You can use the Microsoft Windows XP Setup program (Installation CD) or the FDISK and Format tools to partition and format System and startup partitions. Here are the steps:

- Insert the bootable Windows XP setup CD-ROM into your CD/DVD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer. Make the system boot from the CD drive (Change in BIOS booting order). At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement. Bypass the existing OS repair prompt.

- All the existing partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition by using unpartitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each of the existing partitions that you want to use for the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition. Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER. Repeat the above steps to create additional partitions if you want them.

- If you want to install Windows XP, use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER. Choose the file format (NTFS or FAT32) and format the system. Then you can follow the onscreen prompts to complete the OS installation.

Answered by A.R. , an ibibo Master, at 7:45 AM on October 08, 2008

well, Hard drive space will always be in constant demand, what with the average game install exceeding a gigabyte of space, and fast Internet and file sharing conspiring to fill our computers with things we can't possibly do without. Fortunately, hard disk space continues to expand affordably. As the average computer can use up to three hard disks in addition to a CD drive, it's easy enough to go out and buy a new drive to add extra storage space to your system. Easy enough until you get around to actually putting the drive in, that is. Few other computer upgrades carry more potential complications and complexities than installing and preparing a newly purchased hard drive for use.

Here at PCSTATS, we'd like to take some time to cover this important procedure in detail, so you won't have to pay your local computer shop $80 to do it for you!

In this Beginners Guide, we'll cover all the necessary steps for installing and preparing a second hard disk drive on both Win9x/ME and Win2K/XP systems, as well as setting up the hard drive for installation on a brand new computer with no operating system. As both IDE and Serial ATA hard drives are used in modern PCs, we'll also investigate the differences between these two types of hard disk.
source site: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview. cfm?articleID=1778

Answered by Nidhi Singh , an ibibo Master, at 10:56 AM on October 06, 2008

Well , To partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program:

1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, or insert the first Windows XP Setup disk into the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer.

Note To start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM (or from the startup disk), your computer must be configured to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive. In some cases, you may have to modify your computer's BIOS settings to set this configuration. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive, see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.

2. If you are starting the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do this.

Note If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver.

For more information about how to use F6 to supply a third-party OEM device driver while the Windows Setup program is running, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314859 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/31 4859/) Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP Setup
If you are starting from the Windows XP Setup disks, insert each of the additional disks when you are prompted, and then press ENTER to continue after you insert each disk.
3. At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.
4.
Note If you are using the Setup disks (6 bootable disks), the setup will prompt you to instert the Windows XP CD.
5. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.
6. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.
7. All the existing partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition by using unpartitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each of the existing partitions that you want to use for the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition.

Note If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition.
8. Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.
9. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to create additional partitions if you want them.
10. If you want to install Windows XP, use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER. If you do not want to format the partition and install Windows XP, press F3 two times to quit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps. In this case, you must use a different utility to format the partition.
11. Select the format option that you want to use for the partition, and then press ENTER. You have the following options:
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system
• Leave the current file system intact (no changes)

Answered by keshav , an ibibo Citizen, at 11:15 PM on October 04, 2008

Before a new hard disk can be used it needs to be setup. This involves partitioning and formatting the hard disk. Windows 98 or ME boot disk contains the required software to perform this procedure. FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM are the files required in your bootable floppy disk. Start the partition and format procedure by booting your PC using a Windows boot disk. Make sure you set the BIOS so that the boot sequence is set to detect the floppy disk first. If your system has no problems booting you will be presented with a Windows boot disk menu. This gives you the option to start the system with or without CD-ROM support. At this stage you do not need the CD-ROM support, so choose the option to boot without CD-ROM support. You should end up in the MS DOS prompt A: (A drive).

From A: command prompt type fdisk. You will be presented with following message:

Choose "Y" to enable large disk support.You will now be presented with the FDISK main menu

From the menu, choose option 1 - Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive. Another menu will present the following options.

Choose option 1 - Create primary DOS Partition. FDISK verifies the integrity of your drive and will ask you if want to use the maximum available size of your hard disk to create the primary partition and set it active. To keep things simple we will create one large partition. Choose "Y" to use maximum available space. When the partition has been created successfully you will be notified by the system. Your drive is now known as C: (C drive). Press "Esc" to return to the menu. Press "Esc" again to exit FDISK. You need to restart your system for the changes to take affect. Leave boot disk in the drive.When the system reboots, choose start without CD-ROM from the boot disk menu. While booting from floppy disk you might get error message like "Invalid media type reading drive C" this is OK for this stage as the hard disk is not formatted.

From A: command prompt type format c:You will get a message saying "WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST. Proceed with Format (Y/N)?".

Don't worry about the message as you do not have any data in the new hard disk. Choose "Y". The format will proceed and would show you a progress indicator. The time it takes to format a hard disk depends on the size and speed of the drive. This could be around 5-30 minutes. Once the format is complete you need to reset your system. You are now ready to install an operating system.

Answered by Hem@nt .... , an ibibo Master, at 11:55 AM on September 30, 2008

well;
The Steps:

First make a Startup Disk: To create a Startup Disk, click the Add/Remove Programs icon in Control Panel.

