Partition hard drive - My wife wants to know how.......

[mel999]

Please read carefully to understand my goal.

I want to partition my current 80 gig hard drive so that I end up being able to use my current XP Professional and also to use Win 98 SE. I also want to be able to have one of the partitions to be used purely to store files onto.

The reason for this is so that my son can use Windows 98 (A lot of his software isn’t compatible with XP) and I use Win XP. – We can then use the same storage space to store files on.

Now then, I haven’t got a clue on what primary dos, extended dos and logical dos is all about. - - I DO have a windows 98 boot disk and I am pretty familiar in what fdisk achieves.

Please help me through step by step and treat me as a complete idiot (I don’t mind). Here is what I want to achieve.

1 partition to be 30 gig in FAT 32 (Will use this for XP)
1 partition to be 27 gig in FAT 32 (Will use for Win98SE)
1 partition to be 23 gig purely for storing files on.

I do have my XP Pro recovery disk and a utilities disk with drivers.

Oh, someone told me that win 98 doesn’t like NTFS and that is why I have quoted FAT32 on all.

Much obliged,

Brenda - - PS, My husband gave me permission to use his registration.

 

[aquias]

Here is a link to Microsoft's check points on creating a dual boot system...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/meandxp.mspx

Labmice link...this one links back to several other resources...

http://labmice.techtarget.com/windowsxp/Install/dualboot.htm

And you are correct, Windows 98 can only recognize Fat16/32. If you want a drive with shared storage then you'll have to have it at Fat32

 

[DTSMAN]

http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/

Bo

Kentucky phone support-
"Mash the Kentrol key and hit scape."

 

[Shrum]

too much work to do something that can already be done on 1 partition.

Win98 and WinXP can exist on the same partition as long as the partition is Fat32 or less (not NTFS).

Just install WinXP as a "New install" (not upgrade) on the same drive that Win98 exists on (you will need to give Windows a different install folder...I use c:\windows.xp as Win(x uses c:\windows by default).

WinXP has a boot manager that will allow you to choose which version of Windows to boot into.

My 2 centavos

=============================
Sean Shrum
Shrum Consulting
C.A.T.S.:

http://cats.shrum.net

Consulting:

http://consulting.shrum.net

Programming:

http://programming.shrum.net

R/C Soaring:

http://soaring.shrum.net

 

[mel999]

Yeah Shrum - - I read what you say but what about my storage space. - The whole idea of storage space is so that they wouldnt be subject to a virus when accessing the internet. - Thank you the other two members but have to say after looking at the links, a bit iffy for me. I really need step by step guidance. - The partition magic software sems to be the answer but not at $70 or $49 in my country.
I have a mortgage to pay!!!

Thanks so far, - Brenda

 

[Shrum]

Not subject to a virus!?!?! There's a pipe dream.

No matter where your data is located; same drive, different drives, network drives, they will *always* be susecptable to viruses.

The only data not susecptable to infection is data on READ-ONLY media: DVDs, CD-Roms, etc. (that assumes that the data was virus-free when it was burned to this type of media, of course).

Granted, when you open a file you can infect the data in memory but since you can't save it back to the read-only disc, the original never gets infected.

Once again, mu solution I believe is what you are looking for. Viruses are part of the computing experience...my suggestion is to educate yourself on sources of viruses and to stay away from them (honestly there aren't that many). Stay current with your OS updates, Ad-ware removal updates, and if you have one installed, your anti-virus updates and you'll be fine.



=============================
Sean Shrum
Shrum Consulting
C.A.T.S.:

http://cats.shrum.net

Consulting:

http://consulting.shrum.net

Programming:

http://programming.shrum.net

R/C Soaring:

http://soaring.shrum.net

 

[minime66]

I would look getting a 2nd drive - a Larger hard drive, to have only 23 GB for storage, is not enough storage for 2 users on the PC.

I have seen at best buy computer stores where you can get a 250 GB hard drive for $99.00 - that's cheap!!!