Trying to partition a drive.....

[BlueEyes4U]

Hi all!

We have an 2 hard drives on our system. The first one is a 9 gig and the 2nd is 11 gig. When we installed the 9 gig and put win98 on it, it autmatically set it to Fat32 without giving us an option. We want to partition that drive using Fdisk and it won't let us. It keeps telling us that the usage is 100% and we're only using 1 gig of it.

Is it possible to do this without buying another version of Partion Magic (we have an older version of it)?

Any ideas?

Thanks!!

[zskillz]

the only way that you're going to be able to use fdisk is if you're willing to lose all of your data on that drive. Otherwise, I'd stick with pmagic to do the job. If you are willing to get lose everything, lemme know and I'll tell you how to do it with fdisk.
-Z

[Ygor]

I'm with BlueEyes. I've already done one backup to another drive but added a few things. For this purpose, will a backup do or should we do a drivecopy to save what's on C right now?

We have the space available, just want to do this right!

[zskillz]

I can't actually help with that part because I always get pissed and just reformat te hdd, but once you decide how to back up C:, then I'll explain the fdisk part.
-Z

[BlueEyes4U]

LOL! Understand that! We've already backed it up, So what's next

Thanks for your help!!!

[zskillz]

Before you delete anything for sure... make a startup disk in the contropanel/addremove programs/startup disk tab...
Once you've made that disk, copy format.exe from your C: drive onto that disk.
ok... now this part isn't really necessary, but I just reformat the drive to get rid of any usless **** that might be floating around on there. I next reboot with the win9x startup disk that you just made. When the disk automatically runs, you're given 3 options...
1. start with CDrom
2. Start without CDrom
3. View readme...
and then there is a short list of stuff that appears across the bottom of the screen. You want to use the command <shift>+F5... that will take you to the command prompt. (by the way, there is a timer running and I don't remember what happens if it runs down, but it's about a 30 sec timer, so you should be able to press shift+f5 by then.. haha)..
that will take you to the a:\
from there type fdisk
enable large disk support [Y].. choose yes
now, option 3 is "delete partition or logical DOS drive".. choose that, and select option 1. "Delete primary dos partition"
I can't remember for sure, but it will double check with you to make sure that you want to do that since it's a non-removable hard disk.

now that you've deleted your old partition, you need to select option 1 from the main menu "Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive"
Ok now... I believe that you once again choose option 1 "Create primary DOS Partition" and then go through the process as you did before...EXCEPT at the end (it does this evertime, but usually everyone ignores it), you it will ask you if you want the primary partition to use all available space. Choose [N] for No (duh http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif)... and then it should ask you to indicate the size that you want this partition to be. It's easiest to just use percentages.... Say you want c: to be 4.5 gigs you can just type 50%... it's pretty self explanetory, but it can't hurt to be extra clear...
then proceed with the format.
after you've done that, you should be back in the main menu where you will choose option 1 again. Now choose option 2 "Create extended DOS Partition"... This part should be pretty much like you you did it before, except this time answer Y to use up all the rest of the available space.
now you should be back in the primary menu again. choose option 2 "Set active partition"...and then set partition 1 to active. then you should be able to just exit fdisk by pressing ESC.
Ok, now is where you use that copy of format that you put on the startup disk. from the a:\ type... format c: /s ... the /s gives the drive the necessary system files it needs.
whe that is finished, from the a:\ type... format d: ... and then you should be finished....
when all of that is finished, you can reboot, and you will have a c: and a D: drive with nothing on them. from there you need to just install win9x as usual.

This isn't a disclaimer, but I need to write it just in case... haha... I think this is almost essentially step for step, but I am not absolutely positive. Regardless, it's more than enough for you to figure it out based on what's been given. Just make sure that as you go through this whole process that you read the directions that are given as well as remembering what these directions were. Like I said, I might have forgotten a few small steps, but nothing that you shouldn't be able to figure out on your own.

I hope this helps!!
-Z

[BlueEyes4U]

zskills

Thank you so very much! We really appreciate the time you took to post that! Will let you know what happens.

BlueEyes

[zskillz]

sounds great!
-Z

[Ygor]

Sorry, we're going to do a drive copy if we can get the commands right in DOS. (lost track of our dos manual)Then what?

[BlueEyes4U]

Z

Thanks so much for all your help on this. We got the drive partitioned. <G> Was a learning experience to say the least. But now we'll know what to do the next time!

Again Thank you for the time you took!!

BlueEyes