PartMagic and screwed up Win2K partition!

[KuriousJorj]

Hello, all!

[Tried the 'search' function to solve this, but to no avail...!]

I have a multi-boot system (3): Win98, Win2K (gaming) and Win2K (video editing). There is also a "storage" partition for random files.

All OS parts. are Fat32, the Storage part. is NTFS.

PartMagic is on the Win2K (video editing) part.

So, I wanted to take free space from (1) Win98 and (2) Storage, and add it to the Win2K (gaming) part., as it was getting full. Remember, the Storage part. is NTFS.

So... I made the changes, rebooted, and on the "4th action" (taking from Storage and adding to Win2k (gaming)), the process locked up.

I restarted, and in Win2K (video editing) I opened up PartMagic. It identified ALL CHANGES, but under "My Computer," all changes but the last were recognized. In other words, Win98 and Storage were smaller, but the Win2K (gaming) was only increased by the amount taken from Win98, NOT from Storage.

When I restarted again, it identified the space from Storage as "unallocated." It won't let me move that space into Win2K (gaming), and in fact, I can't do ANYTHING with Win2K (gaming) now, as it says there are LOST CLUSTERS. I tried taking the unallocated space, making a new Fat32 part, then merging that with Win2K, but again said LostClusters...

In conclusion... I cannot DEFRAG Win2Kgaming (says it is "locked"), and I can't even BOOT into Win2Kgaming; all I get is a BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!

thanks for any help!

 

[KuriousJorj]

Win2K repair didn't help...

Last night I used the 2K disk to REPAIR the Win2K gaming partition... This should have fixed the FAT, MBR, or whatever else, I'd think. (it did claim to overwrite alot of files that "weren't the original files")

But it didn't change anything; I still get Blue Screens if I try to boot into it.

And after the repair, the volume doesn't even appear under "My Computer" of the other drives! However, it does appear in MMC (disk management and defrag) but neither can do anything with it. If I try to defrag, it now says it's a 'read-only' disk.

Interestingly, I did do a (?)'disk check' under properties/tools tab... But it obviously didn't help any.

So now, I still can't boot into the Win2K gaming (now called "Win 2K Prof" after the repair), and I can't even access the drive under My Computer so as to pull files off of it!!!

Good ol' Partition Magic!!!

 

[Lone Wolf]

Your first problem was assuming that PM could resize your storage partition and convert to FAT32 on the fly. You should have freed up some space and convereted to FAT32 before adding to the gaming partition.

And you're definitely wasting disk space by having 2 versions of Win2K on the same PC. You should have just created 4 partitions to start with. C:\Win98..... D:\W2K..... E:\Programs & Games..... F:\Video or Data files.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Re: Win2K repair didn't help...

Last night I used the 2K disk to REPAIR the Win2K gaming partition... This should have fixed the FAT, MBR, or whatever else, I'd think. (it did claim to overwrite alot of files that "weren't the original files")

But it didn't change anything; I still get Blue Screens if I try to boot into it.

The repair console isn't meant to fix partition errors like the one you're experiencing. (i.e. it won't resize the partition).

The first option that comes to my mind is to boot up w/ your Win98 boot disk. At the DOS prompt and type /fix mbr. That should hopefully take care of your FAT32 partitions, don't know how you can fix your NTFS partition.

EDIT: I think the same dos command works under W2K/NT as well.

 

[KuriousJorj]

And you're definitely wasting disk space by having 2 versions of Win2K on the same PC. You should have just created 4 partitions to start with. C:\Win98..... D:\W2K..... E:\Programs & Games..... F:\Video or Data files.

This more or less is what I have set up. I don't see how it is wasting disk space. (btw, my video storage is not the NTFS Storage drive... My video storage is 2 striped (RAID) Cheetahs, but I didn't mention that, as it's not involved with this problem)

Oh, I see... You're saying I should install and store the gaming files on a seperate partition, and put shortcuts to them on a single Win2K partition, also used for video editing?

boot up w/ your Win98 boot disk. At the DOS prompt and type /fix mbr. That should hopefully take care of your FAT32 partitions, don't know how you can fix your NTFS partition.

Okay, I'll try that... However, if I remember correctly, if you repair/install Win98 AFTER already having Win2K on a system, the Win2K(s) will no longer be accessible, as it overwrites something... (boot.ini ?)

 

[Lone Wolf]

This more or less is what I have set up. I don't see how it is wasting disk space. (btw, my video storage is not the NTFS Storage drive... My video storage is 2 striped (RAID) Cheetahs, but I didn't mention that, as it's not involved with this problem)

Oh, I see... You're saying I should install and store the gaming files on a seperate partition, and put shortcuts to them on a single Win2K partition, also used for video editing?

What i was saying is installing W2K twice on the same PC is somewhat pointless. You can install your games onto a separate partition and keep your data on a another. Yiou don't need to mess w/ shortcuts. No matter... if you have W2K installed on a single partition and no others, then you're fine.

Okay, I'll try that... However, if I remember correctly, if you repair/install Win98 AFTER already having Win2K on a system, the Win2K(s) will no longer be accessible, as it overwrites something... (boot.ini ?) [/B]

The boot.ini file will not be affected by it unless you are actually reformatting the C:\ drive. the dos command i told you earlier is effective when the OS sometimes shows the incorrect partition size.