HP Pavilion Recovery Partition Reallocation

[Sid Joyner]

I just got a HP Pavilion a350n with a 160 GB hard disk. I upgraded the OS
from XP Home to XP Pro. In so doing, the machine crashed and I had to do a
clean install and overwrite the existing pre-installed Windows installation.
As such, I can no longer use the pre-installed HP Recovery partition (D,
which is fine; I'm not worried about that.

However, I do want to get rid of that partition and reallocate the space
(~6GB) to the C: drive. Using the Computer Management add-in, I removed the
Recovery partition and it's now listed as "unallocated". Also using the
Computer Management add-in, I tried to extend the system volume to include
this unallocated space. It replied that the system volume was a "basic"
volume and could only be extended to contiguous space after the volume, not
placed before the volume (which the recovery partition was according to the
add-in graphic). So I changed the system volume to a "dynamic" volume,
supposedly allowing for extensions in either direction, spanning disks,
mirroring disks, etc. However, when I tried to extend the system volume to
consume the unallocated space, it replied "The selected volume is a system
or boot disk or was created on a basic disk under another operating system
and cannot be extended." Not only that, but the conversion of the system
volume from basic to dynamic created another unallocated space volume. So my
add-in graphic of my dynamic C: disk shows an unallocated volume of 6 GB, a
healthy system volume shown as a "simple" volume of 147 GB, and another
unallocated volume of 7 MB (not much).

Obviously, I have most of the 160 GB of space allocated to C: so I'm happy.
But I would like to learn and would like to get this unallocated space back.
Can anyone advise me on what - if anything - I could/should do?

Thanks for your help.

Sid

 

[Yves Leclerc]

This may void your warranty!! The HP was delivered with HP Home and that
may be what is required to have the warranty honoured.

Y.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

I don't understand why you thought converting to a dynamic disk
would help solve your problem. Windows XP does not have the
capability to resize, create, or merge partitions natively. This can
only be done with a drive that has no operating system installed.
Not even a third-party partitioning program, such as Partition
Magic, will work with a drive converted to a dynamic disk.

If you are serious about regaining all your drive capacity, the
only thing you can do now is start over from scratch and delete
all your partitions or volumes, create a new partition, format the
new partition and reinstall Windows XP as follows:

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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


| I just got a HP Pavilion a350n with a 160 GB hard disk. I upgraded the OS
| from XP Home to XP Pro. In so doing, the machine crashed and I had to do a
| clean install and overwrite the existing pre-installed Windows installation.
| As such, I can no longer use the pre-installed HP Recovery partition (D,
| which is fine; I'm not worried about that.
|
| However, I do want to get rid of that partition and reallocate the space
| (~6GB) to the C: drive. Using the Computer Management add-in, I removed the
| Recovery partition and it's now listed as "unallocated". Also using the
| Computer Management add-in, I tried to extend the system volume to include
| this unallocated space. It replied that the system volume was a "basic"
| volume and could only be extended to contiguous space after the volume, not
| placed before the volume (which the recovery partition was according to the
| add-in graphic). So I changed the system volume to a "dynamic" volume,
| supposedly allowing for extensions in either direction, spanning disks,
| mirroring disks, etc. However, when I tried to extend the system volume to
| consume the unallocated space, it replied "The selected volume is a system
| or boot disk or was created on a basic disk under another operating system
| and cannot be extended." Not only that, but the conversion of the system
| volume from basic to dynamic created another unallocated space volume. So my
| add-in graphic of my dynamic C: disk shows an unallocated volume of 6 GB, a
| healthy system volume shown as a "simple" volume of 147 GB, and another
| unallocated volume of 7 MB (not much).
|
| Obviously, I have most of the 160 GB of space allocated to C: so I'm happy.
| But I would like to learn and would like to get this unallocated space back.
| Can anyone advise me on what - if anything - I could/should do?
|
| Thanks for your help.
|
| Sid

 

[Sid Joyner]

Thanks, Yves. I knew that once I upgraded to XP Pro that HP would no longer
support the machine. But I don't care. I just wanted the machine for the
price I got it from Amazon.

Thanks.

Sid

 

[Sid Joyner]

Thanks, Carey. Oh well, we live and learn.

I'm learning as I go (I'm not a system admin; just an at-home consumer) so I
wasn't aware of this. In reading the XP Help regarding disk management, it
indicated that dynamic disks give more flexibility and after the conversion
I did at least get an option to extend the volume I didn't have before.
Since the drive came pre-installed with XP Home and the recovery partiton
was placed before the "basic" system volume, I don't know that I could have
ever recovered all this space for the system volume anyway without going
through the procedure you've outlined.

