Some help with Disk Management /partitioning HDs larger than 80 gigs in Win2K

[Jerry]

Some help with Disk Management /partitioning HDs larger than 80 gigs in Win2K

I am quite familiar with having used Partition Magic to do disk management and the like. However, it appear that PM ver 7 ? the latest ? will not operate on HDs larger than 80 gigs. We have just physically installed a 120 gig Western Digital drive.

The BIOS and Win2K both accurately recognize the physical features of the 120 gig drive. It is recognized as 111 gigs.

One choice for partitioning and formatting is to try using the Data Lifeguard ? Ez-Install, which comes with the retail WD box, but my concern is past disadvantages brought about from using the old On-Track and other utilities to bypass DOS limitations (no such DOS limitations seem to be evident here and now), but these past bypasses have been, in the long run, a problem.

I admit to being relatively unfamiliar with the terminology of NT-WIN2K in the area of drive administration ? basic disk, dynamic disk, simple, ? etc. whereas I am fairly knowledgeable with most other areas of NT-Win2K. ?Just have been using Partition Magic for many years.

Data Lifeguard ? Ez-Install, which comes with the retail WD box will presumably work, but even Western Digital includes a paper sheet suggesting partitioning and formatting the disk with the Disk Management tools of Win 2K.

I plan to just create 4 - 23 gig Fat 32 partitions, ?BASIC? not dynamic and not NTFS and thus keep it simple.

If there any disadvantage to just using a dedicated utilit such as the WD Data Lifeguard ? Ez-Install, as there used to be with non MS-DOS formatting utilities ?

Will, EZ-Install, if used, and if kept to 23 gig partitions (as Win2K sees 111gigs on the drive), create any future problems in Win2K ?

 

[AndyHui]

You have to remember that manufacturers quote their hard drive sizes in powers to 10.

Computers calculate hard drive sizes in powers of 2, so the discrepancies get larger and larger as the size of the drive increases. Approximately 111GB is correct for a manufacturer quoted 120GB.

Stick with Basic Discs....don't switch to Dynamic unless you know exactly what you are doing since there is no way back without an FSDISK (not even Partition Magic can help).

You may want to consider NTFS over FAT32. For more information, please read my FAQ: FAT32 vs NTFS.

 

[Jerry]

Thanks, Andy. That is twice you have come to my aid. The BASIC vs. DYNAMIC was the ah heck. The OS seems to have defaulted to dynamic when it wrote the drive signature and right clicking on the diagram and other menu items got me into a "dynamic loop" - I found that right clicking on the relatively obscure drive identification permitted be to change to basic. All seems under control here, other than the final decision to make half of the drive NTFS or not, but I will work on that.

Thanks again