DiskPart

G

Guest

I am out of town and don't have access to my copy of Windows XP. I am
working on a computer that has 1 hard drive but 2 partition. I use Casper XP
3.0 to clone the hard drive to a removable hard drive. So I am not worried
about losing data. I need partition the drive as one whole partition. Then
I can ghost back from the removable hard drive and my Windows XP will work.
I do this all the time but I usually have the Windows XP disk and run setup
to set the partition. However, I didn't plan to do this - so I don't have a
copy of Windows XP. This is a Sony computer and everything was already
loaded and nobody can find the original disk. I know I can do this using the
"diskpart" command. But is has been a while and don't seemed to have the
correct Syntax of the command. I can get into diskpart - get the help
commands - select c drive but I am doing something wrong. If somebody has
the correct steps I would appreciate the help. I will be leaving Houston
tomorrow to go back to New Orleans.

Thanks very much in Advance
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

XP's DiskPart utility is capable of only partitioning a hard drive that is empty
or has "unallocated" free space.
For example, if you were to install a new second drive, DiskPart can be
used to partition and format it. DiskPart cannot segregate current files from
free space, therefore, only a sophisticated third-party partitioning program,
such as Partition Magic 8 , can be used with a drive that already has Windows XP
installed.

The only way you can create, delete, resize or merge existing partitions,
and not harm your existing Windows installation, is to purchase and use
a third-party partitioning program such as Partition Magic 8.
http://www.symantec.com/partitionmagic/

The alternative is to perform a "clean install" of Windows XP:

How to Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;313348&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I am out of town and don't have access to my copy of Windows XP. I am
| working on a computer that has 1 hard drive but 2 partition. I use Casper XP
| 3.0 to clone the hard drive to a removable hard drive. So I am not worried
| about losing data. I need partition the drive as one whole partition. Then
| I can ghost back from the removable hard drive and my Windows XP will work.
| I do this all the time but I usually have the Windows XP disk and run setup
| to set the partition. However, I didn't plan to do this - so I don't have a
| copy of Windows XP. This is a Sony computer and everything was already
| loaded and nobody can find the original disk. I know I can do this using the
| "diskpart" command. But is has been a while and don't seemed to have the
| correct Syntax of the command. I can get into diskpart - get the help
| commands - select c drive but I am doing something wrong. If somebody has
| the correct steps I would appreciate the help. I will be leaving Houston
| tomorrow to go back to New Orleans.
|
| Thanks very much in Advance
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

klafert said:
I am out of town and don't have access to my copy of Windows XP. I am
working on a computer that has 1 hard drive but 2 partition. I use
Casper XP
3.0 to clone the hard drive to a removable hard drive. So I am not
worried about losing data. I need partition the drive as one whole
partition. Then I can ghost back from the removable hard drive and
my Windows XP will work. I do this all the time but I usually have
the Windows XP disk and run setup to set the partition. However, I
didn't plan to do this - so I don't have a copy of Windows XP. This
is a Sony computer and everything was already loaded and nobody can
find the original disk. I know I can do this using the "diskpart"
command.


Actually, no you can't. You can't partition or format the drive Windows is
installed on from within Windows, since that would be like cutting off the
limb of the tree you're sitting on.

If you want to repartition the drive, you need to do it by booting to
external media and then running a partition program from there. Be aware,
though, that if you boot to a DOS diskette, you'll have to partition the
drive as FAT32, not NTFS.
 
G

Guest

I really not concern with destroying my Windows Installation. I have that
covered. That is not a problem. I have an external drive with a clone of
the c drive. However, it is a USB connection and I went into CMOS and of
course I cannot choose that drive to boot up on. If I could then my problem
would be solved. I just need to get rid of C: drive partition. I am not
worried in any way about losing Windows XP or the data.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

klafert said:
I really not concern with destroying my Windows Installation. I have
that covered. That is not a problem. I have an external drive with
a clone of the c drive. However, it is a USB connection and I went
into CMOS and of course I cannot choose that drive to boot up on. If
I could then my problem would be solved. I just need to get rid of
C: drive partition. I am not worried in any way about losing Windows
XP or the data.


