Re: Partitioned Hard Drive in XP

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Summer1 wrote:
1. No CD-It was already installed when purchased
2. I bought the computer last week and just noticed the 'unallocated' space
3. No, I have not been back to the store

When you purchase a prebuilt computer, your task order is -

1) Read the manual. Sometimes, important steps are mentioned,
things you're supposed to do *immediately* .

2) The manual may mention preparing a "recovery CD". There may
be a hidden partition on the hard drive, with the same kind of
info present on a Windows installer CD. Burn a recovery CD
immediately, before doing anything else. The recovery CD
can return the computer to factory state, if you every
screw it up. Or, if the hard drive fails, you're really
going to need those CDs. If you wait until the hard drive
fails, it is too late to prepare your recovery media. The
manual may mention that you can only burn one copy, so make
a duplicate of the media, outside the provided tools. Alternately,
rip the CD, and store the CD as an ISO9660 file for future usage
(on a hard drive of another computer). CDs sometimes "rot" and
can become unreadable, which is why you need to take precautions.

3) Use Disk Management to view the partitions on the disk.
There, you may see C: (NTFS) intended for boot,
D: (NTFS) intended for user data, and a third section
with no file system indicated. The partition type of the
third partition is not a value Windows is familiar with.
That third partition, is where the recovery content is
stored. If you're not careful when deleting stuff, then
that partition can get zapped. That is why you're supposed
to burn recovery media, *before* you lose that stuff.

For companies that offer the opportunity to purchase the
recovery media, they may only choose to do so for the
length of the warranty period. If the warranty expires,
and you need a recovery CD, you're screwed.

If the product came with CDs, and the hard drive is
known to be "expendable", then erase whatever you want :-)

HTH,
Paul


"peter" wrote:

We understood all that about 8 posts back..
Here are the questions we need answers to..
1..do you have a CD copy of XP which you received with the Computer???
If no maybe that space is a "recovery" partition..which seems unlikely as it is unallocated
2..Did you check with the persons who build your system to explain that "unallocated space"????
This space can be formated as explained by others previously and will then show up as another
Drive.
3..Can you go back to the persons who build the system and have them fix it???
It seems they did not partition properly...they should add it to the D drive.

When you run out of space on the C drive you will get a warning...you will not be able to install programs.
You will need to manually pick the D drive for program installation..you can do this even before the C drive is full.

peter

"Summer1" <Summer1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:B6F04864-617F-4D8A-B164-AEB84AF27356@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sorry everyone for making this so confusing.

These are the 'actual' numbers:

Disk O Basic 149.05 GB

C drive=69.40GB; D drive=58.59GB; Unallocated=21.06GB

C: is the primary partition; D is the logical drive; Unallocated is the
extended partition.

149.05GB is the 'actual' amount of GB-Since the 21.06GB is 'unallocated,'
does that mean that I only have access to 127.99GB?

Do I want the 21.06GB partitioned back into either the C or D drive so I
have access to the 'full' 149.05?

"Jerry" wrote:

"Summer1" <Summer1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0C3AEC59-CA7C-40F9-8AA2-4EE7CB46E07C@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Good Day:

I bought my computer last week from a computer store and the owner
paritionrd XP into C:\ and D:\ drives.

He told me that the HD had 160GB but when I went into C:\ properties, it
shows 69.3GB and D:\ properties shows 58.5GB, totalling only 127.80GB,
leaving a difference of 32.8GB.

Which is the correct amount of hard disk space-160GB or 127.80GB?
Why not just take it back to the computer store you bought it from and ask
them. They either didn't partition the disk correctly or created a hidden
restore partition and didn't tell you about it.



.

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