Vista Disk Partitioning

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeff Gaines
  • Start date Start date
J

Jeff Gaines

I am putting Vista on a test PC (I've gone back to XP on the main PC
because there are so many apps that won't run under Vista).

I deleted the current partitions from the drive I was installing to, set
up a 25GB drive in the Vista install program and let it run. I then went
to add an extended partition in the spare space on the drive and Vista
won't let me - it wants to put another primary partition on.

Are there any tools within Vista to allow me to create an extended
partition?

In the meantime I have booted to a Win98 recovery CD, ripped off the
partition Vista put on (goodness knows what it is, FDISK and Partition
Magic don't recognise it) and set the partitions the way I want them with
FDISK, but that seems an awfully long winded approach.
 
Partition Magic 8.01 (the last version from PowewQuest) does not see a drive
that has a partition created by Vista. And, Vista will not install on a
partition created by P.M. During the install you have to delete/create and
then format using the Vista installer.

A drive/partition formatted by Vista will show up as corrupted, along with
an associated error message, when viewed by P.M.

DO NOT allow P.M. to repair. If you do, you will lose all access to the hard
drive

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
Vista uses a new and better NTFS type format that Partition Magic cannot
see (or do) yet.
That is why your having these issues. The NTFS format as previously known
is no longer being used and FAT32 obviously is out. Maybe a while before
the proper utilities are create that lets you tinker (or test) things out.

I ran into all the same issues a few months ago while testing Vista. Except
for me, I used a different harddrive that I just swapped in and out. That
way I don't mess up my current system.
 
Vista will put 3 Primary partitions on a drive and I extended. This is by
default. Doesn't matter how much space you have, if you have less than 3
partitions they will always be Primary. It is only the fourth that becomes
extended.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
Vista will put 3 Primary partitions on a drive and I extended. This is by
default. Doesn't matter how much space you have, if you have less than 3
partitions they will always be Primary. It is only the fourth that becomes
extended.
Click to expand...

Is there a reason for that?
I overcame it by using FDISK but that's a pain!
 
We did this to simplify the process of creating partitions. Most end users
don't know or care about the different types of partitions. You can use
Diskpart to work around this--see our blog at
http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/ar...e-an-extended-partition-in-windows-vista.aspx
for details. There is also a topic in Help that discusses this.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
 
We did this to simplify the process of creating partitions. Most end users
don't know or care about the different types of partitions.
Click to expand...

It's a pity there's not a professional version of Vista for those of use
who do :-(
You can use Diskpart to work around this--see our blog at
http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/ar...e-an-extended-partition-in-windows-vista.aspx
for details. There is also a topic in Help that discusses this.
Click to expand...

I couldn't find anything useful in help, and IE7 is refusing to save the
KB article page, I've saved this post, at least my news reader works.
 
If you search for "extended partitions" in Help and Support, the first topic
to appear is "What are partitions and logical drives?" This is the topic
that explains how/when extended partitions are created.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
 
Did I miss something?
I have 2 disks in my box, each partitioned with 4 primary partitions.
During the install of both x86 and x64, Vista didn't make any partition changes.
Is this 3 primary, 1 extended partitioning only done on a blank (unpartitioned) disk during a Vista
install?


| If you search for "extended partitions" in Help and Support, the first topic
| to appear is "What are partitions and logical drives?" This is the topic
| that explains how/when extended partitions are created.
|
| --
| This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
|
| Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
| our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
|
|
|
|
| | > On 04/12/2006 in message <[email protected]> Jill
| > Zoeller [MSFT] wrote:
| >
| >>We did this to simplify the process of creating partitions. Most end users
| >>don't know or care about the different types of partitions.
| >
| > It's a pity there's not a professional version of Vista for those of use
| > who do :-(
| >
| >>You can use Diskpart to work around this--see our blog at
|| >>for details. There is also a topic in Help that discusses this.
| >
| > I couldn't find anything useful in help, and IE7 is refusing to save the
| > KB article page, I've saved this post, at least my news reader works.
| >
| > --
| > Jeff Gaines
|
|
 
If you search for "extended partitions" in Help and Support, the first
topic to appear is "What are partitions and logical drives?" This is the
topic that explains how/when extended partitions are created.
Click to expand...

I found that, but it doesn't tell me how to create extended partitions -
just that I can't!!!

A search for 'diskpart' ends up back in the same place.
 
Did I miss something?
I have 2 disks in my box, each partitioned with 4 primary partitions.
During the install of both x86 and x64, Vista didn't make any partition
changes.
Is this 3 primary, 1 extended partitioning only done on a blank
(unpartitioned) disk during a Vista
install?
Click to expand...

It doesn't (seem to) change existing partitions, it's when you use it to
create a partition it creates 3 x primary partitions before it will create
an extended partition. I got round it by booting to a W98 rescue CD and
using FDISK to create the partitions the way *I* want them, rather than
the way Vista wants me to have them.
 
