Using Disk Management in XP for Partition Management

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Guest

Greetings,
I am looking at upgrading from 98se to XP. When I upgrade, I will be
converting my HD (C drive) to NTFS.
My computer has 1 physcial drive, but 2 partitions. C drive (where the OS
will go) with 8 GB. D drive with 4 GB.
Will the Disk Management in XP allow me to delete D drive and then when it
is deleted, recognize a single drive C with now 12 GB? I realize everything
on D drive will be gone, that's OK.
If Disk Management in XP won't "create" a single C drive with 12 GB, I
presume that I will have to purchase something like Partion Magic to
"painlessly" (read w/o formating) achieve the desired single 12 GB C drive?
Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Rich
DM will allow you to remove the D: partition, but you will need
something like PM to resize C: to the utilise the whole HDD as one
partition.

rgds
Li'l Roberto
 
With a hard drive that small, are you sure the rest of your hardware will
work with XP?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307726

Rather than buy Partition Magic, you can purchase a new hard drive. You can
buy a lot of hard drive for the cost of Partition Magic.

With partitions that small, there is little advantage to changing to NTFS
and you would have the big disadvantage of not being able to scan the NTFS
partition for viruses from DOS.
 
Roberto and Ron,
Thanx for responding. You told me what I needed to hear, but didn't want to
hear. It seems silly to be able to delete a partition with DM and not be
able to use that space without either using Fdisk or purchasing something
like PM. Oh well. I looked at other programs like Partion Resizer, but I
didn't like the idea of it possibly taking "days."
Based on MS's compatibility/upgradability, etc... everything should work OK.
Your idea about purchasing another HD vice PM is a good one to consider.
That is interesing point about the NTFS vs FAT 32. It'll likely be a reason
I stick with FAT 32.
Thanx again for you help
 
Unless i'm missing the point whats wrong with deleting BOTH partitions and
then creating ONE new one?
 
Rich said:
I am looking at upgrading from 98se to XP. When I upgrade, I will be
converting my HD (C drive) to NTFS.
Click to expand...

Comment - make sure that your CPU is up to it and that you have *more*
than the officially recommended 128 MB RAM.
My computer has 1 physcial drive, but 2 partitions. C drive (where the OS
will go) with 8 GB. D drive with 4 GB.
Will the Disk Management in XP allow me to delete D drive and then when it
is deleted, recognize a single drive C with now 12 GB? I realize everything
on D drive will be gone, that's OK.
Click to expand...

What you can do in principle is delete the D: drive (use 98 FDISK for
that before you start) and then use the XP Recovery console command
diskpart to expand into the space. But I have never had occasion to try
If Disk Management in XP won't "create" a single C drive with 12 GB, I
presume that I will have to purchase something like Partion Magic to
"painlessly" (read w/o formating) achieve the desired single 12 GB C drive?
Click to expand...

Unless you are prepared to clean the disk entirely and make a new
partition for the XP as part of setting it up - which loses the benefits
of doing an upgrade - that is the way to go.

What I would do is run the XP upgrade from the 98 installation. Then
use BootIT NG, from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware - 30 day
full functional trial)

Download, to its own folder, extract from the zip, run the bootitng to
make a boot floppy.

Boot the floppy, Cancel Install, entering maintenance, then click on
Partition work. Highlight your unwanted D: (smaller, second entry) ,
click Delete. If it was a logical drive enclosed in an Extended
partition delete that too (this is likely in a 98 setup). Then
highlight the C and Resize. Once done, click Slide and use the 'Align
for NTFS' so that you can then safely proceed to the conversion to NTFS
from XP. See more on that point at www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm
 
Not being totally familiar with the program or operation, but I don't think
you can delete the partition where the OS resides. If I'm wrong, please
correct.
Rich
 
Hardware is OK...a little slim on RAM but that'll be coming.
Not to thrilled about the BootitNG idea...not that adventurous, but thanx
for the idea.
Rich
 
Rich said:
Greetings,
I am looking at upgrading from 98se to XP. When I upgrade, I will be
converting my HD (C drive) to NTFS.
My computer has 1 physcial drive, but 2 partitions. C drive (where the OS
will go) with 8 GB. D drive with 4 GB.
Will the Disk Management in XP allow me to delete D drive and then when it
is deleted, recognize a single drive C with now 12 GB? I realize everything
on D drive will be gone, that's OK.
If Disk Management in XP won't "create" a single C drive with 12 GB, I
presume that I will have to purchase something like Partion Magic to
"painlessly" (read w/o formating) achieve the desired single 12 GB C drive?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Click to expand...
 
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