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Lost 25 GB

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by paulbristow, 2005/09/11.

  1. 2005/09/11
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I have just upgraded from XP Home to XP Professional, this included formating the 200GB drive (NTFS) during the install, after completion I only had 124GB free space as opposed to 160GB free space when I had home installed with all of my software also installed. I have no partitions on the drive

    I did notice that when I first booted I was given the chance to choose XP Home or Pro (even after formating the drive to install Pro) but as I do not have home installed I can not see why it would display this, I looked at the boot.ini:

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

    So I removed the line showing "Home" choice and it now reads:

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

    So this removed the front end menu system, but I am concerned why XP Pro would take up an extra 20 or so GB, I have turned off System Restore as that can take up a lot of space and the C:Windows|$NtServicePackuninstal$ has also been removed (yes I have also installed SP2).

    Any thoughts on Where the missing gigs are! or does pro take up more room?

    Paul
     
    paulbristow,
    #1
  2. 2005/09/11
    r.leale Lifetime Subscription

    r.leale Well-Known Member

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    Hi Paul,

    Removing the line from boot.ini does not remove the OS. You still have XP Home installed on the HD.

    Roger
     
    r.leale,
    #2


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  4. 2005/09/11
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    How do I remove it and still keep pro?

    Paul
     
    paulbristow,
    #3
  5. 2005/09/11
    sparrow

    sparrow Inactive

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    How can that be, after the disk was formatted. Think there must be residual evidence of Home in the system areas that format doesn't touch, but re-partitioning would have.

    However, a search of the disk with explorer will solve that question.
     
    sparrow,
    #4
  6. 2005/09/11
    Zander

    Zander Geek Member Alumni

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    From your boot.ini it would appear it's installed on the D drive. Is there a windows folder on that drive? If not, how many partitions do you have and how many are primary partitions?

    Yes sparrow, I'm a bit confused here too. :)
     
    Zander,
    #5
  7. 2005/09/11
    r.leale Lifetime Subscription

    r.leale Well-Known Member

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    I think that Zander is correct and that there is an XP partition that was not formatted. A look at diskmgmt.msc should reveal it, and permit formatting that partition. It must surely be there to be shown in boot.ini

    Roger
     
    r.leale,
    #6
  8. 2005/09/11
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Yes I am confused as well as diskmgmt.msc only shows the single partition so I installed Disk Manager Pro and this is the report:

    Partition 0, hard disk 0Volume label:
    File system: NTFSDrive letter:
    C:Serial number: 10FA0A0CSectors / boot: 8Sectors / cluster: 8Size (capacity): 186 GB (200.046.518.784 )
    Used space: 68.7 GB (36%)
    Free space: 118 GB (63%)Physical sectors:
    First: 63 (Cyl 0, Hd 1, Sec 1)
    Last: 390715919 (Cyl 25840, Hd 239, Sec 63)
    HDD info: Cyl 25841, Hd 240, Sec 63


    I only have 2 other drives one called "Video" on D: 80GB
    And a External USB Drive on E: 80GB
    And neither of these have any system files on them only data.

    I also run Partition Explorer on Disk Manager Pro and NO other partitions are shown on C: (not even hidden ones)

    This is getting spooky "Where is that XP Home" must some how be on the C: Drive due to the lack of storage space but where, I do not have a clue.....

    Paul
     
    paulbristow,
    #7
  9. 2005/09/11
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I have removed all partitions from a HP Pavilion (XP home), repartitioned in three, formated and installed XP pro. I too was greeted by a multi boot setup. I had to remove the line referring to XP home from boot.ini but I don't remember exactly what boot.ini looked like. (I posted about it here and shall see if I can find the topic.)

    Did You start the installation of XP pro from within XP home or booted from the installation CD?

    Christer

    By the way, 186 GB is the binary size of a 200 GB (decimal) HDD.
     
    Last edited: 2005/09/11
    Christer,
    #8
  10. 2005/09/11
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Booted from CD as HD was formatted, did you lose any disk space as that is my problem....

    Paul
     
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    #9
  11. 2005/09/11
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    You said ...

    ... not "prior to the install ". I had to ask since strange things can happen when starting a reinstallation from within a running OS.

    No, i didn't.

    How much have You installed? XP pro only?

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #10
  12. 2005/09/11
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    HD was installed before installation then ONLY XP Pro installed, before I formatted the C: drive it did have a D: partition with XP Home recovery on it and it was FAT32, maybe this area cannot be seen as FAT32 from the tools I am using, does anybody know how I can view a (hidden) FAT32 partition.

    I would have thought that when I formated the C: drive it would have wipe the D partition as well, this must be the answer, I just need to remove this FAT32 D partition......

    Any thoughts out there.


    Paul
     
    paulbristow,
    #11
  13. 2005/09/11
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    The Pavilion had a "recovery" partition, in addition to the system partition. C: was the "recovery" partition and D: was the system partition. I seem to remember that both partitions were visible and that I deleted both partitions during the installation of XP pro, prior to creating new partitions.

    Delpart sees and deletes any partition of any kind. Make certain that it is the correct disk You are letting it loose on ...... :eek: ...... deleting is irreversible. (I always disconnect all other disks.) It is possible that I used Delpart but I don't remember having to.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #12
  14. 2005/09/11
    Zander

    Zander Geek Member Alumni

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    Did you ever try to boot from the home entry in the boot.ini? If so, what did it do? It sounds like the partition may still be there but somehow got marked as hidden. Give Delpart (thanks Christer) a try and see what it finds.
     
    Zander,
    #13
  15. 2005/09/11
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Tried Delpart but reported "no drives supported" it looks like I am going have to start over again and reformat drive (5 hours wasted) but I can only format the C: drive exactly the same as I did early. I am not sure if I will end up in the same mess....


    Paul
     
    paulbristow,
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  16. 2005/09/11
    Zander

    Zander Geek Member Alumni

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    Do you have any disk partitioning software such as Partition Magic? If so, you could take a look at the disk with it. If there's a hidden partition on the disk it should show up there.
     
    Zander,
    #15
  17. 2005/09/11
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I used Paragon Disk Manager Pro as explained in previous post and this just showed a clean no partitioned hard drive with no other operating system also run "Everest" and this shows I have only ONE operating system called XP Pro

    Paul
     
    paulbristow,
    #16
  18. 2005/09/11
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Hmm ...... :confused: ...... Delpart doesn't even detect the drive ...... :eek: ...... that's a "first "!

    The report from DMP in post #7 makes sense in terms of file system and sizes and cluster size seems to be 8 sectors (8 x 512 bytes = 4 kB which is default NTFS) ...... :confused: ...... and Delpart doesn't detect it.

    I'll keep thinking about this but I doubt it will help.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #17
  19. 2005/09/11
    sparrow

    sparrow Inactive

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    paulbristow

    Still think you should repartition, delete and remake it, before formating. That removes any and all leftovers in the system areas of the hard disk. THEN format, and you'll be clean.
     
    sparrow,
    #18

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