unpartitioned space - everyone knows but me.

[Guest bill@love.ranch]

I'm sure everybody but me got the word.

 

Why, when I install Windows on a clean drive, and create 2 partitions,

does it leave 8MB at the top unpatritioned.

 

I partitioned a drive with Paragon HD manager and it did not do that.

Does Windoz actually use this or is it just a doz thing?

 

Will it work if I use the Paragon partitions?

 

thx

[Guest Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Re: unpartitioned space - everyone knows but me.

 

Its for Windows Recovery Console.

 

--

Carey Frisch

Microsoft MVP

Windows Desktop Experience -

Windows Vista Enthusiast

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

<bill@love.ranch> wrote in message news:do1j74hos9ra480r3s40hkak6jdok423hr@4ax.com...

I'm sure everybody but me got the word.

 

Why, when I install Windows on a clean drive, and create 2 partitions,

does it leave 8MB at the top unpatritioned.

 

I partitioned a drive with Paragon HD manager and it did not do that.

Does Windoz actually use this or is it just a doz thing?

 

Will it work if I use the Paragon partitions?

 

thx

[Guest Doug Knox - [MS-MVP]]

Re: unpartitioned space - everyone knows but me.

 

I've never used Paragon, but instead use BootIt NG. It does not leave the 8

MB at the top, and I've had absolutely zero issues with any OS that's

installed.

 

--

Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart

Display\Security

Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes

http://www.dougknox.com

--------------------------------

Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm

--------------------------------

Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.

Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.

 

<bill@love.ranch> wrote in message

news:do1j74hos9ra480r3s40hkak6jdok423hr@4ax.com...

> I'm sure everybody but me got the word.

>

> Why, when I install Windows on a clean drive, and create 2 partitions,

> does it leave 8MB at the top unpatritioned.

>

> I partitioned a drive with Paragon HD manager and it did not do that.

> Does Windoz actually use this or is it just a doz thing?

>

> Will it work if I use the Paragon partitions?

>

> thx

>

[Guest John John (MVP)]

Re: unpartitioned space - everyone knows but me.

 

It's reserved space for Dynamic Disk conversion, if you want to convert

the disk later on this space is needed for the dynamic disk database.

 

John

 

bill@love.ranch wrote:

> I'm sure everybody but me got the word.

>

> Why, when I install Windows on a clean drive, and create 2 partitions,

> does it leave 8MB at the top unpatritioned.

>

> I partitioned a drive with Paragon HD manager and it did not do that.

> Does Windoz actually use this or is it just a doz thing?

>

> Will it work if I use the Paragon partitions?

>

> thx

>

[Guest glee]

Re: unpartitioned space - everyone knows but me.

 

If you partition the drive using all the disk space, Windows setup will reserve a

minimum of 1MB, or one cylinder on the drive, whichever is greater, to be used for

the MBR if you later convert to Dynamic Disks. One cylinder is the ~8MB you see.

 

See the explanation under the General Notes in this article:

 

How To Convert to Basic and Dynamic Disks in Windows XP Professional

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309044

 

Although this article refers to Win2K, it provides applicable info for WinXP also:

Setup Reserves Disk Space for Upgrading to Dynamic Disk

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/225822/en-us

 

If the partitions were created by other operating systems or by a utility that does

not automatically create it, you won't be able to convert to dynamic disks....which

does not strike me as any great loss.

--

Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+

http://dts-l.net/

http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm

 

 

<bill@love.ranch> wrote in message

news:do1j74hos9ra480r3s40hkak6jdok423hr@4ax.com...

> I'm sure everybody but me got the word.

>

> Why, when I install Windows on a clean drive, and create 2 partitions,

> does it leave 8MB at the top unpatritioned.

>

> I partitioned a drive with Paragon HD manager and it did not do that.

> Does Windoz actually use this or is it just a doz thing?

>

> Will it work if I use the Paragon partitions?

>

> thx

>

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: unpartitioned space - everyone knows but me.

 

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:40:03 GMT, bill@love.ranch wrote:

> I'm sure everybody but me got the word.

>

> Why, when I install Windows on a clean drive, and create 2 partitions,

> does it leave 8MB at the top unpatritioned.

 

 

You've already gotten answers to your question, but I just wanted to

point out that at today's hard drive prices, when you can buy a 160GB

drive for under $50 US, 8MB is well under a penny's worth of disk

space.

 

It's a tiny amount, and nothing to be concerned about.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest Anna]

Re: unpartitioned space - everyone knows but me.

