Hard drive problem

[killerkebab]

I need to format Windows XP. Easy business. Currently have two partitions:
C:\, 100GB, has windows, apps, games, etc (I named it 'SYSTEM')
D:\, 200GB, has my music, vids, files, etc (I named it 'STORING')So I take anything from C: which I can't afford to lose, dump it in D:, put the windows disc in and delete C:, reinstall Windows and off I go... except...

When I put the windows disc in and it shows me the list of partitions to install to, the list shows up as (roughly):
STORING(C) - 200GB
SYSTEM(D) - 100GBEh? Deleting the current windows install means I'd be reinstalling windows to a drive called D: which isn't really an option, unless I'm missing something here... any ideas on how to make the windows install less stupid?

EDIT: Looked the drives up in the storage part of admin tools...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/KillerKebab/drives.jpg

Why is drive D: called a system drive when it has never had an OS installed on it?

[Zirax]

I would nab a copy of partition magic. Its worth every penny.

Going back to when you got the drive, did you set the 200gb partition then the 100gb? That would do it. You need to ensure that the 200gb is the primary and active partition if memory serves

[killerkebab]

When I got the drive I set the partitions up as follows (chronologically):

- 100GB, left the other 200GB as raw. Installed Windows on the 100GB and once windows was installed I told it to make the other 200GB into a partition.

I can't remember why it has them the wrong way round today, I have formatted a couple times since and I may have made a mistake. However, I installed Partition Magic.

It seems to think my current windows drive is 'Logical' and the storage drive is 'Primary'. My current idea is to swap those around so my windows drive is primary and the storage one is logical. Is this a dangerous change? Can loss of data occur, and can the drive be damaged?

[killerkebab]

Cancel that completely (though if you know the answers to my questions go ahead, I am curious ;)). I've decided to splash out on a big external drive, put all my data on it.

Then I'll nuke the entire RAID array and start fresh, maybe even forget partitions entirely. With that in mind, what is a good external hard drive solution for <£100?

[Del Lardo]

Linky (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/953439/Western-Digital-500GB-My-Book-Essential-1U-External-Hard-Drive-USB2-0/Product.html)

[Zirax]

When I got the drive I set the partitions up as follows (chronologically):

- 100GB, left the other 200GB as raw. Installed Windows on the 100GB and once windows was installed I told it to make the other 200GB into a partition.

I can't remember why it has them the wrong way round today, I have formatted a couple times since and I may have made a mistake. However, I installed Partition Magic.

It seems to think my current windows drive is 'Logical' and the storage drive is 'Primary'. My current idea is to swap those around so my windows drive is primary and the storage one is logical. Is this a dangerous change? Can loss of data occur, and can the drive be damaged?

That's how I have it, however you won't easily swap them around without data loss. Normally you set the primary drive as your windows partition. You could install windows on the other drive, but a small file will need to be written on the primary.

Partition magic is a very very handy tool, make the boot floppies and you have similar functionality as the full windows version. Its a heck of a lot faster then using fdisk or the windows installer thing. Its great at visually showing you the layout of the drive and sizes so you are aware of what you get.

Don't fiddle with partition magic as its very easy to alter the wrong thing, get the backup drive first. Its good that you are getting this anyway with running raid 0.

edit: Keep the partitions, I have always kept my OS and games/vid drive seperate. Typically around 35gig for xp & apps then games and everything else in a big 470gb lump :)

[killerkebab]

I'll keep the partitions, just I might revise the sizes some :)

I may change the RAID array too, it is currently on a 128k stripe but that is only because I didn't know which size was best. Ideas?