[robaldo]

I had a 20g hard drive and on wednesday my hard drive had an error.

couldnt get past it to back things up so i had to format my harddrive.

i think it went ok, installed windows 98se again and when i got to it, my harddrive is now only 2gig.

what has happend to my 18gig is there anyway i can get it back?

i am on a packard bell pc and have not yet installed the restore master cds with all the parckard bell rubbish on. will it bring it back if i install those again?

 

[Elvandil]

Only by reformatting or using Partition Magic or Ranish. Usually, at the beginning of setup, it asks if you want to enable large drive support. If you choose "No", it creates the largest DOS partition it can, 2 gigs.

 

[robaldo]

how can i get and use this partition magic to see if i can get my space back?

cheers

 

[Elvandil]

Right-click your drive. Under File System, it probably says, "FAT". You can change to FAT32 by formatting and reinstalling.

But if you want to keep your current installation, then you will need to get a partition manager (there may be free ones--I'll look around). Partition Magic is one ( http://www.symantec.com/partitionmagic/index.html ). It is worth its weight in gold if you ever need it, but if this is a one-time thing, a free one may do the trick.

Does 98 have a Drive Converter in System Tools? If it does, you can convert your present partition to FAT32 using that, and then with PM, enlarge the partition to fill the whole drive.

 

[robaldo]

in system tools i have something called Drive Converter (FAT32)

 

[Elvandil]

Does your file system, in fact, say FAT?

You will need to convert to FAT32, either with that Drive Converter or with PM, or some other partitioning program.

So, we have solved the first problem.

Now to find a partition manager.

The free Ranish Partition Manager can be downloaded here:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/ranish.html

 

[robaldo]

i downloaded a program called partition recovery which recognises the 16.6gig that i dont have

the FAT32 thing on the c: wen i right click i cannot see an option but it is in the system tool folder under programs

 

[Elvandil]

OK. Let me see if I can find that program. The only ones I could find were for recovering from damaged partition tables. Yours aren't damaged---just set up the wrong way.

Is formatting and re-installing out of the question? It would be a lot easier.

 

[robaldo]

i got it from the same site webattack/snapfiles

i just did a search for partition and it was one of the top ones

a trial version

 

[Elvandil]

That will recover a lost partition, but yours isn't lost. It never was created in the first place.

So is formatting and re-installing out of the question? It would be a lot easier than trying to move your partitions, but we can do it if you want.

 

[robaldo]

i had formatted and re-installed windows before and it still gives me a 2gig hard drive.

with that program is it says my hard drive is 18.6 gig which it should be but my c: is only 2gig so 16gig is hidden somewhere.

is that program used to get all my space back?

 

[Elvandil]

I found an app that may do what we want: Zeleps Partition Resizer.

http://www.columbianet.gr/~zeleps/Files/PRESZ134.ZIP

 

[robaldo]

from the Active @ Partition Recovery program, this is the info i get

HDD 80h

Physical drive geomentry <from BIOS>:
Number of heads: LBA
Number of cylinders: LBA
Number of Sectors: 63

Total number of sectors : 39078194
Size : 18.6 Gb

-----------------------------

Logical C:

Drives first sector: 63
Total number of sectors: 4192902
Size: 1.99 Gb

File System FAT16

Boot Info:

OEM identifier : MSWIN4.1
Bytes per sector : 512
Sectors per cluster : 64
Reserved sectors : 1
Number of FATs : 2
Root Enteries : 512
Sectors per one FAT : 256
Sectors per track : 63
Numbe rof heads : 255
Hidden Sectors : 63
Number of Sectors : 4192902
Serial Number : 3849-19FD
Volume label :
System ID : FAT16

Unallocated

Drives first sectors : 4192965
Total number of sectors : 34885229
Size : 16.6 Gb

 

[robaldo]

Originally posted by Elvandil:
I found an app that may do what we want: Zeleps Partition Resizer.

http://www.columbianet.gr/~zeleps/Files/PRESZ134.ZIP

dpwnloaded the program

 

[Elvandil]

You can make your partitions and format from a boot floppy before you install Win98. Running "fdsk" from the Win98 boot floppy allows you to create and delete partitions. After that, they can also be formatted from the floppy with the "format" command. Then you will be sure that your entire drive is being used.

But if you want to try this, I am willing to help. It is not really a process for a novice, but it isn't brain surgery, either.

And, if all else fails, there is still the reinstall option.

 

[robaldo]

im not the best at understaing most things about computers but im willing to try anything to get my hard drive space back.

i wont have access to the internet it i have to re install things and stuff but i would apreciate it if you can help me and im willing to try anything

 

[Elvandil]

We may as well try this partition resizer thing. If it works, it is the easiest way to get this done.

That "Big LBA" info from that program is encouraging. The partition resizer program only works on FAT16 partitions (which you have) and a partition can only be enlarged if its cluster size is correct (which I am hoping "Big LBA" indicates).

Do you have a Win98 boot floppy?

 

[robaldo]

yeh, the floppy windows created when installing

i have one

 

[Elvandil]

OK. Unzip that Zeleps program and copy PRESIZER.EXE onto the floppy.

You might want to open that presizer.doc file and print it out for reference, too. It's 17 pages, but it may come in handy if you need it. Otherwise, just copy that doc file onto another floppy so you can view it on another computer if you need it for reference.

 

[robaldo]

it says the floppy is too full and it wont fit on