Partitions? I am stuck 2

[StressedTechie]

One of my users has a laptop that has its c:\ split into three partitions.

C:\ is 1.8gb
d:\ the same
e:\ the same

The problem is C:\ is now full to bursting and I want to join d and e together maybe even c and d.

I know how to do it in winnt using Disk administrator but do you think I can do it 98, Its got me stuck even the help file is rubbish.

Can anyone help me.

Much appreciated
Cheers
N

 

[Tech2001]

Hi you may need a third party software such as partition magic.

 

[paulwood]

Partition Magic is the way to go if you don't want to lose all the data. Depending on how you go, you will most likely lose D: or E: as you will have to delete it to make space for the other partition to expand.

As a matter of interest, are the partitions FAT32, if not you will gain space by converting them without PM.

 

[vorlonkosh]

If you use the latest version of pqmagic, 6 or 7 I think, you can combine the two partitons, sya d: and e:, the only problem left then is any applications installed on e: will need reinstalling to account for the change of letter.

 

[PAndersen]

Your problem seems to be that of disk space and
organization rather than the size of the partitions.
Remove files you are not using at all. You will find
excellent tools at

http://www.langa.com/cleanup_bat.htm

It might be an idea to use d: or e: as location for
the swap file.
Anyway, run scandisk and defragmenter.
Before re-partitioning (if you really wish to),
make a backup of the complete harddisk.

 

[edfair]

Or keep the same layout, just reduce the sizes of d: and e: and give the recovered space to c:. this will keep everything setup the same.
Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[StressedTechie]

One question: I know in NT it has an upper limit to the boot partition size 4097 I think is the max. Does this also apply to 98.

Cheers

Thanks for all your tips gives me something to try out

 

[vorlonkosh]

no, the limit only applies because nt needs a fat partition to enable dual booting if nesc as win 9x does not see ntfs partitons. You can have any limt you like with fat32, theres no point in using fat16. If you do you are limited to 2gb per partiton.

 

[StressedTechie]

ahhhhh

The user in question is using fat16 I noticied the other day you can convert this to fat32 quite easily. Do you agree that would be the first step and then steal disk space on the e:\ drive and reclaim that on the c:\.

 

[paulwood]

Convert it to Fat32 and see how much space is freed up, then think about changing things. Do make sure you have adequate backups first though!

 

[edfair]

I'd steal from d: first. Less chance of corrupting something during the shuffles. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[hchman]

Is there any drawbacks to converting to FAT32 other than not being able to go back to FAT16?

 

[vorlonkosh]

No drawbacks to converting, the only benifit is you get a 4k cluster as oppossed to a 16 or 32k. depending on what sort of files you have i.e relative sizes, gains may not be as great as you expect.
Change to fat32 anyway as you have nothing to lose.

 

[StressedTechie]

Just querying

How long would u expect a 6gig disk to take converting to Fat32.

This conversion will not affect existing files will it all is safe??

 

[vorlonkosh]

Using the microsoft windows converter it can take anything from 10 mins to a couple of hours depending on how much data you have.
The quickest way is if you can get hold of a copy of partition magic 4 or above it will convert in two mins max.
The microsoft converter will give an approximate time. If you run it, turn off all power managment especially if you have an acpi system and close all programs before running. You dont want the system to powersave or run a program during conversion.

 

[paulwood]

Theoretically no files will be harmed, I've never had problems (I always use Partition Magic), but back up anything you really can't afford to lose.