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How to use Fdisk |
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Error Base Best viewed on 1024x768 and higher resolutions. Readable on lower resolutions. |
Where to get it Fdisk is available on Windows Boot disks which are available here. Loading fdisk To load fdisk, load your computer using a boot disk. Once DOS is loaded and youare at the A:> prompt, enter "fdisk" and press enter. When fdisk loads, there are a few options that may appear: 1: Large disk support Fdisk has support for larger hard disks (512mb and above). This will also enable support for disk drives larger than 2GB to be partitioned as a single drive. 2: NTFS support NTFS support allows you to read the NFTS partitions in fdisk, though will not allow you to access data on them. You can read the sizes of these partitions and delete them. WARNING: Using fdisk to delete partitions will result in lost data. TIP: If an error occurs while trying to load fdisk (error reading fixed disk) read this. Using fdisk: Once fdisk has fully loaded, there are a few options on screen. They will allow you to:
To choose an option, press the corresponding number followed by enter. What each menu means is as follows: 1: Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive When this option is selected, several options are shown:
1.1: Create Primary DOS Partition This will create the main partition that your disk drive will boot your operating system from. If partitioning the drive for the first time, this option should be chosen. The disk integrity will be assessed and then an option will appear: Do you wish to use the maximum size for this drive and make it active? If this is the first partition on this drive and you select this, you will not be able to partition this drive again unless the partition is removed. If you wish to make a smaller drive, the integrity will be assessed once more and you will be asked for a size in percentage of hard disk space or in bytes. Once you have chosen the size, you will need to return to the main menu and make the partition active. 1.2: Create Extended DOS Partition This will create a secondary partition on your drive as long as a primary partition is present and there is still space for the drive. This drive will appear in your drive list as a completely separate drive and will be treated as such (except if the drive fails or has errors). To make an extended partition, select the option by pressing the corresponding number followed by enter. Drive integrity will be assessed to see if there is sufficient space and to make sure a primary drive is present. If these conditions are met, you will be asked how much space you would like to use (as described in Create Primary DOS Partition above). Follow the on screen instructions. 1.3: Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition A Logical Dos Drive (LDD) can be a partition created by third party software. These can be made in the fdisk utility and are stored in the extended DOS partition. They do not make much of a difference to your computer as without these, your drive still functions, but it is an option to partition your extended drive into a single logical drive. 2: Set active partition An active partition is the partition on a drive that loads up your operating system when the computer boots. If you partitioned your drive into a single drive, then you may have chosen to set it active already, in which case a message will appear saying: The only startable partition on Drive 1 is already set active. If you have not yet set an active partition, you can do it here by choosing your primary partition and setting it to active. 3: Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive WARNING: Using this section of fdisk will result in loss of data on the disk being altered. Use with extreme caution. When this options is selected, several options are shown:
3.1: Delete Primary DOS Partition If there is a primary DOS partition on the current drive, it will appear in a list when this is selected. If you choose to delete the partition, you will lose all data on the drive including any operating systems present. The drive will need to be repartitioned. If this option is selected, you will need to confirm multiple times that you actually want to delete the drive. This is a defence against accidentally removing any data that may be on the drive. Once the partition is deleted, there is almost no chance of getting any data back. 3.2: Delete Extended DOS Partition A list of extended DOS partitions will appear when this option is selected. Unlike the primary DOS partition, Logical drives may be present here. Logical drives need to be removed from an extended partition before the partition can be successfully removed. Again, you will need to confirm multiple times that you actually want to remove the partition. 3.3: Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition Logical drives are embedded into the structure of an extended DOS drive. These are just as easily removed by choosing which logical drive you want to remove. It will ask for confirmation before removing the drive completely. If when attempting to remove logical drives from an extended DOS partition that claims to have them, an error occurs, try to remove the extended drive using the non-DOS partition removal. It may be that the partition is in fact a different format. 3.4: Delete Non-DOS Partition This will remove partitions not created by fdisk. Partitions such as NTFS can be removed using this method. 3.5: Tips When any partition is removed from the hard disk, the space is freed up so another partition can be made. If you have a drive that is currently in multiple partitions but you want in one, you can remove all partitions through here, then repartition it as a single drive. DATA LOSS WILL OCCUR. 4: Display partition information When this is selected, it will show the following for all partitions on the drive:
This can be used to narrow down problems that may occur with your drives. 5: Change current fixed disk drive This option can be used to change which physical drive you are looking at when accessing the information. This option is only available if you have more than 1 hard disk installed in your computer. |
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Disclaimer: WE DO NOT SUGGEST IN ANY WAY THAT THE SOLUTIONS LISTED HERE WILL BE SAFE OR WORKING IN ALL CASES. THIS IS JUST A GUIDELINE, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. |