[Discussion] Partition Magic problem -- T43 WXP

[Carl Gehr]

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:07:40 +0000, jrace at attglobal.net wrote:

>OK so I got my T43 fired up; from within XP I get
>a report of disk structure at first boot (after is
>auto-converts to NTFS)
>
> C: 49,401,417,728 gb free  51.8 gb used
>
>So I had in mind to keep XP on C, then create D E
>F G as my FAT partitions to exchange data between
>OSs, and H I J as HTFS for ecs.  I have done this
>many times before using my trusty Partition Magic
>5.01 (I create the two boot floppies and do if
>from them).
>
>Surprise!  When Partition Magic loads from the
>floppies, it reports only Disk 1 57,231 mb of
>which 53,089 mb is a primary NTFS partition and
>4,141 mb is an unformatted primary.
>
>What is wrong?  What happened to my free 49 mb to
>use for my data and other OSs?
>
>I also have my ecs install disks and a DFSEE disk,
>if these will do it for me as an alternative to
>Partition Magic.   But I'd need a quick tutorial
>and/or pointers to documentation to prepare myself
>for the step-by-step process.  (I used to be able
>to to the Partition Magic trick in my sleep.)
>
>Thanks for all help
>
>jeffrey race

I just used DFSee for this, BUT, you may have some issues with
squeezing the XP partition down to as small as you want it.

First, I presume that your HD consists of a single primary C-Partition
that contains the XP system.  You will have to squeeze this down to
create 'free space' so you can allocate a primary for the BootManager
and an Extended Partition that will contain all the logical partitions
for eCS, et al.

The 'unformatted' partition is probably NOT unformatted, but rather the
IBM Product Recovery partition.  [In some cases, I've seen it referred
to as being a 'Compaq' format...]  Unless you want to trash the
recovery area, just consider it lost space.  You can use XP to create
two recovery scenarios:
1)  A 'Product Refresh' that will restore the HD to exactly as
    it looked when it left the manufacturing plant.
    - This consists of EITHER:
      a)  One bootable CD and one DVD.
      b)  One bootable CD and SEVEN CDs.
      Hopefully you have a DVD burner!
2)  A 'Recovery' process that will use the 'BackUps' created by an
    XP tool that uses the 'hidden' partition to rebuild the system
    and some backup files [I have no idea where these are] to restore
    your data.
    - This is one bootable CD that may or may not be different from
      the one CD in #1.  The instructions tell you to label it the
      same in both cases, but no verbiage about what you do with either
      set.  I guess Windoze [or Lenovo?] leaves this as an exercise
      for the user.

IF you trash the 'hidden' partition, you will still be able to use the
FIRST scenario, but NOT the SECOND.

So, how to prepare what's left as 'your area' on the HD.

1)  Use a DFSee stand-alone CD to access your drive.
2)  The ACTIONS menu includes a 'Resize...' entry.  When you select
    this, it will tell you the minimum size it can shrink the XP
    partition.

    From what I experienced, XP may have placed its SWAPPER/PAGE file
    out past some open space in that C-Drive.  If so, the minimum size
    will be out to the end of the PAGE file.  DFSee cannot move the
    PAGE file.  But, I am told that newer levels of Partition Magic
    and several other HD/partition tools can do this.  As Julian and
    Niels pointed out, this is the *only* function where you should
    use Partition Magic.  After the XP partition is correctly sized,
    stick to DFSee.

    I was able to reduce XP to 30GB, although the system itself
    only needed just less than 10GB.
3)  Once you have freed up the space, the next thing [IMHO] is to
    put BootManager at the end of the free space.  You can do this
    with DFSee by selecting the free space and using the Mode=FDISK
    menu entry to CREATE an new partition.  BM is one of the options
    once you start the CREATE process.  It's really quite obvious.
    Allow DFSee to initialize the BM partition.
4)  CREATE more partitions in the remaining free area starting at the
    beginning of the free area, which is now an Extended Partition
    with free space inside it.  Be sure to:
    -  Indicate that the partition where you intend to install eCS
       is marked as installable
    -  Add the partition to the BM menu.
    -  Format the partition for the file system that you want.

    I found that if I did not do ALL of these things PRIOR to
    starting the install, I found myself in a Catch-22 loop
    trying to get the installer to recognize any "installable"
    partitions, but the MiniLVM and LVM in the Installer would
    not perform the functions required.
5)  One more important step before leaving DFSee.  [I believe this
    must be the LAST thing you do before exiting DFSee.]
    -  Use the FDISK menu item [near the bottom of the list] to
       select "Manage OS2 LVM Information."  Then on the next
       menu select "Add default LVM info [VCU]" to the drive
       where you have allocated all of the above partitions.
    -  This step appears to have been caused by an omission in
       the Installer's processing.
6)  Finally, one task, not related to your questions:  Be sure you
    have copied your eCS Registration info to a Diskette or USB
    flash drive before you start the installation process.  Keying
    all of that gibberish is NOT FUN.  This way, you can just hit
    the 'Import..." button and get on with the process.

I think I've hit all of the points.  The key item:  If you get into the
install process and, on the 3rd or 4th panel when the process is
looking for "installable volumes," you will not be able to go further
until you get a volume to show up in that first window. The button that
suggests 'New Volume' and/or the drop-down that allows you to look at
other volumes is worthless.  I wasted HOURS trying to get past here
using the 'obvious' clicks.  Until I got the correct setup via DFSee, I
could not go to the next step.  After my new 'C-Volume' appeared as
'installable' on that panel, it went fairly smoothly on two T60
installs.  BUT, getting to that point took DAYs and some advice from
several others.

The only other glitches during the process:

*  My T60s have SATA HDs.  They MUST be in 'Compatibility' mode [via
   the BIOS setup] for the eCS install and execution of eCS.  But the
   setting MUST be in 'AHCI' mode for DFSee.  Yes, it is a pain!  So,
   getting the DFSee stuff done right the first time can save a lot
   of time.
*  I had a TRAP during the first re-boot because APM was enabled in
   the Config.Sys.  [This may be unique to the T60.]  Booting back
   to the CD, going to a command window and editing the Config.Sys,
   rebooting and allowing it to boot from the HD then went OK for
   the rest of the process.

I hope this helps...

Carl