New partition

loftus

My packard bell PC came with a hidden partition with contained the OS and software to be used to restore the PC to 'out of the box' state in case of a failure. It also had the option to create a set of master CDs to do the same thing and to free up this space for use in the form of a new partition.

I have created the master CDs but have no idea how to make this new partition accessible. It does not appear on 'My Computer' and in the properties of the C drive my disk capacity is the same. If I run Belarc Adviser however it recognises the extra free space.

I have looked in disk management and the partition is there under RESTDONE which I presume is short for restore done. Any ideas on what I have to do now. When I right click on this partition I get all sorts of dire warnings about carrying out various operations.

drlight_2

First delete the partition by right clicking & delete,
then create a new partition by right clicking, create new partition. This should start the new partiotion wizard, choose the drive letter to assign to it, choose logical drive as it will be used to store files & your not giong to install a new oerating system onto it, choose either ntfs or fat32 if you have any preferance and it should show up as a new drive/space

loftus

Being an ignoramus - what is best ntfs or fat32?

loftus

Okay. I deleted the partition. When I right click on the now unallocated space in disk management it gives me two options - primary partition or extended partition. Logical partition is greyed out. Which should I choose?

Chippy_Minton

Primary partition normally.

wolfman

Would it not be an Extended Partition? The Primary partition is already the one with Windows on it.

loftus

Thanks guys.

I selected primary partition, NTFSand lebelled it F.

It seems to have worked. Now I have to find a use to put it too.

Any ideas?

T4i

Make a RAM disk.

loftus

Being dumb again - whats a RAM disk?

T4i

Refers to RAM that has been configured to simulate a disk drive. You can access files on a RAM disk as you would access files on a real disk. RAM disks, however, are approximately a thousand times faster than hard disk drives. They are particularly useful, therefore, for applications that require frequent disk accesses. Because they are made of normal RAM, RAM disks lose their contents once the computer is turned off. To use a RAM disk, therefore, you need to copy files from a real hard disk at the beginning of the session and then copy the files back to the hard disk before you turn the computer off. Note that if there is a power failure, you will lose whatever data is on the RAM disk. (Some RAM disks come with a battery backup to make them more stable.)

A RAM disk is also called a virtual disk or a RAM drive.

Debt_Free_Chick

loftus wrote:

Thanks guys.

I selected primary partition, NTFSand lebelled it F.

It seems to have worked. Now I have to find a use to put it too.

Any ideas?

Use it for backup? Either an entire backup of C or, at least, a backup of everything in your Documents & Settings profile.