How to partition Disc in Windows 98/ME/2000/XP

Partitioning discs

A partitioned disk is not used by the operating system,therefore partitioning is an essential.
Partitioning a disk is divided into many parts, but simply define the space in it usable for details on how and why the partitioning.
I remember that the cancellation of an existing partition will lose the visibility of data, but these remain on the disc and are recoverable, less than overwrite the disk or subsequent installations already made.

Depending on the operating system that you have the procedures change, so you must make some distinctions between different operating systems
The transactions described however are not interchangeable and "exclusive", ie that these operations, related to simple partitioning are used indiscriminately before the operating system (or even to create a disc without SO) without restrictions or limitations on facilities later
In practice the partition created using an operating system is valid and recognized by other operating systems

NOTE: This article discusses non-commercial or freeware programs that perform partitioning, but partitioning with the tools inherent in operating systems.

Windows 98 / Windows ME

must first start the system with the installation CD, after setting bios on the motherboard to boot from CD ROM, is' can start from floppy recovery, created by Windows 98 itself, but this is not necessary if you have the CD
By the way: if you can not delete partitions, for whatever reason, it is always possible with a CD of Windows 2000 or Windows XP (see chapter)

We distinguish some cases:
New disc, single partition (the entire space on the disc)
This is the simplest case, it just boot into the operating system CD and on the menu that appears: "Starting from CD ROM"> Installing Windows 98/ME .... "

Will be presented generally a signal of disk failure or non-partitioned; confirm the installation and let go: automatically creates a partition comprising all the space on the disc and will be asked to reboot the system
When you restart repeat the previous choices and this time will be asked to format the disk, an operation to be confirmed ... .. to continue the installation of SO You can still operate as described below, if you want to create more than one partition on the disk

Disk / partition the existing s new disc to be divided into multiple partitions
Boot from CD, menu, choose "Start from CD ROM" and then "Start with CD ROM"
At the DOS prompt A \> type FDISK> sending
There is a menu with items 4, through which you can delete existing partitions and create new ones, using the options provided
If there is one primary partition and an extended, that can be extended canceled only after delete the logical drives within it
If there are partitions or logical drives with NTFS or not the type FATxx, they have to be eliminated through the "Delete non-DOS partition"

New disc, added to existing disc
In case of adding new disc, the operations to be performed are the same when dealing with a disc already partitioned from "clean"
In this case, the menu is an option in FDISK more: The No. 5 "Selection Disc"
This switch will choose the new disc and you can make partitioning

Disco already partitioned, added to existing disc
Even in this case the transactions are always the same, with the choice of the disk on which to work through the menu option 5 to FDISK must be careful in this case, the disk where you go to work, to avoid "clean up" the startup disk

In the case of these two operating systems operation partitioning occurs generally during the installation of the operating system itself, such as operation of the installation, without rebooting the system Again there are more cases to distinguish:

New disc to install SO...
Start the system with CD and wait to be presented the "map" of the disc, which will appear as a single space "damaged or not allocated" Using the options at the bottom of the screen, "C" and "D", you can create all the partitions you want and / or even delete and recreate them in case of errors When finished, you select the partition on which to install and press send At the next screen will be asked how to format the partition, but if the partition is over 32GB the only available option is NTFS, because they do not allow SO FAT32 partitions for excess (although they are able to manage them if they already exist) Any other partitions will be formatted directly at the conclusion of the operating system from My Computer> right click> formats NB: an 8 MB partition is automatically created during this operation and whether the reserve system for ... I do not know exactly ...

With existing disk partitions (or reinstall new partitioning)
Start the system with CD and on the request, select "New Installation" Will be presented the partition map on your disk and you can proceed with the cancellation and create partitions using the options "D" and "C" (see the bottom of the screen) Highlight the partition then choose to install and carry, will ask the type of formatting to perform on the partition.
Any other partitions will be formatted directly at the conclusion of the operating system from My Computer> right click> formats
NOTE: If you want to reinstall the same OS, while striking, sometimes the system stores the presence of the previous installation and automatically creates a dual boot (even if either one is obviously not working). If you do not want to "risk", after the cancellation of the existing partitions, you can stop by pressing F3 and restarting the system. From this point for us behave as a new disc.

Second disc (not start)
In the case of the second disc (or discs generally do not boot), with system initiated by other disk, you can run directly from SO
Enter into Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management> Disk Management: will be presented the situation of existing devices When required the creation of disc-morrow, cancel the request (used to create a RAID software on that disc) When asked to "sign" on the disc, and continue to respond positively With the right button on the partition you can delete the existing ones and create new ones, then specifying the file system to be created (by formatting)

IMPORTANT NOTE

• FDISK could have trouble managing very large disks, higher to 130 GB
  
• In this case you will have to resort to other means partitioning (use a CD W2000 or XP, for example), unless you can divide the disk partition size recognized by FDISK
  
• For disks larger than 128 GB, if your motherboard can not handle this dimension, you create a partition (or partitions) up to the limit allowed by the board itself (in case of installing OS on disc new).
  
• After installing the operating system and updates (SP4 for W2000 / or Sp1 for XP SP2), the disc will be recognized for its full capacity (if these updates are already embedded operating system when the problem obviously is not poses) Obviously, the existing partition (or partitions) will not be automatically resized, so the disk will be the newly created partition and an additional unallocated space
  
• The situation is ascertained on Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management> Disk Management
  
• The choice is whether to make a new partition or incorporate that area into an existing partition, but it is only possible using programs like Partition Magic or similar,One solution, if you still want to split your disk into two or more partitions, is to initially create the first partition and the other to create complete operating system directly from the "Disk Management"
  
• If you have uninstalled LINUX and deleted the partitions, may not be able to use the disc and to have errors or even appear to see an attempt to start LILO to post the bios. In this case you must start your system with a CD of Windows 98 or ME> booting from CD ROM> start with CD> to a DOS prompt, type FDISK / MBR In any case in which the proceeding is hindered by a situation not clear the disc in question (not Windows CE or other) and can not be solved even with the transaction described above, it will be advisable to make a low-level formatting, through utilities provided by the manufacturers.