How to partition my hard disk?

Question

I have this compaq presario V6000 series laptop. It was supplied with free dos os. I have never installed windows os on it. I currently have linux fedora core installed on it. So probably it was'nt partitioned is'nt it?? Now plz tell me how to partition it?? Is it possible to partition it by pressing F6 when installing win xp ( press F6 if u need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver). Or tell me how to partition using my fedora core cd. Or how to do it using a third party partition software?? is it freely available?

Answer 1

u partition it in the BIOS settings. on start up u press F8 all the time quickly so it takes u to the settings

Answer 2

hmmm, let me get this straight: FreeDos is installed? Then your harddrive does have at least one partition: the partition that contains FreeDos. If you have installed Fedora, than there's at least one partition, too: the partition Fedora is installed on. Neither of those partitions (providing you still have both Fedora as well as FreeDos) can be used by Windows.

Chances are you need some free, unpartitioned space on your harddrive to install XP. Problem is that you've gone about it the wrong way around: you should have installed XP first, then Fedora (if you want to keep Fedora, that is). Reason for that is that Microsoft simply does not support non-Microsoft operating systems in a dual boot setup.

So think what you want, and how you want it:

- only XP? No problem, format the harddrive completely and install XP

- Dual boot XP/Fedora: remove all partitions using the XP boot disk, install XP in a partition, install Fedora in another partition (make sure you don't let XP take up all space when formatting).

- Triple boot XP/Fedora/FreeDos: install XP in one partition. Install FreeDos in a different partition. Install Fedora in a third partition.

Answer 3

I see that you have a Windows XP Bootable installation disc with you. If my assumption is correct, then you do not need to bother about using any options while using the boot disc. Let the laptop boot up using the XP install disc. You will come to a point during the install procedure where you will be asked on what partition you want Windows XP installed, if you do not have any valid Windows partitions on your hard drive, then it will state that you do not have any valid partitions and do you want to create new partitions. At this time, read the instructions on your screen and follow the prompts appropriately. You can either chose to delete the existing partition and create new partitions for Windows XP or if you have unpartitioned space available enought for installing XP, you can use that space. If you delete any existing partitions, then all DATA WILL BE LOST.

Answer 4

the f6 option is to install additional disk, RAID or SCSI drivers that are not part of the OS. If you know what your HDD Controller is then only slect this option if you have a RAID or SCSI configuration.



As far as the partitioning it is really simple, during the installation once your drive is recognized it will dispaly available space, existing partitions or any information about your drive before the installation.



At that point you can delete and create partitions

Answer 5

you need Acronis Disk Director for that.

It allows you to automatically or manually merge, split, resize, copy,delete and move partitions without losing data. It also lets you reorganize the hard disk drive structure, optimize disk space usage and much more.

you can install 100 or more multiple operating systems (OSes) on one computer. You can boot an OS from any partition on any hard disk or have several multiboot systems on the same partition.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/