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When XP Pro was first installed, the C (20g) Drive was partitioned into C (10g) & D (10g) drives, and subsequently I added an internal Hard Drive (G) 120g for audio / video / backups.
Now the C drive is essentially full, and the D&G Drives are relatively empty.
Option #1: Can I copy my XP Pro Windows Directory over to the D drive, make the D Drive my boot drive, so I can make some extra space on my C Drive?
Option #2: Can I copy my entire C Drive onto my G Drive, make that the boot drive somehow, then De-Partition the C Drive somehow (get the C Drive back to 20 G, forget about the D Drive), then Copy back to the C Drive the C Drive Directory from the G Drive?
However, I assume that this would require a re-install of XP Pro onto the C Drive (and my copy of XP Pro is not the best).
Maybe Option #1 would be the most easy and safe.
Problems: Can't remember how the C Drive was partitioned in the first place as I didn't do it myself (so I don't know how to reverse the process), and I don't remember how to make the D or G Drives the temporary boot directories.
Thanks for any help.
MC
Either one of your options is fraught with problems. It would involve modifying the Boot.ini file and unless you understand exactly how the boot.ini file works and the boot sequence in Windows XP, you are sure to run into problems and end up with an un-bootable system.
The simplest solution would be to copy the contents of the D: drive onto the G: drive. Delete the D: drive. Then expand the C: drive to encompass the entire disk.
You will need some third party software to do this. You can download a trial version of BootIT NG from Terabyte Unlimited.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/
This is essentially a boot manager but comes with a good partition manager that will allow you to achieve what you need.
So in short.
Copy D: to G: Windows Explorer
Delete D: This can be done within Windows using Computer Management > Disk Management,Expand C: Using BootIT NG
What happened to E: and F:?
Stuart
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You should have gotten a utillities disc/disk with the new harddrive. Use it to transfer your old "C" to the new "G" and then make it the new "C". You should swap the drives (master/slave) so as to make the new HDD the master after the transfer is done.
You can use the same uttilities disc/disk to partition the new hdd before transfering the old "C". I myself prefer not to have anything less than 20gigs as any partition.
There is another option that I have...that you might try and like too.
I use a multiboot of the same xp by using the software BootIt NG ($35 us). That way you can copy as many of the same OS on any amount of partitions, and on startup you can decide which you want to use for the boot. You can still access the other partitions and hdd(s) from any of them. I have each Hdd named for whatever I use them for so as to not get confused, Games, Pictures(editing), Work, and Playing...etc. Each OS has only what programs that were required to perform as needed so as to speed up and protect the files. 3 drives; 1 @ 30gigs(work), 1 @ 40gigs(editing) and 1 @ 80gigs split 30(school),30(wife) & 20...there are 4 xp with the same activation code and 1 W98 (gaming). I found that things just work a lot smoother than having some files here and some there with the OS somewhere else. Especially with the editing,since there was always some process that was trying to run in the background and screw it all up. Now everything is dedicated and works like a dream. Also no matter what partition you tried to install a program on ...there was a part that had to go on "c" and that is what has filled you up. On mine, every partition is "C" drive and I have no cross contamination.
Good luckIN THE MATTERS OF STYLE,
swim with the current;
in matters of principle,
STAND LIKE A ROCK
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Nice to see someone else using and refering something you use too.
IN THE MATTERS OF STYLE,
swim with the current;
in matters of principle,
STAND LIKE A ROCK
0
Yes, I have been using BootIT NG for a few years. It is a an excellent bit of software.
Unfortunately lurkswithin, the method you detail above using the Utility disk that came with the hard disk will only work if we were dealing with a new disk. As drive G: has data on it which I presume Mark wants to keep, partitioning it is not an option. The utility disk won't transfere the OS if there is no space on the hard disk to put it on.
Stuart
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Absolutely right, I just kind of took it for granted that he still had some room left.
IN THE MATTERS OF STYLE,
swim with the current;
in matters of principle,
STAND LIKE A ROCK
0
hey folks
I have never done this but - I would like to know if XP disk manager will let Mark merge his D drive with C if he deletes it (D)as a logical drive first.
Merging would leave him with a full 20 G for the OS which is a very nice size - even if he is application heavy some could be reinstalled to the new HD
I will check back soon hoping someone knows.
Good luck
Greaner
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Firstly, I assume you have run out of space because all your applications are installed to C:
The easiest option if you don't know what these guys are going on about it to uninstall this software then reinstall it on to your D: or even G: drives.
It would be a nightmare if you just moved program folders (especially the windows one) for lots of reasons, so that's a big no!
The last option is to do what Stuart said which is to delete the D: drive and expand the C: drive. You don't need 3rd party software to do this as the diskpart.exe program that comes with Windows XP is perfectly capable of resizing partitions for you.
