[mpcontrols]

Hello Geekstogo,

I have a secondary 20 gb hard drive that use to be my original. Installed a new 160 gb and am using the old one to backup files. The secondary had a partition on it (5 gb) and I would like to delete the partition and have just one 20 gb drive, then format it. I can format the 5 gb using Disk Manager, but can't do anything to the 15 gb section. It will attempt to format the 15 gb, but at the end of the format it says that "System partition is not allowed to be formatted". I tried going to safe mode and command prompt and get the same results. The 20 gb drive is C: and the new one is D:. I'm using Win XP Pro. Any simple and safe ideas?
Thanks,

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if you go to disk manager (right click my computer > manage > disk manager)...you should be able to delete all the partitions...then reformat....of course...this is assuming that you're not running your os from that disk....did you install windows on the 20 gig drive when you put it in?

[dsenette]

if you go to disk manager (right click my computer > manage > disk manager)...you should be able to delete all the partitions...then reformat....of course...this is assuming that you're not running your os from that disk....did you install windows on the 20 gig drive when you put it in?

[mpcontrols]

Thanks for getting back to me.
The secondary drive was my original before installing the new one. I manually deleted all of the files off the secondary by "selecting all files" after I couldn't format it, hoping this would let me do it. The large drive has the OS System on it. If I right click on the 5 gb partition on the secondary, it will allow me to format it. If I right click on the 15 gb of the secondary, the format option is shaded out and doesn't give me that option.

[dsenette]

can you show me a screen shot of disk manager?

[mpcontrols]

File attached for Disk Man Screen Shot.

Attached Files

•  Disk_Man_Screen_Shot.doc   70.5KB   346 downloads

[warriorscot]

Save your screenshot as a jpeg image, when you take the shot open paint then paste it into there and save as a jpeg.

[dsenette]

ok...here's the deal...the 20 gb drive...is still your primary...it's labeled as c: and is marked as the system drive....

how much have you actually installed on the 120 drive?

it would probably be easiest to start over from scratch to get this fixed...

[mpcontrols]

Okay, JPEG should be attached.

Attached Thumbnails

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[mpcontrols]

Everything has been installed on the new drive, about 10gb. The new drive is using a controller board, which was installed by a local PC shop. I didn't have time to do the install myself and I wanted the original to become a backup. Installing the controller board is what they decided to do. I didn't need all of the old stuff on the C: drive other than what I was backing up. I assumed that since I didn't need the old stuff that formatting it would be the logical thing to do and having a total 20gb drive versus a 15 and a 5. I don't want to start over and I guess leaving it the way it is would be the smartest decision. I assume you'll agree and I appreciate your help. Thanks so much.

[Kemasa]

This is a duplicate thread, see:

http://www.geekstogo...45

While the second disk is seen as a system disk and labeled as c:, it is not the boot drive.

A simple option (at least for me), is to boot either Knoppix or DSL OS and delete the partitions using fdisk, sfdisk or qtparted (not on both). Then reboot using WIndoze. Another option is to delete the partitions, if it will let you, then reboot to get the drive letters set correctly, then create the partitions. There are hidden files/directories on the partitions which you can not access, even if you select to see the hidden files. You can see them under Linux.

[Kemasa]

Personally, I would not leave it the way it is since you may have problems. Some programs might use "c:", but that is not the boot partition.

[mpcontrols]

My primary concern here is that I don't make any mistakes and mess up the D: drive, which contains my Win Xp OS and all of my software and data. I don't have a problem with the D: drive becoming the C: but it scares me and I don't want to mess up. I'm computer savy, but not an expert like you. There should be software for the D: drive controller board and I assume it's on the D: drive. I've already deleted all of the visible files off of the C: drive and assume that none of the hidden files are needed for the D: drive operation.

I found the Knoppix web site and assume this is what you're referring to. I want the existing C: drive to be a backup and assume it could become the D: drive if I can do this sucessfully. Again, I don't want to harm the D: drive in anyway. It's larger and I want it to be my primary drive no matter what.

Also, the reason that all of this happened in the first place was my need for a larger hard drive. I didn't want to scrap my PC (it's a Pent III) and the motherboard wouldn't support a 160gb drive and that's why the controller board was needed.

Can you supply me with detailed instructions on how to do what you're suggesting?

[Kemasa]

If you want to do it the safe way, then disconnect the 20Gb drive and make sure that the system boots without a problem and that it is set as the C drive.

Then disconnect that drive, connect the 20Gb disk and remove all the partitions using either Knoppix, DSL OS or some Windoze boot disk.

After that, you should be able to connect the 20Gb disk and use the disk management program to partition the disk.

I am not sure of which web site you found, but most likely it is the one if it allows you to download the ISO to make a CD. There are other places that you can get it too.

I did not notice that you mentioned the controller board before, which makes a difference. I would suspect that is where some of the naming issues are coming from. When you create the partition, I would select an alternate drive letter and select C for the boot disk when you boot it without the second disk.

[dsenette]

you also want to make sure that the big drive is jumpered as master..and set on the end of the IDE cable...and that the 2o is jumpered as slave, and placed on the center connector on the cable