Use of Partition Magic

[Dr. Sinister]

Hi Folks,
Thanks to several of you people responding to an earlier question that I
had asked re: "one drive, two partitions", I have chosen to use Partition
Magic to solve the problem. However, because I honestly don't know what I'm
doing, I'm needing some more help. Partition Magic has identified my
computer's drive configuration as follows: II. Existing Configuration:
A. Partition: Disk 1
1. Local Disk (C
a) Type: FAT 32
b) Size: 8001.1 MB
c) Used: 6499.6 MB
d) Un-used: 1501.5 MB
e) Status: Active
f) Primary/Logical: Primary
2. (*)
a) Type: Extended
b) Size: 11076.1
c) Used: 11076.1
d) Un-used: 0.0
e) Status: None
f) Primary/Logical: Primary
3. Local Disk (D
a) Type: NTSF
b) Size: 11076.0
c) Used: 882.1 MB
d) Un-used: 10193.9 MB
e) Status: None
f) Primary/Logical: Logical

Partition Magic gives me the following choices: I. Options
A. Tasks:
1. Create a new partition
2. Create a backup partition
3. Install another operating system
4. Resize a partition
5. Redistribute free space
6. Merge partitions
7. Copy a partition
B. Partition Operations:
1. Delete Partition
2. Resize/Move partition
3. Convert Partition
4. Split Partition

I've used a lot of space here, so I'll just simply say, I want one drive,
with one partition labelled C. How should I proceed? Thanks very much.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Whatever it is that you do make sure that you have a backup of your
precious files! Looking through the fog in my crystal ball I see a
tragedy in the making...

John

 

[Nepatsfan]

Hi Folks,
Thanks to several of you people responding to an earlier question that I
had asked re: "one drive, two partitions", I have chosen to use Partition
Magic to solve the problem. However, because I honestly don't know what I'm
doing, I'm needing some more help. Partition Magic has identified my
computer's drive configuration as follows: II. Existing Configuration:
A. Partition: Disk 1
1. Local Disk (C
a) Type: FAT 32
b) Size: 8001.1 MB
c) Used: 6499.6 MB
d) Un-used: 1501.5 MB
e) Status: Active
f) Primary/Logical: Primary
2. (*)
a) Type: Extended
b) Size: 11076.1
c) Used: 11076.1
d) Un-used: 0.0
e) Status: None
f) Primary/Logical: Primary
3. Local Disk (D
a) Type: NTSF
b) Size: 11076.0
c) Used: 882.1 MB
d) Un-used: 10193.9 MB
e) Status: None
f) Primary/Logical: Logical

Partition Magic gives me the following choices: I. Options
A. Tasks:
1. Create a new partition
2. Create a backup partition
3. Install another operating system
4. Resize a partition
5. Redistribute free space
6. Merge partitions
7. Copy a partition
B. Partition Operations:
1. Delete Partition
2. Resize/Move partition
3. Convert Partition
4. Split Partition

I've used a lot of space here, so I'll just simply say, I want one drive,
with one partition labelled C. How should I proceed? Thanks very much.

I'll stick with the advice I gave earlier.

1. Backup your important files and test the backup to be sure you can restore
your files should something go wrong.
2. Move the files from your D drive to your C drive so D is now empty.
3. Delete the partition that holds the D drive so you now have 11076 MB of
unallocated space.
4. Use the Resize option to expand your C drive so it occupies the entire hard
drive.

Once that's accomplished, you can take on the task of converting your C drive
from FAT32 to NTFS.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[philo]

Whatever it is that you do make sure that you have a backup of your
precious files! Looking through the fog in my crystal ball I see a
tragedy in the making...

Yes, there is sure roomfor error here. I would back up all data on all
partitions and test the backup to make sure all data are good.


I'd probably go so far as to make two backups of everything not on the C:
drive

then simply delete all partitons *other* than C: and extend
drive C: to make use of
all the space on the drive.

That method is the simplest and is probably going to go without a hitch.

