Windows XP Partitions

[Werner Ganz]

In trying to use Acronis backup software I discovered that my C drive seems
to have 3 partitions. The main one is NTFS. The second one is FS Fat 16
Partition OxDE. The 3rd one is FS Fat 32 Partition OxDB.

What resides in the 2nd and 3rd one.? Do I have a full backup if I just back
up the NFTS partition or do I have to backup all 3 partitions

 

[Ron Sommer]

Your hard drive has 3 partitions.
C is one of the partitions.
Could it be that your CD/DVD drives are being shown?
What does it show in My Computer or Disk Management?

 

[John Barnett MVP]

If you haven't created the partitions yourself then they were probably
created by your PC manufacturer. If this is the case one partition may
contain a backup copy of the operating system in case you need to do a
system recovery. Obviously Acronis will list them, but do they appear in
Windows explorer? If not they may be hidden partitions, in which case they
'do' contain important files.

I'd check your PC user manual to see what you have to do to re-install the
operating system should anything go wrong and you need to restore to factory
conditions. The manual should give instructions on what procedure to use.
You may even have to create a recovery CD yourself.

As to your immediate problem you only need to backup the C: drive. You can,
if you wish, backup the other two but without knowing what is on them it is
difficult to be specific. Perhaps the best way is to Image the C: drive.
This allows you, should any problems occur, to re-image the backuped up C:
drive back to its original position.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail. The Author shall not be liable for any
direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use
of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this mail..

 

[Phil Anthropist]

In trying to use Acronis backup software I discovered that my C drive
seems to have 3 partitions. The main one is NTFS. The second one is FS Fat
16 Partition OxDE. The 3rd one is FS Fat 32 Partition OxDB.

What resides in the 2nd and 3rd one.? Do I have a full backup if I just
back up the NFTS partition or do I have to backup all 3 partitions

If the second and third are partitions on the c drive they will be labelled
as d and e drives, therefore your optical drive(s) such as CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD
or DVD writer will be labelled f onwards. If you or anyone else has not
saved any files on the d and e partitions they will be empty. What happens
when you try to copy a file to the d and e partitions? How much used space
does properties show for the d and e partitions? To have a backup of all the
data on the hard drive you need to backup all the partitions, although if
the d and e partitions are empty I don't see the point..

 

[Werner Ganz]

It is not CD Drives. Shows up in Disk Mgmt but no info other than what I
already stated
It does not show up in My computer

 

[Werner Ganz]

They do not show in Internet explorer. Suspect System Restore accounts for
one of them. Probably hidden partitions. My Dell did not come with a manual.
How do I image? Suspect Acronis will do it. They refer to it, but don't tell
you how. I have an inquiry out to them

 

[R. McCarty]

I frequently setup new Dell PCs. The structure varies, but the scheme
is a Key Press that triggers the recovery process at boot time. Since
most customers I setup will use Acronis True Image I burn the original
Dell recovery to DVD-R. Once we get the setup adjusted we remove
the recovery partitions and repair the Boot record and burn their "New"
master image without the Dell recovery/boot structure. However, I
wouldn't recommend someone do this without safely backing up the
Dell partitions first. You can get some idea of the Boot structure by
examining the Boot.Ini in the root of C:\.

 

[Werner Ganz]

Your intentions must be good and I thank you for the reply, but , frankly
it's above the level of my understanding

 

[Werner Ganz]

I applied Partition Magic to get more info
Here is what I got . Does it help?

PowerQuest PartitionInfo 8.0 -- Windows NT/2000 Version
Date Generated: 06/06/06 15:37:34
Copyright (c)1994-2002, PowerQuest Corporation
Permission is granted for this utility to be freely copied so long
as it is not modified in any way. All other rights are reserved.

PowerQuest, makers of PartitionMagic(r), Drive Image(tm), and DriveCopy(tm),
can be reached at:
Voice: 801-437-8900
Fax: 801-226-8941
Web site: http://www.powerquest.com/support/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 534,773,760
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 380,063,744
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,307,856,896
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 405,745,664

PowerQuest PartitionInfo 8.0 -- Windows NT/2000 Version
Date Generated: 06/06/06 15:37:34
Copyright (c)1994-2002, PowerQuest Corporation
Permission is granted for this utility to be freely copied so long
as it is not modified in any way. All other rights are reserved.

