Formatting Spare Drive

Hi,
I need some sound advice here before I tackle this.
XP Pro NTFS. I have a 40 gig HD sitting in my PC that is Idle I used to Dual Boot with 98SE and this drive I did use for programs and backups and so on, it is Fat32. I want to use it now to store Photos on it. There is no useful data on it and it can be Formatted I have Partition Magic 8 to do it with but I am not sure what to make it I would like to use the whole 40 gig in one would that have to be set as Primary or Logical. Also can I format that drive within Windows by right click on the drive in Explorer and click Format or has it to be done by Commandline.
Thanks
Hawk22

 

You would be better off to remove the current partition and use an NTFS file system on it when re-creating a new partition. A basic partition is all you'll need.

Go to Start>Run>diskmgmt.msc
From there you will figure out the rest. RT click the drive for options.

 

Mron, thanks sorry I didn't make myself clear I am not refering to a partition but to a 2nd HD in my system. and yes I do want NTFS not fat 32.
This 40gig HD is formated in Fat 32 in its present state.
I wish to have the full 40gig of this drive for storage of Photos.
hawk22

 

Let me be a bit clearer.
You cannot format a drive with no partition. All drives need at least one partition.

Even though you want to use a drive, it must have a partition on it. Right now it has a Primary (active) partition formatted in Fat32.

You want to delete that partition, and make a basic one formatted in the NTFS filing system. All can be done through diskmgmt.msc

 

You can make it either a primary or logical partition. If it were me, I'd make it a logical partition. If you make it a primary you're drive letters will change if you currently have more than one partition. You can avoid this by making the new one a logical partition.

 

OK thanks now I am getting somewhere, would eighter of you be so kind and go a little bit further with me I have never done this before and I am not to confident to go it alone from here. And yes I would prefere to keep the same drive letter, at present it is K:
thanks
hawk22

 

Use the right click on a drive to see your options. You can delete a partition (or logical drive), then create one in the unallocated space, then if you need to you can change the drive letter as well.

It's all in the right click.

 

In my last post I was assuming that the drive wasn't in the computer at this time. Things could be different if already have the drive in the computer and if you have more than one partition on it. If it's already installed, it sounds as though it currently has a logical partition on it (because of the K drive letter it gets). I guess it would be easiest to just format it the way you want and then use the Disk Management tool to assign the letters the way you want them if they get changed in the process.

 

Oh boy, somethings been overlooked.

You mentioned dual booting with 98SE. If the K: drive is still used as a boot drive, containing the boot.ini, ntldr, ntdetect files you will not be able to remove the partition from within windows, or format it.

If this is the case it's going to get tricky.

 

Hi
No I am not dual booting anymore just XP Pro, I had the dual boot taken off. At boot up there is no more Option for other OS.
I think it is save to format.
thanks
hawk22

 

Hi
No I am not dual booting anymore just XP Pro, I had the dual boot taken off. At boot up there is no more Option for other OS.
I think it is save to format.
thanks
hawk22

 

Hi, I need that last bit of advice here before I go ahead.
there is no dual boot anymore
the drive that I would like to convert is a 40 gig it has been in the PC for a number of years and has only data on it that is of no value anymore, so it can be deleted, I want the drive to be in NTFS as my XP Pro is in NTFS on a different HD I have 3 HD's in the Box, but have been using only one since I stopped Dual Booting.
Now I would like to know which route to take
1. use Partition Magic and convert to NTFS and then delete Files
or
2. right click on the drive (K in My Computer and select Format to NTFS
or
I would like your advice please
thanks
hawk22

 

Formatting Spare Drive Reply to Thread

Tried to follow Tony's last repiy. I have xp home. It's not the same.
Also, I have only one partition, NTFS, and 40 gig HD.

I will be installing an external USB HD. Will experiment with it.
Joe R.

 

It works in XP Home as TonyT outlined. Joe, the problem is you're trying to delete the active system drive. Be happy that it doesn't do that.

 

Tony, thank you for your detailed decription this has made it clear for me now how to go about it.
Thanks again guys
hawk22