Zen Internet Support Forum

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help me, or offer advise or know of such software. I'm looking for a freeware tool like FDISK which will work with NTFS partitions. I want to be able to totally delete an existing NTFS primary (system & boot) partition and then re-create a new primary NTFS partition. And then to be able to format the new partition so that I can re-install windows XP pro as if the disk was a new empty disk.

**Ideally, the tools I'm after could be put onto a bootable CD-R disk. 

Thanks in anticipation

Ivan.

The Windows XP installer will allow you to delete and recreate partitions. Alternatively you can get a boot cd of gparted.

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David Nelson
Team Leader
Business Support Unit
Zen Internet

Hello David,

With the greatest of respect your wrong in the point your making & this is why I am asking this question. The windows XP setup (installer) does NOT allow a user to delete an existing primary partition. You cannot delete it and recreate it and then reformat it.  Thats the precise problem, I cannot delete a primary partition with a damaged XP configuration & want to wipe it entirely so I can start over again with what essentially the installer (setup) thinks is a clean new disk.

**YES! I already know how to perform an OS refresh or non destructive reinstallation but thats not what I'm really after here.

**I know about Gparted but I cannot seem to get the CD to boot up or load. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? I have a VERY basic knowledge of linux and I have in fact successfully used Gparted in the past but it just wont play ball nicely at present. Perhaps I might be better off downloading a newer version & trying to make another Gparted liveCD?.

Ivan

Hello Ivan, 

If you're referring to the GUI installer then yes you're right it won't let you delete primary partitions that are currently mounted in a booted OS but I'm referring to the text-mode installer you get from booting off the XP cd, I'm certain this works as I've done it uncountable times in a past life at a computer manufacturer. Have you set your BIOS to boot from the CD?

The gparted cd should be just write ISO to cd as an image and boot from the CD using the same method as above, it will load a small Linux installation and then load gparted from a GUI. However the XP cd boot method would be simpler.

Dave 

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David Nelson
Team Leader
Business Support Unit
Zen Internet

DBAN, that will totally wipe everything so that you can then start from scratch, kinda like a new harddrive.

 

Its called Dariks Boot and Nuke, but DBAN for short

 

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Hello David,

Durr?? At the risk of sounding a complete dumbo where on the XP CD disk will I find the test-mode installer? All I ever get with the XP disk is the GUI which offers a limited number of options on a blue-ish screen. Such as install XP, repair a damaged installation, add components, or add additional features or tasks,etc.

**I've now re-downloaded the latest release of Gparted liveCD and burnt it as a bootable CD (ISO Juliet type) using Roxio EasyCD burner, although I havent tried booting from it though yet. YES! I'm fairly sure Gparted is what I'm after for this task.

**I'm sure you may well be correct that the XP cd boot method would be simpler, but its only simpler IF you understand how to use it & how it works & how to access it.

**Thanks for the DBAN suggestion but I think that's not quite what I'm seeking. The DBAN will wipe entire disks & data but I'm after a tool that gives me alot of control & I'm not entirely sure Dariks Boot & Nuke will? But thanks very much for that suggestion though it is appreciated.

 

Ivan.

Have a look at Ranish Partition Manager - it's a freeware utility to be found at http://www.ranish.com/part/

If you are still able to access your XP environment, can you make a Barts PE disc and boot from that.

 

http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm

cyteck:

 

**I'm sure you may well be correct that the XP cd boot method would be simpler, but its only simpler IF you understand how to use it & how it works & how to access it.

Ivan.

 I think the part you are looking for is called "DiskPart"

Been a while since I have used it but you can access it with the XP bootable install disc and select one of the options to get to a DOS like looking screen then use the diskpart command.

I can't recall what part of the menu to select or the actual commands but I am sure you can find it with ease.

One thing I would ask you do do is disable any drive on your system that you are not going to re-partition or you may risk losing valuable data.

EDITED:

Found how to access it Using the Windows XP Recovery Console

 

 

To boot from the CD you will need to enter your system BIOS which is the first menu that appears when you power up. From there you can modify the boot sequence that will tell it which drives to look for an operating system and in what order. If you set it to check the CDROM drive first the system will look for an operating system on the Windows XP cd which will allow you to enter the text-mode installer. Because windows isn't mounting any partitions you can use this to modify your disk layout before installation.

Modifying settings in the BIOS can prevent your system from booting if you are unsure of what you're doing then you might want to get assistance from someone familiar with it.

This is the only way you will be able to modify the partitions, you can not possibly remove the partition windows is booting from while it is running. The only thing you can do from within Windows is to remove non-system partitions but only once you've removed their drive letter from the disk manager, this stops windows from mounting those partitions so you can delete and recreate them also done from disk manager.

 

HTH

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David Nelson
Team Leader
Business Support Unit
Zen Internet

Hello,

YES! Thanks I completely forgot about Ranish Partition Manager.

 

**And I knew that there was a tool included with XP Pro but I just couldn't recall what it was called, so thanks for reminding me about DiskPart that's pretty helpful too.

**THANK YOU to everyone who replied, ALL comments appreciated too.

 Ivan