Warning low disk space mystery

[MilesAhead]

Moving partitions around without image backup is gambling. I would boot the partition manager and see if it has an "undo last operation" function to get back where you were. Then back up before trying anything. Another thing that can restrict how much you can shrink a partition is file fragmentation. Before attempting to shrink a partition I defrag it.

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Thanks again

Update: Used F8 during XP boot to get menu of options. Unfortunately neither booting in safe mode or "Return to last known working..." helped. It gets to the blue XP screen with the coloured windows flag and then just freezes.

It's bizarre as I reduced the Vista partition and that's fine and dandy. Increased XP from 10Gb to 20 Gb and now this!

I'm going to look at Easeus but I'll bet $1m that it won't have a restore facility.

It took me ages to get XP up and running with all the stages and complications from using a machine built for Vista.

Unbelievable.

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Further update:


Tried Easeus partition recovery tool. I selected disk 0 which has the Vista and XP partitions yet when the application finished it identified a 32.01 Gb capacity partition to recover. This is odd since I reduced C and increased K to 222 Gb and 20 Gb respectively.(the only other partition on that disk was "Recovery" at 15 Gb.

I guess there's no harm in recovering this 32.01Gb partition as I'm stymied as far as XP is concerned at the moment.

Thanks

 

[MilesAhead]

That's what I was talking about disk management not wanting to move the start of the partition. It changes the location of system files relative to the stat of the partition. When you defrag a partition and shrink the space, it's only moving the end of the partition. The system file positions relative to the start of the partition don't change. It's easier to do. I remember when I was shuffling partitions around for Win2k and earlier Partition Magic would let you change the start of a partition but it moved the files so that things booted properly when it was done. It sounds like this partition manager just changed the size and the rest is up to you.

I would try the Partition Wizard as I've heard all glowing reports about it. If that doesn't work in the end you may need to install XP from scratch.

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Will give it a go. The other thing I meant to ask was that I ran this Easeus (people equally glowing about it) in Vista when resizing the partitions. I don't suppose that matters does it?

Many thanks

 

[MilesAhead]

I would use the Partition Wizard boot CD.

I tell the story about the Chevy Vega. That car was a lemon. 90% of them, once they got a couple of years old, you could not put the front end into proper alignment. The camber adjustment was a thick steel rod with an eccentric. The rod had a nut on the end that you had to loosen to set the adjustment. The nut was 1 1/8". After a couple of years it rusted solid. Heat it cherry red with an acetylene torch to loosen it, but still the eccentric would run out of travel before you got the setting to spec.

But, the other 10% you could drive through pot holes and over curbs. No matter what, you couldn't knock the front end out of adjustment. Never needed an alignment. The 90% of the Vega owners could not convince the Vega owners with the 10% "never need an alignment" Vegas that their cars sucked. As far as they were concerned, the Vega was great.

So my suggestion is, use Partition Wizard Boot CD.

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Thanks again

I'll try partition wizard as suggested. I'll try and restore the original partitions using the recovery wizard built in. Would you recommend restoring the C partition first as that was the one I reduced first before extending the XP partition?

I also tried to reduce the XP partition as another resize operation (resizing the resized etc). I notced that the space created then just becomes unallocated to the right of the K partition in the window and I can't seem to recover it to restore the C partition back to it's original size. Do you have a suggestion on how to make the C bigger and reduce the XP partition smaller in these circumstances.

Thanks for your ongoing help.

 

[Lottiemansion]

Hi,

I think the only way you are going to increase "K" is by moving disk drives about!

Shrink the space from the end of "C" (Next to "K") & then add the space to "K". Unfortunately you may need to mess about a bit to achieve your end game: -

1. Back up "K" (Image)
2. Shrink "C"
3. Wipe & increase the size of the "K"
4. Then recover "K" to the new sized drive.

Give it a go & come back to us. OK?

Hi,

I think you are now chasing your tail!


I would suggest that you think again about what you want to achieve & start over.

Did you image any of the drives before starting? If so you are nearly there, if not, I think you will need to do the XP installation stuff again, sorry.

So, of the systems you have, what works correctly & what is the drive set-up you have now?

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Chasing my tail is no exaggeration! On disk 0 I have C drive 197 Gb, E Drive 15 Gb and K drive 20 Gb. The K drive is the XP partition and get's stuck at the blue XP welcome screen. My offence was to reduce the C from 217 to 207 and increase K from 10 to 20 Gb. How odd that the C drive with Vista works fine even though I did the risky process of reducing that. All I did with the XP partition was increase it and now this.

I would be grateful if someone could address my queries about Partition Wizard in my last post.

