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| Thread ID: 53677 | 2005-01-24 05:36:00 | Laptop opsys/partition woes | Greg (193) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 317501 | 2005-01-24 05:36:00 | Just got the new notebook PC and confronted with a few issues to do with file system and partitioning: 1) It's come with XP Home and only a Recovery Disk :horrified . 2) It's been formatted in two odd sized partitions (plus a small Recovery partition). 3) Partitions are formatted into Fat32. I want to change the partition sizes, and reformat into NTFS before I install my software. How? Is it possible? I'd like to keep XP Home on the system in the belief that it's less memory intensive than Pro, but if I can't sort it I'll have to install Pro, which'll be a bugger because I can't recoup my wasted money on Home. Thanks for any help. ps - I got the machine from PC Tronix in Onehunga, Auckland. So far the deal has been unsatisfactory, but I'll report back more tomorrow after they're supposed to rectify another grumble. |
Greg (193) | ||
| 317502 | 2005-01-24 05:52:00 | You can use Partition Magic for resizing the partitions non-destructively (and it can convert FAT32 -> NTFS IIRC). If you don't have Partition Magic (or similar), you can download a Partition Magic clone called QTParted which is part of this bootable live-CD System rescue CD (www.sysresccd.org/), which can also do this. To change your FAT32 to NTFS, you can also use the built in MS tool - see here (http:) for more information. | Jen (38) | ||
| 317503 | 2005-01-24 05:55:00 | If you purchased an Asus then there will be a shortcut on the desktop for chaning the drive from fat32 to NTFS. Other then that,you can do it from the cmd line,XP help files lists the process for doing so. |
Metla (12) | ||
| 317504 | 2005-01-24 06:17:00 | Thanks folks. Sounds sweet. | Greg (193) | ||
| 317505 | 2005-01-24 06:42:00 | the utilty Jen and Metla are talking about (for converting from fat to ntfs) is "convert" and is run from the cmd line, type convert/? to see the help files for this. I beleive Qpart is also on the Knoppix live CD at least it is on mine | beama (111) | ||
| 317506 | 2005-01-24 09:38:00 | If you don't have Partition Magic (or similar), you can download a Partition Magic clone called QTParted which is part of this bootable live-CD System rescue CD (http://www.sysresccd.org/) Umm... just checked out QTParted - how can a partition programme designed for Linux, and still unstable, be expected to work for XP? Is it possible to re-install XP Home with customised partition sizes using the Restore Disk? |
Greg (193) | ||
| 317507 | 2005-01-24 09:53:00 | Umm... just checked out QTParted - how can a partition programme designed for Linux, and still unstable, be expected to work for XP?The system rescue CD is a bootable Linux disc designed for system rescue's, whether Windows or Linux. The QTParted is a Linux program, but as it all runs off the live CD it doesn't matter what OS it is being used on. I've used it to resize NTFS partitions before. Has a really nice GUI and it is easy to use. You can see some screenshots here (qtparted.sourceforge.net). As with any non-destructive repartitioning tool, there is a risk to the data, so anything important should be backed up first. Seeing as this is a newly installed OS, you can't really go too wrong with it. :) From the FAQ on the QTParted homepage: Q: Is it safe the release 0.4-beta? A: Yes, you can use it... i think that it is stable as the 0.3.X, however there are again some thing to fix, this is the reason why i call it "beta". |
Jen (38) | ||
| 317508 | 2005-01-24 10:56:00 | Cheers Jen. You're right, there's no data as yet so I'll give it a go. | Greg (193) | ||
| 317509 | 2005-01-25 21:42:00 | Just some feedback from my experience of converting file system to NTFS: Using the built-in Asus file-converter is a simple way of converting multiple partitions, but basically it's the same as MS's method (here (www.microsoft.com)) linked to by Jen. Neither method would work at first, and from the error messages I gathered that it was because Windows was active. I selected the option to do it at next start-up and all was sweet. The process didn't change the Recovery partition. The process took less than 5 minutes and seems to have gone without a hitch. Thanks again folks. ps I luuuurve this lappie! The missus is gonna struggle to keep it! :thumbs: |
Greg (193) | ||
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