How do I make a logical drive D: on Vista Ultimate?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MegaC
  • Start date Start date
M

MegaC

Hi There,

I am trying to install Windows Vista Ultimate (64 bit version) and I
am confused about what I am seeing.

I'll put things in point-form, to aid understanding:

1) I am doing a fresh (clean) installation so I put in the DVD and
reboot my PC.
2) The words "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD". I press <enter>.
3) Once I am on the installation screen, I blow away my existing
partitions that I made while under Windows XP Pro. I then make a new
partition called C:
4) QUESTION #1: I click the "Format" button and attempt to format
this new partition C, and it completes in 10 seconds. In XP, it took
an HOUR to do a full format. I am doing this correct? Is Vista that
much more efficient when doing drive formatting?
5) Anyhow...moving on... I now make a new partition D:, but it is NOT a
logical extension (like in XP), it is a second Primary drive.
QUESTION #2: How do I create a new partition that is simply a logical
extension of drive C:? Can this be done? Also, (as above), I try to
format this drive and it completes almost instantly. Once again, is
this due to Vista's awesome efficiency?
6) Anyhow...Vista Ultimate correctly installs, and I go ahead and do
the "Windows Update" thing and get everything up to date....however...when
I go to the "Device Manager" window.... there is a yellow exclamation
mark beside a component that reads "Mass Storage Device"? QUESTION
#3: What does this mean? What is this? I went to laptop
Manufacturer's website (Gateway) and looked up the latest drivers, but
nothing was displayed for this "mass storage device"? Back when I did
the installation, should I have used this "Load Drivers" option?
Would this have fixed the "Unknown mass storage device" issue? I can
fix things by simply blowing away all the partitions and ONLY using
C:, but I'd like to have a D; drive for my personal files, etc.

Any help is appreciated!

Cheers,
Derek
 
MegaC said:
Hi There,

I am trying to install Windows Vista Ultimate (64 bit version) and I
am confused about what I am seeing.

I'll put things in point-form, to aid understanding:

1) I am doing a fresh (clean) installation so I put in the DVD and
reboot my PC.
2) The words "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD". I press <enter>.
3) Once I am on the installation screen, I blow away my existing
partitions that I made while under Windows XP Pro. I then make a new
partition called C:
4) QUESTION #1: I click the "Format" button and attempt to format
this new partition C, and it completes in 10 seconds. In XP, it took
an HOUR to do a full format. I am doing this correct? Is Vista that
much more efficient when doing drive formatting?
Click to expand...

Yes - it is a quick format so a lot faster then the full ormat XP did.
5) Anyhow...moving on... I now make a new partition D:, but it is NOT a
logical extension (like in XP), it is a second Primary drive.
QUESTION #2: How do I create a new partition that is simply a logical
extension of drive C:? Can this be done? Also, (as above), I try to
format this drive and it completes almost instantly. Once again, is
this due to Vista's awesome efficiency?
Click to expand...

What do you mean by a logical extension of C?
A new partion is a new partition the OS sees it as either
a new drive letter (you pick the letter)
a folder mounted under one on the c drive (so it just looks like extra
space).

Yes quick format is used if you select that.
Of course - it is better of actually do the disk management like creating
additional partitions ONCE the OS is installed ( so this may not be a good
thing to do at this step - but do it later instead)

In fact forget about the rest of this and go back and just do you install
again and only do the c partition then create you others in the tools within
Windows.
6) Anyhow...Vista Ultimate correctly installs, and I go ahead and do
the "Windows Update" thing and get everything up to date....however...when
I go to the "Device Manager" window.... there is a yellow exclamation
mark beside a component that reads "Mass Storage Device"? QUESTION
#3: What does this mean?
Click to expand...

It may be a card reader on the machine and not necessarily hard drive.
What is this? I went to laptop
Manufacturer's website (Gateway) and looked up the latest drivers, but
nothing was displayed for this "mass storage device"? Back when I did
the installation, should I have used this "Load Drivers" option?
Would this have fixed the "Unknown mass storage device" issue? I can
fix things by simply blowing away all the partitions and ONLY using
C:, but I'd like to have a D; drive for my personal files, etc.

Any help is appreciated!

Cheers,
Derek
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]
 
The hard drive where you installed Vista has 2 partitions. C Drive is where
Vista is loaded. Now the other partition you created is the Logical Drive.
You have to "activate" it(or whatever term Vista uses to recognize and format
this drive) through Disk Management in Vista. Format this drive using Vista's
Disk Management. It will asssign a drive letter like D. But you can change
that to another letter and even attach a name to it. You can't use C as a
drive name for this partition because Vista is using that already and it will
not give it up. Once that's done, it should show up as another drive in "My
Computer." It is logical because it is contained in the same physical drive
that Vista is using. Hope this helps.
 
MegaC wrote:
....
5) ... I now make a new partition D:, but it is NOT a
logical extension (like in XP), it is a second Primary drive.
QUESTION #2: How do I create a new partition that is simply a logical
extension of drive C:? Can this be done?...
Click to expand...

Hm. It appears that Disk Manager won't let you do that, but the
command-line 'diskpart' utility will, if you really want to.

However, from what you've said it doesn't sound like it will make
any difference to you one way or the other. Logical/extended
partitions were invented only as way to work around the four-
primary-partition limit that was built into the design. Thus,
you only *need* to use a logical/extended partition if you need
more than four partitions on one physical disk. Most people
don't unless they are multibooting several operating systems.
 
Back
Top