Resize NTSF partition w/ PartitionMagic

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Mon May 31, 2004 5:20 pm

Resize NTSF partition w/ PartitionMagic

Resize NTSF partition w/ PartitionMagic

I have installed XP on an new 120GB HD.

I now want to add an extended partition and then some partitions in there.

I used NTFS for the XP.

Now when I go into PM, I can't add an extended partition.

The C: partition is taking the whole drive space and I can't resize.

I did this before with a 30GB but used FAT32.

Any ideas?

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Mon May 31, 2004 6:32 pm

IIRC, PartitionMagic can't resize NTFS partitions; you need DiskKeeper (or whatever the corporate version is called now) for that.

Your best solution is to back up all your data, wipe the HDD, and reinstall Windows, using the Setup program to create your partitions.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:17 pm

I'll re-install and use FAT32.

Thanks

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:32 pm

Um.....

That's the stupidest idea ever. Running Windows XP on FAT32 is a waste, especially on a 120 GB hard drive. The cluster size will kill you, causing you to lose a couple of gigabytes of space. FAT32 also lacks NTFS' built-in security and redundancy features.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:49 pm

Can't ever use 120GB and I'm using the machine at home on a LAN and router.

If I want to use FAT32 how do I do that w/ the XP install disk. I think it wants to revert to NTSF.

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:50 pm

Who cares? It works and it's sometimes one of the only options some people have.

If you really need to resize NTFS, I think BootItNG might let you do it without killing the data. Mandrake Linux's installer can also do it correctly.

I think the general Windows XP install program railroads you onto NTFS unless you create a FAT32 partition prior to installation - but I could be wrong.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:54 pm

Prior to resizing ANY partition of ANY flavour, make sure ALL data is FULLY backed up! These things can go wrong, in the worst possible way.

Also, resizing can take an incredibly long period of time, and the process must not be interrupted.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:56 pm

I have no data on this HD, brand new.

Fdisk seems also to point to NTSF.

What now?

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Mon May 31, 2004 8:05 pm

Boot from a DOS floppy and run format from there?

Tell me again why you want to use FAT32?

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Mon May 31, 2004 8:26 pm

how many times are we going to bash on people for using FAT32, sometimes FAT32 is all they need.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Mon May 31, 2004 8:27 pm

I want to partition the drive and have Partition Magic 6 which won't resize NTSF.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Mon May 31, 2004 8:29 pm

Also, using a Win98 Startup disk, I can't delete the NTSF partition that was originally created.

STRESSTEST · Post by **STRESSTEST** » Mon May 31, 2004 8:38 pm

Start up disk, or boot disk, be carefull on your words here.

If it is the Win98 Boot disk, you can delete a NTFS partition with it

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Mon May 31, 2004 10:02 pm

I believe I created the disk from the "Add & Remove" program. What would that make it?

I'm leaning towards buying PartitionMagic 8.

I believe that would allow me to use NTSF and partition the drive as I would like to.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Mon May 31, 2004 10:26 pm

ok...

if the HD has nothing on it of worth... then you have no use for Partition Magic.

you can use XP's installer to make the paritions for you.

just pop the XP cd in, and boot off it.

Warlock · Post by **Warlock** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 8:09 am

fliptw wrote: you can use XP's installer to make the paritions for you.

just pop the XP cd in, and boot off it.

yeah but 99% of the time if u also want to formot the drive in there it will onley do NTFS

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:04 am

I have used partition magic 8 to resize NTFS partitions before, works just fine.

Admiral LSD · Post by **Admiral LSD** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:26 am

Partition Magic has been able to resize NTFS partitions for years. I remember using it to make room for Linux installs back when I was running Win2k which would have been upwards of 2-3 years ago now.

MS limit the FAT32 partition size to 32G on Windows 2000 and XP to keep the inefficiencies of thet FS under control (though people have come up with all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories for it

) so that might have some bearing on the issue, not sure though.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:32 am

I have used fat32 on a 120 GB drive, but I had to format it with DOS and it took almost two hours. And yes, it was hugely inefficient for storing anything but 200 MB files.

