BootIt
NG) from "http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/". It is a multi boot
manager but it also has the ability to do nondestructive partitioning.
I believe you don't need to install it to the hard drive to use the
partitioning features. Just click on the Maintenance button and it
should let you work on partitions. If you have any questions, their
tech support is excellent. The product is low priced for all it does
imho. It's shareware, so you can try before you buy.
 
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