C: Drive deisgnated as Backup C:

My brother brought me his computer which they said would not load up, even
with a Windows start-up disk. They have Windows 98 on the computer. I used
my start-up disk and got Windows to load but it would not recognize the C:
drive. When I would try to change directories to C: it would tell me it was
invalid. I finally changed some BIOS settings and got it to recognize the C:
drive so it would load from the hard drive, but then the hard drive was
designated as Backup C: instead of Local, and it has some files through
August but nothing after that, and some of the program files are missing. It
mentioned at one time something about the FAT and FAT32 partition, but I
didn't know enough about that to mess with it. The computer is working fine
now but I'm not sure I'm operating on the old C: drive. Does anybody know
how I can restore the old C: drive?

You might have managed to boot to a second partition. Do FDISK /Status in a
DOS window to get a description of the disk and the partitioning, so you can
see if there other partitions that might have been the original boot drive.

Did this disk have some backup software installed, such as GoBack?
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"blank" wrote in message
...
My brother brought me his computer which they said would not load up, even
with a Windows start-up disk. They have Windows 98 on the computer. I
used
my start-up disk and got Windows to load but it would not recognize the C:
drive. When I would try to change directories to C: it would tell me it
was
invalid. I finally changed some BIOS settings and got it to recognize the
C:
drive so it would load from the hard drive, but then the hard drive was
designated as Backup C: instead of Local, and it has some files through
August but nothing after that, and some of the program files are missing.
It
mentioned at one time something about the FAT and FAT32 partition, but I
didn't know enough about that to mess with it. The computer is working
fine
now but I'm not sure I'm operating on the old C: drive. Does anybody
know
how I can restore the old C: drive?

As far as I know there was no backup software on the computer. I thought
maybe it did boot from a different partition, but don't know how to fix it if
it did. I checked fdisk/status and it says disk 1, with 1212 meg (they say
the disk is more than 1.2 gig) and 100% usage. I ran the same thing on an
older computer that I have that has Windows 98 and it had the same info,
except it says 13,180 meg which would be correct (13.1 gig). Neither said
anything about partitions. I noticed somewhere it said primary disk was dual
fifo on the subject computer, The computer did have both Windows 95 and 98
on it and I took 95 off. Any ideas on what I can do to get the old C: drive
back?

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

You might have managed to boot to a second partition. Do FDISK /Status in a
DOS window to get a description of the disk and the partitioning, so you can
see if there other partitions that might have been the original boot drive.

Did this disk have some backup software installed, such as GoBack?
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"blank" wrote in message
...
My brother brought me his computer which they said would not load up, even
with a Windows start-up disk. They have Windows 98 on the computer. I
used
my start-up disk and got Windows to load but it would not recognize the C:
drive. When I would try to change directories to C: it would tell me it
was
invalid. I finally changed some BIOS settings and got it to recognize the
C:
drive so it would load from the hard drive, but then the hard drive was
designated as Backup C: instead of Local, and it has some files through
August but nothing after that, and some of the program files are missing.
It
mentioned at one time something about the FAT and FAT32 partition, but I
didn't know enough about that to mess with it. The computer is working
fine
now but I'm not sure I'm operating on the old C: drive. Does anybody
know
how I can restore the old C: drive?

If FDISK /Status did not display information about partitions then, as far
as DOS/Windows is concerned, the disk is not partitioned. If it said 100%
usage but did not list any partition information then that indicates that
the disk is partitioned using a partitioning structure that DOS/Windows
doesn't understand. This can happen if the backup software created special
partitioning (I think GoBack does this) or if drive overlay software has
been used to partition the disk, such as EZ-BIOS or similar.

However, I don't understand how you can be using that disk if it has no
recognizable partition. Are you sure you are reading the FDISK information
correctly?

Partinfo, available at the site below, will reveal more detail about the
disk's partitioning.
http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3....html#PARTINFO

--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"blank" wrote in message
...
As far as I know there was no backup software on the computer. I thought
maybe it did boot from a different partition, but don't know how to fix it
if
it did. I checked fdisk/status and it says disk 1, with 1212 meg (they
say
the disk is more than 1.2 gig) and 100% usage. I ran the same thing on an
older computer that I have that has Windows 98 and it had the same info,
except it says 13,180 meg which would be correct (13.1 gig). Neither said
anything about partitions. I noticed somewhere it said primary disk was
dual
fifo on the subject computer, The computer did have both Windows 95 and
98
on it and I took 95 off. Any ideas on what I can do to get the old C:
drive
back?

