Re: Help me please - partitions and start up issues!

Brent

I have discovered that the partition structure is a feature of Acer
Aspire laptops.
This is a report using HD Tune from another laptop.

Partition : 1
Drive letter :
Label :
Capacity : 4996 MB
Usage : 0.00%
Type : unknown (12h)
Bootable : No

Partition : 2
Drive letter : C:\
Label : ACER
Capacity : 54486 MB
Usage : 32.68%
Type : FAT32
Bootable : Yes

Partition : 3
Drive letter : D:\
Label : ACERDATA
Capacity : 54988 MB
Usage : 0.09%
Type : FAT32
Bootable : No

This illustrates and confirms what you already know. .Partition 1 must
contain an original copy of Windows XP ( equivalent to the CD mainly
users have ) which can used to do a Repair Install or to do a Clean
Install
of the operating system should that be necessary. It is not System
Restore,
a feature of Windows which enables the user to restore the registry and
other system files to what they were at the time the Restore Point was
created.

Whilst you may not be able to see the Volume Information Folder
containing
the Restore Points you can gain information on its size in two ways. The
default setting is to reserve 12% of the drive or partition for System
Restore.
In reality this is far too much for today's drives and 700 mb is
enough. Right
click your My Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore.
Place the cursor on your C drive select Settings but this time find the
slider and drag it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you
get
to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

You can also see how large restore points are because they invariably
fragment and appear in the Report in Disk Defragmenter after you select
analyse and before you start defragmenting.

I have not so far discovered why Acer decided to do what they have done
but they obviously have a reason. Until you do discover what that is I
recommend that you do not remove the partitions or convert to NTFS.

The cluster size with FAT32 on these partitions will be.32 kb. This
makes
good use of disk space where the average file size is large. NTFS scores
well where it is small as the cluster size is only 4 kb.

Description of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310525/en-us

Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463/en-us

It is quite easy to work with two partitions. This Article on Partition
Planning will help with ideas. It is a little dated as things have moved
on
since it was originally written but a lot of it is still relevant. The
point being
you have to keep the operating system in C but many other folders /
files
can just as easily go in the other partition.
http://aumha.org/a/parts.htm

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Brent Jones" <BrentJones@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3240EA42-E35E-4AA0-AB17-5BD1D4FF6F64@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Gerry,

I've added my replies underneath your questions.



"Gerry Cornell" wrote:

Brent

What came in the box with regard to disks and a manual?
A basic manual came with the notebook explaining the basics, such as
where
the "Power On" button is. It's an Acer Aspire 5102. It didn't come
with any
restore disks, but it has a built-in restore feature and a program
that
creates system restore disks (7CDs or 3DVDs) which I already made.



What backup media capability do you have and what would you need?
I think I answered this above.


What is on your D partition? How large is it? You refer to 9 mb,
which
makes no sense. Do you mean 9 gb?
Sorry if it doesn't make sense, but it's true. There hard drive is
divided
into three partitions. A C: data drive, a D: data drive, and a third
partition for system restore files totalling about 8 GB. All that I
can see
(and yes, I went to "Show hidden files and folders" already) on the D:
drive
is a few temporary install files totalling 9 MB in size.


To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make
sure
that you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder
Options,
View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden
files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system
files
" is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item.
You
should also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for
known
file types" is not checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View,
Details is selected and then select View, Choose Details and check
before Name, Type, Total Size, and Free Space.
There are no hidden files or folders on the D: drive, however the
system
restore partition is hidden.



You need a third party utility to remove a partition without
destroying
files.
I read about useful software to do this on another site. Thanks,
though.



You can utilise your D partition by moving folders / files from your
C
drive. However, we need to know if the computer supplier (was it
Tiger
Direct?) has placed a back copy of Windows XP on your D drive?
Acer made my notebook and I bought it from Future Shop (Canadian
version of
Best Buy).




I would have expected the hard drive to be formatted as NTFS not FAT
32.
It is relatively easy to convert from FAT32 to NTFS but you cannot
reverse the process.
http://kadaitcha.cx/ntfs.html
Gerry, I found a web site that explains how to convert the hard drive
to
NTFS, but what are the benefits to me doing so? And what are the risks
related to doing so?




--

Hope this helps.
Yes, thank you very much for your assistance. It is much appreciated.



Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Brent Jones" <BrentJones@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:FD7104F3-604A-4A11-9958-0ABA0945372D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1. Occasionally when I power on my notebook (usually when it is
plugged into
a power supply or when attempting to bring it out of Standby Mode)
it
gives
me an error message indicating that due to an improper shutdown, I
need to
set my system date and time accordingly before starting up my
system.
These
messages occur with no pattern, and I have never shut down my
system
improperly since I purchased it. This is very annoying because I
have
owned
this system for less than a month, and that type of error message
should not
be happening, yet it occurs every couple of days. I bought an Acer
Aspire
5100 Notebook on November 15th, 2006.

2. I do not like how my alleged 120 GB hard drive has been
partitioned
into
a C: and D: drive, splitting the available hard drive space in two.
From what
I can tell, the D: drive is seemingly useless, with only a few
files
on it
consuming 9 MB. I would like someone to walk me through how to
safely
remove
the D: drive and have one consistent drive (C:) to contain all
system
and
user files... I do not want to lose any data in the process though!

3. I have heard that my notebook came with a FAT32 system
structure. I
am
not sure what that means, but there is another type that begins
with
an "N"
that is apparently better and when I upgrade to Vista, will run
Vista
much
smoother. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Is it worth
changing the
structure? What will the benefits be? Will I lose any data in the
process?

Thank you very much for your assistance!





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