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I Can't Partition - Dimension 8400
Hello.
I have a Dell Dimension 8400 that's just over a year old. I'm having difficulty partitioning the 80 GB hard drive.
Attached to the computer are a Maxtor 120 GB One Touch external hard drive, and an Iomega Zip 750 drive. These peripherals are both USB 2.0-compatible.
I've formatted the hard drive completely, reinstalling the OEM Windows XP Home from the restore CD.
I wanted to partition the hard drive, with a second primary partition, to set up a dual boot scenario for installing Windows Vista Beta.
To create the partition, I'm using Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0.
I was unsuccessful at creating a partition. Acronis went through the entire partition process, but no new partition was created.
After repeating this process a few times, to no avail, I thought a conflict between it and the USB external hard drive may exist. I unplugged the Maxtor external drive, tried running Acronis again, without success. Upon plugging in the Maxtor, it was not recognized, no matter what I tried.
Fortunately, creating and using a System Restore point helped.
I decided to try another partitioning program: Norton Partition Magic 8.05. The same thing happened. No partition was created.
I'm not sure if this is a software issue, or if something in the Dell computer is preventing the partitioning software from working. So, I figured I'd ask about the problem here. Are there any known, confirmed issues with partitioning, that are specific to the Dimension 8400? I'm using fully updated, registered software.
Thank you very much. Jack Danniel
I have a Dell Dimension 8400 that's just over a year old. I'm having difficulty partitioning the 80 GB hard drive.
Attached to the computer are a Maxtor 120 GB One Touch external hard drive, and an Iomega Zip 750 drive. These peripherals are both USB 2.0-compatible.
I've formatted the hard drive completely, reinstalling the OEM Windows XP Home from the restore CD.
I wanted to partition the hard drive, with a second primary partition, to set up a dual boot scenario for installing Windows Vista Beta.
To create the partition, I'm using Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0.
I was unsuccessful at creating a partition. Acronis went through the entire partition process, but no new partition was created.
After repeating this process a few times, to no avail, I thought a conflict between it and the USB external hard drive may exist. I unplugged the Maxtor external drive, tried running Acronis again, without success. Upon plugging in the Maxtor, it was not recognized, no matter what I tried.
Fortunately, creating and using a System Restore point helped.
I decided to try another partitioning program: Norton Partition Magic 8.05. The same thing happened. No partition was created.
I'm not sure if this is a software issue, or if something in the Dell computer is preventing the partitioning software from working. So, I figured I'd ask about the problem here. Are there any known, confirmed issues with partitioning, that are specific to the Dimension 8400? I'm using fully updated, registered software.
Thank you very much. Jack Danniel
- As far as I know, you do not need to resize a partition before creating a new one. That is the purpose of Acronis and Partition Magic. I've done the same exact scenario on my old computer in the past, with no problems.
At this moment in time, I've setup my Dell exactly the way I want it. I've installed Vista on my old computer, so at least I can experiment with it a little. However, the older computer doesn't have the power of the Dell (i.e. only a 1 gigahertz processor, only 16 MB of video ram), so I'd like to be able to test out various things with as much power as possible.
I don't want to run the risk of System Restore failing to restore my system in the event the latest attempt to partition the system fails. But I could give it one more attempt. This time, I'll install Acronis True Image, and will create a full system backup, prior to installing and using the partitioning software. That way, if System Restore fails, Acronis True Image shouldn't. Hopefully shouldn't, that is.
But the original question I posted has yet to be answered: Are there any KNOWN conflicts between third-party partitioning software, and a Dell Dimension product? - Here is the scenario I used:
I formatted my hard drive, and reinstalled XP Home from the OEM CD.
At that point in time, all I had on the computer was the OS.
Then, I installed Acronis, and enabled its OS Selector.
I wanted a 25 GB partition, so I could fit Vista, along with some other software.
As I said, I was unable to do this.
When Acronis failed to partition the hard drive, I installed Partition Magic, Boot Magic, and PQ Boot. (Boot Magic and PQ BOOT are not the same thing.)
