SCSI Partitioning during NT 4.0 Setup

Hi draked,
first: you DO NOT want to make a huge FAT partition. I can't see reason for such throwing disk space with clusters bigger than whole disks were yesterday.

Second: it sounds as you haven't deleted extended partition from 4GB drive so partitioning software offers you chunks it can allocate.
I don't know if WinNT setup can do the task, but if you are doing clean install be sure to wipe your disks partition table before starting 'winnt'. Partition Magic or similar tool should do thetrick, fdisk doesn't.

Let me rephrase your situation. You will be installing NT with FAT Partition on the 4 GB SCSI Drive. You want to combine all the old partitions(3). And Create a partition of 9GB with the new disk. You also prefer that it will be drive F.
NT setup will let you delete partition. Try to check if how many logical and primary partition there is. Try to delete the logical first. It won't let you combine all if there is one partition in between that is existing.
One situation that NT won't allow you to delete a partition during installation is when the source files are in the partion. This happens when you install using winnt32 /b. Try to install using the 3 Setup disk. I have also encountered problem installing to 4GB of Disk. Fat only allows2GB. so you might also encounter not able to create a FAT partion. Try to check kb of microsoft (i forgot what kb #) for dlls needed to install NT on unpartioned disk more than 2GB. These dlls are found on the Service packs.
You might also want FATif you dual boot.
If there is no need for dual boot I recommend using NTFS on all partition.
Ignore the 9GB disk until you finish installation NT and from Disk administrator create a partition and format the disk. Also assign it to what ever drive letter you want it to be.

Let me rephrase your situation. You will be installing NT with FAT Partition on the 4 GB SCSI Drive. You want to combine all the old partitions(3). And Create a partition of 9GB with the new disk. You also prefer that it will be drive F.
NT setup will let you delete partition. Try to check if how many logical and primary partition there is. Try to delete the logical first. It won't let you combine all if there is one partition in between that is existing.
One situation that NT won't allow you to delete a partition during installation is when the source files are in the partion. This happens when you install using winnt32 /b. Try to install using the 3 Setup disk. I have also encountered problem installing to 4GB of Disk. Fat only allows2GB. so you might also encounter not able to create a FAT partion. Try to check kb of microsoft (i forgot what kb #) for dlls needed to install NT on unpartioned disk more than 2GB. These dlls are found on the Service packs.
You might also want FATif you dual boot.
If there is no need for dual boot I recommend using NTFS on all partition.
Ignore the 9GB disk until you finish installation NT and from Disk administrator create a partition and format the disk. Also assign it to what ever drive letter you want it to be.

I don't see why you want to make HD0 FAT but if you want: Boot with a Win98 startup disk. Run FDISK and answer yes to big hard drive support. Then select 4(delete disk partition) and delete all of the partitions on the hard drive (There is an optionthere that will allow you to delete non DOS partitions like NTFS). Create a partition that will take up the 4gigs.

I don't like FAT partitions on servers. I suggest deleting all partitions in FDISK and starting the setup. When you create the bootpartition it will have to be 2440MB. NT will not take more than that, unless you do some other complicated steps that I can explain if you are interested. Then install NT on the partition and partition the rest of the drives within NT. Don't try to partition everything from the setup menu because it is easier from Disk Manager.

Have fun

I don't see why you want to make HD0 FAT but if you want: Boot with a Win98 startup disk. Run FDISK and answer yes to big hard drive support. Then select 4(delete disk partition) and delete all of the partitions on the hard drive (There is an optionthere that will allow you to delete non DOS partitions like NTFS). Create a partition that will take up the 4gigs.

I don't like FAT partitions on servers. I suggest deleting all partitions in FDISK and starting the setup. When you create the bootpartition it will have to be 2440MB. NT will not take more than that, unless you do some other complicated steps that I can explain if you are interested. Then install NT on the partition and partition the rest of the drives within NT. Don't try to partition everything from the setup menu because it is easier from Disk Manager.

Have fun

I have a couple of cents I would like to add. I understand your logic, but 4GB FAT drive is not a good idea. Besides the downside of large clusters, you?re giving up the advantages of NTFS's security and hot-fix capability. Better idea is a small FAT drive C (system partition), remainder of 4GB drive as NTFS drive D (boot partition), and 9GB NTFS drive. The advantage of a FAT system partition is subject to debate and personal preference.

To answer specific questions; if you really want to start over with a fresh NT install, delete your Non-Dos partitions (NTFS) with Fdisk running from a boot floppy. That will overcome your inability to delete drive D.

Once you successfully install your OS, use Disk Administrator inside Administrativetools to create your 9GB NTFS data drive. Commit changes and then assign drive letter to F (you will have to temporarily move your CDRom to a higher letter first).

There is alot more information on this subject but space is limited...

Ray