partition problem caused by partition magic

[yellowchilli]

i hope im in the right topic here..
if not then someone kindly redirect me.

anyway, a while ago i split my C (windows installation) drive into 2.
was planning to install a second windows.
partition magiac managed to do tht for me but installation wasnt
possible.

so, i merged the partition back into C.
but now, that partition has become lost free space.
as a result it left me with very little useable disk space.

i didnt create a recovery disk.
and ive since deleted partition magic anyway as it doesnt seem to have
any function that would help me with recovery.

does anyone know how i can recover that lost space?
ive tried scanning the harddisk with numerous free partition tools but
none of them have reported any problems.
nor can they properly identify my lost space.
on a recent defrag with perfectdisk, the map displays a fairly large
block of excuded area on the harddisk. im pretty sure thats what im
looking for.

thanks in advance.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

i hope im in the right topic here..
if not then someone kindly redirect me.

anyway, a while ago i split my C (windows installation) drive into 2.
was planning to install a second windows.
partition magiac managed to do tht for me but installation wasnt
possible.

so, i merged the partition back into C.
but now, that partition has become lost free space.
as a result it left me with very little useable disk space.

i didnt create a recovery disk.
and ive since deleted partition magic anyway as it doesnt seem to have
any function that would help me with recovery.

does anyone know how i can recover that lost space?
ive tried scanning the harddisk with numerous free partition tools but
none of them have reported any problems.
nor can they properly identify my lost space.
on a recent defrag with perfectdisk, the map displays a fairly large
block of excuded area on the harddisk. im pretty sure thats what im
looking for.

thanks in advance.

Click Start / Run / diskmgmt.msc, then check the size of your
existing partition(s) and if there is any unallocated space.

 

[E]

thank you for the reply.

ive actually tried that already though via My Computer, rightclick,
Manage.
it doest show me anything abnormal.
in fact, it still shows the full hdd size which is 20gb; and reporst
that its 'healthy'.
the lost space is about 4gbs if i remember correctly.

any other suggestions?

 

[Guest]

Hi E/yellowchili

I think I can help but I have a few questions and we will have to take baby
steps.

ARE YOU BACKED UP? If not, do so now please. Then we can diagnose with
confidence.

Are you posting from the computer in question?

What program/utility is telling you that you have "lost free space"? What
exactly is it saying?

How big was the partition that PM made? Was it 4G (equal to the now
"missing" space)?

What happpened when you tried to install a second OS onto the new partition
that PM made? Specifically, were any files written to that new partition?

During the merge operation, did PM prompt you to type in a new file name for
any reason at some point in the process?

If needed, can you re-install PM?

Callmark1

 

[Larry Gardner]

When you split into 2 partitions, how did you create the new partition? A
primary partition, or did you create and Extended Partition and create a
Logical partition within.

If you created an Extended then Logical, once you deleted the logical, you
need to delete then the Extended, and then resize C: to include the free
space.
But only if the free space abuts the C: partition.

 

[E]

hi callmark

thanks for the reply.

ok ive backed up all the important stuff.

yes im posting from the computer in question.

ok previously i was reading off Perfectdisk 7.0 -a defrag program.
but i realised that i MAY have made a mistake because i think it also
shows my 1gb pagefile as 'exluded'.
anyway...it might not make sense if you've not used perfectdisk before.

i selected all the files and folders of my hdd in windows explorer and
sure enough, it tells me im only using 16.6gb of 20gb in total.
plus the 1 gb usable free space i have left, it would make my total
usable space come to 17 gb.
still a few gbs short.

sa far as i can remember it was 4 gb. er...but it couldve been anywhere
from 2-4.
i really dont remember all that well.
i just wanted a partition for winxp.

winxp couldnt detect the new partition during setup so i aborted it.
so no...no files written at all.

hm i dont recall having to type in a new file name or anything.
i MAY have been prompted to type in a volume label...to which i wouldve
most definitely left it blank.

yes i can reinstall PM.

thanks v much.

 

[Guest]

Hi:

OK. Everything you have posted seems like good news. I think this should be
fairly straight-forward; let's just back out the way we came.

As far as I know, Win XP is not capable of re-sizing partitions "on the
fly". So first, re-install PM. If you currently have 16.6G stored on C: and
you can only access up to 17G or so, you may need to free up some space on
your C: partition in order to do this; PM needs a little bit of room to
install and work. Documentation for PM8.0 states 70M for installation and a
min of 50M additional for operations. Might be nice to have a little extra
so- if you can- get the C: drive down to about 15G used or even lower.

Once you have installed PM, create the 2 rescue diskettes as recommended.

Deleting the unwanted partitons and re-sizing the C: partition to include
the entire physical drive will take at least 2 steps depending on what PM
displays. In my documentation the relevent material is on page 44.

*********** IMPORTANT NOTE: IF* you have installed Powerquest Boot Magic
ANYWHERE on your computer, you MUST uninstall it rather than just delete it.

If you have created ONE primary partition, it can be deleted in one step.
If you have created a "logical" partion(s) inside an "extended" partition,
you will need to delete every logical partition that exists within the
extended partition in one step before deleting the extended partition in
another step. Either way just follow PM instructions.

I can't remember if PM requires a re-boot tafter deleting partitions, but
even if it does not, re-boot anyway and once again create 2 rescue disks as a
precaution.

Once all the unwanted partitions are deleted, just follow instructions to
re-size C: to include all the unallocated space on the entire physical drive.
IF* for some reason there is some insignificant amount of unallocated space
"before" C: - leave it alone.

Once all operations are complete, create 2 new rescue disks.

I think that should do it.

Good luck.

Mark

 

[E]

thanks mark.

ill try all that tomorrow and then post back.

 

[E]

hi mark

took me a bit of time to get round to this.

anyway, reinstalled partition magic but...it doesnt show any other
partition on C.

better off reformatting the whole hdd? lol...

E