Got my IBM 75GXP 45gb. How should I partition it?

[Eli]

How should I do it?

I'm running Windows 2000. I'm going to Dualboot with Win95 maybe upgrading to (try) WinME. Here's what I thought, and my questions.

C:\ - Windows 2000
D:\ - 2nd OS
E:\ - Programs

What File Systems should I use for each partition(And is this setup a good idea)?

 

[Eli]

Damnit, someone answer I want to install this thing

 

[3615buck]

NTFS for 2000
FAT 32 for 95/98/me
FAT 32 for E:

 

[TwoFace]

The easiest way to dual boot with win9x and win2k is to install the win9x OS first, it thus get's your C: drive but that doesn't really matter. Once the 9x is up you can pop in the win2k cd and make sure not to chose upgrade, this will bring you to the menus that allow you to install win2k as a second OS. One caution, make sure you tick the option for choosing what partition win2k will be on!

3615buck covered the filesystems nicely!

Good luck!

Two-Face

 

[Eli]

Hmm. Why would it be easier?

Oh. Because when you install Win2000, it sets up dualboot automatically? <G>

Hmm. Blah. I didn't want Win9x on C:\ though. Does it really matter? I guess not.

 

[TwoFace]

Since win9x don't have the ability to &quot;sense&quot; the other OS... if you do it the way I describe win2k will even make the bootmenu for ya... if you wanna do it any other way you'll have to do all that stuff yourself, including making two bootable partitions in fdisk or whatever partitioning tool you're using... &quot;my way&quot; is a once over and works great everytime! At least it has for me

Two-Face

 

[TwoFace]

Heh, I see you figured it out on your own

It's just a matter of preference... I'm lazy and don't care to do it the hard way, but it should be perfectly possible to do it the &quot;hard way&quot; too... It's really up to you!

Two-Face

 

[Eli]

I see. Okay, so run the steps by me again? I want to do this right.


Here's my plan: I'm going to stick the new HDD in as secondary, and copy the Win2000 install onto it. (I don't have a CD, I guess I could burn one, but last time I tried to burn the Win9x install files onto a CD, the install would screw up.

 

[TwoFace]

First it would be nice to know if you can clear the entire HD, if so here's the way I'd do it:

1. Remove all existing partitions
2. Make one partition for win9x, I use 1.5GB since I install programs on another partition, but the size is up to you
3. Install win9x
4. In win9x pop in the win2k cd and let it start the installation... make sure to tick the option that lets you choose what partition to install win2k on!
5. win2k-installation will let you make a partition to install win2k on (NTFS is a good choice), here too size is up to you (I've got 1.5GB but I think that's a little small)
6. Partition the rest of your drive in win2k since that gives you greater flexibility

That should be about it... everything should be running smoothly

Good luck

Two-Face

 

[Eli]

Yeah. I just bought the drive this morning. It's still sealed in the static baggy.



Do I need a Utility to disable ATA/100? It's going on a Promise/66

 

[TwoFace]

I just reread your posts... you're already running win2k right? That makes things a little easier... you can as you've said use it as a secondary HD and partition it there. One thing about partitioning, I don't know about you, but I've always felt more comfortable with primary partitions than extended ones. The reason for this is that as far as I know a primary partition is a seperate part of the HD while an extended partition with several partitions in it is just one large partition physically. I like the fact that even tho' one part of the HD gets corrupted I can still use the other parts, or that's my idea at least Now back ON-topic, the nice thing about win2k is that it allows you to make 4 (four) primary partitions whereas win9x only allows you to make 1 (one), thus you can now partition your drive in win2k (and I would at least give each OS it's own primary partition if it isn't a requirement!) and subsequentely just start using it, ie installing OS's

This way you might even save some time since the partitions will be just perfect for you before you start installing on them!

Good luck, gotta take lunch now

Two-Face

 

[Eli]

Hmm. How the heck do I create the partition? I went into Administrative Tools, and then Computer management, and went to Disk Management. The drive is there, but when I right click, Create Partition is greyed out.

Do you think it has anything to do with the IBM drive being on the Promise/66?

 

[TwoFace]

You have to do something called &quot;drive signing&quot; or something like that... I don't fully remember what it's called... could be something with &quot;drive id&quot; or something too... After that you should be set, since I can't imagine that it should have anything to do with the controller it's on!

Two-Face

 

[Eli]

LOL, I've been sitting here going &quot;WTF do I do..&quot; for the last like half an hour :Q

Then you tell me what I've been wondering the whole time. I do it, and it works. heh.

 

[Eli]

Okay, making the 1st partition now, for Win9x. I made it 1.5gb. Should I use Default cluster size, or pick one? (I was going to pick 4096)

 

[TwoFace]

I think that's the default cluster size anyway Just double check that the partition isn't NTFS since win9x isn't particularly fond of that

Nice to hear that it works tho'

Two-Face

 

[Eli]

I think I'll make the Win2k Partition 2gb.

(went to get a midnight snack...)


Damn munchies..

 

[Eli]

Hmmm. When I got done formatting the remaining drive(after like 30 mins...), I got an error &quot;Volume Size is too big.&quot; And it's not formatted.


Whats up?

Did I hit FAT32's limit? I thought it was 80gb or something like that. The partition is only ~40gb..

 

[Eli]

Well, I gotta work tomorrow, so I'm going to go to bed. It's 4am...

I'll work things out tomorrow..

 

[TwoFace]

I've done some searching, and it seems like FAT32 should be able to handle partitions up to 2TB of data... very strange that you got that error... I must admit I'm kinda stumped on that one... Hopefully someone else will come in and help out!

Good night

Two-Face

 

[yathinkicare]

just fdisk it in dos and setup your partitons that way.. much easier....

you can always convert the win2k partition to ntfs if you want but you will loose performance due to the security enbedded it it...