 

 

<bill@love.ranch> wrote in message

news:do1j74hos9ra480r3s40hkak6jdok423hr@4ax.com...

> I'm sure everybody but me got the word.

>

> Why, when I install Windows on a clean drive, and create 2 partitions,

> does it leave 8MB at the top unpatritioned.

>

> I partitioned a drive with Paragon HD manager and it did not do that.

> Does Windoz actually use this or is it just a doz thing?

>

> Will it work if I use the Paragon partitions?

>

> thx

 

 

bill:

While you've probably rec'd enough responses to your query to understand

that 8 MB partition Windows creates, let me just add the following...

 

That 8 MB partition is autocreated by the operating system to handle dynamic

disk information. When a disk is converted to dynamic (usually through the

Disk Management snap-in), information regarding the configuration and any

dependencies (e.g. software RAID) are stored on disk at the end of the

drive. This is how a drive can be moved from one dynamic disk array to

another and be recognized as foreign drive.

 

The reason is that the space needs to be there should a user decide at

anytime during the life of the operating system that they want to enable

dynamic disks. The 8 MB is there for so that the option to enable dynamic

disks does not mean an OS reinstall. On the down side, it does mean that

users lose 8 MB of the drive. But it's such a trifling amount considering

today's HDDs that contain a rather enormous amount of disk space that for

practical purposes it's of no real consequence to the user .

 

Here's a further posting on the subject from a MS rep:

 

"That 8 MB partition is auto-created to handle dynamic disk information.

When a disk is converted to dynamic in the Disk Management snapin,

information regarding the configuration and any dependencies (e.g. software

RAID) are stored on disk at the end of the drive. This is how a drive can

be moved from one dynamic disk array to another and be recognized as

foreign drive.

 

Best regards,

 

Mike Truitt

Microsoft Corporation"

 

There should be no problem re this situation with your system if you've used

the Paragon software to multi-partition your HDD.

 

(Virtually all the "experts" recommend *against* creating "dynamic" disks

rather than the "basic" disk, except in the case where a RAID configuration

might be established as noted above).

Anna

[Guest bill@love.ranch]

Re: unpartitioned space - everyone knows but me.

 

Thank u all so much.

 

since it is a notebook, I guess I will never have a need for dynamic

disks - and I have enough issues already without looking for more.

 

 

 

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:59:58 -0400, "Anna" <myname@myisp.net> wrote:

>

><bill@love.ranch> wrote in message

>news:do1j74hos9ra480r3s40hkak6jdok423hr@4ax.com...

>> I'm sure everybody but me got the word.

>>

>> Why, when I install Windows on a clean drive, and create 2 partitions,

>> does it leave 8MB at the top unpatritioned.

>>

>> I partitioned a drive with Paragon HD manager and it did not do that.

>> Does Windoz actually use this or is it just a doz thing?

>>

>> Will it work if I use the Paragon partitions?

>>

>> thx

>

>

>bill:

>While you've probably rec'd enough responses to your query to understand

>that 8 MB partition Windows creates, let me just add the following...

>

>That 8 MB partition is autocreated by the operating system to handle dynamic

>disk information. When a disk is converted to dynamic (usually through the

>Disk Management snap-in), information regarding the configuration and any

>dependencies (e.g. software RAID) are stored on disk at the end of the

>drive. This is how a drive can be moved from one dynamic disk array to

>another and be recognized as foreign drive.

>

>The reason is that the space needs to be there should a user decide at

>anytime during the life of the operating system that they want to enable

>dynamic disks. The 8 MB is there for so that the option to enable dynamic

>disks does not mean an OS reinstall. On the down side, it does mean that

>users lose 8 MB of the drive. But it's such a trifling amount considering

>today's HDDs that contain a rather enormous amount of disk space that for

>practical purposes it's of no real consequence to the user .

>

>Here's a further posting on the subject from a MS rep:

>

>"That 8 MB partition is auto-created to handle dynamic disk information.

>When a disk is converted to dynamic in the Disk Management snapin,

>information regarding the configuration and any dependencies (e.g. software

>RAID) are stored on disk at the end of the drive. This is how a drive can

>be moved from one dynamic disk array to another and be recognized as

>foreign drive.

>

>Best regards,

>

>Mike Truitt

>Microsoft Corporation"

>

>There should be no problem re this situation with your system if you've used

>the Paragon software to multi-partition your HDD.

>

>(Virtually all the "experts" recommend *against* creating "dynamic" disks

>rather than the "basic" disk, except in the case where a RAID configuration

>might be established as noted above).

>Anna

>