I understand, but it doesn't matter whether you're concerned with destroying
your Windows installation.. As I said, you *can't* do this from within
Windows. Windows won't let you self-destruct. It has to be from a boot
outside Windows.
 
D

Don MI

klafert said:
I am out of town and don't have access to my copy of Windows XP. I am
working on a computer that has 1 hard drive but 2 partition. I use Casper
XP
3.0 to clone the hard drive to a removable hard drive. So I am not
worried
about losing data. I need partition the drive as one whole partition.
Then
I can ghost back from the removable hard drive and my Windows XP will
work.
I do this all the time but I usually have the Windows XP disk and run
setup
to set the partition. However, I didn't plan to do this - so I don't have
a
copy of Windows XP. This is a Sony computer and everything was already
loaded and nobody can find the original disk. I know I can do this using
the
"diskpart" command. But is has been a while and don't seemed to have the
correct Syntax of the command. I can get into diskpart - get the help
commands - select c drive but I am doing something wrong. If somebody has
the correct steps I would appreciate the help. I will be leaving Houston
tomorrow to go back to New Orleans.

Thanks very much in Advance

Start off by admitting that I am not familiar with Casper XP. Your post
indicatives' that Casper XP is a image program and that you have imaged your
drive.

Can you use the Casper XP CD or perhaps some sort of Casper XP rescue disks
to boot your computer to restore the image? Norton Ghost and other image
programs can do so. Use the Casper CD/boot floppies to boot your computer
and verify that you can see the drive you have your image on.

If so, get a DOS boot disk with Fdisk on it such as a Windows 98/ME boot
disk or one from such as: http://bootdisk.com/
Boot with the DOS disk and delete the existing partitions and create one new
bootable partition. Format the partition {may not be needed, depends on
Casper XP}. The format will give you a single FAT32 partition.

Use the Casper CD/boot floppies to boot your computer and than restore the
image on your external drive. When you restore an image you can restore to a
different size partition {at least Ghost can} provided the partition is
large enough to accept the image. If what you have with the Casper XP is a
true drive image, than when you restore the image, you restore both the
drive file system and the data from the image. Thus, if your image is of a
NTFS drive, the restored drive will also be NTFS.

Don
 
S

Steve N.

klafert said:
I am out of town and don't have access to my copy of Windows XP. I am
working on a computer that has 1 hard drive but 2 partition. I use Casper XP
3.0 to clone the hard drive to a removable hard drive. So I am not worried
about losing data. I need partition the drive as one whole partition. Then
I can ghost back from the removable hard drive and my Windows XP will work.
I do this all the time but I usually have the Windows XP disk and run setup
to set the partition. However, I didn't plan to do this - so I don't have a
copy of Windows XP. This is a Sony computer and everything was already
loaded and nobody can find the original disk. I know I can do this using the
"diskpart" command. But is has been a while and don't seemed to have the
correct Syntax of the command. I can get into diskpart - get the help
commands - select c drive but I am doing something wrong. If somebody has
the correct steps I would appreciate the help. I will be leaving Houston
tomorrow to go back to New Orleans.

Thanks very much in Advance

BootIt NG will do what you want (and a lot more) without needing to
reformat the drive:

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

The free 30 day trial version is fully functional.

Steve N.
 
S

Steve N.

Carey said:
XP's DiskPart utility is capable of only partitioning a hard drive that is empty
or has "unallocated" free space.
For example, if you were to install a new second drive, DiskPart can be
used to partition and format it. DiskPart cannot segregate current files from
free space, therefore, only a sophisticated third-party partitioning program,
such as Partition Magic 8 , can be used with a drive that already has Windows XP
installed.

The only way you can create, delete, resize or merge existing partitions,
and not harm your existing Windows installation, is to purchase and use
a third-party partitioning program such as Partition Magic 8.
http://www.symantec.com/partitionmagic/

The alternative is to perform a "clean install" of Windows XP:

How to Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;313348&Product=winxp

Good info Carey but I'd recommend BootIt NG:

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

Try it out (30 day free trial is fully functional), you may be impressed.

And Merry Christmas!

Steve N.
 
G

Gene K

Have you tested said clone by performing a recovery from it? Things tend to
go wrong at the worst possible time.
Gene K
 

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