Preparing a Hard Disk for Use with Windows 9x/Me As you have seen in the previous section, there are several ways to prepare hard disks with Windows 9x/Me: -
As the first hard disk -
As an additional drive -
Entire drive as a bootable (primary) partition -
Part of the drive as a primary partition, the rest as an extended partition with logical drive(s) -
All of the drive as an extended partition with logical drive(s) No matter which of these methods you use, the same two programs (Fdisk and Format) are used. Windows 9x/Me use two different programs descended from MS-DOS to prepare a hard disk: The process that follows is almost identical in any recent DOS or Windows version that uses Fdisk. Fdisk is a command-prompt program, but Format can be performed from a command prompt or from within Windows Explorer. Partitioning with Fdisk Depending on whether the drive is being added to your system or is the first drive in an empty system, you can start Fdisk with Start, Run in Windows or by starting your computer with the Windows emergency boot disk. At the command prompt, type Fdisk and press Enter. caution  | Think before you start using Fdisk. Fdisk can destroy data if you use it on a hard disk containing information instead of on the empty hard disk you just installed in your computer. Sit down and plan out how you will use Fdisk before you start the process, and make sure you won't be interrupted . As you plan out your Fdisk strategy, refer to the examples provided in Figure 15.4 as well as to the discussion that follows. |
Press Y to enable Fdisk's Large Disk support so you can create FAT32 partitions. If you answer No, any partitions you create are FAT16 and are limited to a maximum size of 2,047MB (2GB). Use FAT16 only if you need to access the drive with an MS-DOS or early-release Windows 95 boot disk. If you have one physical hard disk installed, the main Fdisk window resembles Figure 15.6. Figure 15.6. The Windows 98 Fdisk main menu screen for single-drive systems.  When two or more physical disks are installed, Fdisk lists a fifth option: Change Current Fixed Disk Drive. Creating a Primary (Bootable) Partition If you're installing the first hard drive on an empty system, follow this procedure after booting the system with your startup (emergency) disk and starting Fdisk: -
Choose Enable Large Disk Support when prompted. -
From the main menu, select #1, Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive . -
From the Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive menu, press Enter to select #1, Create a Primary DOS Partition.  | Fdisk makes it really easy to create one huge drive letter out of your hard disk. Imagine, an 80GB C: drive! But, also imagine what happens if a virus, user error, or plain ol' bad luck wipes out the C: drive. You can carve up that big hard disk any way you like, but if you create an extended partition with a second drive letter as shown here, you can store your important data away from C: and keep it safer. |
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Now, it's time to decide which type of partition to make. If you want to use the entire drive as C:, press Enter to accept the default (Yes). Follow the prompts to shut down your system and restart it. See "Finishing the Job with the Format Command" later in the chapter for the rest of the process. If you want to create at least two drives , type N (no) when asked if you want to use the entire capacity of the drive. -
Enter the amount of space you want to use for the primary partition in either MB or percentages. For example, to use 6GB, enter 6144 (1,024MB=1GB); to use 50% of the drive, enter 50% and press Enter (see Figure 15.7). Figure 15.7. The primary partition on this 1.2GB drive is being set as 800MB by Fdisk.  -
Press Esc to return to the main Fdisk menu (refer to Figure 15.6). -
Because you created a primary partition using only a portion of the disk space, a warning appears to remind you that the primary partition is not yet active; it must be marked active to be bootable. -
To mark the primary partition as active, type 2 (Set Active Partition) and press Enter to display the Set Active Partition menu. -
Type the number of the partition you want to make active (normally 1), and press Enter. The status column displays an A for active partition, as in Figure 15.8. Press Esc to return to the main Fdisk menu. Figure 15.8. The 800MB primary partition after Fdisk sets it as Active. To be bootable, this partition must have system files copied to it by the Windows Setup program or by being formatted with the /S (system) option.  -
To prepare the rest of the drive for use by Windows, from the Fdisk main menu, select #1, Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive. -
From the Create DOS Partition menu, select #2, Create an Extended Partition. -
Press Enter to accept the default (the remaining capacity of the drive); the logical drives are stored in the extended partition. -
Create one or more logical drives when prompted, specifying the size you want for each letter. The drive letter for each logical drive is listed; note the letters because you need to format each logical drive after you finish using Fdisk and reboot. -
When the entire capacity of the drive is used, the Fdisk display resembles Figure 15.9. Press the Y key to view the logical drives stored in the extended partition. Figure 15.9. This drive contains both a primary and an extended partition; logical drives in the extended partition make this entire drive available to Windows.  -