1. First start the computer in DOS. The screen will show the C:\ prompt. You can use a boot disk to start your computer, the screen will show the A:\.

2. Now type FDISK . The partition window will appear with menu options.

3. Enter 5 if you're partitioning a second drive, and select the drive; otherwise, skip to the next step.

4. Enter 1 (Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive).

5. Enter 2 (Create Extended DOS) to create a partition.

6. Enter N when the program asks if you want to use the maximum available size.

7. Designate the amount of disk space to allocate to the second partition (the partition will be assigned the next drive letter).

8. Type a name for the new partition and press Enter. The partition menu will appear.

9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to create additional partitions.

10. Exit the partition command by Press Esc.

11. Now you can Format the newly created partitions (see "How To Format a Hard Drive").



Using your C drive Windows Me FDISK to partition your new hard drive.

1. In Windows click Start > Programs > MS-DOS Prompt. Type fdisk at the DOS prompt and press enter. Press enter again to allow the hard drive to be formatted

2. Now press 5 to change the current fixed disk drive and then press enter. You are going to format your second drive, your new drive and you want to be sure that you don't format the first drive. Then press 2 to format the new drive and press enter.

3. Press 1 and then enter to create a DOS partition on drive 2.

4. Press 1 again, and then enter to create a primary DOS partition. You need to create a primary DOS partition to allow this partition to become the bootable volume, C: drive.

5. Now press enter to use the maximum available size of your new hard drive for the primary DOS partition. Drives less then 8GB will use 4K clusters for file storage. Press Esc to end FDISK. Now restart Windows, your new drive will be recognized as the D:. And the second primary partition is assigned the drive letter D: .

6. You need to format the new drive . Right click on the D: drive icon in your Explorer, and select Format, mark the Full and (Copy system files) options in the Format dialog box and click the Start button, Also you can click Start > Programs > MS-DOS Prompt, and type Format D:/s and press enter.

7. If formatting is complete, you have a hard drive that is ready to accept your files. See Copying you files to a new hard drive here!.

Note: If your hard drive is already partitioned you shouldn't use Fdisk. You can determine if your drive was partitioned with a third party product by examining the Config.sys. If you find Sstor.sys, HarDrive.sys, Dmdrvr.bin. or Evdisk.sys references.

Note: If the disk capacity displayed in the FDISK menu doesn't match your hard drive, then your system doesn't support larger disk drives. Use disk management software, such as Disk Manager or EZ-Drive, to provide support for larger drives.

Answered by Kishore , an ibibo Master, at 6:58 AM on September 30, 2008

Hard drives can be partitioned to run separate operating systems on the same disk, or to break down a disk into manageable chunks for storage. Partitioning is performed on a new or reformatted drive. You must partition a drive in order to use it. Even if you're going to give it all to Windows. The program that we use most often to partition a hard drive is FDISK, which comes with DOS & Windows. Nowadays, people partition drives for two reasons: to support multiple operating systems, and to use disk space more efficiently.

Microsoft Windows comes with an newer version of Fdisk.exe, That you can use to partition your drives. In most cases, the computer manufacturer will have already set up disk partitions on your hard drive when you get a new computer or drive. You can use Fdisk.exe to make changes to your partitions, but you will lose any files stored on them unless you back them up first.

First make a Startup Disk: To create a Startup Disk, click the Add/Remove Programs icon in Control Panel.

1. First start the computer in DOS. The screen will show the C:\ prompt. You can use a boot disk to start your computer, the screen will show the A:\.

2. Now type FDISK . The partition window will appear with menu options.

3. Enter 5 if you're partitioning a second drive, and select the drive; otherwise, skip to the next step.

4. Enter 1 (Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive).

5. Enter 2 (Create Extended DOS) to create a partition.

6. Enter N when the program asks if you want to use the maximum available size.

7. Designate the amount of disk space to allocate to the second partition (the partition will be assigned the next drive letter).

8. Type a name for the new partition and press Enter. The partition menu will appear.

9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to create additional partitions.

10. Exit the partition command by Press Esc.

11. Now you can Format the newly created partitions (see "How To Format a Hard Drive").



Using your C drive Windows Me FDISK to partition your new hard drive.

1. In Windows click Start > Programs > MS-DOS Prompt. Type fdisk at the DOS prompt and press enter. Press enter again to allow the hard drive to be formatted

2. Now press 5 to change the current fixed disk drive and then press enter. You are going to format your second drive, your new drive and you want to be sure that you don't format the first drive. Then press 2 to format the new drive and press enter.

3. Press 1 and then enter to create a DOS partition on drive 2.

4. Press 1 again, and then enter to create a primary DOS partition. You need to create a primary DOS partition to allow this partition to become the bootable volume, C: drive.

5. Now press enter to use the maximum available size of your new hard drive for the primary DOS partition. Drives less then 8GB will use 4K clusters for file storage. Press Esc to end FDISK. Now restart Windows, your new drive will be recognized as the D:. And the second primary partition is assigned the drive letter D: .

