yeh, it is complicated if
you are not familiar with
the processes. also, you did
not mention if you are using win
xp pro or home version; as
winxp pro has a diskpartitioning
feature that can be used instead
of the windows cd as described below.
however, you can use
your windows xp cd - home ver.
and install an o.s. to the rest of
space on that harddrive.
i have not done an install
in a long time, but if my memory
serves correct the below can
guide you through it. however,
the windows cd will do most of
the complicated work, you will just
have to help it decide what.
when you initiate
the windows setup cd and
select new install the setup
program will begin some processes
and eventually search all the
harddrives for disk space and
provide you with a table with
how all the space is allocated.
pay close attention because
the listing / table will notate
that unused space and ask
if you want to use it.
you will need to carefully review the
table, make the proper line selection
make the decision to select the
unused portion of the harddrive, format
that space and used a certain amount
of disk space.
I would select the maximum amount
of disk space and format the space as ntfs
afterwards just sit back and let
the genius of Microsoft
install the o.s. on your system.
this should conclude the problem you
posted here.
in addition you can go to the section:
How to partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program on
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348
Thank you db I've taken all your suggestions on board. But, there is a lot of reading of which most is jargon to me. So, the lazy soul can be creative. Is there a way I can avoid increasing the size of the partition and simply transfer the the operational system to the larger partition, like cut and paste a few folders, in which case which ones.
thank you
John
"db" <databaseben.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message yeh, that's what i figured.
the main drive is also
the boot up drive and
the tiny partition on it
has your operating
system installed on it.
so basically, windows
is running out of room
inside that small partition
what you need to do is
to increase the size of
that partition.
there are a number
of ways to do this and
things to consider so
i have provided a link
below:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348
in addition, if you have windows
xp pro, there is a partitioning
feature.
however a third party program called
acronis disk director is a nifty
tool that i use for managing
my disks and partitions.
also, you can create or
delete partitions with
the fdisk
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867/
but the main thing at this time is
to either increase the size of
the current partition or delete
it and then recreate a partition
that is much larger, maybe something
to 80 gigs or so.
above all, i would highly
suggest to use the ntfs instead
of the fat32 formatting. but this would be
your choice as well.....
what you need to do right now
is take some time to research
and consider your options.
Thanks db for the prompt reply. You're right I'm confused about disk space and memory but let me clarify my set-up. My main hard drive which came with the computer is 200gb and unpartitioned. I added a small drive from a previous computer which was 13gb of which 3gb was partitioned thus 10 + 3. I assume that means I have 2 physical harddrives, one of which has a partition.
The message I keep getting is that I'm dangerously low on disk space in my main harddrive (200gb) so how do I go about getting back the lost 190gb.
thank you
John
"db" <databaseben.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message it seems that it's no
mystery that you may simply
be suffering from confusion.
1) memory and disk space
are not the same thing
2) hard drives and partitions
are not the same thing
3) there should always be
at least 1 partition on
each physical harddrive.
4) the size of the harddrive
is not always the same as
the size of it's partition
so the remaining question is
what is the size of the partition for
that large harddrive?
the programs you are using
seem to be letting you know that
there is a tiny partition of
formatted disk space on
the large harddrive
therefore the rest of the harddrive is
likely be be unformatted disk space
and has not been allocated to a partition
or as a partition.
"the disk space is not missing
it just hasn't been processed
for use"
I have a 200gb hard drive and two partition drives of 10 and 3gb. I keep
getting the message that I haven't enough memory to operate (no comments,
please) the main drive, so I use disk cleaner which doesn't help and
subsequently delete files I would rather keep. Then I analysized my
computer and it said my 200gb drive only has a 10gb capacity. Another
report from 'tuneup utilities' said I have 10.64GB of total physical memory,
in the 200gb drive, of which 8.61GB is used. So its all a mystery to me
where the remaining 190GB have gone.
thank you
John
