Segmented hard drive

[Guest]

I have a spare computer which I need for just one thing but it has what I am
told is a segmented hard drive, ie it has a 10GB drive but the system says
the C drive is only 2GB. I am not interested in any fancy setti9ngs whereby
the remaining 8GB become Wdrive or whatever, I jest need to know how to
simply get the computer to understand the C drive is 10GB and let me use it.
Please keep it simple. I asked this question four days ago and cannot even
find the question, and had to log on again with new password because the
system would not accept the one I used four days ago. That's how I get on
with computers, or them with me. I have written down where this question is
so I might find any replies in a couple of days.
Thank you for you help and patience.
Walter

 

[Infosink]

Walter:

Well, it may be a 10GB drive with a 2GB C: partition .. to solve it you will
need to **(re)partition the drive** and format it FAT32 or NTFS. Do not use
an old Windows 95 floppy disk .. use at least a Windows 98 floppy disk or
else you will have the same dilemma as the old DOS of Windows 95 floppy disk
supports only up to 2047MB per partition and FAT16 as a format.

If the computer can boot from a CD-ROM disc, boot from the Windows XP
installation disc and do the repartitioning and reformatting during the
installation routine.

You might search engine and read up on:

diskpart
format
NTFS
FAT32
install Windows XP
Windows 98 boot floppy

 

[Tim Slattery]

I have a spare computer which I need for just one thing but it has what I am
told is a segmented hard drive, ie it has a 10GB drive but the system says
the C drive is only 2GB.

You have a 2GB partition on the drive, apparently the rest of the
space is unused.

I am not interested in any fancy setti9ngs whereby
the remaining 8GB become Wdrive or whatever, I jest need to know how to
simply get the computer to understand the C drive is 10GB and let me use it.

Cannot be done with anything that comes with WinXP. You'll need third
party software like Partition Magic or Bootit NG.

The other option is to find Disk Management in XP (Start|All
Programs|Accessories|System Tools). Once in there you can make a new
partition from the unused 8GB on your drive. This will show up in
Windows Explorer as a separate drive, even though it's actually part
of the same physical drive.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a spare computer which I need for just one thing but it has
what I am told is a segmented hard drive, ie it has a 10GB drive but
the system says the C drive is only 2GB.

From what you say, you apparently have a 10GB containing a 2GB partition and
8GB of unpartitioned space.

However, I should point out that it's very unusual to have a drive
configured like that, and if I were you, I would make sure that there isn't
already a second drive letter assigned to that 8GB.

I am not interested in any
fancy setti9ngs whereby the remaining 8GB become Wdrive or whatever,

You call it "fancy settings" but using the remaining 8GB as a sseparate hard
drive with some other drive letter, is far and away the *easiest* way to
make use of this space.

I jest need to know how to simply get the computer to understand the
C drive is 10GB and let me use it. Please keep it simple.

The answis unfortunately not as simple as you would probably like it to be.
Unfortunately, no version of Windows provides any way of changing the
existing partition structure of the drive nondestructively. Short of
starting over, reformatting and reinstalling everything, the only way to do
what you want is with third-party software. Partition Magic is the
best-known such program, but there are freeware/shareware alternatives. One
such program is BootIt Next Generation. It's shareware, but comes with a
free 30-day trial, so you should be able to do what you want within that 30
days. I haven't used it myself (because I've never needed to use *any* such
program), but it comes highly recommended by several other MVPs here.

Whatever software you use, make sure you have a good backup before
beginning. Although there's no reason to expect a problem, things *can* go
wrong.

I asked
this question four days ago and cannot even find the question, and
had to log on again with new password because the system would not
accept the one I used four days ago. That's how I get on with
computers, or them with me.

No, problems finding your message ae actually common when you use the
newsgroups the way you do, on the web. The reason you're having such
problems is that you are using the web interface to read this
newsgroup--it's the slowest, clunkiest, most error-prone method there is. Do
yourself a favor and switch to a newsreader, such as Outlook Express, which
comes with Windows. See
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm