weezer_bacardi

hey every one,

my HDD has 3 partitions. is it possible to reformat one partition of it and keep data on the other two intact?

geraldandreas

you can format your HDD without loosing data from the other partitions. but DON´T repartitioning your HDD, then all data will be lost

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Gerald
1; Core2-Q9450, x38-Mobo, 2048mb, 2x SATA-HD, SB0092+LD, XP/sp3

Dom

Correct.

weezer_bacardi

i read up on fdisk and ive learned that i cannot delete the primary partition without deleting the secondary (i think its called) partition, which i cant delete without deleting the partions within that. so i have 3 partitions: the primary and the two secondary.

are you wrong or is there another way to do this?

Dom

Yes, deleteing the primary partition will result in the loss of the others. But, you can format the primary partition without losing the others.

weezer_bacardi

wow, hey, what is the difference? im confused. in fdisk i dont find the word "reformat," just "delete."

mkk

FDISK is only for creating and deleting partitions, formatting is typically done through the operating system. If you are running DOS for some reason there is the FORMAT command, while in later versions of Windows you can right-click on any partition in the explorer and choose to format it. Get WinXP, it makes these things so much easier. (formatting and partitioning can be done during the operating system installation, and even easier after the system is installed)

Vidmaster23

fdisk is the tool you use to partition a hard drive. you can not format a hard drive using fdisk, you can only partition.

in order to format you need to use the tool format. for example, if you wanted to format your active primary drive you would type this in the command promt:

format c:

if you want to put system files from your floppy onto the freshly formated drive you would add the /s flag for system files. this way you can boot to a command prompt instead of a disk error and then install windows.

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Drakon

Dom could u or someone else explain how to do that. i've been thinking of doing that to my 20 gb hd, cuz it's my primary hd and everytime i got to reformat i gotta transfer all my data to my 2nd hd and after transfer it back...

Dom

Well, if you have, for example, an 80GB hard drive that is partitioned into four 20GB partitions, C:, D:, E: and F: (drive letters will vary). You can delete partitions D:, E: and F: without losing any data on C:, of course, all data on D:, E: and/or F: will be lost. That would leave 60GB of unpartitioned space, which can be repartitioned into three 20GB partitions or two 30GB partitions, or whatever amount of space you want them to be and how ever many partitions you want to divide the space into. C: is the physical partition and the others are logical. If you delete partition C:, you will lose all data on it, including its partition and its logical partitions; D:, E: and F:. You will then have to repartition the whole drive again. With that being said, however, you can format any partition you wish without having to repartition them, including C:. You can format C: without losing any data on the other partitions, as well.

Drakon

ok, i kinda got that. so how much space do u think i should partition for the os?

Dom

Tough call. I'd say 10GB.

Drakon

I was thinking that myself, dom. so lemme see if i understand this correctly. if i partition my hd into 2 partitions, one for the os, swap file etc and the other for applications and files, when times comes for a fresh install of xp, i can simply format the partition with the os on it and the other partition would still be there undeleted? did i get this correct?

Dom

Well, yes, but if you install applications on the logical partition and then format the physical one, those applications won't work anymore. So, you might wanna do three partitions; OS, applications, and misc., but you never know how big you'll want that application partition to be. This is why I just have two hard drives, one for everything and one for backup.

Drakon

well thanks for the suggestions, dom. i do have 20 hd's, 1 20 gb and 1 80 gb. the 80 gb i use for game installs and big application installs, plus my shared files. btw dom, do u mind taking a look at that other thread i started, "Is this setup efficient?" and possibly answer some of the ?'s i asked.

Dom

I've answered them to the best of my knowledge. You might want to seek other's replies too, they may be able to provide you with better information.