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In Chapter 13, “Removable Media,” I go through the steps to make a number of different boot devices for different jobs. If you want to follow along with some of the steps in this chapter, you may want to jump ahead to the next chapter to make a boot device or two and then return here.

Partitioning and Formatting with the Windows XP Installation CD

When you boot up a Windows XP installation CD and the installation program detects a hard drive that is not yet partitioned, it prompts you through a sequence of steps to partition (and format) the hard drive. Chapter 14, “Installing and Configuring Windows,” covers the entire installation process, but we’ll jump ahead and dive into the partitioning part of the installation here to see how this is done, working through two examples by using one and then two partitions. Even though this example uses the Windows XP installation CD, don’t worry, because this part of the Windows 2000 installation is almost identical and the next section discusses Vista in detail.

Single Partition

The most common partitioning scenario involves turning a new blank drive into a single bootable C: drive. To accomplish this goal, you need to make the entire drive a primary partition and then make it active. Let’s go through the process of partitioning and formatting a single, brand-new, 200-GB hard drive.

The Windows installation begins by booting from a Windows installation CD-ROM like the one shown in Figure 12-26. The installation program starts automatically from the CD. The installation first loads some needed files, but eventually prompts you with the screen shown in Figure 12-27. This is your clue that partitioning is about to start.

Figure 12-26 Windows installation CD

Press the ENTER key to start a new Windows installation and accept the license agreement to see the main partitioning screen (Figure 12-28). The bar that says Unpartitioned Space is the drive.

The Windows installer is pretty smart. If you press ENTER at this point, it partitions the hard drive as a single primary partition, makes it active, and installs Windows for you—but what fun is that? Instead, press C to create a partition. The installer then asks you how large a partition to make (Figure 12-29). You may make the partition any size you want by typing in a number, from a minimum of 8 MB up to the size of the entire drive (in this case, 204789 MB). Let’s just make the entire drive a single C: drive by pressing ENTER.

Figure 12-27 Welcome to Setup

Figure 12-28 Partitioning screen

Ta-da! You just partitioned the drive! Now Windows asks you how you want to format that drive (Figure 12-30). So you might be asking, where’s the basic versus dynamic? Where do you tell Windows to make the partition primary instead of extended? Where do you set it as active?

Figure 12-29 Setting partition size

Figure 12-30 Format screen

The Windows installer makes a number of assumptions for you, such as always making the first partition primary and setting it as active. The installer also makes all hard drives basic disks. You’ll have to convert it to dynamic later (if you even want to convert it at all).

Select NTFS for the format. Either option—quick or full—will do the job here. (Quick format is quicker, as the name would suggest, but the full option is more thorough and thus safer.) After Windows formats the drive, the installation continues, copying the new Windows installation to the C: drive.

Two Partitions

Well, that was fun! So much fun that I’d like to do another new Windows installation, with a bit more complex partitioning. This time, you again have the 200-GB hard drive, but you want to split the drive into three drive letters of roughly 66 GB each. That means you need to make a single 66-GB primary partition, then a 133-GB extended partition, and then split that extended partition into two logical drives of 66 GB each.

Back at the Windows installation main partitioning screen, first press