Considering that it's a 160 GB drive and I'm using 147 GB of it - and I've
already installed XP Pro, applied the Service Pack 1, all the additional
updates, and all the HP drivers - I think I'll just forget that unallocated
13 GB rather than start over from scratch.

Thanks for replying and for the advise and help.

Sid

I don't understand why you thought converting to a dynamic disk
would help solve your problem. Windows XP does not have the
capability to resize, create, or merge partitions natively. This can
only be done with a drive that has no operating system installed.
Not even a third-party partitioning program, such as Partition
Magic, will work with a drive converted to a dynamic disk.

If you are serious about regaining all your drive capacity, the
only thing you can do now is start over from scratch and delete
all your partitions or volumes, create a new partition, format the
new partition and reinstall Windows XP as follows:

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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


| I just got a HP Pavilion a350n with a 160 GB hard disk. I upgraded the OS
| from XP Home to XP Pro. In so doing, the machine crashed and I had to do a
| clean install and overwrite the existing pre-installed Windows installation.
| As such, I can no longer use the pre-installed HP Recovery partition (D,
| which is fine; I'm not worried about that.
|
| However, I do want to get rid of that partition and reallocate the space
| (~6GB) to the C: drive. Using the Computer Management add-in, I removed the
| Recovery partition and it's now listed as "unallocated". Also using the
| Computer Management add-in, I tried to extend the system volume to include
| this unallocated space. It replied that the system volume was a "basic"
| volume and could only be extended to contiguous space after the volume, not
| placed before the volume (which the recovery partition was according to the
| add-in graphic). So I changed the system volume to a "dynamic" volume,
| supposedly allowing for extensions in either direction, spanning disks,
| mirroring disks, etc. However, when I tried to extend the system volume to
| consume the unallocated space, it replied "The selected volume is a system
| or boot disk or was created on a basic disk under another operating system
| and cannot be extended." Not only that, but the conversion of the system
| volume from basic to dynamic created another unallocated space volume. So my
| add-in graphic of my dynamic C: disk shows an unallocated volume of 6 GB, a
| healthy system volume shown as a "simple" volume of 147 GB, and another
| unallocated volume of 7 MB (not much).
|
| Obviously, I have most of the 160 GB of space allocated to C: so I'm happy.
| But I would like to learn and would like to get this unallocated space back.
| Can anyone advise me on what - if anything - I could/should do?
|
| Thanks for your help.
|
| Sid

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

From the Western Digital website:

Determining drive capacity can be confusing at times because of the different measurement standards that are often used. When dealing with Windows and Mac based systems, you will commonly see both decimal measurements and binary measurements of a drive's capacity. In either case, a drive's capacity is measured by using the total number of bytes available on the drive. As long as the drive displays the correct number of bytes (approximate), you are getting the drive's full capacity.

Decimal vs. Binary:
For simplicity and consistency, hard drive manufacturers define a megabyte as 1,000,000 bytes and a gigabyte as 1,000,000,000 bytes. This is a decimal (base 10) measurement and is the industry standard. However, certain system BIOSs, FDISK and Windows define a megabyte as 1,048,576 bytes and a gigabyte as 1,073,741,824 bytes. Mac systems also use these values. These are binary (base 2) measurements.

To Determine Decimal Capacity:
A decimal capacity is determined by dividing the total number of bytes, by the number of bytes per gigabyte (1,000,000,000 using base 10).

To Determine Binary Capacity:
A binary capacity is determined by dividing the total number of bytes, by the number of bytes per gigabyte (1,073,741,824 using base 2).
This is why different utilities will report different capacities for the same drive. The number of bytes is the same, but a different number of bytes is used to make a megabyte and a gigabyte. This is similar to the difference between 0 degrees Celsius and 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It is the same temperature, but will be reported differently depending on the scale you are using.



