Partition Magic on a Compaq Presario

[Jack Gillis]

I've used Partition Magic for years on all sorts of systems. I know it
works just fine on 2 of my XP systems. However, I just got a Compaq
Presario Notebook with XP Pro and installed PM 8 on it hoping to
resize the 40g C: and then, in another pass through PM, create two new
logical drives in the unallocated space after resizing C: ( I usually
do just one operation at a time.)

I went through a very familiar procedure to do this just as I have done
many times in the past but C: just wouldn't resize. PM went through its
reboot routine and the messages from PM looked normal. However, when
the system got back to XP, C still took up the entire 40g HD.

What did I miss or is it possible the proprietary nature of the Compag
OEM XP will not permit repartitioning of the HD?

Will really appreciate any help here.

Thank you.

 

[John Doue]

I've used Partition Magic for years on all sorts of systems. I know it
works just fine on 2 of my XP systems. However, I just got a Compaq
Presario Notebook with XP Pro and installed PM 8 on it hoping to
resize the 40g C: and then, in another pass through PM, create two new
logical drives in the unallocated space after resizing C: ( I usually
do just one operation at a time.)

I went through a very familiar procedure to do this just as I have done
many times in the past but C: just wouldn't resize. PM went through its
reboot routine and the messages from PM looked normal. However, when
the system got back to XP, C still took up the entire 40g HD.

What did I miss or is it possible the proprietary nature of the Compag
OEM XP will not permit repartitioning of the HD?

Will really appreciate any help here.

Thank you.

Beats me. The only thing I can think of, is it version 8 you have been
using with success on other systems? I have used version 7 without any
problem for years but I have read reports about problems with version 8.
Might be worth trying version 7 if you can put your hands on one.
Besides that, I really would like to know if there is an other explanation.
You did not mention it: is it a Fat 32 or NTFS partition? I suspect it
is NTFS because I am not sure XP can handle this size of partition in
Fat 32 (sorry, I forgot the details of this limitation and I might be
wrong). But it is a NTFS partition, some other experts may have an
explanation, personally, I stay away for NTFS.

Regards

 

[Jack Gillis]

Yes, it is version 8 of PM and the file system is NTFS. Both of which
work flawlessly on my two other machines. I do have a copy of version
7.something or the other.

I sure hope someone can come up with an answer because I want to keep
all of my data on a partiton other than the system partition. This has
been my practice since dirt was invented.

 

[John Doue]

Yes, it is version 8 of PM and the file system is NTFS. Both of which
work flawlessly on my two other machines. I do have a copy of version
7.something or the other.

I sure hope someone can come up with an answer because I want to keep
all of my data on a partiton other than the system partition. This has
been my practice since dirt was invented.

Well...Try copying this partition (assuming you have space elsewhere)and
resizing it to your liking at its new location. If this works, delete
the first partition and move the new one where it belongs. This
procedure is not totally without risks because I am not 100% sure it
will boot at first try (check boot.ini first in case of problems). Would
be much better if someone had some explanation for this but...

A different approach, may be to be tried first: create the PM boot disks
and attempt the same resizing for there: you would bypass this way any
restriction from the OEM XP.

Let me know, I am curious...

Regards

 

[Jim Macklin]

Compaq probably has a hidden FAT32 partition adjacent to the
C: partition and you need to move it so you can resize the
NTFS C:.

Used PM to map all the drive and see what and where you can
move and resize.