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

You might have managed to boot to a second partition. Do FDISK /Status
in a
DOS window to get a description of the disk and the partitioning, so you
can
see if there other partitions that might have been the original boot
drive.

Did this disk have some backup software installed, such as GoBack?
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"blank" wrote in message
...
My brother brought me his computer which they said would not load up,
even
with a Windows start-up disk. They have Windows 98 on the computer. I
used
my start-up disk and got Windows to load but it would not recognize the
C:
drive. When I would try to change directories to C: it would tell me
it
was
invalid. I finally changed some BIOS settings and got it to recognize
the
C:
drive so it would load from the hard drive, but then the hard drive was
designated as Backup C: instead of Local, and it has some files through
August but nothing after that, and some of the program files are
missing.
It
mentioned at one time something about the FAT and FAT32 partition, but
I
didn't know enough about that to mess with it. The computer is working
fine
now but I'm not sure I'm operating on the old C: drive. Does anybody
know
how I can restore the old C: drive?

"blank" wrote in message
...
My brother brought me his computer which they said would not load up, even
with a Windows start-up disk. They have Windows 98 on the computer. I
used
my start-up disk and got Windows to load but it would not recognize the C:
drive. When I would try to change directories to C: it would tell me it
was
invalid. I finally changed some BIOS settings and got it to recognize the
C:
drive so it would load from the hard drive, but then the hard drive was
designated as Backup C: instead of Local, and it has some files through
August but nothing after that, and some of the program files are missing.
It
mentioned at one time something about the FAT and FAT32 partition, but I
didn't know enough about that to mess with it. The computer is working
fine
now but I'm not sure I'm operating on the old C: drive. Does anybody
know
how I can restore the old C: drive?


windows, by default loads to the C: drive

you may be looking at the disk label...if that's the case you can change the
label to whatever you
like...but leaving it the way you have it is just fine...the label itself
has no menaing to the operating
system

"philo" wrote:


"blank" wrote in message
...
My brother brought me his computer which they said would not load up, even
with a Windows start-up disk. They have Windows 98 on the computer. I
used
my start-up disk and got Windows to load but it would not recognize the C:
drive. When I would try to change directories to C: it would tell me it
was
invalid. I finally changed some BIOS settings and got it to recognize the
C:
drive so it would load from the hard drive, but then the hard drive was
designated as Backup C: instead of Local, and it has some files through
August but nothing after that, and some of the program files are missing.
It
mentioned at one time something about the FAT and FAT32 partition, but I
didn't know enough about that to mess with it. The computer is working
fine
now but I'm not sure I'm operating on the old C: drive. Does anybody
know
how I can restore the old C: drive?


windows, by default loads to the C: drive

you may be looking at the disk label...if that's the case you can change the
label to whatever you
like...but leaving it the way you have it is just fine...the label itself
has no menaing to the operating
system


Thanks Jeff and Phil for your suggestions. However, it still is not right. After deleting the primary partition and formating C: drive, it still says it has only 1.2 gig and my brother says it has more because they added a drive. I told it to use FAT32 instead of FAT16, which is what it was. Obviously the drive they added was a removable drive and it says that the C: drive I formatted was non-removable. Do you think that could have something to do with my problem, or would it even recognize the removable drive as removable? Now I have to reload Windows. If I could get it to recognize the larger disk, they might have enough space to load XP on it.

You can't remove the partition and then re-format - there must have been a
step in the middle.

When you removed the partition, did you do a FDISK / Status, and confirm
that the disk size was reported correctly and that the whole disk was
unused?

What exactly does BIOS report about the installed drives?

When you ran FDISK to re-create the partition, did you select to make the
whole drive a single partition, and what was the reported size for the
partition it was going to create?

What do you mean 'Obviously the drive they added was a removable drive'? I
wouldn't expect this. Are you relying on something they told you.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

Thanks Jeff and Phil for your suggestions. However, it still is not right.
After deleting the primary partition and formating C: drive, it still says
it has only 1.2 gig and my brother says it has more because they added a
drive. I told it to use FAT32 instead of FAT16, which is what it was.
Obviously the drive they added was a removable drive and it says that the
C: drive I formatted was non-removable. Do you think that could have
something to do with my problem, or would it even recognize the removable
drive as removable? Now I have to reload Windows. If I could get it to
recognize the larger disk, they might have enough space to load XP on it.