Hard Drive Partition Question

Somehow it looks like I am losing space.

BEFORE REFORMAT: 15gb HD, one partition, win98s.e., FAT32 file system, 7gb free

AFTER REFORMAT: 15gb HD, two partitions, only winXP on both; NTFS file system, 6gb free total

And that is not with every single file restored to the drive that I backed up on CD. If I were to put back every application & file I might be left with only 3gb free!

How in the world is this possible? Does creating a new partition rob you of space? Does XP steal space? I know the XP operating system is larger than 98, but maybe half a gig...not 3 gigs! I only have 128mb RAM, is winXP stealing hard drive space to make up for the RAM? Or, is it due to the difference between NTFS & FAT32 file systems?

 

If you have two installations of Windows XP on one hard drive, that'll take up at least another GB of space. You're not losing space, you're using it.

 

Nope, there is only one installation of XP on the hard drive. The 2nd partition is just for data. I installed XP before partitioning.

 

I misunderstood your statement: "only winXP on both".

Windows XP is probably taking up more space than Windows 98 did. Your swap file might be taking up more space as well. I wouldn't worry about it. You're obviously not running out of space. If your computer is running fine, I wouldn't alter any settings.

 

Yes, everything does seem to work fine, albeit slower than win98. But something still bugs me about the space allocation.

When the hard drive was fresh, there were two partitions, one 4gb and one 10gb. The smaller one has mostly MP3s. Only a dozen on the larger partition.

So, the large partition went from 10gb to 5.5gb! The only apps loaded so far are MS Office (full), windows XP of course, Partition Magic, a folder of my pictures & docs (i forgot the size but it all fit on a CD-R for backup), Norton Systemworks, and a couple smaller programs including ICQ & a game. And I deleted all .tmp files.