Formatting Hard Drive in XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lori Ann Kuiper
  • Start date Start date
L

Lori Ann Kuiper

When I installed my new hard drive I only set up one partition. I then
partitioned remainder of the drive after windows was loaded. I created an
extended partition and then set up 2 additional logical drives.

Is it better to set up the remaining partitions as Primary Partitions that
are not active? That was the default when I went in to create the partition
in XP. I have a CD Rom and DVD drive already installed and then the one 60g
Hard Drive. I want another 2 or three partitions in addition to the one I
originally created when XP was installed. I was thinking about deleting the
2 logical drives in the extended partition, and create 3 additional Primary
Drives instead. I do not have anything loaded on any drive but my C Drive.

I noticed that after I added the partitions I lost the ability of the OS to
perform maintenance during idle time as it did when I first loaded it. When
I check the service, it says that it has been disabled. Is this normal when
you have more than I partition, or is it likely that something else caused
this service to be disabled--such as Easy CD Creator 5?
 
Lori said:
When I installed my new hard drive I only set up one partition. I then
partitioned remainder of the drive after windows was loaded. I created an
extended partition and then set up 2 additional logical drives.

Is it better to set up the remaining partitions as Primary Partitions that
are not active? That was the default when I went in to create the partition
in XP. I have a CD Rom and DVD drive already installed and then the one60g
Hard Drive. I want another 2 or three partitions in addition to the oneI
originally created when XP was installed. I was thinking about deletingthe
2 logical drives in the extended partition, and create 3 additional Primary
Drives instead. I do not have anything loaded on any drive but my C Drive.
Click to expand...

'Logical' volumes work just as well for almost any purpose, and with a
lot more flexibility (you are only limited in the number you can have by
the number of available drive letters). The only reason to have a
Primary is if you are going to install an OS into it, so as to be booted
directly by the BIOS, This can only be done into a Primary, direct in
the main partition table in the first sector of the drive.

I have my second hard drive as a primary and then the rest as an
extended, with several partitions in that - the primary would make it
easy to swap that drive in as the boot drive in emergency; that's all.
 
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