After that, any data that was not originally on the C: drive can be
restored.


The only reason I did not suggest just moving the data to drive C: first was
to allow a bit of extra room on the C: drive
to make sure PM did not run out of space to operate

 

[Xandros]

1) Make a backup of your important data to an external location like a CD-R
2) create a folder on C and copy any data from D to that folder.
3) Boot with the Partition Magic CD you created when you installed Partition
Magic on your system and get tot he Partition Magic screen
4) Right click the D partition and select the option to delete it. When
finished you should still see the C drive and a large totally gray area that
was D
5) Right click C and select the option to resize. Resize C by dragging the
slider all the way to the right.
6) When finished you may have a very tiny 8 GB partition at the far left and
the rest will be C
7) Click the Apply button and let the entire process complete.

Remember any advice given here is given without anyone being able to
actually see your system so we are all partially blind. You need to use
common sense and you should get through this. Creating a backup is
essentially before you start.

 

[Barry Schwarz]

snip



I'll stick with the advice I gave earlier.

1. Backup your important files and test the backup to be sure you can restore
your files should something go wrong.
2. Move the files from your D drive to your C drive so D is now empty.
3. Delete the partition that holds the D drive so you now have 11076 MB of
unallocated space.
4. Use the Resize option to expand your C drive so it occupies the entire hard
drive.

Once that's accomplished, you can take on the task of converting your C drive
from FAT32 to NTFS.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

There is one other source of potential problems. If any registry
entries point to the D drive or if any of the programs you use expect
to find files on the D drive, then simply moving the files to the C
drive will render them unfindable. Partition magic has a utility
which claims to update the registry but I have no idea how good it is.
If the pointer to the file is internal to the program, hopefully the
program will have a way to move it.


Remove del for email

 

[Don Phillipson]

Hi Folks,
Thanks to several of you people responding to an earlier question that I
had asked re: "one drive, two partitions", I have chosen to use Partition
Magic to solve the problem. However, because I honestly don't know what I'm
doing, I'm needing some more help. Partition Magic has identified my
computer's drive configuration as follows: II. Existing Configuration:
A. Partition: Disk 1
1. Local Disk (C
a) Type: FAT 32 . . .

I'd probably go so far as to make two backups of everything not on the C:
drive then simply delete all partitons *other* than C: and extend
drive C: to make use of
all the space.

This would leave drive C: formatted FAT32 instead of
NTFS, when WinXP was configured to prefer NTFS
(cf. organization of System Restore etc.)

 

[philo]

This would leave drive C: formatted FAT32 instead of
NTFS, when WinXP was configured to prefer NTFS
(cf. organization of System Restore etc.)

If the repartitioning works out it can be converted to NTFS later

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Thanks John John. I'll definately be making a backup.

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Thanks very much Philo.
--
Dr. Sinister

Yes, there is sure roomfor error here. I would back up all data on all
partitions and test the backup to make sure all data are good.


I'd probably go so far as to make two backups of everything not on the C:
drive

then simply delete all partitons *other* than C: and extend
drive C: to make use of
all the space on the drive.

That method is the simplest and is probably going to go without a hitch.

After that, any data that was not originally on the C: drive can be
restored.


The only reason I did not suggest just moving the data to drive C: first was
to allow a bit of extra room on the C: drive
to make sure PM did not run out of space to operate

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Thanks Nepatsfan; I'll let all of the folks helping me on this, know how it
works out.

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Hi Barry. I don't think that I'll have the problem with the D section. I've
only used it to store data files and relatively un-important programs that I
can move back to C or to an outside storage area. Thank you for telling me
about it though.

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Although you all may be partially blind to my system, all the advice given to
me is very welcome and appreciated as this is a problem that I've been
dealing with for the past couple of years. Now, pass or fail, I've gotten
some great advice to take a stab at eliminating a problem. If it creates
another problem, I'll be back for more advice. Thanks.

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Hi Don. Thanks for the advice. I'll be changing the format to NTFS.