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Author Topic: Partition using cmd prompt?  (Read 82813 times)

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High1

    Topic Starter


    Apprentice

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    Partition using cmd prompt?
    « on: May 28, 2008, 05:57:35 AM »
    Hello

    I have Win XP Home and I am trying to create a partition on my C drive to install a 120-day evaluation of Win XP Professional.

    I have done this in cmd promt where I prefer to do it, but get an error:

    Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
    (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

    C:\>diskpart

    DISKPART> select disk c

    The arguments you specified for this command are not valid.

    DISKPART>

    So I tried it in Computer Management - please see the screenshot here:

    http://www11.brinkster.com/stevehigham/partition.html

    but when I right-click on my C drive I do not see an option to create a new partition.

    I would be grateful for any advice, please.

    Steve

    stevejohnson1958

    • Guest
    Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
    « Reply #1 on: May 28, 2008, 06:01:56 AM »
    How much space did you allocate to the primary partition already on c:?

    blastman



      Hopeful

      Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
      « Reply #2 on: May 28, 2008, 06:05:15 AM »
      from the looks of your pic, I'd say that the c: drive is the entire size of your hdd.

      Basically, I doubt that you'll be able to change the size of the partion, allowing you to create a new one. Not without partion magic or something.

      Blastman, you are the man. Thank You Very Much!!!!!!!!!



      High1

        Topic Starter


        Apprentice

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        Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
        « Reply #3 on: May 28, 2008, 06:20:29 AM »
        Thanks for your quick replies!!

        Yes, C occupies the entire hard drive. I thought I would be able to partition it and install Win XP Prof in the newly created partition.

        I haven't allocated anything yet anywhere. Win XP Prof requires 2GB I think.

        Thanks

        Steve

        stevejohnson1958

        • Guest
        Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
        « Reply #4 on: May 28, 2008, 06:25:58 AM »
        Have you tried using diskpart to create an extended partition or logical drive on C:?

        High1

          Topic Starter


          Apprentice

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          Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
          « Reply #5 on: May 28, 2008, 06:33:12 AM »
          The only thing I have tried, Steve is this:

          C:\>diskpart

          DISKPART> select disk c

          The arguments you specified for this command are not valid.

          DISKPART>


          Cheers

          Steve

          stevejohnson1958

          • Guest
          Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
          « Reply #6 on: May 28, 2008, 06:42:54 AM »
          Using the Command Prompt, try this:

          1.  Open Command Prompt.

          2.  Type: diskpart

          3.  At the DISKPART prompt, type: list disk

          Make note of the disk number of the disk on which you want to create a primary or extended partition.

          4.  At the DISKPART prompt, type: select disk c

          Select the disk c where you want to create the primary or extended partition.

          5.  At the DISKPART prompt, type one of the following: create partition primary [size=n] [offset=n] [noerr]

          Do not create a primary partition if one is already there.

          or

          create partition extended [size=n] [offset=n] [noerr]

          or

          create partition logical [size=n] [offset=n] [noerr]


          Note:  [size=n]
          The size of the partition in megabytes (MB). If no size is given, the partition continues until there is no more unallocated space in the current region. The size is cylinder snapped; the size is rounded to the closest cylinder boundary. For example, if you specify a size of 500 MB, the partition would be rounded up to 504 MB.

          Note:  [offset-n]
          The byte offset at which to create the partition. If no offset is given, the partition will start at the beginning of the first free space on the disk. For master boot record (MBR) disks, the offset is cylinder snapped; the offset is rounded to the closest cylinder boundary. For example, if you specify an offset that is 27 MB and the cylinder size is 8 MB, the offset is rounded to the 24 MB boundary.

          Note:  [noerr]
          For scripting only. When an error is encountered, specifies that DiskPart continues to process commands as if the error did not occur. Without the noerr parameter, an error causes DiskPart to exit with an error code.
          « Last Edit: May 28, 2008, 07:02:23 AM by stevejohnson1958 »

          stevejohnson1958

          • Guest
          Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
          « Reply #7 on: May 28, 2008, 06:54:59 AM »
          Steve...

          If the above doesn't work, the only other thing I can recommend would be to do a backup of all your important files and reinstall the primary OS...making sure you allocate enough space for the additional partition you'd like to install the additional OS on.

          If you reinstall the primary OS...and give the partition full allocation...you may be back to square one.

          If you're just testing the secondary OS...then leave enough space on the drive for this partition.  If it requires 2GB...then leave 4GB...just to be safe.

          High1

            Topic Starter


            Apprentice

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            Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
            « Reply #8 on: May 28, 2008, 08:11:50 AM »
            Hello Steve

            Thanks again for your reply.

            So if I wish for a 5GB partition for Win XP Prof, I could use the following commands:

            diskpart

            list disk

            select disk c

            create partition extended [5000]

            I could not possibly get rid of the Win XP Home I have on my primary partition at the moment!

            I'll try the command lines and let you know.

            Cheers

            Steve

            stevejohnson1958

            • Guest
            Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
            « Reply #9 on: May 28, 2008, 08:13:02 AM »
            That's correct...

            Let us know how it goes, friend...

            High1

              Topic Starter


              Apprentice

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              Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
              « Reply #10 on: May 28, 2008, 11:21:02 AM »
              Hello Steve

              This is the message I get when I enter the following commands:

              DISKPART> list disk

                Disk ###  Status      Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
                --------  ----------  -------  -------  ---  ---
                Disk 0    Online       114 GB      0 B

              DISKPART> select disk c

              The arguments you specified for this command are not valid.

