un partitioning?

[Jack Black]

I have installed my old hard drive in my new computer as a secondary
drive. It has the following partitions:

H: Fat 32
I: NTFS
J: NTFS
K: NTFS

The Disk Manmagement screen says tha H: is an active drive but it is
now empty of Data........is use to be my C: Drive in my old computer
and contained WinMe system files.

I have converted I: , J: and K: from Fat 32 to NTFS

Question #1........Should I convert H: to NTFS??
Question #2.........Is it possible to merge all if these Partitions to
make just one partition and if so........hosw do I go about it?


Thanks for your help.

 

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Hello Jack,

NTFS is a more robust and efficient file system and it also supports various security and encryption
methods which are used by Windows XP. Converting to the NTFS file system would definitely be
advantageous.

You can delete all the partitions and create a single partition on the hard disk in question. This
can be done through Disk Management. Click on Start/Run and type diskmgmt.msc and press enter. Under
Disc Management, right click on the partitions and select 'delete'. This will delete the partition
and all the data on them would be destroyed. Thereafter, you can create one single partition using
all the free space available.

More info about disc management here:

How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309000

How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313348

You can also use third party tools like BootitNG to perform partitions taks. You may want to visit
their site for more info about their product:

BotitNG
http://www.bootitng.com/bootitng.html

--

Anando
Microsoft MVP- Windows Shell/User
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
http://www.mvps.org


Folder customizations
http://newdelhi.sancharnet.in/minku

Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have installed my old hard drive in my new computer as a secondary
drive. It has the following partitions:

H: Fat 32
I: NTFS
J: NTFS
K: NTFS

The Disk Manmagement screen says tha H: is an active drive but it is
now empty of Data........is use to be my C: Drive in my old computer
and contained WinMe system files.

I have converted I: , J: and K: from Fat 32 to NTFS

Question #1........Should I convert H: to NTFS??

As far as I'm concerened, yes. NTFS is always preferable to FAT32 except in
the situation where you are dual-booting with a non-NTFS-aware operating
system, such as Windows 98.

To convert to NTFS, you use the CONVERT command. But first read
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue regarding
cluster size that isn't obvious.

Question #2.........Is it possible to merge all if these Partitions to
make just one partition and if so........hosw do I go about it?

Unfortunately, no version of Windows provides any way of changing the
existing partition structure of the drive nondestructively. 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, 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.

 

[Daj]

Just wondering, wouldn't it be easier to just reformat the drive as one partition in NTFS? Just
wondering.
Don

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Just wondering, wouldn't it be easier to just reformat the drive as
one partition in NTFS? Just wondering.

For some people it might be. But I think that for most people it would be
much harder. You have to restore all your data backups, you have to
reinstall all your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and
application updates,you have to locate and install all the needed drivers
for your system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work
the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may have
trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs? Can you
find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data backups to restore?
Do you even remember all the customizations and tweaks you may have
installed to make everything work the way you like?

I wouldn't want to go through all of that unless I had to.

 

[Ron Sommer]

For some people it might be. But I think that for most people it would be
much harder. You have to restore all your data backups, you have to
reinstall all your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and
application updates,you have to locate and install all the needed drivers
for your system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work
the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may
have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs? Can
you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data backups to
restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and tweaks you may
have installed to make everything work the way you like?

I wouldn't want to go through all of that unless I had to.

The OP said, "The Disk Manmagement screen says tha H: is an active drive but
it is
now empty of Data........is use to be my C: Drive in my old computer
and contained WinMe system files."

With all data removed from the drive, it would be easy to delete all
partitions and create one partition.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

The OP said, "The Disk Manmagement screen says tha H: is an active
drive but it is
now empty of Data........is use to be my C: Drive in my old computer
and contained WinMe system files."

Yes, but I think you perhaps misread what he said, which was "I have
installed my old hard drive in my new computer as a secondary
drive. It has the following partitions:

H: Fat 32
I: NTFS
J: NTFS
K: NTFS

The Disk Manmagement screen says tha H: is an active drive but it is
now empty of Data......
Question #2.........Is it possible to merge all if these Partitions to
make just one partition and if so........hosw do I go about it?"

With all data removed from the drive, it would be easy to delete all
partitions and create one partition.

Since he says there's nothing on *H:,* but doesn't meantion what's on I:,
J:, and K:, presumably there are things on those drives he wants. So given
that he wants to merge these four partitions together, and that three of
them have things he wants to keep on them, it's not as simple as just
deleting all partitions and making a single new one.

 

[Jack Black]

I am sorry if I caused some confusion.

All the dives are empty of data.

I used Disk Management to successfully combine I: J: and K; into one
63 gig partition.. H: doesn't seem to want to join them as it still
considers itself an active drive although it has no data. This is no
great hardship.

Thanks again for everybodys help

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am sorry if I caused some confusion.

All the dives are empty of data.

In that case, I misinterpreted what you said, and I agree with Ron Sommer
and whoever originally suggested that you just reformat and reinstall. If
there's nothing you need to save, that's probably the easiest course.

 

[coal_brona]

Hi,

If the files are missing they are possibly accidentally erased. You can
then restore them using Active@ Undelete or Uneraser (for pure DOS).
These are really awesome utilities, they never failed me before and
were able to bring back data long considered lost. That should help
indeed.

http://www.active-undelete.com/

http://www.uneraser.com/