After you press Enter again to accept these changes, you're prompted to shut down the system and reboot it. If you ran Fdisk from within Windows, close the Fdisk window, shut down Windows, and reboot. See "Finishing the Job with the Format Command," later in this chapter, to complete the process. Creating an Extended Partition with Fdisk Follow these steps to install a fixed disk with an extended partition as an addition to a system with one or more existing drives. (I'm assuming the drive you're installing has no disk partitions, such as a brand-new hard disk.) -
Select #5 from the main menu after starting Fdisk. -
Select the drive you want to change from the drives listed. For this example, disk #2 would be selected, as in Figure 15.10. Figure 15.10. Hard disk #2 (a 2,014MB drive) has no disk partitions. Type 2 and press Enter to select it and continue.  -
From the main Fdisk menu, select #1, Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive. caution | | Before you continue, I strongly advise you to use the #4 option (Display Partition Information) from the Fdisk main menu to make sure you have selected the new (empty) drive. You should not see any disk partitions on a new hard disk (you might if you are reusing an old hard disk). If you are using a new hard disk and you see disk partitions, you have probably forgotten to select the correct hard disk. Go back to steps 1 and 2 and try it again. | -
From the Create DOS Partition menu, select #2, Create an Extended Partition. -
Press Enter to accept the default (the entire capacity of the drive); the logical drives are stored in the extended partition. -
Create one or more logical drives when prompted, specifying the size you want for each letter. Note the drive letters that you need to format later are listed. -
When the entire capacity of the drive is used, you should see a message similar to Figure 15.11. Figure 15.11. Hard disk #2 now has a single logical drive occupying 100% of its extended partition.  -
Exit Fdisk, close Windows if you ran Fdisk from within Windows, and restart the computer. Finishing the Job with the Format Command The Windows Format command finishes the disk preparation process you started with Fdisk. You can use the Windows Explorer to format drives or command-line options.  | For more information about using command-line or Windows Explorer Format options, see "Using Format with Floppy and Hard Disks," p. 517 . |
The command-line options listed in Table 15.5 are used with hard disks in Windows. Format offers additional options that work with floppy disks only. Table 15.5. Common Format Options for Hard Drives | Format Command | Meaning | Used for | Example | Notes | | Format x :/s | Formats x : drive with system (boot) files | Any bootable drive (normally C:) | Format C:/s | [1] | | Format x : | Formats x : drive without system files | Any non bootable drive (D: or higher) | Format D: | | | Format x : /V:label | Formats x : drive with specified label | Any drive | Format D: | /V:Mydrive | [1] The /s option is not valid with Windows Me. Instead, Windows Me installs the system files to the hard disk during installation . Windows NT/2000/XP also support the hard disk Format options shown in Table 15.6. Note that options can be combined. Table 15.6. Format Options for Hard Drives (NT/2000/XP) | Format Command | Meaning | Example | Notes | | Format x:/FS: | Formats x : with specified file system | Format D:/FS:NTFS | [1] | | Filesystem (FAT, FAT32, NTFS, HPFS) | | | | | Format x:/C | Formats x : and compresses all files and folders | Format D:/C | [2] | | Format x:/A: size | Formats x : with specified allocation unit sizes (KB) | Format D:/V:Mydrive | [3] | | Format x:/X | Formats x : after dismounting volume | Format x:/X | [2] , [4] | [1] Windows 2000 and XP don't support HPFS option. Windows NT 4.0 must have Service Pack 4 or greater installed to support FAT32 option . [2] Supported by Windows 2000 and Windows XP only . [3] Not recommended for general use; type Format /? to see list of valid values for allocation unit size by file system . [4] Make sure no users or critical processes are trying to use the drive before using this command, or data loss can result . To format the hard disk from a command (MS-DOS) prompt, follow these steps: -
Click Start, Run, Command to open up a command-prompt window. -
Start the format process with the correct command from Table 15.5 or 15.6. The system displays a warning of possible data loss and enables you to stop if you are about to format the wrong hard disk. If you continue, a progress indicator is displayed. If your hard disk has any surface damage, a Trying to recover allocation unit number xxxxx message appears as the system marks the damaged area as a "do not use" area. Because modern hard disks have built-in defect management, you should not see any bad allocation units displayed during format. If you do, use the disk manufacturer's own diagnostic utility to replace bad sectors with spare sectors, or to determine if the drive needs to be returned for repair. -
At the end of the format process, you can add a volume label (up to 11 characters ) and see the disk statistics listed, including the drive's total size and the allocation unit size and number available. Now your drive is ready to use. If it's the first drive in your system, you're ready to install Windows 9x/Me. (See Chapter 16, "Operating System Installation," for details.) If it's an additional drive, you can make folders on it and start storing programs or data there. |
