Partitioning - Fools rush in . . . .

[John]

I'll spare you most of the details as to why all this happened.
There are two questions I would like answers to:

1. Some time ago, I used BootIt NG to partition my 20-gig hard drive, and
installed a dual-boot system (W 98 and Win XP).
I have discarded the W 98 system, and decided to go with a total fresh install
of Win XP.
I tried to revert the HD to one partition only. HOWEVER, every time I do
something with it, I seem to end up with yet another partition.
Right now, I have drives J and K, 870 MB each; drive I (93.3 MB) and drive H
(5.84 GB). The rest, when I look at the disk with BING, is "spare".
I currently have that disk installed in an external drive box, connected to a
USB port. There are no programs or files on that disk.
BING will not see it (it only sees the master and slave HD's in the computer)
QUESTION: How can I revert that disk back to one partiton only - either
connected externally as it is, or by putting it in the computer as the slave HD
(Drive D).

2. Is it possible, and how, to transfer the operatng system, is cluding all
possible hidden files, to another (blank) drive? Currently my OS (Win XP) is on
a 2 gig HD - and it is almost full.
All my programs are on a separate disk (Drive D).

Thanks for any help and direction!

John <><

A wise monkey is a monkey who doesn't monkey
with an other monkey's monkey.

 

[ras]

When changing this HDD to a Slave you'll still have the same partitions.
You mention you want to do a clean install. All you have to do is insert
your Win XP CD and reboot (assuming your BIOS is set to boot from CD first).
By doing a clean install you will format the complete HDD which will leave
you with just one partition.

 

[John]

When changing this HDD to a Slave you'll still have the same partitions.
You mention you want to do a clean install. All you have to do is insert
your Win XP CD and reboot (assuming your BIOS is set to boot from CD first).
By doing a clean install you will format the complete HDD which will leave
you with just one partition.

OK - I have the drive back to one partiton - formatted.
For some unknown reason, the drive letter is "K" .

I have done everything I can think off - when I put it in the position of
Drive 0 (primary master) , and try to install Windows from the CD, it will load
all the files, but then it will not reboot to complete the installation.
When I put it in the position of Drive 1 (primary slave) the computer sees it as
"Drive K".
When I put the two good hard drives in the computer sees them "C" and "D" - as
it should.
The other disk, in an external disk drive box connected via a USB port is still
called "K".

Where, within the hard drive itself is the letter designation, and how can I
change it?

I think this is a chalenge - buthopefully someone much more knowledgeable than
myself will give me the answer.

I have desribed this s best I can - if something is not clear, please ask!

John <><

A wise monkey is a monkey who doesn't monkey
with an other monkey's monkey.

 

[ras]

If you put in your XP CD and rebooted did you see "Press any key to boot
from CD"? If you did not see this it might explain why you ended up with
'K' as your main drive. If you did not see this then you need to go into
your BIOS and change the Boot Options so it looks to CD Rom first. There's
a lot of good reading here -
http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm . Looks to
me like your going to have to start over. It will be worth it. Make sure
you select the right partition to install XP and select NTFS over Fat32 when
asked what File System to use. During setup and at the first reboot your
computer will again say "Press any key to boot from CD". Only the first
time you want to boot from CD. After setup has started DO NOT press any
key, just let it go.

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

OK - I have the drive back to one partiton - formatted.
For some unknown reason, the drive letter is "K" .

I have done everything I can think off - when I put it in the
position of
Drive 0 (primary master) , and try to install Windows from the CD, it
will load all the files, but then it will not reboot to complete the
installation.
When I put it in the position of Drive 1 (primary slave) the computer
sees it as "Drive K".
When I put the two good hard drives in the computer sees them "C" and
"D" - as it should.
The other disk, in an external disk drive box connected via a USB
port is still called "K".

Where, within the hard drive itself is the letter designation, and
how can I change it?

I think this is a chalenge - buthopefully someone much more
knowledgeable than myself will give me the answer.

I have desribed this s best I can - if something is not clear, please
ask!

John <><

A wise monkey is a monkey who doesn't monkey
with an other monkey's monkey.

Move the CD drive to the secondary master position.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[John]

I'll spare you most of the details as to why all this happened.
There are two questions I would like answers to:

The rest deleted to save bandwidth.

Thanks to all who answered.
In hindsight, my problem was a virus in the boot section of the HD.


John <><