Hi Mark,

I do have Partition Magic 8.0.  It shows that I have only one partition
on Drive C: and the following information:

type:  FAT32
size MB:  38,262.2
Used MB:  15,992.8
Unused MB:  14,246.7
Status:  Active
Pri/Log:  Primary

If you will notice, the used and unused MB reported by Partition Magic
add up to a total of 30,239.5 MB.  That means that there is a difference
of 8,022.7 MB between the total of the used and unused MB and the size
of the drive (38,262.2 minus 30,239.5 = 8,022.7 MB).  What happened to
the 8,022.7 MB?

Partition Magic does not show any problem with the disk.  It does not
show any hidden partition.  The 30,239.5 total of the used and unused MB
is what is reported by WinXP as the capacity of Drive C:

If I could somehow recover the missing 8+ gigs of space on Drive C:, I
could, perhaps, add another partition with Partion Magic and store only
data in that partition so that it could be backed up easily and I would
not have to purchase a larger hard drive anytime soon.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Loy

Mark Tretter wrote:

> Since it is a Dell, it may have a hidden partition that accounts for the
> missing space.  If you use a partition program like "Partition Magic" it
> should show all partitions.  Then you should be able to carry out your
> plan
> as described below.  I have done this and have also transferred the
> hidden
> partition as well and it has worked.  I have also tried it without
> transferring the hidden partition and it worked ok too.  YMMV
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Loy Pressley" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2005 6:33 PM
> Subject: [PCBUILD] Change Hard Drive
>
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Since I got no answers to my previous query, I'll try to phrase this a
>> different way.
>>
>> I have a 40 gig hard drive on this system.  Windows XP recognizes only
>> 31.7 gig as usable.  Why this is, I do not know.  16.2 gig is in use
>> with 15.5 gig free space.  I need more hard drive space so I want to go
>> to an 80 gig or larger IDE hard drive.  I have only one drive bay in
>> this system (Dell L800r running at 800 MHz, WinXP SR2 operating system,
>> FAT32 file system).  My plan to change out the hard drive is:
>>
>>    - using Norton Ghost, make an image of Drive C:
>>
>>    - physically remove the old hard drive and install the new drive.
>>
>>    - using the Windows XP System Setup Disk that I just downloaded from
>> the good folks at Free PC Tech Support,
>> http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files010.shtml, I will format and partition
>> the new hard drive.
>>
>>    - then, I will restore the image of Drive C: I made earlier with
>> Norton Ghost, to the new hard drive and I should be ready to go.  Right?
>>
>> Will this work?  What kind of pitfalls am I likely to encounter?  Any
>> help and/or guidance would be greatly appreciated.  I am certainly no
>> expert on computers.
>>
>> Thanks...
>>
>>        The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website,
>>           web based bulletinboard for questions and answers:
>>              Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com
>
>
>        The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website,
>           web based bulletinboard for questions and answers:
>              Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com
>
>

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