1 Topic by solo

  • solo
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  • Registered: 2009-09-21
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Topic: partition detected as unformatted

i trying to shrink my vista to make space for dual boot xp, but when i use gparted live cd, it detect my vista partition as unformatted and cannot be shrink. what's wrong?

2 Reply by cmdr

  • cmdr
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  • Registered: 2008-07-30
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Re: partition detected as unformatted

Hello solo,

solo wrote:

what's wrong?

without having a closer look at the partition table of your harddisk's Master Boot Record (MBR), it's not possible to give a qualified answer. Special hardware (RAID) or software features (Dynamic Volumes, Compressed NTFS Drives, Recovery Partition, Diagnostic Partition or else) might also interfere. So describe your system.

Use the latest stable release of "GParted Live" , which is crucial, if NTFS is involved. Use "Terminal" (commandline/console) tool "fdisk" (see code below) on "Gparted Live"-Desktop to give us the print-out of the current partitioning.

fdisk  -lu

("l" is lower-case L.)

BTW, Win Vista's drive management also offers to shrink a partition without loss of its content. It may be safer.

Installing XP AFTER Vista will overwrite Vista's MBR. You will have to use Vista's repair console to get it work again. Avoid creating or deleting a partition in front of Vista's. Vista partition must stay or be reset "active" (bootable), so that it keeps driveletter C. Vista's bootmanager will integrate XP automatically in its bootmenu.

Regards
cmdr