If you don't have any programs installed on D: just copy the files on to your G: drive. If you do have any installed, uninstall them first or you will be left with annoying dead links and possibly more frustrating problems.
Once D: is empty go Start >> Control Panel >> Administratove Tools >> Computer Management >> Storage >> Disk Management
Right click on D: and choose "Delete Logical Drive"
Click Start >> Run
Type cmd and press enter (or click ok)
type diskpart and press enter
type list volume and press enterYou will see a list of volumes and their respective numbers. Find out which number is C and then type
select volume #
where # is the number of the volume.Beyond that I believe you just type extend and press enter, but I don't want to mess about with my partitions and I haven't done this in over a year. If that command doesn't work type help for a list of commands.
There is a chance that this command will not work because the C: drive is mounted and can not be unmounted while Windows is running. If this is the case, you will have to run diskpart from a bootable disk. The most likely place that you will find this functionality is in the repair console of the Windows XP CD. Otherwise look to bootable Windows XP floppy disks.
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>> There is a chance that this command will not work because the C: drive is mounted and can not be unmounted while Windows is running. <<
This is true. You cannot do anything with the boot or system drive while Windows is running. Disk part wont run from a floppy as it requires Windows to run.
Diskpart has it uses, but it is very restricted when it comes to manipulating partitions. BootIT NG has a graphic interface which lessens the chances of making any disastrous mistakes as it is all so easy to do with a text based partition manager.
Stuart
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Thanks to all. Just reading the above 7 responses was like "going to school" for me, I learned a lot.
When I get some time in the next few days (and a bit of courage), I'll follow your advice and give it a shot.
I'll let you know which route I took and how it went.
Again, Thanks a lot.
MC
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Gentlemen,
I've made great progress; I feel that I am getting very close, but I need just a little more help.
I was able to successfully:Copy D: to G: Windows Explorer
Delete D: done within Windows using Computer Management > Disk Management,but I am now having problems:
Expanding C: Using BootIT NG
I created the BootIT NG Installation Disk, and successfully installed BootIT NG on my Hard Drice C:.
Then I went to the Desk Top, Working with Partitions, and found:
HDO / No Name - 0 Partition 10001 MB Fat 32
MBR Entry 1 / Patition 9570 MB Extended
Volume 9570 MB Free Space
First I tried to "resize": HDO / No Name - 0 Partition 10001 MB Fat 32, but got a range of only 9338 MB to a Max of 10001 MB (I was expecting to see 20000MB so I could expand the current 10 MB C Drive upto it's original 20 MB size).Second, I selected: MBR Entry 1 / Patition 9570 MB Extended, and then tried to resize it but got a screen similar to:
Beginning: Free Space Outside 0MB / Free Space Inside 9570 MB, and
End: Free Space Inside 0MB / Free Space Outside 0MB,I tried to fill in the End - inside / outside MB with 9570MB Combinations, hit Ok, but that did not seem to do anything.
Read the Manual about "Sliding", and tried to "Slide" both No Name - 0 Partition 10001 MB Fat 32 and MBR Entry 1 / Patition 9570 MB Extended in different combinations but didn't get much to happen or change.
I think it's probably something simple, but I'm running out of things / combinations to try. The Boot IT manual doesn't give much detail or examples on this.
What am I missing on this??
Thanks, MC
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It appears that drive D was a logical drive inside an Extended partition, Partition 1. You deleted the drive but left the extended partition intact. Thats where you get the 9570 MB Free Space from. Its all inside the Extended partition.
You need to delete the Extended partition using BootIT NG. You will then make the 9570 MB available to expand Partition 0 into.
Don't use Slide. It just moves partition one to a different place on the disk without effecting its size.
Stuart
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Stuart,Perfect, just like you said:
I deleted the extended patition, which allowed me to expand Partition 0 from 10g back up to Max 20g. Now, instead of 2% Free Space, I've got over 50%, so now I can Defrag this drive finally.
On Defrag, the C:Drive was so "fragmented" it took about 5 hours to "compact & defrag" the files. Now everything is Perfect, all systems running very smoothly.
Interesting side note: after I deleted the D: Drive and before I deleted the "Extended Partition", I tried to "Rip" some audio files from my F Drive (CD RW) to the Internal G: Drive (120g), but got the message "Can't find the path to the G:/Music File Directory". So I checked with Explorer, and the G Drive was not there, only an Icon, that did'nt have any "Properties", when I right clicked it.
I did not panic; I proceeded to delete the "Extended Partition", and once I resized Partition 0, the G Drive was again visible on Explorer and is now running perfectly again. Maybe the Alpha sequence of the Drive designations got fouled up in the interim when the D Drive was not yet completely "Deleted", or something?
