Changing partition sizes

[doodyrh 0]

Before I wreck my PC may I run this one by the tons of prime grey matter out there.

 

I have three FAT32 partitions for 98SE, XP and data and want to juggle the relative sizes. Will PartitionMagic 5 be ok for this of should I upgrade to 7 which claims XP support? I'll be running PM under 98.

 

(Bonus question: the XP partition ended up as drive H:. Is there a way to change this to D: matching the 98 boot without starting from scratch?)

 

Thanks

Robin

[XD_Andy 0]

Ok...this I can help with.

 

First, you *can* use partition magic 5 on your current setup, BUT you will only be able to use it from your Win98 partition. If you need to use it from your XP partition, then upgrade.

 

Second, some tips. DO NOT let XP and 98 see each other. This means USE Bootmagic to select the partition you want to use. What will happen is that if you use 98, XP will be hidden and vica-versa. THIS IS ESSENTIAL.

 

To resolve your drive name issue's do not follow the above advice. All that happens there is that windows 'remaps' the drive letters internally. It does not rename the logical drive letters.

 

How to do it? Well, use partition magic to creat the following. 2 primary partitions AT THE START OF THE DISC (I recommend putting your 98 Partition first - give it at least 1.5 Gig - then your XP partition as the second - give it at least 2.5 Gig!!!), then your extended partition. This ensures that which ever primary partition you boot from (XP or 98) will be the 'C' drive, and your data partition will always be 'D'.

 

To install XP, first MAKE sure you have boot magic installed and running and a boot magic rescue disc made up. Then make sure your 98 partition is set as 'default' in boot magic, and reboot. Boot into your 98 partition again, then disable bootmagic. Reboot. Boot into 98 again (by this time Bootmagic should NOT load at boot) and use partition magic to set the second (hidden) partition as active - this will be the partition you want to put XP into.

 

I would strongly recommend you use the partition sizes above, because you cannot resize NTFS partitions (if you go that route with XP)once set up.

 

Now reboot again....and you should find your computer tries to boot to the partition for XP.....with nothing there, the computer will hang after POST.

 

Set bios to boot from CDRom before hard drive, and put your XP disc in CDRo drive.....reboot.

 

Follow instructions for XP installation.....it'll ask you WHICH partition you want to install into AND which file format (FAT32 or NTFS) you want to use. I recomment NTFS (faster) and you CAN still read FAT32 partitions if you use NTFS for XP. Make sure you install into correct partition...look at partition locations CAREFULLY, but ignore the drive letterings it gives you. They will not matter. You should be installing to something like 'pri-2' but either may, just remember the size of your drives as a guide.

 

XP will then install, reboot a few times, and then WORK...it is great.

 

Once fully installed, reboot, and ensure you can boot from floppy in bios, and then boot pc using the Boot Magic rescue disc. Follow instructions to re-enable and set up boot magic.

 

You should now be able to use BOTH partitions from boot magic.

 

Reasons for the above?

 

If you do not disable boot magic, the MBR will be overwritten by XP, and you could loose access to your 98 partition.

 

If you install XP from CD with your 98 partition active and visible, the XP installer WILL recognise it (otherwise it is listed as unknown partition format) and then assume the partition to be visible, and right some of the XP loader code there. This will render boot magic inoperative, and make XP unbootable.

 

2 primary partitions.....98 needs to be in a primary partition to boot, and whils XP doesn't, it has to have the XP loader in a primary partition.

 

Long winded I know, but it will work. I currently use a 3 hard drive system.....my primary hard drive has 4 primary partitions only; 2 Win Me, 2 Win XP; NO extended partitions. Drives 2 and 3 are data drives, and are formatted using Partition magic so they ONLY contain a single extended partition with multiple logical drives. This way I can swap out my Primary drive (if needed) without affecting drive letters on my data drives!!!

 

Have fun and BACK UP important data first!

 

E-mail more if more advice needed.

 

Andy ;-)

[doodyrh 0]

Many thanks AlecStaar and XD_Andy,

Your help is much appreciated.

 

In a fit of recklessness I successfully resized the three partitions running PM5 from the 98 side. Phew! I guessed it'd be no problem since they're all FAT32.

 

I may be pushing my luck with the drive letter change. Will report back if I do it.

 

Thanks again

Robin