Members LiveMusic Posted August 26, 2005 Members Posted August 26, 2005 Long story, short: I had tried in vain to continue using Linux Xandros (which went squirrelly over a year), could not, then tried in vain to chuck that and go to Linux Mepis. Finally gave up on that after about a week trying with an expert. While configuring (via the expert's instructions), he had me reformat and then create two partitions. I did that part and it worked. This was designated on E drive. One was 5.05GB and the other was 4GB or thereabouts, IIRC. I guess some was left on C drive. When I threw that out the window, I installed WinXp Pro. All is well except I ran out of space very quickly on the 5.05GB E drive. Question is, what happened to the other 4GB in the other partition? Is it accessible? I can't find it but I'm no expert. It shows: Local C22MB used354 MB free376 MB capacity Local E4.66GB used422MB free5.05GB capacity Yes, I need another laptop or an external HD but I have no funds for that now. Can I get to the other partition or do I need to reformat and start over or what? Thanks. EDIT: This is Dell Inspiron 7500 laptop, I think 256MB RAM, 11GB HD.
Members Dylan Walters Posted August 26, 2005 Members Posted August 26, 2005 You probably just need to nuke the partition either using a Windows 98/ME boot disk (www.bootdisk.com) or from the XP Disk Manager. Right-click the My Computer Icon and the choose 'Manager'. You'll see Disk Manager as an option on the left.
Members phaeton Posted August 26, 2005 Members Posted August 26, 2005 Dylan Beat me to it. I Imagine the XP setup disk can nuke partitions, and the cfdisk from any linux disk can do it too. Or you can do it from within windows w/o disturbing your current installation. Sorry you had so much trouble with Linux. I've never used those distributions, though.
Members LiveMusic Posted August 26, 2005 Author Members Posted August 26, 2005 Hey thanks, I see I have 5.82GB there! It says 0% used, 100% free, "unknown partition." When you say "nuke it," what exactly do you mean? And after I "nuke it," then that's that? I mean, will it join the other GB on the rest of E drive?
Members AudioMaverick Posted August 26, 2005 Members Posted August 26, 2005 What is your laptop brand? It could be the diagnostic partition. But, it could also be the old Linux Boot Loader partition (LILO or Grub). If it is the diagnostic partition, don't touch it. If it is the Linux boot loader partition, you may stop booting. Find a techy in your area and have them check that partition, before you blow it. If you don't mind destroying everything on that drive nd staarting over, send me an email or PM. I'll hook you up with a very destructive file. I mean as in not worth thetime or money to get it back.
Members franknputer Posted August 27, 2005 Members Posted August 27, 2005 How the hell did you end up with Win XP installed on only 22 MB?!? But anyway...in Disk Manager, you can choose to Format the unknown partition. That will give you a new volume, that will probably show up as an F: drive. I don't think you can merge them with Windows' management tools - you'll need a 3rd-party application to do that. (I use Partition Commander myself, check www.v-com.com if that interests you.) BTW - Check your PMs.
Members Dylan Walters Posted August 27, 2005 Members Posted August 27, 2005 Originally posted by franknputer How the hell did you end up with Win XP installed on only 22 MB?!? Good question! I missed that the first time around. XP will not install with less than 1.5 GB unless you know the switch to get around it.
Members AudioMaverick Posted August 27, 2005 Members Posted August 27, 2005 Like I mentioned, above... I think it's a diagnostice partition or part of a Linux boot loader. I would not suggest blowing anything away without an experienced person checking it out.
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