Topher · Post by **Topher** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:36 am

Department of redundancy department says NTFS will save you time, space and give you increased security.

FAT32 is a waste for an NT/XP machine.

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:40 am

http://www.bootitng.com/bootitng.html

Oh, and BTW, don't listen to all the FAT32-sympathizers. If you decide that FAT32 is "all you need," then don't come crawling back here when your file system crashes, your directories are in random characters, their directory trees go in endless loops, and Scandisk is rescuing only some of your files to the super-valuable genericly named sort in your root directory, simultaneously overwriting any other data you could have possibly saved.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 2:20 pm

Any downside to NTSF?

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 2:21 pm

Well, you can't access it from Win9x, but if you're not dual-booting then there is no downside.

And it's NTFS, not NTSF.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 2:28 pm

I have a LAN with Windows millennium on one computer and Windows 98 on the other, plus the line talking about that will run XP.

I won't be able to access the folders from one computer to the other?

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:57 pm

Of course you will. You can't access the drive from Windows 9x on the same machine (i.e. if you're dual-booting with XP and 9x), but of course it will work over the network no problem, no matter what OS you use. Heck, you could even be using Linux and be able to access the NTFS drives on the XP machine over the network.

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 10:53 pm

But Linux support for writing to NTFS is still experimental at best, leaving dual booters who want maximum compatibility with few options other than to use FAT32. As for the naysayers, I've never had FAT32 mess up for me, so I have no clue what your problem is.

Use BootItNG like I and Jeff said. Make sure you say "no" to the question about installing it, and let it go into Maintainance mode. Then, use the Partition Work function to resize partitions. It's rather intuitive.

Admiral LSD · Post by **Admiral LSD** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 12:23 am

Linux 2.6 has basic support for NTFS overwiting but that's about as far as it goes at the kernel level. There is a project called Captive NTFS that uses Windows NTFS drivers to enable full read/write support but I haven't tried it since I can't figure out exactly what files I need to get from the report in the Gentoo bugzilla on it. This is for accessing local drives/partitions though, the fs type is more or less irrelevant when accessing drives over a network.

Warlock · Post by **Warlock** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:11 am

Xciter wrote:Thats not true... WinXP gives you 4 options when formatting during install... Quick NTFS, Quick FAT32, NTFS and FAT32.

when u 0 a drive it onley lets u do NTFS

and that bootit
"support for large hard drives (2 TB) and partitions (1-2 TB)."
dont they know the NTFS for 2003 supports up to 14EB IIRC

Warlock · Post by **Warlock** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:15 am

X i ment
i use my Maxdor cd to 0 the drive befor i format it in the XP Setup to help clean out the drives MBR and every thang, i know u can do fdisk /mrb or what ever but it alot easyer to pop in a cd let it run for about 2min then stop it cause most of the main drive data is gone including the MBR , but when a drive has been 0 out the xp setup will onley let u do NTFS or NTFS Quick, FAT32 isnt aney where on the list at all and iv done this on so maney computers.

now if u setup the partishion in fdisk then it will have FAT32 or if u just fire up the XP setup with data on the drive it shows FAT32, But a 0 out drive XP Setup will onley show NTFS in the format list

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 12:13 pm

Even if you've never experienced a complete FAT32 meltdown, if you've ever suffered even a lost cluster, I submit that FAT32 has failed you.

Warlock · Post by **Warlock** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 1:12 pm

Xciter wrote:Warlock, I've zero'd many a drive in my day and I have never seen XP only let use use NTFS... the only reason I could see this is if the drive was larger then FAT32 supports and your trying to use the entire drive as a single volume. Under WinXP I think the limit is 32 or 50GB's... now in that case I could see only NTFS being availible.

that might be it cause all the drives it did it with where 80+gb my comp is a 40 so that might be y