5.0 Partitions (My Battle with Tech Support)

5.1 The point of partitions in Windows 95.
5.2 How to restore partitions without reformatting ("That's Impossible!")
 

5.0 Partitions (My Battle with Tech Support)

As you may have guessed, this section is where I get to rant about IBM and CompUSA (No, not Microsoft). The reasons lie in my experiences after purchasing my new computer. I got a deal on it because it was out of the box, possibly as a display model. When I got it home, I was surprised to discover that it had four partitions on my drive. I called up CompUSA's Tech Support line and asked them about this. They were as baffled as I was, and agreed that it was probably something that had happened while it was on display (If it were, in fact, a display model).

So, on the advice of their Tech Support guys, I removed the partitions. Now, some of you are probably wincing at the thought of this, because you probably know (as I soon discovered) that there are very good reasons for partitions in Windows 95.
 

5.1 The point of partitions in Windows 95.

The reasons for partitions is that Windows 95 (That wonderful piece of software) won't recognize a hard drive larger than 2GB (Mine is 3.2 Gigs). So, in following the advice of CompUSA's Tech Support, I had effectively thrown away 1.2GB of my hard drive. Ouch!

Of course, until I'd gotten my new computer, I'd made do with a 140MB drive for about three years, then upgraded to a 1.25GB for the last year (Which I'd barely put a dent into). So, I wasn't too concerned about running out of drive space, but it still bugged me that I now had this nice machine that didn't quite work right. So, I called them back. CompUSA, recognizing their goof, passed me along to IBM's Tech Support line (They made it, maybe they can fix it).

Now, I want to make something clear. This story didn't take place over a few hours, as you might think. It actually happened over a couple days; weeks even. So by the time I'd gotten ahold of IBM, I'd settled in nicely into my new computer. IBM sized up the situation pretty quickly, told me that I needed to grab a file off their web page to prepare my computer for adding those partitions, and told me to call back when I was ready. I was in no hurry.

Another couple weeks passed. I was in no rush. The guy at IBM Tech Support (Who was great, BTW) had made it pretty clear that there would be no trouble about changing this back, but that it would take a while to do, so I should call when I had the time for a major undertaking. I waited.

Finally, I was ready. I called back, got a different Tech, explained my problem, and awaited instructions. "You'll need to re-format your hard drive," I was told. "WHAT?!?!"

No way was I going to re-format my drive, not when I'd already been told that it would be no problem. So, I bitched. I was informed that the only way to change the partitions would require that I re-format my drive, and re-install the software. "But, I already changed it once. I didn't loose any software then." "That's impossible!"
 

5.2 How to restore partitions without reformatting ("That's Impossible!")

"That's impossible!" I still remember that guy's voice. He had some sort of middle-eastern accent, which seemed, for some reason, to go quite well with his techier-than-thou attitude. "Liar!" That's what the voice seemed to be saying. I was pissed. Not only had I just spent ten minutes explaining my problem to the guy, telling him exactly what was wrong, only to have him explain it right back at me.

"Yes, your problem is that you need those partitions." "I know. Its because Windows won't recognize a drive bigger than 2G. I've lost about 1G of drive space." "Well, not quite that much." (I didn't bother trying explaining to him that 3.2 minus 2 is 1.2, or that 1.2 is a larger number than 1. It wasn't important at the time.)

So I told him that apparently it was possible to change the partitions while keeping your data since I had done it, and then not so politely requested a supervisor. I soon learned the whole story. Yes, it is possible to change your partitions while maintaining the data on your drive. However, IBM cannot guarantee that your software will be unharmed by the process, so they tell people to reformat. I elected to take my chances and was pointed toward a program that might help, "Partition Magic" I believe it was called. I couldn't find a copy.

So, I got out my ZIP drive, backed up my software, and took my chances. I quickly stumbled across the way to restore the partitions, while loosing none of my data. Here's how I did it:

How to restore partitions without reformatting:

1. Using FDISK.EXE, I created a new partition. This was easily done. The problem was that Windows 95 wouldn't recognize the new partition. I couldn't read the new drive.
2. I tried copying something to the new drive. Windows complained that the drive was not formatted, and would I like to format it now? Sure.
3. I lived happily ever after.

Note: I cannot guarantee that this will work in all cases. It was, I thought, much better to take the chance at saving my software, with the possibility of loosing it, rather than wiping the disk clean and having no chance of saving anything. Apparently the folks at IBM don't understand that. Oh well...