The thought of doing a clean reinstallation of XP makes me want to vomit.

Thanks

 

[Lottiemansion]

Hi,

I assume the "E" drive is the recovery partition for the vista system from manufacturer?

I would leave "C" well alone & focus on "K".

Did you image "K" before doing anything?

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Hi

E is recovery as stated (D is partition on second disk and unaffected).

No I didn't make an image which is unforgivable.

Just tried the Partition Wizard to restore
partitions and it identified a 3 Mb boot file which is shown as lost/deleted. I tried to restore this but XP still freezes on start up.

Thanks

 

[Lottiemansion]

Hi,

I Had something like this once with XP & the only way it fixed itself was to boot into Safe mode with networking. Give that a try & then, how are you at using the recovery console in the XP system?

Look here for some instructions: -

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console for advanced users

Again be very careful with what you try or do! We do not want to mess up the Vista partition!

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Hi again

Tried the safe and networking option but still freezes at the blue XP screen. Haven't used Recovery console but willing to try anything to avoid reinstall.

I have an XP installation disk and just tried to boot from that to see if there was a repair facility. However, I get the blue screen there was a problem with your computer.. I don't know if this is because XP is already installed and it's trying to install it again or due to this "slip streaming" issue I had last time (Had to use NLite).

I'm guessing the Recovery console is on the XP disk but don't know how to get that disk to run without trying to reinstall XP itself!

Your advice is much appreciated as usual.

Honestly thought there would be a few who had this problem and found a workaround.

Thanks

 

[townsbg]

What is the last file listed when it freezes?

 

[Lottiemansion]

OK,

Lets start again.

Do you have all the drivers (on CD) & a Windows SP 3 installation disk for the XP system?

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Hi again

I have an XP installation disk with SP3. When I first installed the dual boot a year ago I had to get some extra drivers for the XPS420 and this proved difficult as the machine was only designed for Vista etc. I also recall that I had to run something called Nlite to slip stream-is that correct?

Update

1. Was advised by colleague in work to try the Vista disk to use it's repair facility to fix the XP boot problem. However, it is limited to Vista (surprise surprise). It does invite you to load drivers from another disk but when I then try the XP installation disk it freezes as below.

2. When you run the XP disk it confirms Set up is loading files and then set up is starting windows. It is at this point that it gives the blue screen with A problem has been detected and Windows has shut down to prevent damage to your machine blah blah.. Fatal error, Stop 0*0000007B.....

As stated earlier I don't know if this is due to the PC trying to install XP on a PC which already has XP or is something to do with the slip streaming malarkey? Perhaps someone would be kind enough to confirm that.

I assume that the XP disk has a repair facility just like the Vista one and it would be great to be able to get at that to repair the XP boot loader instead of having to do a clean re install.

Finally when you say What is the latest file when it freezes? If you mean when I try to start XP from the boot manager screen: It gets stuck at the blue XP screen which is just before you get to the desktop. If you mean when I try the XP disk: It's as Set up is starting windows.

Apologies for going on but wanted to give as much intel as possible.

Many thanks for your hepl and time.

Simon

 

[Lottiemansion]

Hi,

You need to fix the boot of the XP drive

Boot into the Windows XP recovery console. Once in the recovery console, run the command “fixboot” and then “fixmbr”. Finally, run “chkdsk /R /F” and let check-disk complete. This will hopefully allow you to boot back into Windows XP without receiving the stop error.

I'll boot into XP & see the recovery options now. Please wait. OK?

 

[Lottiemansion]

Hi,

Look here for information on accessing the recovery console, Boot CD access etc.....

The Recovery Console in Windows XP

Please be careful!

 

[townsbg]

Finally when you say What is the latest file when it freezes? If you mean when I try to start XP from the boot manager screen: It gets stuck at the blue XP screen which is just before you get to the desktop. If you mean when I try the XP disk: It's as Set up is starting windows.

Sorry it should list files when booting into safe mode. That is what I'm talking about.

As for slip streaming, nlite has been known to cause bad disks and it isn't supported by microsoft. I suggest that you use the disk that came with your system or a SP 2 disk.

 

[Simon Sudbury]

Hi

Thanks again. I can't use my XP installation disk to access the recovery console as I get the blue screen error as previously described. I'm also unable to use floppy disks.

The only restore partition is the E drive and that relates to Vista.

Are you therefore suggesting I create an image of the floppy disks to put onto a bootbale CD as mentioned? I'm just worried that I'll still get the blue error screen.

In relation to when it freezes in safe mode. It loads everything, then gets to the black XP screen, then hangs on the blue XP screen. Hope that makes sense.

Many thanks