primary vs extended partition

[antonio]

I hope someone can help. I know the basic difference between the
primary and extenden partition but is there a diference when you want
to reformat (and make the new one) primary partition without removing
other one (extended or second primary).
Is it possible in both case. I didn't find article about that at
microsoft site. I have winxp.
Thanks

 

[Rock]

I hope someone can help. I know the basic difference between the
primary and extenden partition but is there a diference when you want
to reformat (and make the new one) primary partition without removing
other one (extended or second primary).
Is it possible in both case. I didn't find article about that at
microsoft site. I have winxp.

With the right tools yes you can delete a primary partition and create a new
one without impacting an extended partition. Can you be more specific in
your question as to the situation and what you want to accomplish?

 

[Noncompliant]

You don't know the difference per your inquiry. You can't format an
extended partition.

 

[antonio]

Thank you. I cannot decide should i have two primary or one primary
and one extended partition.
I want to be able to delete primary partition with os without removing
other partiton. Is there any difference if other partition is primary
or extended (with one logical drive) in this case.
Is it easier to do if other partition is primary.
Microsoft usually have articles about everything but i didn't find one
that would explain how to do this. There is one article but it applies
to windows 2000 only:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249085

 

[Rock]

Thank you. I cannot decide should i have two primary or one primary
and one extended partition.
I want to be able to delete primary partition with os without removing
other partiton. Is there any difference if other partition is primary
or extended (with one logical drive) in this case.
Is it easier to do if other partition is primary.
Microsoft usually have articles about everything but i didn't find one
that would explain how to do this. There is one article but it applies
to windows 2000 only:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249085

Give some specifics. What is the current configuration, what's installed
where, and what would you like to end up with?

 

[antonio]

Rock, it will be home pc with one hdd (maybe two) and two partitions.
One partition for winxp and other partition for data. Nothing
specific, i would like to get general answer.
Thank you

 

[Rock]

Rock, it will be home pc with one hdd (maybe two) and two partitions.
One partition for winxp and other partition for data. Nothing
specific, i would like to get general answer.
Thank you

If you want a general answer and/or a treatise on disk and partitioning then
do some Google searching about that topic.

In this case though you gave more specifics so you'll get more focused info.
The real issue is if you intended to install multiple OS's which doesn't
seem to be the case.

In your case, install XP on a primary active partition. The other
partition(s) can be either primary or one extended partition, with the
extended set up as one or more volumes. The limitation with primary
partitions is that there can only be four primary partitions on a drive,
including one which is an extended partition. In an extended partition, you
can have many volumes up to the number of letters in the alphabet for the
total number of drive letters available for use on the system. Subtract any
drive letters assigned to optical drives, usb drives, card readers, etc and
the C: drive where XP is installed to get the maximum number of volumes you
can have in the extended partition(s). There does not need to be a primary
partition on a drive to have an extended partition, so if you added a second
drive you could set it up as one extended partition and create volumes on
it.

The only real difference for data storage between primary partitions and
volumes in an extended partition us the limit on primary partitions.

 

[antonio]

Many thanks Rock.

 

[Rock]

Many thanks Rock.

You're welcome. Post back if you have any other questions.