Recovering lost space on HD

And if it makes any difference, I was able to browse in F. Here's what's in the used space. Should these stay or can/should I delete either?

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They are expected. Leave them.

What does Disk Management look like now?

 

Latest screenshot

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Also, if this makes any difference to anything. I have XP Media Center Edition which I believe is a similar to Pro.

Ideally, I wouldn't mind getting rid of all the Dell crap. From what I understand I can run that from a CD they sent. I also don't wish to reinstall XP if I don't have to. Can I delete the two partitions on either end and keep C and D then clone? Or would I be better off deleting all but C and making another D before I clone?

Added here's a brief thread about the EISA Configuration partition.

If/can help from bluescreening trying to boot into the new HD like what happened the 1st time.

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=43344

Added: While researching if I'm unable to remove the EISA partition with Partition magic or parted magic I think I could use this.

http://www.killdisk.com/

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Now that looks good.

Out of interest, a 60 GB HD should appear as 55.9 GB in disk management (60/1.024^3). Yours shows as 54.4 GB and the missing 1.5 GB is the MediaDirect HPA. The HPA is really a "fifth" partition.

The 4.64 GB FAT32 partition is the Dell Restore partition. You can keep it and Dan Goodell has a method to get it working again after cloning it to another HD. I'd delete it and absorb the space into the Backup (D drive if you have your own imaging software. That's what I do.

Up to you. Which choice?

PS I'd keep the EISA partition.

 

Our posts crossed. What imaging software do you have?

 

Before we forget, zero LBA-3 on Logical-0 (the 60 GB HD) so we don't get hit by the HPA again.

 

You don't need to use KillDisk.

The EISA partition only uses 50 MB and it's useful to have even though you can run it from a CD. It makes things easier if you leave it as this avoids the boot.ini issue with "Missing hal.dll."

How large do you want the new C:\ drive?

 

OK, I'll keep the EISA partition. I definitely don't want missing hal.

I'd prefer to delete DSR. I plan on using the old Seagate as my back-up with Seagate DiskWizard once everything is under control.

I use ImgBurn for burning iso

Roughly I'd like to have a 80GB C and the rest for D back up. Double what I currently have plus the 4GB DSR (unknown) partition.

Yes, no more HPA! Can I get the directions one more time for zeroing out LBA-3? I have... Open, select 0, click three times, edit, zero data?

 

I think the safest way is to clone the 60 GB HD as it is. Then you have a backup. After the new HD is working OK, from the Parted Magic CD I'd delete the Dell Restore partition, Resize your C: drive and take up the unallocated space.

I don't know why you got a BSOD. It's not part of cloning.

Any questions?

 

OK got you about cloning as is without LBA-3

Just to make sure, the string of zeros of the left should have a 3 at the end. That's LBA 3? (this part is completely baffling to me)

 

OK LBA 3 is gone.

I'll try cloning the new HD after a brief break and see how it went.

 

Out of interest, did you see "[XLDR]" string in the lower right?

The clone should work. Don't be concerned if it doesn't. We'll get it done. One way or another.

 

Yes, I did see the "XLDR" string in the lower right, along with a bunch of other stuff in that panel. Now it's clear.

I cloned the old to new and noticed, yet another unknown small partition at the end to make 5 total. It still doesn't show up Windows Computer Management.

Let me try to install the new HD

 

Just thought of something.

The following steps should be... power off, take the out the old drive, install the new and power on?

Or should I boot with the new HD and the Seagate DiskWizard Bottable Media CD both in place?

 

You have probably done it by now. New HD on its own. No CD in the tray. No external HD attached.

 

LOL... No I waited.

I changed the drives, powered on, booted to log on quick, slow to desktop. No start menu or taskbar! No right clicking on desktop.

Ctrl, alt, delete got me to task mangager where all normal processes were running. Click something to open the run menu (don't see it now) typed msconfig, clicked something else and got a notice something had changed to reboot. Did and here I am!

Both C and D dives have doubled. D back Up has a MSO cache in it that wasn't there before, I don't think.

I also got an error message.

 

I'm confused. The first boot was a disaster. Is it working OK now?

If so, could you post a Partition Magic graphic?

 

I just opened Media Center and that seems to be working fine.

Brian, I can't thank your enough for sticking with me. I really, really appreciate it.

Thank you!

I'll keep my old drive as is for a few days just in case, but everything looks great. It was a great learning experience.

No more worrying about running out of space for the time being...

LOL... One last question for now. Once I back up to my old HD, anything I should know about deleting the DSR partition?

 

No the 1st boot wasn't a disaster, I just didn't have my start button, taskbar or systray. My desktop was there but without icons!

Added: I just rebooted again an everything started fine, but appeared to take a bit longer than normal.

 

I guess my term "disaster" was an overstatement. Are the start button, taskbar and systray present now?

Edit: Just saw your last edit. Great work. Now to sort out the resizing.

PM graphic on the way?

 

Here you go...
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Easy. Boot to the Parted Magic CD. Looks like your C:\ drive is what you wanted in size. Right click in the Backup drive (there will be no drive letters) and click Delete. Click Apply, confirm Apply, click Close. Then Right click in the Restore partition and click Delete. Click Apply, confirm Apply, click Close.

Now you will have about 36 GB of Unallocated Space.

Right click in the unallocated space and click New
Create as Extended partition. Leave everything else alone
Click Add, click Apply, confirm Apply, click Close
Right click in the new extended partition rectangle and click Manage Flags. Put a tick in "lba". Click Close

Right click in the unallocated space in the extended partition and click New
Leave the New Size alone, create as Logical partition, File system NTFS
Click Add, click Apply, confirm Apply, click Close

Exit from Parted Magic. Could you post another PM graphic?

Questions?

 

Lots of clicking going on. I did forget to click apply when I deleted D , but otherwise followed directions. Is that OK?

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Excellent. You are a fast worker.

I think we are about finished. In a few days time I'd do the same with the external HD. Delete all partitions (including the OS partition) with Parted Magic and create an extended partition with a single logical partition. As you just created.

I guess you want the external HD to be your backup HD. You shouldn't keep backups on the same HD as the source in case the HD fails. The first thing to do with the partitioned external HD is to create a backup image of your C:\ drive.

I almost forgot, go to Disk Management and give an appropriate label to your new data drive and your OS drive for easy recognition in the future.

I'm pleased I could help.