Re: Howto repartition a fat32 disk of win xp?
Joris Huizer wrote:
Hello,
Currently I don't have my own computer available and the one I have
acces to is the one my dad uses;
I need a compiler and openGL/glut and I can't really find anything
usefull so I want to install linux debian!!
The problem is, this computer has a 40GB disk with XP installed and we
don't want to loose a file on it - the defrag program says no
defragmentation is needed as the defragmentation rate is low or
something - and I need this to be accessible today so I can't wait for
that program
How can I resize the 40GB partition 10 GB smaller (to add new
partitions) without any data loss? I only have the debian woody 3.0r1
installation CS's available.
I hope you can help,
Thank you
Joris
I don't know anything about Windows XP but if it has scandisk, do the
following:
Once you start, do not attempt to do anything else.
1. Do a scan disk to get rid of junk.
2. Check how many bytes your XP currently occupies.
3. Do a defragmentation regardless of being told it isn't needed. This
is to totally compact spread out data to prevent losing it.
4. Estimate how much total space to allocate for your new XP partition.
Allow for future additions. 30 MB seems much more than enough.
5. Use WinXP's fdisk to set the upper boundary for your C: partition
according to step 4.
If you follow the steps carefully, your Windows XP will be compacted
into a smaller partition on your harddrive without loss of data and you
will have created free space for a Linux partition.
It might help to do a dry run of fdisk to familarize yourself with how
to use it. Don't attempt to make any permanent changes in your current
XP partition unless you've done the defragmentation--otherwise you could
cut off some XP data when you set the upper boundary of the C: partition.
Does your dad know what you want to do to his computer?
GL alex
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