              DISKPART> select disk 0

              Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

              DISKPART> create partition extended [5000]

              The arguments you specified for this command are not valid.

              DISKPART> create partition extended 5000

              The arguments you specified for this command are not valid.

              DISKPART>

              As you can see, I tried C at first, but DOS seems to call my drive 0 (!!??). So I decided to type that in instead. To no avail, as you can see.

              Steve

              stevejohnson1958

              • Guest
              Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
              « Reply #11 on: May 28, 2008, 12:32:40 PM »
              The only thing I can think of then is to repartition the drive.  Losing the original OS...and then creating two partitions on the drive...reinstalling your original OS, as well as XP Pro...

              High1

                Topic Starter


                Apprentice

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                Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                « Reply #12 on: May 29, 2008, 06:00:41 AM »
                Hello

                Many thanks for your replies.

                It might be easier just to go out and buy 20GB of hard disk as I really cannot lose the existing Win XP Home installation.

                Cheers

                Steve

                nothlit



                  Intermediate

                  Thanked: 2
                  Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                  « Reply #13 on: May 29, 2008, 07:30:13 AM »
                  from the looks of your pic, I'd say that the c: drive is the entire size of your hdd.

                  Basically, I doubt that you'll be able to change the size of the partion, allowing you to create a new one. Not without partion magic or something.

                  Don't count yourself out yet, if you have the extra money look into 'Norton Partition Magic' It is a tool I highly recommend and as you can another user did mention it. You can get a copy for about $70.00 dollars and I am pretty sure if you look around they net you can get a free trial, though I not sure about the legalness of the free trial just know I have seen it advertised. Plus with a normal free trail you probably wouldn't be able to do everything you wanted to, but it is worth looking into to see if it matches your needs.

                  http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/overview.jsp?pcid=sp&pvid=pm80

                  However in the long run a second hard drive isn't a bad idea. Once your done you will have the extra space for whatever you need. Good luck.

                  High1

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                    Apprentice

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                    Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                    « Reply #14 on: May 29, 2008, 07:39:39 AM »
                    Many thanks for your message nothlit and the link.

                    Yes, seems like a separate HD is the solution.

                    Cheers

                    Steve

                    stevejohnson1958

                    • Guest
                    Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                    « Reply #15 on: May 29, 2008, 08:07:10 AM »
                    To further expand on nothlit's recommendation...

                    Partition Magic would be your best bet.  Also, the additional hard drive would work as well.

                    If it were a Vista OS, you could use the "shrink" functionality of diskpart, but unfortunately, XP doesn't have this function.

                    So, nothlit is correct...

                    Some additional info

                    lindacn



                      Newbie

                      Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                      « Reply #16 on: September 11, 2008, 03:34:51 AM »
                       :o Why not try partition tools and there are some free, such as EASEUS Partition Manager...
                      http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/EASEUS-Partition-Manager.shtml

                      mstsuzuka



                        Newbie

                        Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                        « Reply #17 on: January 06, 2009, 06:43:58 AM »
                        Hi, i tried the above method to partition my 120GB tumbdrive, but it does not work.

                        diskpart

                        list disk

                        select disk 1  (in my case its disk 1 for my tumbdrive)

                        create partition extended [10000]



                        but all that comes out is the who list of commands that appears if you type "help" in the command prompt.

                        any suggestions?
                        thanks


                        michelleAudacity

                        • Guest
                        Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                        « Reply #18 on: May 20, 2009, 03:29:06 PM »
                        I saw you were having some trouble a while back?
                        If'n you still are with the partition with cmd.. I saw that once you were in the DISKPART and typed "help" and got the prompt with everything, you got a list of things.
                        If you typed "partition" you got the help list again, so type
                        "CREATE PARTITION"

                        and that should get you a list that looks something like this:
                        DISKPART> CREATE PARTITION

                        Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

                        EFI         - Create an EFI system partition.
                        EXTENDED    - Create an extended partition.
                        LOGICAL     - Create a logical drive.
                        MSR         - Create a Microsoft reserved partition.
                        PRIMARY     - Create a primary partition.

                        and you choose whichever you want and it should guide you though the rest I'm assuming?

                        patio

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                        Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                        « Reply #19 on: May 20, 2009, 08:30:56 PM »
                        He hasn't been back since May of last Year...
                        " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

                        mstsuzuka



                          Newbie

                          Re: Partition using cmd prompt?
                          « Reply #20 on: May 21, 2009, 08:10:40 PM »
                          I saw you were having some trouble a while back?
                          If'n you still are with the partition with cmd.. I saw that once you were in the DISKPART and typed "help" and got the prompt with everything, you got a list of things.
                          If you typed "partition" you got the help list again, so type
                          "CREATE PARTITION"

                          and that should get you a list that looks something like this:
                          DISKPART> CREATE PARTITION

                          Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

                          EFI         - Create an EFI system partition.
                          EXTENDED    - Create an extended partition.
                          LOGICAL     - Create a logical drive.
                          MSR         - Create a Microsoft reserved partition.
                          PRIMARY     - Create a primary partition.

                          and you choose whichever you want and it should guide you though the rest I'm assuming?



                          will try when i have the time. Thanks for your help. really appreciate it ^^