tabal5000

Hi

I have a one hard drive for 400GB (and I seen it,on the label it definitely says 400GB) but in system it says I have 2 Hard Drives one for 38GB and another one for 91 GB. Erm,what's going on ? =S

Houndog777

Well, it looks like you may have a hard drive with two partitions.
One is 38GB, the other is 91GB and the rest of the drive is unpartitioned space.
To check the actual disk volume go into Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, then Computer Management, then Storage, then Disk Management.

Do you want to add another partition using the unused space , or have the whole drive as one?

tabal5000

yh when I installed the windows it said I have 2 partitions one is something NTFS and the other one is erm FAT32.
I want to have the whole drive as one :D however it is done.

tabal5000

does this whole drive change thingy delete the files ?

Houndog777

No!
What you do is delete the 2nd partition and then "extend" the 1st partition, which is your C:Drive, to cover the whole disk.
To do this you use Diskpart, which is available from the Command Prompt......
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415/

It's a bit complicated unless you use different software, like Acronis or this.....
http://www.softsea.com/review/7tools...n-Manager.html

tabal5000

Wait wait wait then I'll lose all of my files on the partition I use :[ that's the dam only way? and will I have to do this every time I format my computer?

Houndog777

You're confusing me now, or am I confusing you?

What do you mean by "every time I format my computer"?
When you format a HDD (or partition) you wipe everything clean. That's what formatting does.
You usually only format a drive to install a fresh operating system on it.

With regard to your worries about creating a single partition on your disk, you are not losing your C:Drive but "extending" it to cover the whole disk.

tabal5000

Oh thank you. Erm I was just wondering if I have to extend the partition again when I format my computer. That's all lol

claycad

I'm a little confused too. I think what houndog is asuming that the missing 271GB is unpartitioned space, which is probably the case. You can extend this unpartitioned space into one of the other partitions. So if you extend it into the 91GB partition you would have one 362GB partition and one 38GB partition. No matter what you extend the unpartitioned space into, you will still have two partitions on the harddrive. You can merge two partitions without losing any of the data using programs like norton partition magic or 7tools like houndog suggested, but these cost money. you might find one that is freeware, but I don't know any right off hand.

Whenever you reformat you should be given the option to partition the hard drive however you like. If you reformat it and only want one big partition, then delete all of the partitions and create one big new one to install too. I say your best bet is to extend one of the partitions and then just have a second smaller one. That way there is no risk of losing data.

(oh, and I was just rounding the numbers to 400. A drive that says 400Gb will only show up on you PC as something like 370/380GB or so depending on the brand.) This is because they advertise a GB as 1000MB, but your PC reads a GB as 1024MB So a HDD always shows up as less GB on your PC then it is advertised for - theres usually a disclaimer on the package about this.

Deleted090308

Sounds like you have a 137GB limitation in your system.

Post a screenshot of disk management (Right click "My computer" > choose "Manage" > Disk Management).

How to post a screenshot.

Also - what's the brand/model of the computer (or the motherboard)?

tabal5000

What's so confusing lol. Well anyways yes I have 270GB of unallocated space. Well first thing I can only use the unallocated space as a new partition,can't really extend the first or the second partition >.< Well anyways after I burn something,I'll delete all partitions and create one big one,since I think how. But on the first partition that I don't really use is something...,well strange on : Woah.JPG lol What files are these? :P Some of them were already on when I bought the computer. untitled.JPG Here's the Disk Management thingy.

Houndog777

Hi,
What you have is a confused hard disk.
The C:Drive should host your operating system, program files and all other important files. That is the default install drive for most applications. The folders that are already on it look like back-up driver folders.
The "active" drive on your PC is the I:Drive; which is just silly.

I think you should save all your important data and reinstall windows.
The windows disk will give you the option to delete the partitions you already have, create a new one, format it to NTFS and have windows installed onto it.

Deleted090308

XP is installed on I:, but its boot files (hidden) are installed on C: (marked "System" in Disk management).

I agree with Houndog - you should reinstall XP from scratch on an empty HDD.

tabal5000

lol I used my second partition cuz when I tried to install windows on the first one it said it's FAT32...,it could be damaged blablabla lol