Partition help please!

WillowIX · 10-02-2002, 02:48 PM

Í´m trying to merge my 2 partitions on my slave drive. Used Partition magic but that screwed up the drive totally. I now have a 2Gb primary partition, 18Gb unallocated and a 20Gb partition. Partition magic won´t work anymore it just freeze all the time. So I have to use fdisk I think. The problem is I can´t remove that secondary 20Gb partition. It says something about logic units. I can´t remove those either. Can anyone help me here?

andrewas · 10-02-2002, 04:15 PM

You may be in serious trouble you know. If fdisk isnt deleting the partition, it means that partition magic damaged the table in very strange ways. Try deleting everything - primary, extended and logical partitions.

Also posting the exact error may give a clue as to whats happened.

fdisk wasnt designed to cope with damaged partition tables (A tool that can delete the whole thing and start from scratch would be perfect, does anyone know of such a thing?). You might be able to coerce it by playing around though. Try adding another partition to take up that unallocated space. Might be able to bodge the partition table into something partition magic can understand. Usual tactic when something like this happens is to try everything, on the basis its probably impossible to make it worse.

Or see if theres anything useful in Partition Magics docs. Being a poor ex-student (Thats poorer than current student) I dont have it to hand.

Animal · 10-02-2002, 04:39 PM

As a last resort you may have to do a low level format of the drive, however fdisk should be able to fix the problems you've encountered. It almost sounds like you have the 20GB set up as the logical and the 2GB as the extended and if so you'll have to remove the 2GB first, and then remove the 20. Most HD manufacturers have disk tools that come with the drive or can be downloaded from their website that'll fix it up for you.
Don't worry though, the HD itself is okay just the partition table is hooped.

WillowIX · 10-02-2002, 05:02 PM

Thanks guys. The cavalry has arrived up here though [img]smile.gif[/img] The hubby has asked a fellow from his work to stop by and take a peek on it. Hopefully he can fix it for me. All I know is that the 20Gb is the extended partition (and logical apparently) and the 2Gb is the primary... When trying to remove the logical it says something about "no logical element selected" or something like that. The primary I can remove but that doesn´t help me a lot. I can´t get rid off the extended.

andrewas · 10-02-2002, 06:10 PM

Just for future reference how do you run a low level format these days? I havent done it since I was 8. Not the kind of thing you do often but if I dont ask itll turn up tomorrow.

LennonCook · 10-02-2002, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by andrewas:
Just for future reference how do you run a low level format these days? I havent done it since I was 8. Not the kind of thing you do often but if I dont ask itll turn up tomorrow.

I`m taking a realy wild guess here, but
Right click the Primary Hard Drive in "My Computer", select "Format...", and deselect the box that says "Quick Format".

theholyavenger · 10-03-2002, 12:01 AM

When in dos, at the A prompt type the following----> format c:

Better than using Fdisk if you don't want any of your data in your hd anymore!!!

Animal · 10-03-2002, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by andrewas:
Just for future reference how do you run a low level format these days? I havent done it since I was 8. Not the kind of thing you do often but if I dont ask itll turn up tomorrow.

You'll need software capable of doing it. Most HD's come with a utility for low level formating. I prefer to use the good old DOS Disk Manager. The only problem with a low level format is the amount of time required on todays bigger drives. If I remember correctly my 80Gig took about 6 hours.

LennonCook · 10-03-2002, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by theholyavenger:
When in dos, at the A prompt type the following----> format c:

Better than using Fdisk if you don't want any of your data in your hd anymore!!!

Format doesn`t do partitions. It only wipes everything from the drives, and redoes the boot sector.
You need Fdisk or similar to delete or create partitions, and set particular partition as bootable.

andrewas · 10-03-2002, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by theholyavenger:
When in dos, at the A prompt type the following----> format c:

Better than using Fdisk if you don't want any of your data in your hd anymore!!!

Lower level than that. Format handles stuff within a logical drive, low level format handles the physical disc and erases the partition table as wel.

