Format Hard Drive

[skylux]

hi,

i am trying to format a 300gb hardrive. in win xp sp3 under computer
management and then disk management, i can detect the harddrive. the problem
is that it shows 1) drive letter H: and 232.75gb NTFS healthy configuration
and 71 mb FAT healthy EISA configuration. now, i can easily format the NTFS
configuration but i can't get rid of the FAT partition.

any suggestions on how to make the harddrive "whole" with no partitions and
just 300mb NTFS healthy configuration?

thanks
sm

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Wednesday, April 15, 2009 3:36:41 PM, and on a
whim, skylux pounded out on the keyboard:

hi,

i am trying to format a 300gb hardrive. in win xp sp3 under computer
management and then disk management, i can detect the harddrive. the problem
is that it shows 1) drive letter H: and 232.75gb NTFS healthy configuration
and 71 mb FAT healthy EISA configuration. now, i can easily format the NTFS
configuration but i can't get rid of the FAT partition.

any suggestions on how to make the harddrive "whole" with no partitions and
just 300mb NTFS healthy configuration?

thanks
sm

Hi SM,

If you can't delete it in CM, download Easeus Patition Manager:
http://www.partition-tool.com/

There's a free version there. You can remove the FAT partition and then
extend the NTFS partition to span the whole drive.


Terry R.

 

[JS]

Did you mean to say 71GB or is it really
71MB partition?

 

[skylux]

apologies 71mb.

Did you mean to say 71GB or is it really
71MB partition?

 

[skylux]

yeah, it's 250gb not 300gb in total.

The date and time was Wednesday, April 15, 2009 3:36:41 PM, and on a
whim, skylux pounded out on the keyboard:


Hi SM,

If you can't delete it in CM, download Easeus Patition Manager:
http://www.partition-tool.com/

There's a free version there. You can remove the FAT partition and then
extend the NTFS partition to span the whole drive.


Terry R.

 

[JS]

Then it could be a Restore Partition
created by the PC vendor.

 

[Daave]

Or it could be a diagnostic partition (which I would recommend keeping).
What is the make and model of the PC? Did the PC come with this hard
drive?

 

[Lil' Dave]

hi,

i am trying to format a 300gb hardrive. in win xp sp3 under computer
management and then disk management, i can detect the harddrive. the
problem
is that it shows 1) drive letter H: and 232.75gb NTFS healthy
configuration
and 71 mb FAT healthy EISA configuration. now, i can easily format the
NTFS
configuration but i can't get rid of the FAT partition.

any suggestions on how to make the harddrive "whole" with no partitions
and
just 300mb NTFS healthy configuration?

thanks
sm

I'm not real smart guy, like alot of the MVPs that frequent here. Nor as
prolific in knowledge as others that frequent this newsgroup either.

With that caution in mind, is there any reason you can't simply eliminate
any partition on that physical hard drive from disk management and create
one new partition from that free disk area?

Also, with same cautions as stated previously, is there any reason you can't
use the proper software from the maker of the hard drive to write zeroes to
that hard drive to wipe it clean?

 

[Randem]

First off, is this your boot drive or another drive you added to your
computer?

--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
Disk Read Error Press Ctl+Alt+Del to Restart
http://www.randem.com/discus/messages/9402/9406.html?1236319938

 

[Bill in Co.]

In which case it would be wisest to leave it there. For example, if it is
a Dell, and you delete one of those Dell partitions, you may not be able to
boot up without a fair amount of work, because part of the Dell MBR boot up
process expects those partitions to be there.

 

[Tim Meddick]

Acer computers use a small-sized hidden Fat partition as the restore (after
catastrophic failure) partition.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Dell (or at least some of them) use one partition as a restore partition
(which restores the Dell to just it was the day it was shipped), and another
as a diagnostic partition. And I believe they were both primary
partitions, hidden, and FAT or FAT32. If you delete any of those
partitions, you *will* have bootup problems, without doing some patchwork.

