I've been trying to read the literature that accompanies
WinXP regarding disk management (or manglement? let's
hope not) utilities. I'm having a hard time sorting out
all the terminology. Before i experiment and lose all my
data, perhaps someone can tell me if this sounds right?

I have a 20 GB HD. Its divided into 3 partitions, or
rather 2 partitions (1 primary and 1 extended), and the
extended partition is further divided up into 2 logical
drives.

Two of the volumes (is the the right term?) are formatted
in FAT32, that being the primary partion and the first
logical drive. The last logical drive has not been
formatted at all.

Here's my goal:
- I want to format the last logical drive (aka F)
in NTFS.
- then i want to move the data from the first logical
drive (aka E) to the second, newly formatted drive, F.
- next i will format E in NTFS, it being empty from
its contents being moved to F
- then i will move the contents of F back to E, both of
these volumes now being NTFS
- finally i want to somehow merge the two volumes
(from the literature i'm assuming that would require
deleting F and extending E)

In other words, i have an extended partition, half of
which is used and formatted in FAT32, and i want to end
up with the entire partition being available and formatted
in NTFS.
Oh yeah -- and its crucial i don't lose my data.



The first question: is this possible?
Next: am i on the right track? I mean, am i describing
the process correctly?


Lastly: any helpful advice?



thanks.


~b

You can simply use the "convert" command to convert the
FAT32 partitions to NTFS. You can open right click on My
Computer and select "manage" to open the management console
and then use the disk management section to format the empty
partition.
If you format the empty partition first you can copy the
data as backup, but it is usually safe to convert from FAT32
to NTFS. You can even convert your C: and D: drives.

Open Windows Explorer, click "help" then help and support
(online). Type convert in the search window.


"whizbangcrash" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:04e801c36f7e$4f047340$(E-Mail Removed)...
|
| I've been trying to read the literature that accompanies
| WinXP regarding disk management (or manglement? let's
| hope not) utilities. I'm having a hard time sorting out
| all the terminology. Before i experiment and lose all my
| data, perhaps someone can tell me if this sounds right?
|
| I have a 20 GB HD. Its divided into 3 partitions, or
| rather 2 partitions (1 primary and 1 extended), and the
| extended partition is further divided up into 2 logical
| drives.
|
| Two of the volumes (is the the right term?) are formatted
| in FAT32, that being the primary partion and the first
| logical drive. The last logical drive has not been
| formatted at all.
|
| Here's my goal:
| - I want to format the last logical drive (aka F)
| in NTFS.
| - then i want to move the data from the first logical
| drive (aka E) to the second, newly formatted drive, F.
| - next i will format E in NTFS, it being empty from
| its contents being moved to F
| - then i will move the contents of F back to E, both of
| these volumes now being NTFS
| - finally i want to somehow merge the two volumes
| (from the literature i'm assuming that would require
| deleting F and extending E)
|
| In other words, i have an extended partition, half of
| which is used and formatted in FAT32, and i want to end
| up with the entire partition being available and formatted
| in NTFS.
| Oh yeah -- and its crucial i don't lose my data.
|
|
|
| The first question: is this possible?
| Next: am i on the right track? I mean, am i describing
| the process correctly?
|
|
| Lastly: any helpful advice?
|
|
|
| thanks.
|
|
| ~b
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

I got kinda lost in all that you wrote, but I believe that Partition Magic (PM) can
fill the bill here. PM can convert, delete, create, resize, etc. partitions.

PM can convert E to NTFS, delete F (still empty) and then resize E to add the disk
space that was F. This would eliminate all that time consuming moving/reformatting
you outlined below. The time it would take would be far far reduced. I've done
similar things with PM a thousand times. It's an awesome program for what you are
going to be doing.

But of course... The standard disclaimer applies. Make sure you backup (not always
feasible) or at least are on a UPS. A power outage would be devastating.

--

Randy Byrne
Microsoft MVP (Windows Technologies)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/mvp
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Do not email me, please use the newsgroup so that everyone benefits.


"whizbangcrash" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:04e801c36f7e$4f047340$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> I've been trying to read the literature that accompanies
> WinXP regarding disk management (or manglement? let's
> hope not) utilities. I'm having a hard time sorting out
> all the terminology. Before i experiment and lose all my
> data, perhaps someone can tell me if this sounds right?
>
> I have a 20 GB HD. Its divided into 3 partitions, or
> rather 2 partitions (1 primary and 1 extended), and the
> extended partition is further divided up into 2 logical
> drives.
>
> Two of the volumes (is the the right term?) are formatted
> in FAT32, that being the primary partion and the first
> logical drive. The last logical drive has not been
> formatted at all.
>
> Here's my goal:
> - I want to format the last logical drive (aka F)
> in NTFS.
> - then i want to move the data from the first logical
> drive (aka E) to the second, newly formatted drive, F.
> - next i will format E in NTFS, it being empty from
> its contents being moved to F
> - then i will move the contents of F back to E, both of
> these volumes now being NTFS
> - finally i want to somehow merge the two volumes
> (from the literature i'm assuming that would require
> deleting F and extending E)
>
> In other words, i have an extended partition, half of
> which is used and formatted in FAT32, and i want to end
> up with the entire partition being available and formatted
> in NTFS.
> Oh yeah -- and its crucial i don't lose my data.
>
>
>
> The first question: is this possible?
> Next: am i on the right track? I mean, am i describing
> the process correctly?
>
>
> Lastly: any helpful advice?
>
>
>
> thanks.
>
>
> ~b
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Yea...

What he said!! :-)

--

Randy Byrne
Microsoft MVP (Windows Technologies)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/mvp
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Do not email me, please use the newsgroup so that everyone benefits.


"Steve Robertson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Whiz,
>
> >>In other words, i have an extended partition, half of
> which is used and formatted in FAT32, and i want to end
> up with the entire partition being available and formatted
> in NTFS.
> Oh yeah -- and its crucial i don't lose my data.<<
>
> It's possible to do all that you've outlined using a combination of Disk
> Management and the grody Diskpart command line utility. However you may do
> all of this with a lot fewer steps using one of the 3rd party partitioning
> programs like Partition Commander or Partition Magic.
>
> I'm more familiar with Partition Commander which sells for about $35 at an
> Office Depot. With it you could accomplish all this in 3 steps:
>
> 1. Delete the unformatted logical drive.
>
> 2. Extend the E partition to include the free space in the extended
> partition.
>
> 3. Convert the E partition from Fat 32 to NTFS.
>
> This is all done from outside of Windows XP itself. Either system gives you
> a reliable mini-operating system into which you boot which allows all this
> major surgery to occur without the danger of deleting the operating system
> files which the computer is currently using.
>
> I've done these sorts of tasks 40 times or so and have yet to lose a file,
> but you should always back up your data before doing such major work.
>
> Good luck.
>
> S
>
>