setting up a new hard drive as drive D

[Guest]

Hi,
I have a pc which has Windows XP Home (OEM) which has been updated to SP2
plus all the other updates.

This has Windows setup plus the applications on drive C.

I want to add a second hard disk as IDE drive D but I cannot see any were
that will enable me to fdisk prior to formating the new drive.

Can any one advise me where to find the commands to do this?

Thank you,

Walter

 

[namniar]

Hi,
I have a pc which has Windows XP Home (OEM) which has been updated to SP2
plus all the other updates.

This has Windows setup plus the applications on drive C.

I want to add a second hard disk as IDE drive D but I cannot see any were
that will enable me to fdisk prior to formating the new drive.

Can any one advise me where to find the commands to do this?

Thank you,

Walter

Rt click My Computer, Manage then select Storage, Disk Management branch.

r.

 

[Anna]

Rt click My Computer, Manage then select Storage, Disk Management branch.

r.

Walter:
You ordinarily do not use the DOS FDISK/FORMAT commands to partition &
format a hard disk in the XP environment. Rather, as namniar has indicated,
you use XP's Disk Management utility to do so.

Here are the detailed steps...
1. You will partition & format your second HD using XP's Disk Management
utility. Access it by right-clicking My Computer > Manage > Computer
Management > Disk Management, or, Start > Run > enter diskmgmt.msc & click
OK.

2. If the disk you're adding is a "virgin" drive, i.e.,
unpartitioned/unformatted, XP will detect the new disk and automatically
open the "Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard". Follow the prompts to
initialize the disk. (Do *not* select the option to convert your hard drive
to a "dynamic disk", nor the "convert" option).

3. If Disk Management does not detect the new disk, click "Rescan Disks".
You might need to restart your computer although this is usually
unnecessary.

4. Disk Management will show the capacity of the new drive as "Unallocated"
space. So in order to use the new drive you will have to partition and
format it.

5. Create a partition by right-clicking on the pane that displays the new
drive (diagonal lines will appear in the pane), and select "New Partition".
The "New Partition Wizard" dialog box will open. Click Next.

6. Select the option "Primary partition" (the default) as the "Partition
Type". Click Next.

7. The "Specify Partition Size" dialog box will indicate the maximum disk
capacity in MB. If you want to create multiple partitions, enter whatever
partition size (in MB) that you want for the first partition and click Next.

8. In the next dialog box, assign a drive letter for this disk and click
Next.

9. The "Format Partition" dialog box will open. Review it carefully and
accept the defaults or make any changes. If you're reasonably certain your
hard disk is sound, you can tick the "Perform a quick format" checkbox.
Click Next

10. Confirm the settings in the "Completing the New Partition Wizard" dialog
box and click Finish.

11. The "Computer Management" window will open indicating the disk is being
formatted (progress shown as % formatted).

12. Your hard disk has been initialized, partitioned, and formatted. If
you're creating multiple partitions on that disk, you'll have remaining
"Unallocated" disk space that you can partition & format, so repeat the
process starting from step 5. above.

Anna

 

[Guest]

Hi: if my disk is already formatted and full of data that i dont want lost,
will an initialization process do the trick so i can use it on this machine
(it has been formatted by a mac for use with both mac and windows)? thanks

 

[Yves Leclerc]

You can:
1) Look at the disk partition
2) Assign drive letter to the partition
3) Delete and create partitions.

Not certain if you can directly connect a Mac disk to a Windows PC as an
internal slave disk. You maight have better luck if you were to place it in
an external drive box, which you would then connect to either USB or
Firewire.

 

[Guest]

Yves:

thank you. it is already in an external box. when i plug it in via usb,
the OS says its ready to use but i cant find it in 'my computer'. so i'm
trying to get the os to recognize it as a writable disk. I DO NOT want to
corrupt the data under any cricumstance. OSX does this SO much easier...

tom

 

[Guest]

Thanks Anna - seems quite straighforward (just what I want to do) except....
on your point 5 " Create a partition by right-clicking on the pane that
displays the new
drive (diagonal lines will appear in the pane), and select "New Partition".
The "New Partition Wizard" dialog box will open. Click Next." ....

the "New Partition" is greyed out, and not accessible!!

 

[Anna]

Thanks Anna - seems quite straighforward (just what I want to do)
except....
on your point 5 " Create a partition by right-clicking on the pane that
displays the new
drive (diagonal lines will appear in the pane), and select "New
Partition".
The "New Partition Wizard" dialog box will open. Click Next." ....
the "New Partition" is grayed out, and not accessible!!

Frank:
There can be a variety of reasons for this...

1. The HD may be defective. Unless you're absolutely certain the drive is
non-defective it would be wise to download the diagnostic utility from the
website of the manufacturer of your HD and check it out. The fact that the
drive is brand-new is no guarantee that it's non-defective. Similarly, it's
possible for a defective HD to be listed in My Computer and Device Manager.
2. Assuming the drive is non-defective - ensure that the drive has been
properly configured (jumpered) and securely connected. Re:check the IDE
ribbon cable (I'm assuming this is a PATA HD) to ensure that it's properly
seated on the HD and the motherboard's IDE connector as well as the power
plug connection.
3. The IDE (or SATA) data cable may be defective.
4. Assuming all seems secure and properly configured - shut down the machine
& disconnect the secondary HD and boot only with your system drive
connected. Assuming the boot goes without incident, shut down the machine
and re:connect your secondary HD. Again, make absolutely certain you've
properly jumpered/connected that drive. Access DM again and determine if the
problem has been corrected.
5. If still no-go, move the problem HD to another IDE (or SATA) connector.
For example, if you have it currently connected as Primary Slave, connect it
as a Secondary Master or Slave, whatever is available. Don't forget to
change jumper positions if necessary.

We have come across some rare instances where a non-defective, properly
configured & connected HD for unexplained reasons could not be formatted
within the XP operating system. (At least we couldn't account for the
existence of the problem). In virtually every case that I recall (and
understand this was a rare event to begin with) the problem occurred when we
were attempting to install the XP OS on a "virgin" HD. I'm hard-pressed to
recall (in my own experience) a similar incident involving the same problem
occurring when trying to partition/format a non-defective & properly
configured secondary HD using the Disk Management utility, but I have seen
reports of this.

In the case of the problem we encountered involving the installation of the
XP OS on a new HD, we found that in nearly every case if we re:installed the
OS (sometimes up to three times), it would "catch" and we encountered no
further problems. In the very few instances where even that didn't work, we
finally had to resort partitioning/formatting the drive using the FDISK &
FORMAT commands (from a DOS boot disk, e.g., Win9x/Me Startup floppy disk).

Hopefully, you won't have to do this.
Anna

 

[Guest]

Thanks - I have since managed to create the new partition.
I had to right click on the pane to the left of the new drive (Disk 1 which
was showing "not initialized"), and click on "initialize" first. After that
it allowed me to create the "New Partition".