Hard Disk NTFS

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter
  • Start date Start date
P

Peter

Not sure if this is the right forum but I am trying to run
FDISK on my hard drive but it is saying that it can not
access the drive. Presumably this is locked by the
application I used to try an and add another partition.

Any ideas- XP will no longer load?

From..............a clumsey oaf
 
OK ..FDISK is a non Windows XP utility. Are you trying to run this in a
command [cmd] window under XP. Not the way to go.

Only method of managing a NTFS disk, after it has been created and Windows
XP is installed, is to get a 3rd party disk manager. Most folks will
recommend Partition Magic.


Now you also mentioned that XP will no longer load.

You'll need to fix the MBR. Look into how to manager this process...do a
bit more research before you leap off a cliff and break the other leg on your
computer.
 
FDISK must be run form a true-DOS floppy boot disk, never in a "DOS windows"
or "command prompt window".

FDISK will NOT recognize an NTFS partition. It will call it non-DOS, or
unrecognizable, or similar.

However, FDISK can delete all partitions on a hard dirve, even if it can not
recognize some/all of them. If you do this, all data will be lost, but this
is OK is you plan a clean install. Note that the installation of XP on a
blank hard drive will automaially offer to create at least one partition,
the one for XP itself.

Be sure to use the latest version of FDISK. Check with www.bootdisk.com for
a copy an an associated boot disk image.

Alternatively, boot into the XP recovery console from the XP CDROM. It can
also delete partitions. Further, it can then recreate one or more NTFS
partitions (or FAT32, if you prefer).

Links to XP recovery console:

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm

http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy33.htm (near bottom)

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_rec.htm

One other point, XP can not re-partition after it is installed. So, choose
your partitions wisely, before you install. Or, plan on getting a
third-party program like Partition Magic, which can re-partition fter XP is
installed, without data loss.
 
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