Hard Drive partition problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimBob
  • Start date Start date
J

JimBob

bought a s/h 160GB HD. I took out my old drive and installed this one.
When I was installing WinXP it said that there was 8mb unallocated
and a 152gb partition and I was asked which partition I wanted to
install XP on. So I selected the 152gb.

When I did this I got the following message:

To Install Windows XP on the Partition you selected, set up must write
some startup files to the following disk:
152??? MB Disk 0 at Id0 on Bus 0 on atapi (MBR).
However, this disk does not contain a Windows XP – compatible
partition.
To continue installing Windows XP, return to the partition selection
screen & Create a window XP – compatible partition on the disk above.
If there is no free space on the disk, delete an existing partition
and then create a new one.
To return to the partition selection screen press Enter.


So when I go back I select create new partition. It says the min and
max size os 7mb so I create one that size.

All is fine, I install XP no prob and all is working fine.

However, I when I go to My Computer, I have 2 hard drive partitions,
one is 149GB(C) and of course the 7.35mb(E) one.

This has never happened to me before so wondering what to do.


In partition Manager it says:
DSK 0(Samgsung SP1604N)149GB
C:Invalid

vol type system size used volume labal active
hidden
E: primary ntfs 2.8mb 4.6mb yes no
*: extended 149GB no no
C: logical invalid 149GB 16.4GB no no

the only options(for C and *)I have in Partition Magic(the rest are
grayed out) is to delete the drive,change partition id,select
properties,retest surface. I have all options for drive E.

any ideas?

thanks in advance
JimBob
 
bought a s/h 160GB HD. I took out my old drive and installed this one.
When I was installing WinXP it said that there was 8mb unallocated
and a 152gb partition and I was asked which partition I wanted to
install XP on. So I selected the 152gb.

When I did this I got the following message:

To Install Windows XP on the Partition you selected, set up must write
some startup files to the following disk:
152??? MB Disk 0 at Id0 on Bus 0 on atapi (MBR).
However, this disk does not contain a Windows XP – compatible
partition.
To continue installing Windows XP, return to the partition selection
screen & Create a window XP – compatible partition on the disk above.
If there is no free space on the disk, delete an existing partition
and then create a new one.
To return to the partition selection screen press Enter.


So when I go back I select create new partition. It says the min and
max size os 7mb so I create one that size.

All is fine, I install XP no prob and all is working fine.

However, I when I go to My Computer, I have 2 hard drive partitions,
one is 149GB(C) and of course the 7.35mb(E) one.

This has never happened to me before so wondering what to do.


In partition Manager it says:
DSK 0(Samgsung SP1604N)149GB
C:Invalid

vol type system size used volume labal active
hidden
E: primary ntfs 2.8mb 4.6mb yes no
*: extended 149GB no no
C: logical invalid 149GB 16.4GB no no

the only options(for C and *)I have in Partition Magic(the rest are
grayed out) is to delete the drive,change partition id,select
properties,retest surface. I have all options for drive E.

any ideas?
Click to expand...

The reason you could not install on the 149GB partition is that in
order to boot from it, it must be a primary partition. When you went
back to the partition selection screen, you should have just deleted
the partition and then recreated it.
 
The reason you could not install on the 149GB partition is that in
order to boot from it, it must be a primary partition. When you went
back to the partition selection screen, you should have just deleted
the partition and then recreated it.
Click to expand...

The problem is also that the original 149 GB partition was either
formatted with a file system that Windows can't access (e.g., a Unix
or Linux file system) or is corrupted. You can install Windows on a
logical partition as long as it can also access the primary partition
to install the boot loader.

The better installation would be to start from scratch and remove all
partitions and then have the Windows install program create a new
primary using all available space. Alternatively, if the OP wishes to
keep the existing installation, then he can use the Windows disk
manager to delete the existing C: partition and create a new primary
or logical partition and format it as NTFS.
- -
Gary L.
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