Partitioning using XP

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kevinfrey

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I'm building a new machine and will be using XP oem. I've gotten some "how to" tutorials about XP from the internet, but they are all pretty vague when it comes to partitions. I want to partition my 80gig drive into 5 equal partitions. I do not want to purchase or use a 3rd party software like Partition Magic. Will I be able to partition my drive using the utilities of WinXP? If so, could you tell me in a step by step way. This computer is my first build, and I have never installed an OS before. The components I will be using are as follows.

Soyo SY-KT333 Dragon Ultra Platinum Edition Via KT333
AMD Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73GHz Processor Retail w/Fan and Heatsink
Gainward GeForce4 PowerPack! Ultra/650XP Golden SampleTi4200
2 times Kingston 512MB DDR333 PC2700 Memory
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition WD800JB 80GB ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
Liteon LTD163 16x DVD
Lite On 40X12X48 CDRW Model: LTR40125S
SONY CRT MONITOR Multiscan® E540 21"
Floppy Drive
Creative Blaster V92 PCI Modem
WindowsXP Home Edition
Antec PLUS660 w/350W

Thanks,
kev
 
You will be able to create partitions during the early part of XP installation. Just read and follow the directions.
 
Yea mate, it will talk you through it all,

Why so many partitions?

SkaZZy:D
 
Originally posted by skazzyuk
Yea mate, it will talk you through it all,

Why so many partitions?

SkaZZy:D
Why not? Partitioning is a personal choice - let's not make him second guess himself ;)
 
kevin, according to this article, xp can only partitioninto 4 parts.

here's the paragraph;

Disk Partitions
You can create partitions to organize information—for example, to back up data—or to install more than one operating system on your computer. A hard disk can contain up to four partitions...


unless this article is wrong, you will need a third party program
 
Originally posted by dealer
kevin, according to this article, xp can only partitioninto 4 parts.

here's the paragraph;

Disk Partitions
You can create partitions to organize information—for example, to back up data—or to install more than one operating system on your computer. A hard disk can contain up to four partitions...


unless this article is wrong, you will need a third party program

That's partitions NOT logical drives, I belive you can put as many logical drives as you need on an extended partition
 
Originally posted by rettahc
That's partitions NOT logical drives, I belive you can put as many logical drives as you need on an extended partition

makes sense...I don't partition, and have no practical knowledge of this...thanx the correction
 
yup just chop it up any old way u like just follow the instructions that xp tells u to do.no need for floppys or dos like some might tell you :p
 
Thanks for all the help. Why so many partitions?
1. Organization
2. Keeping the default cluster size down.

drive C will be my system drive, containing the operating system + whatever programs that insist on being placed here.
drive D is for data and "my documents"
drive E is for programs
drive F is sights
drive G is sounds

The cluster size issue will give me more room on my hard drive, or so I've read .

I just joined this forum and am very impressed with the number of topics as well as the number of seemingly knowlegable people who are here at any given time. I'll be posting more questions soon.
Thanks,
kev25
 
kevin what are you going to use for a file system with your install of XP? I would recommend using NTFS for the file system instead of FAT32 and if you use NTFS I would go with three partitions. One for Windows, one for programs and the last one for data, sights, sounds, and anything else, FAT32 as a bit better performance but is not as stable as NTFS. Also I feel that the size of each of the partitions is a little small and before you know it you could out grow the small partition's.
 
Chastity - he's using NTFS - he said he wants to control cluster size.

And I'm curious how you could say his partitions are too small without knowing what size he intends for each?
 
the custer size is more of a matter of the file system and as you know you can do more with it in NTFS as far as cluster size goes then with FAT16 or FAT32. Also yes he said he wanted to control custer size but nowhere did he say that the file system was going to be NTFS. So my question as to the file system he is planning on using is valid. THats easy he said he wants 5 equal size partition's and he said that he as an 80 gig hard drive so I did the math
 
Yep - my mistake Chastity. I could have sworn he said NTFS in his first post - where he also says "equal partitions" - I mssed that too. Oops.:eek:
 
yes, I'm useing ntfs. 5 equal partitions will make each partition less than 16gig, which will give me a default cluster size of16kiB. I'd have to make smaller and more partitions to bring the default size down to the next level. 5 is enough for me since i also have a "removable" flash card drive which came with my soyo mobo as well as dvd drive and cdw drive as well as a virtual drive program which i use for running games and things from my hard drive. On the computer i'm using now, i have drives A thru S.
Sooo, i think that 5 partitions will give me a good balance between conserving space and keeping track of what i have.
I got some of my infomation from http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntfs/archCluster-c.html
Tell me if what i'm doing doesn't make any sense, "a little knowlege can be a dangerious thing". But even if i'm way off base with the cluster size thing, i want the partitions to keep my stuff organized. CHASTITY, will 3 partitions give me any more benefits other than the out growth thing? I figure I can always add another drive if I fill it up. But, since I have a cdw, i'm always removing stuff that I havent used in a while.
Thanks to all of you for the helpfull information. This forum rocks!
kev25
 
The maximum default cluster size under Windows XP is 4 kilobytes (KB) because NTFS file compression is not possible on drives with a larger allocation size. The Format utility never uses clusters that are larger than 4 KB unless you specifically override that default
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q314878&

I have a personal dislike for NTFS

Unless your needs have out grown FAT32 you dont need NTFS

XP is still a solid OS regardless of the filing system

To get a default cluster size of 4KB on FAT32 Keep the Partition size to less than 8 x gig

For the rest of the FAT32 partitions keep them less than 32 x gig

:cool:
 
I'm not too clued up about NTFS and was wondering the following.
I see from one reply if using FAT32 to keep partitions below 32gb.

I currently have 2 x 80GB HD's both formatted with one partition each using FAT32 with Win XP Pro on C: drive and the other drive being used for data storage etc.
People say about NTFS and i was considering reformatting both drives to NTFS.
This is my problem
I currently run 3 machines on a network 1 x WIN XP Pro and 2 x Win ME (1 IS A LAPTOP) via a hub running ICS for my ADSL conection.
I have been told that if i convert to NTFS the Win ME machines will not be able to access the Win XP machine over the network, but the XP machine will be able to access both the Win ME machines.

Can i remain with my 2 HD's formatted at 80GB each in FAT32 or will this cause problems in the future. If not what are my other alternatives, i heard that you are legally aloud to install WIN XP Pro on a main machine with a copy on a laptop, can anyone verify this for me?
 
Originally posted by TwoZigzagColt45

I have a personal dislike for NTFS

Unless your needs have out grown FAT32 you dont need NTFS

XP is still a solid OS regardless of the filing system

:cool:
Gee twoZ - I'm sorry to hear you say that. You lose a great deal of XP's benefits by not using ntfs. It is certainly more stable than FAT, but more important are the security controls / options you give up.

There really is no downside to ntfs unless you have a fairly slow processor.
 
80 GIG drive wont work to well on a FAT32 file-ing system!!
 
Well to try to answer Cooperman question. I beleive that Windows Me can see NTFS partitons and be able to do something with it. So if you need the security controls / options that is offered with NTFS by all means redo the partitions using NTFS. As far as being able to install a copy of XP on more then one machine well legally no you can't install it on more then one machine but if you want to I'm sure you can find an answer via google
 
Cooperman, this is directly from MicroSquish's Product Support Services:

Q: Does Windows Me support NTFS?

NTFS is not directly supported under Windows Me. NTFS volumes can be accessed only by Windows NT locally. If Windows Me is installed on a computer already running Windows NT with an NTFS volume, it cannot access any information stored on the volume. However, Windows Me can access NTFS volumes across a network connection.
 

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