[Missing drive space after reinstall]

Last week my son had my computer to where it would not even do anything. It would start to load up and just come up to comand prompt mode so I had to totally reinstall windows 2000 as I didnt have a restore disc so i did that computer seems to be working ok but for some reason I have very little drive space when before i had tons of programs software on it and it had over 70% free space i have maybe 13% now. So im not to sure whats going on and suggestions as to what might have happened?

 

Ok I think I have found where this missing space is under my disk management I have 2 gb healthy system and its partioned with 7.54 Unallocated. Anyway for to get more over on the healthy side?

 

Hi,

If you have only just finished reinstalling Windows and have not reinstalled many programs, I would find it easier to remove and resize the partition and then reinstall Windows again.

A partition "manger" program like Partition Magic or Partition Manager could change the partition size without loss of data (but you would need to back-up anyway).

From memory, Win XP (Pro?) has the ability to increase the size of a partition into unallocated space, I don't think Win 2000 has that ability.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/886986/en-us
I cannot see any link for the download, but it seems risky to try to extend the OS partition using Windows anyway (Vista may have better capabilities).

My suggestion is just to repartition and reinstall.

Matt

 

Ok how do I repartition? I dont mind reinstalling I only have basic installed programs nothing fancy lol..

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304868/en-us
Use the first method, boot to the CD-ROM. At step 4 there is the option to press D to delete the selected partition.

Ah-ha! When you installed before, you may have chosen the FAT16 file system, FAT16 only supports a maximum of 2Gb for the partition. You need to choose the FAT 32 or NTFS file system. So after you remove the current partition, format as FAT32 or NTFS (NTFS is more secure, but maybe harder to work on if there are problems).

You should be OK from that point.

Matt

 

ok so I reinstalled but now I have the choice of 2 windows 2000 Pro to come on to. One will load up but say it cant find my profile to log onto windows the other loads and has all my personal seetings and the disk management has changed it is partioned but one drive C: has 2gb NTFS like before and E: has Fat32 7.54 both say healthy no allocated. I think I have ******* something up which doesnt suprise me. I did choose to do a complete clean install when i put windows in so I dunno what mess I have caused.

 

Maybe this info will help its abit more detailed.
10.22 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
7.51 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

NEC CD-ROM DRIVE:28G
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

ST310212A [Hard drive] (10.24 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 6EG1N73W, rev 3.02, SMART Status: Healthy 128 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot '0' has 64 MB
Slot '1' has 64 MB
Local Drive Volumes

c: (NTFS on drive 0) 2.15 GB 289 MB free
e: (FAT32 on drive 0) 8.07 GB 7.22 GB free

 

It appears you made a partition in the unallocated space and formatted it as FAT32.

You will need to delete both partitions

You will need to delete one, then the other. After you delete both you will be able to create one partition in the whole 10GB of unallocated space.

Matt

 

Ok ...Im off on my adventure again.. hopefully I will be back LOL...

 

Thumbs up

 

Im back becasue when i put windows 2000 disc in it gives me the option to do a clean reinstall i click that then get the place where I can allocate or partition or delete it will not let me delete the first 2gb ntfs i hit D nothing happens it doesnt give me a option to do anything to it . the other 8 gives me options to allocate but thats it..So now i exited out and yet have 3 windows 2000 choices when my computer boots up

 

You are bringing back memories of my first experiences

At the beginning of the instructions there are methods of running the installation

You will need to startup the computer with the CD in the drive. Watch carefully for a black and white screen that has the line "Press any key to boot from the CD drive..." (or words like that).

You cannot delete the operating system partition when the operating system is running. You need to boot to the "DOS" system on the CD.

Post back if you start the computer with CD in the drive and you cannot see that line ( "Press any key to boot from the CD drive... ") . You will need to change the Startup settings, "Make sure that the CD-ROM is set to start before the hard disk starts ".

I hope I am explaining this well enough. It may take a little trial and error (as you are discovering ). If you know someone that would have this experience, you should drag them in to show you. You will find it is easy if there is someone there to show you and will only take a minute or two to remake the partition and start the installation.

Matt

 

Oh my gosh what a adventure. I got windowes installed and got the drive c with all of my space in it but I still have 2 options when I boot up for windows 2000 they both have the same settings and drive space like duplicate. So my computer is running after I had to go and pick up a free dial up disk to be able to get on to download window update and a service pack as I didnt have any I guess with the windows 2000 disk i had so it would nto let me reinstall my dsl untill i had explorer 6 and sp 3 or higher on win 2000 but im back and now im all garbaged up with AOL dial up stuff LOL.. So what do you think about having the 2 installed will it cause problems? So far all is well. Thanks so much for your help!

 

Ah, very good! The first part of those instructions are a little unclear

You now have just one 10GB C: drive(?) and that seems like a dual (multiple) boot option. I would look in My Computer or Windows Explorer and check there is only one WINNT (Windows) folder. If you have more than one it may not be cause for concern, but you should not try making changes (even installing programs) on the second boot option.

The way to turn off the Boot Option screen is to go to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced (tab) -> Startup and Recovery button, uncheck the box "Display list of Operating Systems for ... seconds ". NOW, having said that, I have not been in that situation and I know that care should be taken adjusting the startup files. I suggest that you start a thread in the Windows 2000 forum, describe exactly what is showing and ask if what I suggest might be a good course of action.

At least I can stop wondering how you were going with it

Matt

 

I checked thier is only 1 folder. I did uncheck the show thingys for 30 seconds also. Thanks so much for helping me I dunno what I would have done without your help. This site is great it has also helped me remove crazy virus's in the past. Thanks again!

 

You are very courageous jennmay Try planning ahead a little in case a change may not have the desired results. If something goes wrong, booting into Safe Mode will generally let you reverse the changes.

You did all the hard work and a lot of the time retracing the steps is where you will find what went wrong. As I said, you could have chosen to find somebody to show you how it is done, but since you did it yourself, next time you may not be wondering "What was the next step? ".

Hope it goes well.

Matt