In any case thanks a million, I was going nuts trying to get out of this problem. Also, thanks for the lesson, I learned a lot. In fact, I just might start using BootIT NG to "Partition everything" & put "Multi OS" on each Partition. Why? No reason, only that I think I can...Now that "I am invincible" (and even if I do crash & burn, you guys will be able to bail me out again).
Best regards, MC
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>> Maybe the Alpha sequence of the Drive designations got fouled up in the interim when the D Drive was not yet completely "Deleted", or something? <<
Probably. Got Windows confused with having no drive but the partition was still there. A re-boot would have sorted it.
Glad it all worked out fine. Don't get to overconfident though, its all to easy to cock everything up, especially with Windows XP.
Providing you leave Drive C: alone from now on, you should have any problems.
You can use drive G: to install a second OS and use BootIT Ng as the boot controller. Its easy to do and if you need to re-install one or other of the OSs, can be done easily without disrupting the boot process.
Merry Christmas
Stuart
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A little more difficulty using BootIt NG.
I went into "Working with Patitions" to partition by back up internal G: Drive (120g)that I'm using for Audio & Video files, and I at first thought that I was "Successful" doing:
"Resized" the G: Drive (HD01) from 120g to 80g,
"Created" out of the now available 40g "Free Space" a new "Documents" Parition (40g),
then "Resized" the New "Documents" Partition from 40g to 20g,
then "Created" out of the now available 20g "Free Space" a new "BootIt NG" Parition (20g).
(at this point, all 3 of these partition showed up & looked good on the "Working with Partitions" screen, at least to me).
then, I put the BootIt NG Installation Disk in the "A Drive" to install a "Start Up" boot in my new "BootIt NG" Partition, but I could not get it to "Install".
I then noticed through "Explorer", my G:Drive was no longer "visible" under "My Computer"; onfidently, I then went to "System Restore T0" to go back "1 Day", and got this message: "Changes made to Drive G after this point can not be reversed because the Drive was either Excluded from system Restore Monitoring, or was Turned Off, for Removed. Just Great!
So I then decided to reverse steps, and Deleted / Wiped Out, the newly created "Doecuments & BootII NG" Partitions, and "Resized" the G: Drive (HD01) back to the original size of 120g. Everything looked good (at least to me) in the "Working with Partitions" screen but when I went back to Explorer, the G Drive was still not anywhere to be found on "My Computer"?
The G Drive was definitely not "Removed or Deleted", but I can't see anything on the "Working with Partitions" screen that allows me to "Create" a Path back to the G Drive, which I know is "Still There" somewhere. I tried using "Edit" and giving the Group a "Name" (G Drive) but had no success.
If I can find my "G Drive" again, my System will be "perfect" again, and I will stop fooling around with BootIT NG trying to create new Partitions / Boot Drives that I don't really need, or have any practical use for that I can think of.
Thanks again for any help you can give me on this new problem.
MC
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No idea what you have done there. You got the message from System Restore because it recognised that something had happened to the drive that it knew nothing about.
The only thing I can suggest is that you go back into BootIT NG and see if the drive is there. Look on the MBR and see if there is any information there. Check that you haven't inadvertently made the drive hidden.
If you cannot see the drive in BootIT NG then you have got a problem and you are going to need some recovery software to recover your data.
Stuart
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I forgot to add that last night I did check the MBR and it was all "O, O, O's" which is probably not good. When I get home, I'll check to see if maybe I did check off "Hide" by mistake (maybe my only hope).
If that fails, what do you think if I go to Control Panel / Remove Hardware, see what's listed, and if it shows a G Drive, I'll "Remove it" and then "Re-Install" it, or even if it doesn't see a G Drive, I'll take the G: Drive out of its' CPU slot, then "Re-Install It", then Reboot, and XP should "Find New Hardware", which then should show up in Explorer. If I don't have to "Re-Format" the G:Drive during this process maybe the A/V files will still be there?
Or maybe not.
I'll let you know.
MC
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>> all "O, O, O's" which is probably not good <<
That is an under statement. It looks like the main partition has been deleted. If that is the case then you need some data recovery software. There is software that can recover a deleted partition - just don't try formating the drive. Click the Orange square at the top right hand corner of this page.
Stuart
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Stuart,
All is well, G: Drive has been found! What Dumb Luck !
Searched the BootIT NG Knowledge Base, and stumbled over this location: "Why are One or More Partitions not visible from my OS when they Should be". Good Question indeed.
After reading through this rather interesting Article located at
http://Terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=043
All I had to do was: Go to the "Limit Primaries" Option in the "Settings" box and check it off; once checked off, on reboot, the G:Drive came back.
Now again everything running smoothly & life is good. I'm not touching or doing anything until after the New Year in order to maintain the status quo.
Thanks again for your help.
Best regards, MC
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Glad to hear you got your drive back.
Not something I have come across before.
Normally you can have four primary partitions. All that creating and deleting must have got it confused.
Best wishes
Stuart
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