Missing hdd space after windows reinstall

[Gnarnok]

A friend had a really sloppy laptop and had me just reinstall windows on it. Now its missing a good portion of hd space. I've been reading about whiping the hd then reinstalling. But can't i just delete everything off the hd when im reinstalling? (which i thought i did)

[Dustie]

Did you format the drive during install? What partitions did you see at the time you picked the installation location?

[Jodah]

I dunno how it is for Vista but I know with XP if you repartition it during the install it wipes everything.

[grizzle]

If you don't change anything during the install, I believe Windows keeps the old install in a directory called Windows.old or something like that, which will eat up some HDD space.

Dustie and Jodah are right, if you want to avoid this, then when you reinstall make sure you reformat the drive (this is good because it also checks for bad sectors) and remove all partitions that had been there before, and create new partitions as needed.

Doing these things removes absolutely everything from prior installs and drops in a truly clean and fresh install of windows.

[Vanraw]

I'm assuming this is XP, and the formated from ground zero.

In that case most peopls XP CD's are prior to any service packs. This means they have a partition capacity limit of .. I forget the exact amount but its like around 127 / 130 gig. Sp2 and above fixes this, so the OS can regonize larger partitions. Vista also can have larger partitions.

What happens in the install process, is XP ask if you want to format, you say yes and if defines the partition size. If you have a 500 gig drive it will only partition the first 127 gig.

The fix is first patch xp with all available Service packs. You need to at least get to SP2. You then run computer management in your control panel under administrative tools. There is a Disk Management tab, that will allow you to create a new partition for the unused space on the HD. Note that its a good idea to leave about 8 gig unpartitioned if you have it, for restore utilities.

Oh yea when ever your messing with partitions, make 100% sure that you back up any important files. I try to always write everything in mydocs so that I have one place to back up data.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000</a><!-- m -->

How to use Disk Management
To start Disk Management:

1. Log on as administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
2. Click Start, click Run, type compmgmt.msc, and then click OK.
3. In the console tree, click Disk Management. The Disk Management window appears. Your disks and volumes appear in a graphical view and list view. To customize how you view your disks and volumes in the upper and lower panes of the window, point to Top or Bottom on the View menu, and then click the view that you want to use.

[Gnarnok]

Thanks, I was reading something about sp1 & sp2 and the partition limits. I'll fiddle with it some more later.

[Fretty]

Seriously, check your Computer Management window under Control Panel. After you've installed SP2 on XP you'll see that you have a whole bunch of unallocated space. SP1 had the old disk limitations which were upgrades with SP2.

Once you see that unallocated space, create a new partition or add it to the end of an existing partition by simply right clicking and choosing your options from there.

[Diggles]

Seriously, check your Computer Management window under Control Panel. After you've installed SP2 on XP you'll see that you have a whole bunch of unallocated space. SP1 had the old disk limitations which were upgrades with SP2.

Once you see that unallocated space, create a new partition or add it to the end of an existing partition by simply right clicking and choosing your options from there.

or reinstall, delete all partitions, create new partition, quick format (assuming you have sp2 disc)

instead of fugging ghetto 2 partition gimp computer

[Bulgy]

There is a way to create an XP SP2 install disc. Long as you have a valid copy of XP you can hit Microsoft's site for instructions.

[Vanraw]

There is also software that will let you increase the partition size with out impacting the existing file structure. But they cost money.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic">http://www.symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic</a><!-- m -->

Windows disk manager doesn't let you though. Just create a new partition.

[Fretty]

There is also software that will let you increase the partition size with out impacting the existing file structure. But they cost money.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic">http://www.symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic</a><!-- m -->

Windows disk manager doesn't let you though. Just create a new partition.

I could have swore Windows Disk Manager let you add to an existing partition, but I guess I'm wrong. Partition Magic is a good tool, I've used plenty in the past.

[Gnarnok]

So I updated SP2 and didnt see any extra space in the disk management utility. Any ideas on what i did wrong?

[Vanraw]

It should show you unallocated space on the drive.

FYI I would also upgrade all the service packs. Just run windows update until it stops giving you critical items.

[Gnarnok]

Oh ya I never tried to connect it to the interwebs... hmm. I guess I'll try that next.

[Zeel]

That extra space is where they hide the pr0n. Where do you think the adult websites get all of their disk space from???

:lol: