Partitioning hangup with XP

[Goldhedge]

Hi all,

I'm looking to do a BT4 install as a dual boot with a Win XP machine and I have about 25 gigs of free space but the partition editor will only let me access 8 gigs.

I know all about the hidden file space (for restore and hibernate) and the swap file disk space XP uses. I have changed the swap file space to zero and the restore files and turned off the restore function and rebooted but I have not gained any more available space. Is there anything else I can do that will yeail more disk space? I can probably get another gig (maybe two) off the machine via software uninstalls but would it be worth the effort?

[Thorn]

Hi all,

I'm looking to do a BT4 install as a dual boot with a Win XP machine and I have about 25 gigs of free space but the partition editor will only let me access 8 gigs.

I know all about the hidden file space (for restore and hibernate) and the swap file disk space XP uses. I have changed the swap file space to zero and the restore files and turned off the restore function and rebooted but I have not gained any more available space. Is there anything else I can do that will yeail more disk space? I can probably get another gig (maybe two) off the machine via software uninstalls but would it be worth the effort?

Did you get rid of ALL the temp files? I'd suggest using CCleaner, although, 25GB is pretty damn big for just temp files. The other suggestion is to turn off hiding system and other hidden files, and then go into the %SYSTEM% directory and remove all the MS update installation directories. They are in sub-directories and have a name format of $NtUninstallKBnnnnnn$ and are all hidden by default. I'd suggest moving them to a portable HD, and not merely deleting them, as you may need them in the future.

If those suggestion doesn't work, I'd suggest getting a utility that can tell you the size of the directories, and track the problem down from there. Sometimes a typo or other mistake can make damn strange things to the files structure. I've had some clients manage to drag folders around to that they up recursive directories. In one case it was so recursive they filled up a 200GB backup drive.

[Goldhedge]

Hi Thorn,

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I cleaned everything, used Cleanup and Regseeker, defrag 2x and even did a disk wipe of the empty disk space. Seems as though to get a dual boot Linux/XP system going on an on older laptop with the standard 40 HD is to use a small distro (2 gig max) or use UNetbootin. (This is the second laptop I'm working on setting up).