10-02-2002, 02:48 PM	#1
WillowIX Apophis Join Date: July 10, 2001 Location: By a big blue lake, Canada Age: 50 Posts: 4,628	Í´m trying to merge my 2 partitions on my slave drive. Used Partition magic but that screwed up the drive totally. I now have a 2Gb primary partition, 18Gb unallocated and a 20Gb partition. Partition magic won´t work anymore it just freeze all the time. So I have to use fdisk I think. The problem is I can´t remove that secondary 20Gb partition. It says something about logic units. I can´t remove those either. Can anyone help me here? __________________ Confuzzled by nature.

10-02-2002, 04:15 PM	#2
andrewas Harper Join Date: October 2, 2001 Location: Aberdeen, Scotland Age: 42 Posts: 4,774	You may be in serious trouble you know. If fdisk isnt deleting the partition, it means that partition magic damaged the table in very strange ways. Try deleting everything - primary, extended and logical partitions. Also posting the exact error may give a clue as to whats happened. fdisk wasnt designed to cope with damaged partition tables (A tool that can delete the whole thing and start from scratch would be perfect, does anyone know of such a thing?). You might be able to coerce it by playing around though. Try adding another partition to take up that unallocated space. Might be able to bodge the partition table into something partition magic can understand. Usual tactic when something like this happens is to try everything, on the basis its probably impossible to make it worse. Or see if theres anything useful in Partition Magics docs. Being a poor ex-student (Thats poorer than current student) I dont have it to hand. __________________ [img]\"http://www.sighost.us/members/Zvijer/andrewas.gif\" alt=\" - \" />

10-02-2002, 04:39 PM	#3
Animal Gold Dragon Join Date: March 29, 2002 Location: Canada Age: 51 Posts: 2,534	As a last resort you may have to do a low level format of the drive, however fdisk should be able to fix the problems you've encountered. It almost sounds like you have the 20GB set up as the logical and the 2GB as the extended and if so you'll have to remove the 2GB first, and then remove the 20. Most HD manufacturers have disk tools that come with the drive or can be downloaded from their website that'll fix it up for you. Don't worry though, the HD itself is okay just the partition table is hooped. __________________ It\'s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye...then it becomes a sport.<br /> [img]\"http://members.shaw.ca/mtholdings/bsmeter.gif\" alt=\" - \" />

10-02-2002, 06:10 PM	#5
andrewas Harper Join Date: October 2, 2001 Location: Aberdeen, Scotland Age: 42 Posts: 4,774	Just for future reference how do you run a low level format these days? I havent done it since I was 8. Not the kind of thing you do often but if I dont ask itll turn up tomorrow. __________________ [img]\"http://www.sighost.us/members/Zvijer/andrewas.gif\" alt=\" - \" />

10-03-2002, 12:01 AM	#7
theholyavenger Manshoon Join Date: February 27, 2002 Location: Faerun Age: 40 Posts: 205	When in dos, at the A prompt type the following----> format c: Better than using Fdisk if you don't want any of your data in your hd anymore!!! __________________ \"There once was a warrior true,<br />with the sense knocked out of him, too.<br />But in a hamster he found,<br />some wisdom profound,<br />and now where goes he goes his Boo!\"<br /><br />~Crazy Celvan in Baldur\'s Gate II Shadows of Amn

10-02-2002, 05:02 PM	#4
WillowIX Apophis Join Date: July 10, 2001 Location: By a big blue lake, Canada Age: 50 Posts: 4,628	Thanks guys. The cavalry has arrived up here though [img]smile.gif[/img] The hubby has asked a fellow from his work to stop by and take a peek on it. Hopefully he can fix it for me. All I know is that the 20Gb is the extended partition (and logical apparently) and the 2Gb is the primary... When trying to remove the logical it says something about "no logical element selected" or something like that. The primary I can remove but that doesn´t help me a lot. I can´t get rid off the extended.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Can anyone help me with Partition Magic?	Ivelliis	General Discussion	4	06-09-2005 07:58 AM
Hard drive partition question.	Ivelliis	General Discussion	15	06-07-2005 04:03 PM
Partition magic; has anyone here used it?	WillowIX	General Conversation Archives (11/2000 - 01/2005)	9	09-20-2002 05:03 AM