| Yes, it is version 8 of PM and the file system is NTFS.
Both of which
| work flawlessly on my two other machines. I do have a
copy of version
| 7.something or the other.
|
| I sure hope someone can come up with an answer because I
want to keep
| all of my data on a partiton other than the system
partition. This has
| been my practice since dirt was invented.
|
| John Doue wrote:
| > Jack Gillis wrote:
| >> I've used Partition Magic for years on all sorts of
systems. I know
| >> it works just fine on 2 of my XP systems. However, I
just got a
| >> Compaq Presario Notebook with XP Pro and installed PM
8 on it
| >> hoping to resize the 40g C: and then, in another pass
through PM,
| >> create two new logical drives in the unallocated space
after
| >> resizing C: ( I usually do just one operation at a
time.)
| >>
| >> I went through a very familiar procedure to do this
just as I have
| >> done many times in the past but C: just wouldn't
resize. PM went
| >> through its reboot routine and the messages from PM
looked normal.
| >> However, when the system got back to XP, C still took
up the entire
| >> 40g HD.
| >>
| >> What did I miss or is it possible the proprietary
nature of the
| >> Compag OEM XP will not permit repartitioning of the HD?
| >>
| >> Will really appreciate any help here.
| >>
| >> Thank you.
| >>
| >>
| > Beats me. The only thing I can think of, is it version 8
you have been
| > using with success on other systems? I have used version
7 without any
| > problem for years but I have read reports about problems
with version
| > 8. Might be worth trying version 7 if you can put your
hands on one.
| > Besides that, I really would like to know if there is an
other
| > explanation. You did not mention it: is it a Fat 32 or
NTFS
| > partition? I suspect it
| > is NTFS because I am not sure XP can handle this size of
partition in
| > Fat 32 (sorry, I forgot the details of this limitation
and I might be
| > wrong). But it is a NTFS partition, some other experts
may have an
| > explanation, personally, I stay away for NTFS.
| >
| > Regards
|
|

 

[Jack Gillis]

Compaq probably has a hidden FAT32 partition adjacent to the
C: partition and you need to move it so you can resize the
NTFS C:.

Used PM to map all the drive and see what and where you can
move and resize.

Will do. And thanks for the tip.

 

[Jack Gillis]

Well...Try copying this partition (assuming you have space
elsewhere)and resizing it to your liking at its new location. If this
works, delete the first partition and move the new one where it
belongs. This procedure is not totally without risks because I am not
100% sure it will boot at first try (check boot.ini first in case of
problems). Would be much better if someone had some explanation for
this but...

A different approach, may be to be tried first: create the PM boot
disks and attempt the same resizing for there: you would bypass this
way any restriction from the OEM XP.

Let me know, I am curious...

Regards

I thought of that but the Compaq doesn't have a floppy drive. Am in the
process now of building a bootable CD with the files off the floppy. I
think I can do that 'cuz I was able to do so with Ghost.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Let us know if that is the problem and you get it fixed.
The FAT32 partition contains data on the system for system
restore, program re-installation. Be careful about deleting
it. You might want to contact Compaq/HP help and or PM help
because these hidden partitions are common on new computers.


| Jim Macklin wrote:
| > Compaq probably has a hidden FAT32 partition adjacent to
the
| > C: partition and you need to move it so you can resize
the
| > NTFS C:.
| >
| > Used PM to map all the drive and see what and where you
can
| > move and resize.
|
| Will do. And thanks for the tip.
| >
| >
message
| > | >> Yes, it is version 8 of PM and the file system is NTFS.
Both of which
| >> work flawlessly on my two other machines. I do have a
copy of
| >> version
| >> 7.something or the other.
| >>
| >> I sure hope someone can come up with an answer because
I want to keep
| >> all of my data on a partiton other than the system
partition. This
| >> has been my practice since dirt was invented.
| >>
| >> John Doue wrote:
| >>> Jack Gillis wrote:
| >>>> I've used Partition Magic for years on all sorts of
systems. I
| >>>> know it works just fine on 2 of my XP systems.
However, I just
| >>>> got a Compaq Presario Notebook with XP Pro and
installed PM 8 on
| >>>> it hoping to resize the 40g C: and then, in another
pass through
| >>>> PM, create two new logical drives in the unallocated
space after
| >>>> resizing C: ( I usually do just one operation at a
time.)
| >>>>
| >>>> I went through a very familiar procedure to do this
just as I have
| >>>> done many times in the past but C: just wouldn't
resize. PM went
| >>>> through its reboot routine and the messages from PM
looked normal.
| >>>> However, when the system got back to XP, C still
took up the
| >>>> entire 40g HD.
| >>>>
| >>>> What did I miss or is it possible the proprietary
nature of the
| >>>> Compag OEM XP will not permit repartitioning of the
HD?
| >>>>
| >>>> Will really appreciate any help here.
| >>>>
| >>>> Thank you.
| >>>>
| >>>>
| >>> Beats me. The only thing I can think of, is it version
8 you have
| >>> been using with success on other systems? I have used
version 7
| >>> without any problem for years but I have read reports
about
| >>> problems with version
| >>> 8. Might be worth trying version 7 if you can put your
hands on one.
| >>> Besides that, I really would like to know if there is
an other
| >>> explanation. You did not mention it: is it a Fat 32 or
NTFS
| >>> partition? I suspect it
| >>> is NTFS because I am not sure XP can handle this size
of partition
| >>> in Fat 32 (sorry, I forgot the details of this
limitation and I
| >>> might be wrong). But it is a NTFS partition, some
other experts may
| >>> have an explanation, personally, I stay away for NTFS.
| >>>
| >>> Regards
|
|

 

[Jack Gillis]

A different approach, may be to be tried first: create the PM boot
disks and attempt the same resizing for there: you would bypass this
way any restriction from the OEM XP.