Nothing worked. So, clearly, there is something wrong, since two different partitioning programs failed to partition anything.
(Both programs never failed to partition my previous computer, which I still have...and built myself. It has an AMD Athlon 1.0 GhZ.)
So, I'm trying to figure out if there is a configuration conflict between the software and the partition programs.
I probably could have created a partition when I formatted the hard drive and reinstalled XP Home, since the setup operation permits creating another partition.
But I wanted to manage the partitions and OS'es with a third-party utility for a specific reason. Something is preventing me from doing that. - Did you first try to resize the existing Partition ?
The program can not create space IF a new partition
overlaps an existing one
You also need to be logged on as Administrator
You may need to try in Safe Mode ... If this was
a clean install & your apps are not yet installed,
redo it & tell XP what size partition to make - I think I solved the problem.
I just updated the BIOS from 107 to A08 and that SEEMS to have solved the problem, because after updating it, I successfully created a partition with Acronis.
Now, the next step is to see if Norton Partition Magic works as well.
After I test both programs out, if NPM works also, I'll go back to Acronis, configure the OS Selector, and see if I can set up the Dual Boot and install Vista.
But at least I think I solved the glitch. It apparently was an outdated BIOS.
Thanks for sticking with me through this. I'll post a follow-up message to let you know how things go. That probably won't be until Sunday night. Thanks again.
Jd - No there are not .. I also have Partion Magic 8. something
and Dell 8200 (3yrs old) .... it did exactly what is supposed
to do .... and yes, in some cases, you must resize the
Existing Partition before it will let you create a new partition.
That is just the way it has to be sometimes. Can you see the
full size of the HDD in File Explorer and is the entire drive
formatted and available to the Operating System ? ?
If the drive is over 137GB you need XP SP1 or later &
48 bit LBA enabled in the BIOS
Do not be concerned with System Restore ... you do not
even have your Apps or Personal Files on the computer yet.
When everything is up & running the way you want it, make
an image using Ghost or TruImage ... system restore really
undoes changes in the registry & will not delete personal files
in the My Documents area (not sure about other areas)Message Edited by 85rx-7se on 06-10-200607:21 PM
- The drive is an 80 GB serial ATA, standard stock on the 8400.
I tried a few different scenarios, none of which worked. I messed around with the small unallocated space, creating a partition out of that.
That worked...but from there, nothing else did. When I tried resizing the C drive, to give free space to the new partition, it didn't take hold.
Two things I haven't done yet: I haven't checked to see if there is a new BIOS update.
If there is one, I'll flash-update my BIOS, although I doubt that will make a difference. It should be updated nonetheless.
Also, I haven't gone into CMOS to see if a setting there is preventing a partition. I'm not sure what sort of setting might conflict with things, but it won't hurt to look around in there.
But so far, nothing I've done has resulted in a new primary partition.
85rx-7se
326 Posts
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Posted June 10th, 2006 20:00
space that is used ? ?
If any files overlap the area the new partition will go in, then the existing
partition must be resized accordingly First, before you can create the
new Partition
Also, since you have Partition Magic, look at it's cd ... there is a
program on it called PQBOOT ... it is specifically intended to help
install a Dual Boot on your pc ... see below:
PQBoot, a bit of boot magic: One of the most vexing problems sometimes confronting us is the dual boot. I had to do it on my kid’s computer so his older games, the ones that didn’t work under XP, could be booted in Win 98. I’m sure there are people who enjoy such challenges as installing a second operating system on a computer. They’re the same people who can map out the Krebs cycle on a napkin while defending their current diet. Me? I find doing my taxes more enjoyable.
The problem is solved. PowerQuest has a companion program included on the Partition Magic CD. PQBoot. It automatically sets up a second primary partition and lets you install the second operating system... and third or fourth, if you really want that. When it’s done, it handles it all for you. During the boot, the computer asks which OS you want to use. You select and PQBoot does the rest. This is particularly helpful if you’re mixing XP with an earlier version of Windows as the partition type is different.