6. You need to format the new drive . Right click on the D: drive icon in your Explorer, and select Format, mark the Full and (Copy system files) options in the Format dialog box and click the Start button, Also you can click Start > Programs > MS-DOS Prompt, and type Format D:/s and press enter.

7. If formatting is complete, you have a hard drive that is ready to accept your files. See Copying you files to a new hard drive here!.

For more information-
http://www.webtechgee k.com/How-to-Partition-a-Hard-Drive .htm

Answered by Nagendra , an ibibo Master, at 5:25 AM on September 30, 2008

I normally do with Windows which is quite easy.It is from BIOS mode after you insert the CD.The method is given below:
At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.

Note If you are using the Setup disks (6 bootable disks), the setup will prompt you to instert the Windows XP CD.
Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.
If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.
All the existing partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition by using unpartitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each of the existing partitions that you want to use for the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition.

Note If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition.
Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.
Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to create additional partitions if you want them.
If you want to install Windows XP, use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER. If you do not want to format the partition and install Windows XP, press F3 two times to quit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps. In this case, you must use a different utility to format the partition.
Select the format option that you want to use for the partition, and then press ENTER. You have the following options:
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system
• Leave the current file system intact (no changes)
The option to leave the current file system intact is not available if the selected partition is a new partition. The FAT file system option is not available if the selected partition is more than 32 gigabytes (GB). If the partition is larger than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT32 file system (you must press ENTER to confirm). If the partition is smaller than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT16 file system.

Note If you deleted and created a new System partition, but you are installing Windows XP on a different partition, you will be prompted to select a file system for both the System and startup partitions.
Now if other operating system then:
Site name: http://www.iitk.ac.in/LDP/HOWTO/Har d-Disk-Upgrade/partition.html
Use this command to partition the new disk:
fdisk /dev/hdb
EIDE devices are identified as hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd in the /dev directory. Partitions on these disks can range from 1 to 16 and are also in the /dev directory. For example, /dev/hda4 refers to partition 4 on hard disk a (first EIDE hard disk).
SCSI devices are listed as devices sda, sdb, sdc, sdd, sde, sdf, and sdg in the /dev directory. Similarly, partitions on these disks can range from 1 to 16 and are also in the /dev directory. For example, /dev/sda3 refers to partition 3 on SCSI disk a (first SCSI hard disk).
For Linux partitions with the ext2 file system, use system ID 83. For swap partitions, use system ID 82.
For more information on partitioning, see the Installation How-To and the Partition M

Answered by bobby , an ibibo Advisor, at 11:15 PM on September 29, 2008

To partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program:
1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, or insert the first Windows XP Setup disk into the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer.

Note To start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM (or from the startup disk), your computer must be configured to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive. In some cases, you may have to modify your computer's BIOS settings to set this configuration. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive, see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.
2. If you are starting the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do this.

Note If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver.

For more information about how to use F6 to supply a third-party OEM device driver while the Windows Setup program is running, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314859 Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP Setup
If you are starting from the Windows XP Setup disks, insert each of the additional disks when you are prompted, and then press ENTER to continue after you insert each disk.
3. At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.
4.
Note If you are using the Setup disks (6 bootable disks), the setup will prompt you to instert the Windows XP CD.
5. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.
6. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.
7. All the existing partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition by using unpartitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each of the existing partitions that you want to use for the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition.

Note If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition.
8. Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.
9. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to create additional partitions if you want them.
10. If you want to install Windows XP, use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER. If you do not want to format the partition and install Windows XP, press F3 two times to quit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps. In this case, you must use a different utility to format the partition.
11. Select the format option that you want to use for the partition, and then press ENTER. You have the following options:
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system
• Leave the current file system intact (no changes)
The option to leave the current file system intact is not available if

Answered by Sudipta Deb , an ibibo Specialist, at 10:05 PM on September 29, 2008

Well , To partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program:

1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, or insert the first Windows XP Setup disk into the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer.

Note To start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM (or from the startup disk), your computer must be configured to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive. In some cases, you may have to modify your computer's BIOS settings to set this configuration. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive, see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.

2. If you are starting the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do this.

Note If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver.

For more information about how to use F6 to supply a third-party OEM device driver while the Windows Setup program is running, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314859 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/31 4859/) Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP Setup
If you are starting from the Windows XP Setup disks, insert each of the additional disks when you are prompted, and then press ENTER to continue after you insert each disk.
3. At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.
4.
Note If you are using the Setup disks (6 bootable disks), the setup will prompt you to instert the Windows XP CD.
5. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.
6. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.
7. All the existing partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition by using unpartitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each of the existing partitions that you want to use for the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition.

Note If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition.
8. Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.
9. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to create additional partitions if you want them.
10. If you want to install Windows XP, use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER. If you do not want to format the partition and install Windows XP, press F3 two times to quit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps. In this case, you must use a different utility to format the partition.
11. Select the format option that you want to use for the partition, and then press ENTER. You have the following options:
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system
• Leave the current file system intact (no changes)

The o

Answered by Alok Gupta , an ibibo Guru, at 9:07 PM on September 29, 2008