Help with partitioning problem/hard drive and WinXP

[SleepyGreggy]

I had just booted up my computer for the first time and then it asked me if i wanted to partition the drive. I figured by creating a partition of 18000mb it would automatically create a D:. I guess it did but I'm sure my problem is that I only formatted the C: to NTFS and I figure neglected formatting the new partition to NTFS as well. Therefore when I get into Windows it only sees my C: as 21GB and my optical drives. How should I remedy this problem to recover the rest of my storage space. This is a WD Raptor on a brand new installation of XP Home. Should I reformat and enter Windows setup again? WIll reactivation become a problem? Thanks..

 

[SleepyGreggy]

Guess everyone's out on the beach or firing up the barbie..

 

[SleepyGreggy]

Please help as I would like to correct this and continue installation of drivers, etc. No point in installing drivers if I need to reformat..

 

[13black]

You should be able to format it in Disk Management. It's in the computer management in the adminn tools.

 

[SleepyGreggy]

Ok, I found the partition. It says unallocated, how would I go about formatting it?

THanks

 

[13black]

To format a basic volume

Open Disk Management.
Right-click the partition, logical drive, or basic volume you want to format (or reformat), and then click Format.
Select the options you want, and then click OK.
Notes

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
To open Disk Management, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. In the console tree under Storage, click Disk Management.
You cannot format the system or boot partition.
Compression is supported only on NTFS volumes.
Quick format removes files from the disk but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Use this option only if this disk has been previously formatted and you are sure the disk is not damaged.
Additional information on file systems is available. If you are using Windows 2000 Professional, see the Windows 2000 Professional Getting Started online book. If you are using Windows 2000 Server, see Choosing between NTFS, FAT, and FAT32.

Edit: I got this from the windows help menu while in disk manager.

 

[SleepyGreggy]

When i right click it only gives me an option to partition the unallocated space? Any ideas on how to format?

 

[13black]

You have to create the partition before you can format it. If you were using fdisk you would have to create an extended dos partition, and then create logical dos drives in the extended partition. Then you could format it. You have space on your harddrive that is nothing, it's not even a partition yet so you can't format it.

 

[SleepyGreggy]

Thanks a lot 13black. I did it. Greatly appreciate yoru help.

 

[13black]

Cool, glad you got it formated. I have never used the Disk Management GUI myself. I either use fdisk or PartitionStare to set up before I install.