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Formatting & Partitioning Hard Disks in Windows XP

C

CotswoldCS

Senior member
I have grown up with computers since the good old (?) MS-DOS days and am used to using commands such as FDISK and FORMAT to configure a hard disk, format a drive, or setup partitions.

How can this be done with WindowsXP since there is no "Command Prompt Only" option when I want to bypass the operating system? I can use an old boot disk or boot CD, but I imagine that there must be a newer way which may be simpler or better in some way. ???

Any ideas? I feel the need to move with the times (although I shall miss MS-DOS!!!)

 
" I imagine that there must be a newer way which may be simpler or better in some way. ???"

the simpler way is to use a program like Partition Magic! 😉
 
Control Panel - Administration - computer/system administration.
Then click on disk management, init the new disk, partition and format.

Sorry if the terms seems unclear, as I am trying to translate from the danish WinXP.
 
As was said, go to "Computer Management" in the Administrative Tools portion of Control Panel. Even simpler, right-click on "My Computer" and choose "Manage." Once there, use the Disk Management tool to do everything you need. You can format, partition, change drive letters, all the good stuff.
 
Thanks for your help. Now I see - I'm sure I'll get used to the new method. Looked complicated at first but seems pretty straightforward. Is it any quicker than doing it through DOS?

As for Partition Magic - I love the program but use an old version (v4) which works great for Windows 9x but can't get it to work under XP because if I boot into DOS from a Windows or DOS boot disk I cannot see any NTFS partitions. Is there any way of creating a boot disk that can detect NTFS partitions. I am considering upgrading to the new version but don't want to spend the money just yet. It would be great if I could carry on using my old version if possible.
 
Yes, it's actually faster doing it through Windows XP. The 32-bit drivers are a lot faster than the old-fashioned DOS way.
 
Yeah the 2k/XP way of formatting and partitioning disks is quick and easy....and if you want to do anything later a bit more complex then Partition Magic 7/8 will allow you to resize, merge etc.

Corm
 
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