I need some advice on unpartitioning

steppenwolf · Jan 24, 2003, 05:25 AM

I have a windows 98 SE operating system on a Dell optiplex gxa 233 mgz processor that has 4 gig hard drive(yeah its a dinosaur but it runs well. lol). Anyway, originally I had installed Windows 95 on it and then upgraded it to 98. When 95 was installed it needed to partition the hard drive. I recently tried to eliminate the extended dos partition and was sucessful at that but now 98 doesnt recognize the extra space. It see C drive as only 2 gigs and D drive which was the extended partition doesnt exist. D drive is now the assigned letter for the cd rom. I double checked to make sure that I had said yes to using large drive support on the fdisk options. I also converted the file system from fat16 to fat32 which did increase the free space on C but did nothing to help find the other two gigs. I looked to see if there were any options in fdisk to extend the primary drive but I couldn't from any of them. The only message I got was that the primary disk was set. Are there any suggestions of what I can do? Maybe something that I might have missed? Or another prompt that I need to do? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

WyreTheWolf · Jan 24, 2003, 05:28 AM

Welcome to DH Steppen... Enjoy your stay!

Zarathustra · Jan 24, 2003, 05:33 AM

You can only extend the size of C with a program like Partition Magic. Go back to fdisk and create the extended DOS partition again. Then verify that the new partition exists and format it (in DOS). Windows should see it just fine after that.

Marks · Jan 24, 2003, 12:52 PM

I think, you have to create a logical Volume inside this extended Partition.
An extended Partition is only for holding its logical ones.

Matth · Jan 24, 2003, 06:04 PM

You need a partition resizer tool - or to bite the bullet and completely repartition and re-install - which you could and up doing if the resizer screws up!

http://www.zeleps.com/
One free one - there are others - eg. http://www.ranish.com/part/

Some cannot ENLARGE a partition unless THEY prepared it with reserved space to do so - I believe that one applies to RANISH, so it may not be useful for you.

You have converted to FAT32 - good, that is essential before attempting a resize to larger trhan FAT16 can support, unless you are using a tool which can do the conversion at the same time.

NB. If you have an UPGRADE edition of Win98, you can reinstall it from scratch and it will demand the Win9x media as proof of ownership!

PS. Read ALL the documenmtation , and back up anything you can't afford to lose!

UnOrganised · May 2, 2003, 11:37 AM

get partition magic and just make most as logical as system allows then you can create left over as extended or logical

I know been a long time since been here

WyreTheWolf · May 2, 2003, 12:43 PM

All right... that is it... No more digging up ancient threads to increase post count... This was originally posted 4 moths ago! thread closed.

Jan 24, 2003, 05:25 AM	#1
steppenwolf DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: amidst the fog in the foot hills Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	I need some advice on unpartitioning I have a windows 98 SE operating system on a Dell optiplex gxa 233 mgz processor that has 4 gig hard drive(yeah its a dinosaur but it runs well. lol). Anyway, originally I had installed Windows 95 on it and then upgraded it to 98. When 95 was installed it needed to partition the hard drive. I recently tried to eliminate the extended dos partition and was sucessful at that but now 98 doesnt recognize the extra space. It see C drive as only 2 gigs and D drive which was the extended partition doesnt exist. D drive is now the assigned letter for the cd rom. I double checked to make sure that I had said yes to using large drive support on the fdisk options. I also converted the file system from fat16 to fat32 which did increase the free space on C but did nothing to help find the other two gigs. I looked to see if there were any options in fdisk to extend the primary drive but I couldn't from any of them. The only message I got was that the primary disk was set. Are there any suggestions of what I can do? Maybe something that I might have missed? Or another prompt that I need to do? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Jan 24, 2003, 06:04 PM	#5
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	You need a partition resizer tool - or to bite the bullet and completely repartition and re-install - which you could and up doing if the resizer screws up! http://www.zeleps.com/ One free one - there are others - eg. http://www.ranish.com/part/ Some cannot ENLARGE a partition unless THEY prepared it with reserved space to do so - I believe that one applies to RANISH, so it may not be useful for you. You have converted to FAT32 - good, that is essential before attempting a resize to larger trhan FAT16 can support, unless you are using a tool which can do the conversion at the same time. NB. If you have an UPGRADE edition of Win98, you can reinstall it from scratch and it will demand the Win9x media as proof of ownership! PS. Read ALL the documenmtation , and back up anything you can't afford to lose! Last edited by Matth; Jan 24, 2003 at 06:17 PM.

Jan 24, 2003, 05:28 AM	#2
WyreTheWolf Wolfish Bastard Join Date: May 2002 Location: Cave; Ozark Mountains Posts: 2,110 Rep Power: 0	Welcome to DH Steppen... Enjoy your stay!

Jan 24, 2003, 05:33 AM	#3
Zarathustra Elite Bastard Join Date: May 2002 Location: The Confederacy Posts: 841 Rep Power: 0	You can only extend the size of C with a program like Partition Magic. Go back to fdisk and create the extended DOS partition again. Then verify that the new partition exists and format it (in DOS). Windows should see it just fine after that.

Jan 24, 2003, 12:52 PM	#4
Marks DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 12 Rep Power: 0	I think, you have to create a logical Volume inside this extended Partition. An extended Partition is only for holding its logical ones.

May 2, 2003, 11:37 AM	#6
UnOrganised DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	get partition magic and just make most as logical as system allows then you can create left over as extended or logical I know been a long time since been here

May 2, 2003, 12:43 PM	#7
WyreTheWolf Wolfish Bastard Join Date: May 2002 Location: Cave; Ozark Mountains Posts: 2,110 Rep Power: 0	All right... that is it... No more digging up ancient threads to increase post count... This was originally posted 4 moths ago! thread closed.