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re: Recovered WinXP on very small FAT32 partition Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 2:26 am Posted by bob wells (1383 messages posted) Lorna, You're not gonna like this. The 4GB Partition marked, RECOVERY C:, Is just exactly what is says it is. The Manufacturer Created that Small Fat32 partition to Make it easier to Restore the Computer to Factory Default setup. That partition is supposed to be hidden from Windows in normal use so nothing gets changed on it. The good news is that you have a restore disk. The only thing you can do now is reformat the Recovery C: partition and reinstall WinXp on a different partition. Don't bother trying to incorporate the 4BG partition into the 160GB. You won't be able to. You can try installing WinXP on the 160GB, but then you'll have 2 Copies of WinXP, capable of booting. You'll have to contact Advent to figure out what to do about the 4GB Partition.Maybe they'll have mercy on you and help you Restore your Recovery C:. When you install XP to the 160 GB HDD be sure to set the Drive letter to C: if not already set. BW __________________________________________________________ There's nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you. On Saturday, August 23, 2008 at 11:53 pm, Lorna wrote: >I recently had to use the recovery disk on my Advent PC. After several tries the >disk eventually worked. The problem however is that the OS is now installed on a >4GB FAT32 partition called 'RECOVERY(C:)'. and is almost completely used up, (the >size of the HD is 160GB and was not originally partitioned). If there has to be >a partition, why is it so small? And why FAT32, I thought XP only used NFTS which >is what the rest of the disk is? I have tried to resize this partition using EASEUS >Partition Manager but it won't budge, every time I change the size in the dialogue >box and click OK the size I have typed reverts back to just over 4GB, (is this the >maximum for FAT32?) yet the program works on the NFTS partition. > >Windows keeps informing me that there is low disk space and System Restore has been >disabled. I cannot install any programs, when I try I am informed that there is >not enough disk space and to delete programs to free some up. The only program installed >is EASUS, apart from XP of course, so that's not an option. > >I've probably given myself away as being 'not very technical'. I get by but when >things start getting complicated I'm lost. I do hope there is someone out there >who can help! > >I am running WinXP Home Edition SP2. The recovery disk is the Advent System Recovery >CD-Rom supplied with the PC about 4 or 5 years ago > >Thanks for listening. Lorna [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Recovered WinXP on very small FAT32 partition Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 5:13 am Posted by Ricer46 (20448 messages posted) Not only CAN XP run on FAT32, most users would be better off using FAT32 partitions. Of course you should not have installed it on the Recovery partition. You need to pay more attention to the prompts when you re-install again. The ideal size for an XP system partition seems to be about 12 to 20GB, depending on the needs of the user. On Saturday, August 23, 2008 at 11:53 pm, Lorna wrote: >I recently had to use the recovery disk on my Advent PC. After several tries the >disk eventually worked. The problem however is that the OS is now installed on a >4GB FAT32 partition called 'RECOVERY(C:)'. and is almost completely used up, (the >size of the HD is 160GB and was not originally partitioned). If there has to be >a partition, why is it so small? And why FAT32, I thought XP only used NFTS which >is what the rest of the disk is? I have tried to resize this partition using EASEUS >Partition Manager but it won't budge, every time I change the size in the dialogue >box and click OK the size I have typed reverts back to just over 4GB, (is this the >maximum for FAT32?) yet the program works on the NFTS partition. > >Windows keeps informing me that there is low disk space and System Restore has been >disabled. I cannot install any programs, when I try I am informed that there is >not enough disk space and to delete programs to free some up. The only program installed >is EASUS, apart from XP of course, so that's not an option. > >I've probably given myself away as being 'not very technical'. I get by but when >things start getting complicated I'm lost. I do hope there is someone out there >who can help! > >I am running WinXP Home Edition SP2. The recovery disk is the Advent System Recovery >CD-Rom supplied with the PC about 4 or 5 years ago > >Thanks for listening. Lorna [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Recovered WinXP on very small FAT32 partition Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 5:29 am Posted by Lorna (11 messages posted) Hi, thanks very much for your help. I was a bit wary about re-formatting as I'm worried about product activation. However, I noticed no choices during the recovery process that allowed me to determine which partition to install in. Is there a way to make sure it gets into the right one!? Once again, thanks for your help! Lorna. On Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 5:13 am, Ricer46 wrote: >Not only CAN XP run on FAT32, most users would be better off using FAT32 partitions. >Of course you should not have installed it on the Recovery partition. You need to >pay more attention to the prompts when you re-install again. The ideal size for an >XP system partition seems to be about 12 to 20GB, depending on the needs of the user. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Recovered WinXP on very small FAT32 partition Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 5:47 am Posted by Ricer46 (20448 messages posted) There was a screen that allowed you to select the partition. And if you don't format, you're just going to end up with a dual installation which is highly undesirable. On Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 5:29 am, Lorna wrote: >Hi, thanks very much for your help. I was a bit wary about re-formatting as I'm >worried about product activation. However, I noticed no choices during the recovery >process that allowed me to determine which partition to install in. Is there a way >to make sure it gets into the right one!? Once again, thanks for your help! Lorna. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Recovered WinXP on very small FAT32 partition Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 7:40 am Posted by Lorna (11 messages posted) Well I'll have a shot at it. Thanks again, Lorna On Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 5:47 am, Ricer46 wrote: >There was a screen that allowed you to select the partition. And if you don't format, >you're just going to end up with a dual installation which is highly undesirable. