hard-drive formating to remove the drive split

[Unregistered]

Hello

I have a question regarding formatting my Maxtor hard disk c: drive. Using xp operating system.

Earlier, the hard disk c: drive has been split, in MSDOS, (if I remember correctly a floppy disk was used) into 2 disks, into c: and d: drives. The total hard drive has 20GB which, c: drive has 5.9GB and the d: has 13.7 gb. As the c: drive is full I wish to format the c: drive in order to remove the split of the c: and d: drives and only to have the c:.

I tried to do format via XP but it dopes not work. I was told that I have to do it via msdos with a start-up disk. As I don’t have it my self would it work if I get a start-up disk for xp from a friend of mine? If so what should I do next?

Would very much appreciate your kind reply and help.

[dparm]

Norton PartitionMagic should let you re-join the two parts without the need for reformatting. You can buy it at CompUSA for about $20.

[powellm]

If you want to re-format, you'll need to delete both partitions first. You'll lose all the data, but you can then partition and format the whole drive.

[abudhu]

I agree with both of my fellow posters. If you want to keep 100% of your data then PartitionMagic is the way to go. You can also backup the Important data on your HD, and you should have been able to delete and format the partitions through the XP CD.

In regards to the latter, is this is pre-built computer or a custom-built? If it is custom-built then I take it you had to purchase the XP CD? If so, there should have been an option where it the install ask you "Do you want a fresh copy of Windows?" (Yes). You should have then been brought to a screen showing your the current HD partitions. You would have then been able to select each one, Delete it, and repartition. Odd. I may investigate as to why you did not recieve or see this screens. If it was a pre-built then I don't believe those usually come with any partitioning scheme or ability to do it, which is sad. Thus is life.

Let us know how it goes and if you need anymore help.

[Unregistered]

Norton PartitionMagic should let you re-join the two parts without the need for reformatting. You can buy it at CompUSA for about $20.


many thanks for your suggestion.

regards

[Unregistered]

If you want to re-format, you'll need to delete both partitions first. You'll lose all the data, but you can then partition and format the whole drive.


many thanks for your suggestion. will apply your suggestions as i wish to format it. hopefully i will be able to do it.

regards

[Unregistered]

I managed to fix and to remove the split. The way it was suggested i could not fix it, so i used the msdos startup disk and removed the split from there. then as i could not upload the xp, first i installed the windows 98 operating system, and after that instaled the xp o.s. by instaling the xp it has removedthe windows 98. so the split gone in the c: drive, and also formated the drive. it may sound bit bizar that i have done it in such a way, but regretfully i could not do it in the way you guys kindly suggested. but anyway i wish to thank you for your kindness in trying to help me.

regards.
e.