Can I delete an extra partition in Win98?

[music1111]

During a re-install, the hard drive kept the old partition and created another one. I did the format and partition process that came with the hard drive set up and I thought it wiped the whole thing clean. (simply because it said warning, this will erase everything on this drive). But it must not have becasue the hard drive does not show the full capacity anymore (it's 40 GB) Is there anyway to delete the other partition without doing another complete install on the hard drive? We don't really want to load allthe software again, but would like full use of the hard drive. I am obviously unexperienced in this are (but learning)

Thanks,
Christine

 

[WheeDoggy]

If you really do have an unwanted partition, Power Quest's Partition Magic should save you from a reinstall.

Rgds

 

[wolluf]

Not quite sure where you are from post. Are there 2 partitions on the machine? (eg, 2 hard drive letters?)
Could you explain how you partitioned and formatted drive to install 98. Normally you would boot from a win98 boot floppy and run fdisk from the A: dos prompt. Enable large drive support, then (if you just want one partition/drive) use the create partition function to create a primary partition using all space on drive. Then reboot and run format C: (from a: again). You say you used the utility that came with drive to partition and format it. Then during the reinstall? (previous installation on drive? - are we talking reinstalling 98 or running the utility to partition & format the drive again) - 'the hard drive kept the old partition and created another one'. This I don't understand. Win98 will only install into an existing partition (if you start install by booting from CD, it will format an existing unformatted partition, but it doesn't create a new partition).

All this aside, if you have 2 partitions and want to merge them, or one partition and some unused space and you want to expand to use all space, you will need to use third party software like Partition Magic (or backup, wipe all partitions and reinstall).

If you actually think you've 'lost' space from the drive, please post more details of what you actually did. You can run fdisk from a dos box in windows. Its got an option to display partition details - including free unused space. Try running this to find out what's on you hard drive.

 

[music1111]

Wolluf,

Here's more details. You might remember me from yesterday with the problem of trying to install Win2k and it getting hung. (Computer had Win98, went to update it to W2K and got hung so this is a clean install back to Win98) You suggeseted backup and a clean install (among other things) and that's what we decided to do. We stuck in the 98 Boot disc and powered up. When it got to DOS and the C prompt, we couldn't run fdisk (maybe we weren't typing it right or something but it wouldn't go) so I thought there was something wrong with the drive. We turned off and started again and then we tried reaching setup in DOS with also no success on any drive and it still would not boot to install. We couldn't get it to set up the hard drive and it kept trying to boot(install process) from the CD and it couldn't boot, it would get hung. So, I figured if we couldn't get fdisk to run, I could use the software that came with the hard drive to partition and format. So I popped in that floppy it said to pick drive for format. I picked C: and went to format and partition. It gave me the warning that all would be erased on the drive and I said OK. Next it said there were no bootables on the hard drive so we popped in the 98 floppy and installed those. Then it continued with installation and we continued to install with CD rom support (option 1). Finally, it started to boot and we got the ScanDisk blue screen. It then said that C: had some (I forget the exact wording) but something like configuration errors do you want Windows to fix? I said yes and it went to the Win98 setup window. Whew! Thought we had it. But now the hard drive isn't named like it was (It's a Maxtor Drive). It says something like C 01 (I am not at the computer now). And instead of showing the 37 GB usually available, it shows 31. Something is on there so I thought it was another partition, but we can't see anything on the drive except what we installed.

Thanks,
Christine

 

[wolluf]

Did you run fdisk from dos box like I suggested, to view details of the partitions & free space? (I'm assuming you have got win98 running? - if not you can run it after booting from win98 boot floppy).

Assuming space is there, you will need something like Partition Magic to create one big partition without reinstalling.

 

[BeenThereDoneThat]

wolluf:

This is outside my field of knowledge but

1. User installed 98 and is having scandisk errors.
2. User can't actually see a 2nd partition, just assumes it.
3. Windows only sees about 32 gigs.

Microsoft reports similar problems with some makes of bios.
Could this be what is happening? There may or may not be a fix located at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;243450

 

[music1111]

Wolluf, couldn't run fdisk. Thanks for the info about Partition Magic.

BeenThereDoneThat,

Thanks for the interesting info. Now, it says this is a problem if you use the PHONENIX Bios and not LBA. I remember looking at the hard drive config in the Bios and it said LBA. Does that mean that this fix won't help me? Would it hurt to try? Not sure what the limitation is exactly. (the limitation wasnt't there before the reinstall).

Thanks everyone for their input.
Christine

 

[music1111]

2nd question...is there a way to confirm (or rule out) that there is indeed another partition on the drive? If I can confirm that is not the case, I know to look for other options.

(and since it wouldn't run, you just type fdisk that the C: prompt to run fdisk right?????)

Confused but learning,
Christine

 

[WheeDoggy]

music1111-

Take a look at the link posted by BeenThereDoneThat.

Also,

You may find an extra drive in My Computer to verify an extra partition or you may use fdisk.

Fdisk, should be on your Win 98 boot disk (compressed within EBD.cab), command is recognized from A:OR
Should be in C:\Windows\Command
Rgds

 

[WheeDoggy]

Forgot........... In FDISK, you can verify an extra partition.

Ar
C:\Windows\Command
Type FDISK

Select Y for large disk support.

Select Option 4

 

[music1111]

Wheedoggy,

typing the fdisk command doesn't make you reformat the hard drive does it?

Christine

 

[WheeDoggy]

No.....

fdisk.exe creates/deletes partitions.
You can type fdisk without damaging anything as long as you do not delete any partitions.
When you go in to fdisk you will see the menues and have a better understanding.
Follow instructions from previous post.
ONLY choose option 4 "Display Partition Information"
ESC to get out of there.

format.com will do the formatting.

 

[music1111]

Thanks for the info! I will try that.

Christine