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Recovered WinXP on very small FAT32 partition Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 8:37 am Posted by Richard Harris (243 messages posted) Normally product activation on a pre-built PC is tied to the BIOS. Thus, so long as you do not update the BIOS, or change motherboards, re-installation should cause re-activation. As for the recovery partition, that has little/no value, if you have a true recovery CD/DVD. By this I mean a CD/CD-set/DVD that contains an image of the system partition. CAUTION: Usually such an image is too big to fit on one CD, even if it excludes such files as pagefile.sys and hyberfil.sys, which XP will re-create upon booting. The alternative to a true recovery CD is a CD that only contains recovery software and acts upon an image of the system partition that is somewhere else, usually on a hidden partition, such as the one you have now overwritten. CAUTION: If you do not have a true recovery CD/CD-set/DVD, do NOT attempt the following ! Given where you are, I would delete all partitions, create a few new ones (at least two), then let the recovery CD install XP on the first partition. The reason for at least two paritions is to allow you store personal files on the second partition. Then, if you ever need to re-install XP, your persoanl file will not be destroyed as part of that process. As for FAT32 vs NTFS, I have used both under XP and have found no advantage to NTFS, unless I am dealing with single files larger than 4 Gig. Then, NTFS is required. NTFS can be made more secure than FAT32, but true security involves physically guarding the PC more than fancy software. NTFS is suposed to be more reliable and/or self-healing (via CHKDSK), but in practice I have had as many problems with NTFS partitions as with FAT32 partitions. FAT32 is easier to read/write outside of XP, in cases where XP won't boot even into safe mode. With respect to the future, get some reliable (non-Microsoft) backup/restore software and do occassional backups of the operating system partition to somewhere off of the PC, such as an external USB disk, CDs/DVDs, etc. I use Acronis TrueImage, but the latest Norton GHOST has similar capabilities to restore from outside of XP and from external USB drives. Other options, some free, can be found at: http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html On Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 5:29 am, Lorna wrote: >Hi, thanks very much for your help. I was a bit wary about re-formatting as I'm >worried about product activation. However, I noticed no choices during the recovery >process that allowed me to determine which partition to install in. Is there a way >to make sure it gets into the right one!? Once again, thanks for your help! Lorna. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Recovered WinXP on very small FAT32 partition Monday, August 25, 2008 at 8:27 am Posted by Lorna (11 messages posted) Thanks for all the info, it does explain quite a lot that was a mystery to me. I just have one Advent recovery CD-rom that came with the PC. When you boot with it in the drive, it just has three choices: 'Recover without file destruction,' 'Recover, no format' and 'Recover, quick format.' As the first two didn't work I used the last which told me it would install a new operating system and all existing files would be destroyed. There is no dialogue that allows me to choose a partition for install. My friend Elaine told me that it automatically installs on the first partition which is 'RECOVERY'. Could it be that the files were so corrupted on this partition that the recovery software didn't know what it was? Otherwise it's quite a serious malfunction! I will attempt anything now to try and fix it as I think all the files I had are gone now so there's not much to lose. I never usually 'back up' but a couple of days before I started having the trouble, I backed up all 'My Documents' and 'My Pictures' to DVD. I was annoyed at how long it took but am I glad I did it now! Losing everything would have been a hard lesson to learn! and I'll never be lax about it again. I thought about taking the drive out and reformatting it in another PC, do you think that's a good idea!!? once again, thanks for all the help, Lorna On Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 8:37 am, Richard Harris wrote: >Normally product activation on a pre-built PC is tied to the BIOS. Thus, so long >as you do not update the BIOS, or change motherboards, re-installation should cause >re-activation. > >As for the recovery partition, that has little/no value, if you have a true recovery >CD/DVD. By this I mean a CD/CD-set/DVD that contains an image of the system partition. > CAUTION: Usually such an image is too big to fit on one CD, even if it excludes >such files as pagefile.sys and hyberfil.sys, which XP will re-create upon booting. > The alternative to a true recovery CD is a CD that only contains recovery software >and acts upon an image of the system partition that is somewhere else, usually on >a hidden partition, such as the one you have now overwritten. > >CAUTION: If you do not have a true recovery CD/CD-set/DVD, do NOT attempt the following >! > >Given where you are, I would delete all partitions, create a few new ones (at least >two), then let the recovery CD install XP on the first partition. The reason for >at least two paritions is to allow you store personal files on the second partition. > Then, if you ever need to re-install XP, your persoanl file will not be destroyed >as part of that process. > >As for FAT32 vs NTFS, I have used both under XP and have found no advantage to NTFS, >unless I am dealing with single files larger than 4 Gig. Then, NTFS is required. > NTFS can be made more secure than FAT32, but true security involves physically guarding >the PC more than fancy software. NTFS is suposed to be more reliable and/or self-healing >(via CHKDSK), but in practice I have had as many problems with NTFS partitions as >with FAT32 partitions. FAT32 is easier to read/write outside of XP, in cases where >XP won't boot even into safe mode. > >With respect to the future, get some reliable (non-Microsoft) backup/restore software >and do occassional backups of the operating system partition to somewhere off of >the PC, such as an external USB disk, CDs/DVDs, etc. I use Acronis TrueImage, but >the latest Norton GHOST has similar capabilities to restore from outside of XP and >from external USB drives. Other options, some free, can be found at: > >http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html > > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows XP Discussion Forum