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



Various Drive Sizes and their Binary and Decimal Capacities



Drive Size in GB Approximate Total Bytes Decimal Capacity
(bytes/1,000,000,000)
Approximate Binary Capacity (bytes/1,073,724,841)
10 GB 10,000,000,000 10 GB 9.31 GB
20 GB 20,000,000,000 20 GB 18.63 GB
30 GB 30,000,000,000 30 GB 27.94 GB
40 GB 40,000,000,000 40 GB 37.25 GB
60 GB 60,000,000,000 60 GB 55.88 GB
80 GB 80,000,000,000 80 GB 74.51 GB
100 GB 100,000,000,000 100 GB 93.13 GB
120 GB 120,000,000,000 120 GB 111.76 GB
160 GB 160,000,000,000 160 GB 149.01 GB
180 GB 180,000,000,000 180 GB 167.64 GB
200 GB 200,000,000,000 200 GB 186.26 GB
250 GB 250,000,000,000 250 GB 232.83 GB


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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


| Thanks, Carey. Oh well, we live and learn.
|
| I'm learning as I go (I'm not a system admin; just an at-home consumer) so I
| wasn't aware of this. In reading the XP Help regarding disk management, it
| indicated that dynamic disks give more flexibility and after the conversion
| I did at least get an option to extend the volume I didn't have before.
| Since the drive came pre-installed with XP Home and the recovery partiton
| was placed before the "basic" system volume, I don't know that I could have
| ever recovered all this space for the system volume anyway without going
| through the procedure you've outlined.
|
| Considering that it's a 160 GB drive and I'm using 147 GB of it - and I've
| already installed XP Pro, applied the Service Pack 1, all the additional
| updates, and all the HP drivers - I think I'll just forget that unallocated
| 13 GB rather than start over from scratch.
|
| Thanks for replying and for the advise and help.
|
| Sid

 

[Ben Myers]

Right. Not worth the effort. The Partition Magic product offers some choices
to resize drive partitions, but I'm unsure whether it would be able to solve the
problem you have encountered. Again... Not worth the effort. Or the cost.

.... Ben Myers

Thanks, Carey. Oh well, we live and learn.

I'm learning as I go (I'm not a system admin; just an at-home consumer) so I
wasn't aware of this. In reading the XP Help regarding disk management, it
indicated that dynamic disks give more flexibility and after the conversion
I did at least get an option to extend the volume I didn't have before.
Since the drive came pre-installed with XP Home and the recovery partiton
was placed before the "basic" system volume, I don't know that I could have
ever recovered all this space for the system volume anyway without going
through the procedure you've outlined.

Considering that it's a 160 GB drive and I'm using 147 GB of it - and I've
already installed XP Pro, applied the Service Pack 1, all the additional
updates, and all the HP drivers - I think I'll just forget that unallocated
13 GB rather than start over from scratch.

Thanks for replying and for the advise and help.

Sid

I don't understand why you thought converting to a dynamic disk
would help solve your problem. Windows XP does not have the
capability to resize, create, or merge partitions natively. This can
only be done with a drive that has no operating system installed.
Not even a third-party partitioning program, such as Partition
Magic, will work with a drive converted to a dynamic disk.

If you are serious about regaining all your drive capacity, the
only thing you can do now is start over from scratch and delete
all your partitions or volumes, create a new partition, format the
new partition and reinstall Windows XP as follows:

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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


| I just got a HP Pavilion a350n with a 160 GB hard disk. I upgraded the OS
| from XP Home to XP Pro. In so doing, the machine crashed and I had to do a
| clean install and overwrite the existing pre-installed Windows installation.
| As such, I can no longer use the pre-installed HP Recovery partition (D,
| which is fine; I'm not worried about that.
|
| However, I do want to get rid of that partition and reallocate the space
| (~6GB) to the C: drive. Using the Computer Management add-in, I removed the
| Recovery partition and it's now listed as "unallocated". Also using the
| Computer Management add-in, I tried to extend the system volume to include
| this unallocated space. It replied that the system volume was a "basic"
| volume and could only be extended to contiguous space after the volume, not
| placed before the volume (which the recovery partition was according to the
| add-in graphic). So I changed the system volume to a "dynamic" volume,
| supposedly allowing for extensions in either direction, spanning disks,
| mirroring disks, etc. However, when I tried to extend the system volume to
| consume the unallocated space, it replied "The selected volume is a system
| or boot disk or was created on a basic disk under another operating system
| and cannot be extended." Not only that, but the conversion of the system
| volume from basic to dynamic created another unallocated space volume. So my
| add-in graphic of my dynamic C: disk shows an unallocated volume of 6 GB, a
| healthy system volume shown as a "simple" volume of 147 GB, and another
| unallocated volume of 7 MB (not much).
|
| Obviously, I have most of the 160 GB of space allocated to C: so I'm happy.
| But I would like to learn and would like to get this unallocated space back.
| Can anyone advise me on what - if anything - I could/should do?
|
| Thanks for your help.
|
| Sid