PowerQuest, makers of PartitionMagic(r), Drive Image(tm), and DriveCopy(tm),
can be reached at:
Voice: 801-437-8900
Fax: 801-226-8941
Web site: http://www.powerquest.com/support/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 534,773,760
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 380,063,744
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,307,856,896
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 405,745,664



===========================================================================================================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 9726 Cylinders, 255 Heads, 63
Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect
StartSect NumSects
===========================================================================================================
DellUtility 0 0 00 0 1 1 DE 3 254 63
63 64,197
0 1 80 4 0 1 07 1023 254 63
64,260 148,826,160
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 1 80 4 0 1 07 9267 254 63 64260 148826160
0 2 00 1023 0 1 DB 1023 254 63
148,890,420 7,341,705
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 2 00 9268 0 1 DB 9724 254 63 148890420 7341705

===========================================================================================================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 2: 10011 Cylinders, 255 Heads, 63
Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect
StartSect NumSects
===========================================================================================================
NO NAME 0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 1023 254 63
63 160,826,652
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 10010 254 63 63 160826652

===========================================================================================================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 3: 9729 Cylinders, 255 Heads, 63
Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect
StartSect NumSects
===========================================================================================================
NO NAME 0 0 80 0 1 1 0B 1023 254 63
63 156,296,322
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 0B 9728 254 63 63 156296322



===========================================================================================================
Partition Information for Disk 1: 76,293.1 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
TotalSects
===========================================================================================================
*ellUtility Dell Pri 31.3 0 0 63
64,197
C: NTFS Pri,Boot 72,669.0 0 1 64,260
148,826,160
CP/M, Concurrent DOS, CTOSPri 3,584.8 0 2
148,890,420 7,341,705
Unallocated Pri 7.8 None -- 156,232,125
16,065


===========================================================================================================
Partition Information for Disk 2: 78,528.7 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
TotalSects
===========================================================================================================
E:NO NAME FAT32X Pri,Boot 78,528.6 0 0 63
160,826,652


===========================================================================================================
Partition Information for Disk 3: 76,316.6 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
TotalSects
===========================================================================================================
G:NO NAME FAT32 Pri,Boot 76,316.6 0 0 63
156,296,322


===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive *: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 63, Type: FAT)
===========================================================================================================
1. Jump: EB 46 90
2. OEM Name: Dell 4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 4
5. Reserved Sectors: 1
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Root Dir Entries: 512
8. Total Sectors: 0 (0x0)
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 63
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 64197 (0xFAC5)
15. Drive ID: 0x80
16. Dirty Flag: 0x00
17. Extended boot Sig: 0x29
18. Serial Number: 0x07D4080B
19. Volume Name: DellUtility
20. File System Type: FAT16
21. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive C: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 64,260, Type: NTFS)
===========================================================================================================
1. Jump: EB 52 90
2. OEM Name: NTFS
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 0
6. Number of FATs: 0
7. Root Dir Entries: 0
8. Total Sectors: 0
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 64260 (0xFB04)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
15. Unused: 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors: 148826159
17. MFT Start Cluster: 819177
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 4194973
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0x8E6841BE6841A5B5
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive E: (Drive: 2, Starting sector: 63, Type: FAT32)
===========================================================================================================
1. Jump: EB 5A 90
2. OEM Name: *'1(`IHC
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 64
5. Reserved Sectors: 36
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Reserved: 0x0000
8. Reserved: 0x0000
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 160826620 (0x99604FC)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 19628
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 185734 (0x2D586)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
23. Reserved for NT: 0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0x522370D4
26. Volume Name: NO NAME
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive G: (Drive: 3, Starting sector: 63, Type: FAT32)
===========================================================================================================
1. Jump: EB 5A 90
2. OEM Name: *'1(`IHC
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 64
5. Reserved Sectors: 32
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Reserved: 0x0000
8. Reserved: 0x0000
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 156296322 (0x950E482)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 19077
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 2 (0x2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
23. Reserved for NT: 0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0x39526AA6
26. Volume Name: NO NAME
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

Disk Drives E and G are external Iomega drives

========================================================================================================