PLEASE HELP ME MAJOR PROBLEM 2

[weirdhole]

Ok i have a dell deminsion 4400, a year ago my hard drive went bad so i had it replaced by some professionals they put a maxtor 40gb 7200 rpm drive in it. I got the sasser virus and tried to format upon formatting my hard drive i accidentally created two partitions instead of deleting my old one...now i have 2 20gb partitions the partition with all my files on it that i so desperately need for college is locked somehow and i cant access it at all so i thought ok i'll just use the other partition, now i tried to format the entire drive because it is summer and i dont need the files anymore. so upon formatting it says i only have one partition, a 19.1gb partition, so i formatted thinking it would restore my entire drive....i was wrong...now i have a 40 gb hard drive that is only using about half its space if even that much...if there is any way you can help me restore my drive please let me know

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

 

[maultier]

You just need to run a program called fdisk to delete the existing partitions and then create one partition using the max capacity of the drive. Fdisk will destroy destroy any data on the drive, so backup what you want to save and make sure you have all the install disks you need to recover.

After fdisk changes have been made, you'll need to format the drive, though I suspect the installation software may handle that.

 

[weirdhole]

how do i do this? im sorry im kind of new to this sort of thing

 

[AckNack]

Here's Microsoft's Knowledge Base article on Fdisk and Format:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255867

You can get a Windows 98 Startup disk from

http://www.bootdisk.com

if you don't have one.

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com

 

[weirdhole]

ok when i try to fdisk it still shows there is only 1 partition....and it will only delete that partition....should i go ahead and do this or is it going to be pointless and not work

 

[AckNack]

When you view the partition information in fdisk does it show only a primary partition, does it show an extended partition or non-dos partitions?

Another couple of ways to go about this:

How are you going to re-install Windows? If it's a recovery disk that was included with the Dell, it should rewrite the entire hard drive and put it back like it was when you bought it.

If you're installing from a "store-bought" Windows XP (I'm presuming you're using XP here) then you will have the chance to remove all partitions early during install.

You can also go to

http://www.maxtor.com

and download their MaxBlast utility to setup the hard drive partitions.

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com

 

[wolluf]

weirdhole - are you sorted?

if its xp/2k, then as AckNack says, just use its partitioning tools during install boot from XP install CD).

it its 9x/ME, then use fdisk to remove existing partition then use it to create new partition (agree to use whole 40GB drive).

 

[PRPhx]

Easier way to accomplish repartitioning/formatting is to go out and buy Partition Magic. Create the floppy disk from the cd-rom (There is an available option or should be). Boot to the floppy (You'll need 2 floppies). Then just let PM delete your parttions, create the new ones, format them with PM and off you go! Then install your OS.

 

[weirdhole]

To answer your question about the intallation of the operating system, I have a windows xp cd that came with my dell. I have used that to format and delete partitions and i have also used a 98 boot disk to format and reinstall windows xp. i am still getting no option to use entire partion i think i do remember something about a non dos partion. but i deleted all partitions and tried to reinstall windows xp. upon doing so it still says my hard drive is only 19587mb. Am i doing something wrong with the boot disk or the xp disc?

 

[AckNack]

So, just to recap, according to your first post you can (or could) see two 20 GB partitions. So that would mean that the drive is recognized properly by the BIOS as a 40 GB drive.

You say you remember something about a non-dos partition. That sounds like that's where the rest of your drive is being used. You will need to delete that non-dos partition and the other partition (if using FDISK) to be able to create a partition using all of the drive.

Sometimes FDISK won't delete non-DOS partitions. If that's the case you can use delpart.exe. I got my copy here:

http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm

Strange that the recovery disk that came with the computer didn't overwrite the entire disk (if it was a recovery disk). If it was just a regular XP disk, you should've been able to delete all partitions with it during setup.

Keep in mind removing the partitions will delete any data you have on the disk.

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com