Let me know, I am curious...

Regards

Well, I finally got a Bootable CD for Partition Magic created. When I
booted from it and ran PM, everything worked out fine. Thanks for your
suggestion. Getting a working bootable PM CD was a real learning
experience for me.

Now I can go on to find out why Control/Panel/System shows 194M of RAM
(BIOS Setup shows the same thing.) and the modem crashes the system and
automatically reboots. The two maybe related but I'm not sure. Anyway
I guess I will have to change XP to make it not reboot on errors --
should have done that straight away.

 

[John Doue]

Well, I finally got a Bootable CD for Partition Magic created. When I
booted from it and ran PM, everything worked out fine. Thanks for your
suggestion. Getting a working bootable PM CD was a real learning
experience for me.

Now I can go on to find out why Control/Panel/System shows 194M of RAM
(BIOS Setup shows the same thing.) and the modem crashes the system and
automatically reboots. The two maybe related but I'm not sure. Anyway
I guess I will have to change XP to make it not reboot on errors --
should have done that straight away.

Glad this worked for you. I have often overlooked this option in case of
problem but I now always carry two PM diskettes. Personally, I distrust
booting from a CD and will stick to laptops and desktops have diskette
drives since it makes troubleshooting so much easier.

Regarding my memory, I forget where your laptop comes from but the
obvious explanation might be just the obvious: have you check the memory
chip on your machine ? I guess XP does not work too well with only 194M
if this is the case.

Regards and glad I could contribute to help you out.

 

[Fred]

Compaq Laptops (PC's too) usually use shared memory. So a machine with say,
256 Mb of "memory" often becomes a machine with say 32 MB for the video card
and less that amount for system memory. The amount to be shared is located in
the bios setup. You may want to check to see what has been set for your
machine.

Fred

 

[Jack Gillis]

Compaq Laptops (PC's too) usually use shared memory. So a machine
with say, 256 Mb of "memory" often becomes a machine with say 32 MB
for the video card and less that amount for system memory. The amount
to be shared is located in the bios setup. You may want to check to
see what has been set for your machine.

Fred

Thank you Fred. That seems reasonable. The time I was in the BIOS I
was amazed to find that it had very little that could be adjust compared
to the BIOS's in all the other machines I've experience with. I don't
recall if the shared memory was one of those or not. Will look and see.

Thanks again.

 

[P M]

Hi,

I thought of that but the Compaq doesn't have a floppy drive. Am in
the process now of building a bootable CD with the files off the
floppy. I think I can do that 'cuz I was able to do so with Ghost.

afaik PMagic need some writeable media to store a temporary file
for the steps to do. So if you run it from CD make sure you
configure a RAMDisk.

This should only be necessary if you use the DOS-Version.

Greets

Peter

 

[Daniel Ganek]

I thought of that but the Compaq doesn't have a floppy drive. Am in the
process now of building a bootable CD with the files off the floppy. I
think I can do that 'cuz I was able to do so with Ghost.

The PM 8.0 CD is aleady bootable!

/dan

 

[Kurosawa]

I too have a Compaq Presario Laptop with XP and a 40Gb Drive,
In fact the VERY first thing I did when I bought it was to install
PM 8 on it and split the hard drive.
I was actually in the car on the way home as I did (I swear someone
else was drivin').
But everything worked without a hitch.
Didn't have to make a bootable disk or anything.

The memory issue you were talking about IS a shared memory thing.
My laptop came with 512MB system memory and a 64MB graphics card.
but the Graphics card memory is system memory shared, and it can
be adjusted through the BIOS no probs.

I also bought a Presario Desktop (I know silly me, I've since built a
new system),
I only mention that here because the Desktop did have a hidden restore
partition, but the Laptop did not (both Desktop and Laptop were new
models only launched a couple of months when I got 'em).

But I haven't had a single prob with the laptop at all and am well glad
I bought it.