REPARTITION FAT32 EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lindsay Graham
  • Start date Start date
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Lindsay Graham

I have posted this message to microsoft.public.win98.fat32, but it is a very
low-volume newsgroup, so I'm not sure whether I'll get a reply. I'd be
grateful for guidance from any members of this group who may be able to
point me in the right direction.

I have a 250GB external hard drive that has been divided into 3 FAT32
partitions. I want to divide the largest partition (which already has data
in it) into 2 or possibly 3 partitions. There are 3 computers networked to
the EHD, one XP Home and the other two 98SE, although I'd prefer to use the
XP computer to do the repartitioning.

Can someone point me to a beginner's guide on how to go about this, and what
to be careful of? Several free programs for partitioning HDs are listed at
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml -- does anyone
know which of these programs are any good?

TIA for your help.
 
Don said:
Give this a look.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q255867/
Click to expand...


that link is for fdisk...
*not* an XP utility

for XP all you need do is use disk management

however...to repartition you will need to *delete* your present
partition(s) so you will loose data!!!!

You will have to move the data off the drive first to repartition it!

There are 3rd party utilities such as Partition Magic that can
repartition non-destructively *however* even though P.M. is quite
reliable...errors can always occur...so it's highly advised to back up
your data first!
 
Hello Lindsay,

Is there "unallocated" space on the disk? If so, you could use the Disk Management module of XP to create a new partition.

If you do not have "unallocated space", you'll need an outside party program like BootITNG (BING) or Partition Magic.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html --they offer 30-day trial
 
XP is a poor choice for doing the partitioning, if you want FAT32, which is
required for win98 to use the partitions.

Basically, XP will refuse to format any partition over 32 Gig as FAT32. It
can use a large FAT32 partition, but refuses to create one.

I have gotten around that format limitation by using Partition Magic, run
under XP. Partition Magic can also create, destroy, merge, split, etc
partitions of many types. It can usually expand/contract partitions without
losing data. (I have never lost any data on four different PCs, running 98
or XP.) However, a wise user will have a backup of important data before
using a program like Partition Magic, just in case. Hint: PM runs a lot
faster if you first defrag any existing partitions that you plan on
changing.

FDISK, run from a DOS floppy, is another possibility. In general FDISK
should be considered "destructive", meaning that it will destroy all
existing data. Be sure to get the latest version of FDISK, the one for
large disks. FDISK is not nearly as friendly as Partition Magic. An
alternative to FDISK is GDISK, which comes with Norton GHOST. It may also
be available with other Symantec/Norton software.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I decided to repartition using
Partition Magic 8.0, and downloaded the evaluation version. But when I
opened the program, the initial message was "Disk 2 (238475MB 484521c 16h
3s) appears to have partitions created using a different drive geometry
(255h 63s). This serious problem can lead to data loss. No partition
manipulations should be made ... You should back up, delete all partitions,
[and] create new partitions under the new drive geometry..."

But the option to 'Delete all partitions' on disk 2 (the external hard
drive) is greyed out, although it is available for Disk 1 (the computer hard
drive)!

I'd be grateful for some guidance:
1. Is there a more appropriate newsgroup or users forum (I've not been able
to find one)?
2. What do the drive geometry references mean (I can find no explanations
in the Partition Magic Help file)?
2. Is the unavailability of the 'Delete all partitions' command for Disk 2
likely to be because the program is an evaluation version?

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
-----------------------------------
Please reply via the newsgroup/mailing list, so that all may benefit from
the discussion.

Bob Harris said:
XP is a poor choice for doing the partitioning, if you want FAT32, which
is required for win98 to use the partitions.

Basically, XP will refuse to format any partition over 32 Gig as FAT32.
It can use a large FAT32 partition, but refuses to create one.

I have gotten around that format limitation by using Partition Magic, run
under XP. Partition Magic can also create, destroy, merge, split, etc
partitions of many types. It can usually expand/contract partitions
without losing data. (I have never lost any data on four different PCs,
running 98 or XP.) However, a wise user will have a backup of important
data before using a program like Partition Magic, just in case. Hint: PM
runs a lot faster if you first defrag any existing partitions that you
plan on changing.

FDISK, run from a DOS floppy, is another possibility. In general FDISK
should be considered "destructive", meaning that it will destroy all
existing data. Be sure to get the latest version of FDISK, the one for
large disks. FDISK is not nearly as friendly as Partition Magic. An
alternative to FDISK is GDISK, which comes with Norton GHOST. It may also
be available with other Symantec/Norton software.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I decided to repartition using
Partition Magic 8.0, and downloaded the evaluation version.
Click to expand...

Where did you download it from?
 
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