How Do I Install XP On Partition Without Formating Entire Disk?

OK I have a 650GIG harddisk with 2 Partitions 1 Partition is 50 GIG and the other 600GIG with Data stored on it which I don't want to loose.
what I want to do is install my windows XP home onto the 50 GIG Partition without reformating the entire disk. (legit copy) So I boot from the windows XP CD and start the process but it does not give me the option of only reformating the 50 GIG Partition, in fact windows XP CD
does not even recognize the disk as being 650GIG only about 131GIG. can anyone help?

 

maybe this explains it
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

you will need install disk with sp3 on it (slipstream?)

 

Download SP3 and then slipstream it into your XP CD. You can do that using Autostreamer. I've used this several times and it makes slipstreaming CDs as easy as it can get. It integrates the service pack and then creates an .iso file for you to burn.

As to formatting your 50GB partition, when you start from the CD select install Windows, then it will show you existing installations (if there are any) plus the other partitions. Just delete the 50GB partition. After you do that, you will have, obviously, 50GB of unallocated space. Select that and create a new partition in the unallocated space. Then select this partition to install Windows and after you do that it tells you the partition has to be formatted. Choose either NTFS or NTFS quick format and you're good to go.

 

Why the need to slipstream first? AKAIK, pre SP disks should install, then SP3 could be downloaded and installed afterward. Maybe another possibility of the unrecognized available disk space:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316505

 

If you're going to have to download the service pack anyway, why not integrate it in the CD? Saves time and then you don't have huge service pack uninstall files on the drive.

With SP3 slipstreamed he'll be able to see the whole drive right from the start, IMO that's the preferrable way to do it. Slipstreaming the CD is easy and probably takes less time than installing the service pack afterwards.

 

You are right Johnny I had to experiment so I booted off my really old XP Home pre SP 1 disk and just as Arran sees, it only sees 131 GB of the 500 GB, divided into 3 parts disk. However, I booted off my XP Pro SP2 disk and it sees all three parts no problem, so Arran could even slipstream SP2 if he doesn't want SP3. Anyway, nice to learn something new

 

Just out of curiosity, how did your partitions appear? Does it show the the first ones complete and then truncate whatever partition has part of it beyond the 131 GB? IOW, if you had a 250 GB drive with 2 x 50 GB and a third partition with 150 GB, does it show the two 50 GB and the third as 31 GB or does it show really weird stuff? I've never had this problem myself, since SP1 came out way before I ever got a drive bigger than 80 GB.

 

It only showed the ~131 GB partition and nothing of the other ones, and this is on a Xp Home before SP1, so it's really old, around early 2002.

 

It's either the lack of SP1 (or subsequent) or an old BIOS. How old is your BIOS?

 

It's the lack of SP1 or later.

Windows XP does not rely on Bios for identifying the size of the disk.

Panagiotis

 

Panagiotis,

Maybe we are talking at cross purposes. To use more than 137 GB of the HD you need a 48-bit LBA compatible BIOS. If your BIOS is not 48-bit LBA compatible it doesn't matter if you have WinXP SP3. You will only be able to address the first 137 GB of the HD. WinXP will see the remainder of the HD as unallocated space.

(137 GB or 127 GiB depending on your preference)

 

Hi Brian,

it actually depends on the chipset and ATA connector. If the chipset supports it and the connectors are ATA6 (UDMA 5) or higher, even if the bios does not support 48-bit LBA, windows will bypass the bios settings (have seen it on an old ASRock mobo). The bios reported the disk as 137gb but xp saw the real capacity of 200gb (186gb).

Panagiotis

 

Panagiotis,

I agree that WinXP reports the full size of the HD if the BIOS is not 48-bit LBA compatible. I made some notes from when my next door neighbour had a HD failure in his laptop. He replaced the 60 GB HD with a 160 GB HD and installed WinXP SP3. In Disk Management the HD was reported as 152 GiB but the WinXP partition was 131 GiB with 21 GiB of unallocated space.

The following apps reported the HD as...

dsrfix 137 GB

HDAT2 160 GB

IFD 131 GiB

BING 131 GiB

IFL 152 GiB

I was advised by TeraByte Unlimited that IFL accesses the HD directly and doesn't use the BIOS. IFD uses the BIOS.

My brain is rusty on the next point. I think WinXP can create a partition in the unallocated space beyond the 127 GiB mark but it isn't recommended as you can get data loss.

For those interested, Dan Goodell wrote this about my mates situation...

 

arran,

Do you have any feedback for us? What is the answer? Thanks.