"| It doesn't (seem to) change existing partitions, it's when you use it to
| create a partition it creates 3 x primary partitions before it will create
| an extended partition. I got round it by booting to a W98 rescue CD and
| using FDISK to create the partitions the way *I* want them, rather than
| the way Vista wants me to have them.
|
| --
| Jeff Gaines

Ah ha...
Interesting
I've always created partitions (unformatted) before I've installed a new OS,
and then let the new OS format the partition during the install.
I've never (at least since NT4) used extended partitions, but now that disks
are getting so big, I think it is becoming necessary (just to make a complete
backup easier).
 
Jeff, i can tell you how to create extended partitions using the new diskpart
in Vista but i am not sure whether you'll be able to boot off into Vista
using that partition. I think you should be able to but i am not sure. Please
post a question regarding it on
microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup.

Here you go:
Boot into Vista DVD and you should be able to go to the command prompt. If
not then press Shift+F10 and you should be able to see a command prompt.

type diskpart.
DISKPART> list disk /* see which disk has enough
space on it */
DISKPART> sel disk 0
DISKPART> det disk /* just a little more fun with the
new diskpart */
DISKPART> cre part extended size=10000 /* creating a 10GB extended
partition */
DISKPART> list part /* you should see the extended
partition */
DISKPART> sel part 0 /* assuming partition 0 is the extended
partition */
DISKPART> cre part logical size=5000 /* creating a 5GB logical partition */
DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick /* format it with NTFS */
DISKPART> assign /* assign it a volume letter */
DISKPART> list vol /* check out the new volume and its
letter */

Easy, isn't it.

Have fun with diskpart.

Thanks
 
OT:

Jill (MSFT):

Can you provide specific info about the changes made to the MBR (first
sector on boot disk) via Vista?

TIA
 
Jeff, i can tell you how to create extended partitions using the new
diskpart
in Vista but i am not sure whether you'll be able to boot off into Vista
using that partition. I think you should be able to but i am not sure.
Please
post a question regarding it on
microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup.
Click to expand...

[excellent instructions snipped]

Wow Varun that's brilliant, my own instruction manual, thank you very
much :-)

Very carefully saved, I will print and try it during my next install as
part of the learning process. I don't want to boot off an extended
partition but I never have more than one primary partition on any PC
because of the mayhem that can cause with drive letters (they may become
obsolete one day but they aren't yet!).
 
I asked one of our developers for a list. Here's what he provided:

Functional MBR changes included:

- Trusted Computing Group (TCG) compliance [measured boot leveraged by
bitlocker].

- Default to using LBA addressing over CHS [CHS still supported].

- Obtain drive number from BIOS instead of from partition table.

- Enable the A20 gate [workaround for buggy TCG BIOSes]



Functional changes to NTFS bootcode:

- TCG compliance [measured boot leveraged by bitlocker].

- Only support LBA addressing [no CHS].

- Detect sector size instead of assuming 512 bytes.

- Load BOOTMGR instead of NTLDR. Fallback to NTLDR if BOOTMGR is not
present.
 
Functional MBR changes included: [made by Vista]
- Trusted Computing Group (TCG) compliance [measured boot leveraged by
bitlocker].
- Default to using LBA addressing over CHS [CHS still supported].
- Obtain drive number from BIOS instead of from partition table.
- Enable the A20 gate [workaround for buggy TCG BIOSes]

Functional changes to NTFS bootcode: [made by Vista]
- TCG compliance [measured boot leveraged by bitlocker].
- Only support LBA addressing [no CHS].
- Detect sector size instead of assuming 512 bytes.
- Load BOOTMGR instead of NTLDR. Fallback to NTLDR if BOOTMGR is not
present.


Jill:
Thanks.
This agrees with my tests, that Vista can boot from disk00 with the previous
MS MBR (DOS thru XP) provided the active partition boot code calls bootmgr
(and not ntldr).
 
Existing partitions are not changed. The change comes about when you start
creating new partitions. Of course, you don't have to use Vista's disk
partitioning, you can always use a third party disk partitioning tool. This
will let you create an position an extended partition with ease.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

DCR said:
Did I miss something?
I have 2 disks in my box, each partitioned with 4 primary partitions.
During the install of both x86 and x64, Vista didn't make any partition
changes.
Is this 3 primary, 1 extended partitioning only done on a blank
(unpartitioned) disk during a Vista
install?


| If you search for "extended partitions" in Help and Support, the first
topic
| to appear is "What are partitions and logical drives?" This is the topic
| that explains how/when extended partitions are created.
|
| --
| This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
|
| Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies?
Visit
| our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
|
|
|
|
| | > On 04/12/2006 in message <[email protected]> Jill
| > Zoeller [MSFT] wrote:
| >
| >>We did this to simplify the process of creating partitions. Most end
users
| >>don't know or care about the different types of partitions.
| >
| > It's a pity there's not a professional version of Vista for those of
use
| > who do :-(
| >
| >>You can use Diskpart to work around this--see our blog at
|| >>for details. There is also a topic in Help that discusses this.
| >
| > I couldn't find anything useful in help, and IE7 is refusing to save
the
| > KB article page, I've saved this post, at least my news reader works.
| >
| > --
| > Jeff Gaines
|
|
Click to expand...
 
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