Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual

Choosing a File System

There’s one final decision you have to make: which file system you want to use for formatting your hard drive.

POWER USERS’ CLINIC Using FDISK to Partition a Drive

If you’re an old-time Windows user, the idea of using an old DOS program like FDISK might be no big deal. But scan the following instructions and confirm that they’re worth slogging through just to save yourself the price of a simpler formatting program like PartitionMagic. And remember that FDISK erases your entire hard drive. Don’t use it until you’re confident you have a good backup.

Here, then, is how you’d create a two-partition setup so that you can have Windows 95, 98, or Me installed simultaneously with Windows XP on different partitions. (Note: After you make each selection in the following instructions, press the Enter key to proceed.)

Start up the PC from the Windows 95/98/Me CD-ROM. On the first two screens, choose “Boot from CD-ROM” and then “Start computer with CD-ROM support.” After a moment, you wind up at the A:/> prompt; type fdisk.

When asked if you “wish to enable large disk support,” accept the Y (yes) option by pressing Enter. The FDISK Options screen appears.

If your drive has already been in use: Choose 3 (“Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive”), then 1 (“Delete Primary DOS Partition”), and then 1 (which corresponds to your C: drive’s main partition). Type Y to confirm that you want to wipe it out, then Esc to continue. Continue with the steps in the next paragraph, because ...