 

[skylux]

ok - all points noted. this harddrive is from a Dell PC and it is the
original boot up drive. i had problems with the pc - virus etc. so i decided
to go for a clean re-install. i thought initially that this (fat32 partition)
was a virus or something. i had no problems booting-up from a different
harddrive after reformatting the drive and a clean re-install.

now, i am trying to use the original drive (with the fat32), and as i could
not delete this partiton i thought it to be a virus etc.

so, is it safe to delete this partition, is a virus or is it a dell boot-up
partition?

thanks for your replys.

sm

 

[skylux]

i tried to load win xp, after formatting the harddrive and leaving the fat32
intact. as you mentioned, the WinXP Set Up Home Edition - gave the following
message -

"Setup did not find any hdd installed on your pc. Make sure any hdd are
powered on and properly connected to th pc and that any hdd related hardware
configuration problem is correct. This may involve a manufacture supplied
diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. Press F3 to Quit".

Is there a patch for this? The BIOS does recognize the hdd.

thanks

sm

 

[Mark Adams]

i tried to load win xp, after formatting the harddrive and leaving the fat32
intact. as you mentioned, the WinXP Set Up Home Edition - gave the following
message -

"Setup did not find any hdd installed on your pc. Make sure any hdd are
powered on and properly connected to th pc and that any hdd related hardware
configuration problem is correct. This may involve a manufacture supplied
diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. Press F3 to Quit".

Is there a patch for this? The BIOS does recognize the hdd.

thanks

sm

As others have said here, the other partitions are probably diagnostic and
recovery partitions. Since you already have a licenced OS on this machine,
why throw it away? Follow the instructions that came with the PC and use the
restore feature that is built in. It will restore your PC to the condition it
was in when you bought it, and the viruses will be wiped out. You can then
save your XP install disk to use on a second computer.

 

[Peter Foldes]

I would just use F-Disk.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867

http://www.fdisk.com/fdisk/

http://www.computerhope.com/fdiskhlp.htm#02

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Thursday, April 16, 2009 2:52:05 AM, and on a
whim, skylux pounded out on the keyboard:

ok - all points noted. this harddrive is from a Dell PC and it is the
original boot up drive. i had problems with the pc - virus etc. so i decided
to go for a clean re-install. i thought initially that this (fat32 partition)
was a virus or something. i had no problems booting-up from a different
harddrive after reformatting the drive and a clean re-install.

now, i am trying to use the original drive (with the fat32), and as i could
not delete this partiton i thought it to be a virus etc.

so, is it safe to delete this partition, is a virus or is it a dell boot-up
partition?

thanks for your replys.

sm

Did you delete all partitions when you performed the clean install? I
have seen on clean installs that XP doesn't use 100% of a drive, so
maybe that is what you are seeing.


Terry R.

 

[Daave]

ok - all points noted. this harddrive is from a Dell PC and it is the
original boot up drive. i had problems with the pc - virus etc. so i
decided to go for a clean re-install. i thought initially that this
(fat32 partition) was a virus or something. i had no problems
booting-up from a different harddrive after reformatting the drive
and a clean re-install.

On a different PC? Or did you once place a different hard drive in this
Dell?

Are you using a Dell XP Reinstallation CD or something else?

Other than the 71MB FAT partition, how many partitions are on this
drive?

now, i am trying to use the original drive (with the fat32), and as i
could not delete this partiton i thought it to be a virus etc.

so, is it safe to delete this partition, is a virus or is it a dell
boot-up partition?

Don't delete it. It's either a restore partition or a diagnostics
partition. What is the model and model number of your Dell?

 

[skylux]

is there a simple answer to why the win XP will not re-intall as the BIOS
recognizes the hdd and i have not deleted the fat32 partition, i just
reformatted the NTFS partition. i have all the disks from dell - the winxp,
diagnostic disk etc. the manual says exactly what i did. on bootup, press
f12, insert winxp, choose boot from cd-drive and follow the instructions.
dell offers three restores 1) manual restore 2) PC restore 3) system restore.

why does the winxp not recognize the hdd, as its installed an working.

thanks for replies.

sm

 

[Bob I]

It is the "stub" for setting up Dynamic disk. Don't worry about it.