C drive probs/partitions- what to do?

[tjdenver]

My stepson has a Sony Viao desktop with XP installed. When he got it the
previous owner set the hard drive up with fat 32 and NTFS partitions. He's
constanlty running out of hard drive space. It appears he is using the Fat 32
section. I'm a novice here, but what are my options and steps to fix and
maybe convert all to NTFS. Is there a fairly simple easy way to get the whole
hard drive back. I do not understand any of this very well so any help is
appreciated. Please keep as simple as possible and with steps please. Why
different partitions, how are they used and why, and how do you access two of
them...just questions of interest...mostly need to know how to get back to
jsut 1!
tjdenver WindowsXP SP2

[Malke]

tjdenver wrote:

> My stepson has a Sony Viao desktop with XP installed. When he got it
> the
> previous owner set the hard drive up with fat 32 and NTFS partitions.
> He's constanlty running out of hard drive space. It appears he is
> using the Fat 32 section. I'm a novice here, but what are my options
> and steps to fix and maybe convert all to NTFS. Is there a fairly
> simple easy way to get the whole hard drive back. I do not understand
> any of this very well so any help is appreciated. Please keep as
> simple as possible and with steps please. Why different partitions,
> how are they used and why, and how do you access two of them...just
> questions of interest...mostly need to know how to get back to jsut 1!
> tjdenver WindowsXP SP2

With a second-hand machine, it is best practice to wipe the drive and
restore it to factory-condition anyway. Your stepson should have
received some way of returning to factory condition with the Vaio
desktop. Refer to the Sony tech support site for the specific model
machine for information about restoring the Vaio to factory condition.

http://www.sony.com/pcsupport

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

[R. C. White]

Hi, tjdenver.

What Malke said.

And format it NTFS all the way!

FAT32 is fast disappearing in the rear-view mirror. The only reason to keep
it is if he plans to install Win9x/ME or MS-DOS on that computer. WinXP can
use FAT32 just fine, but NTFS is the preferred file system for the future.
It's faster on the large hard drives we use today. And it's more secure,
both in the sense of secure from hard disk errors and in the sense that it
can be made secure from prying eyes.

If he has added his own irreplaceable files (photos, music, etc.), be sure
to back those up before reformatting, because that will erase everything on
the drive. His programs can be reinstalled from the original disks and the
operating system from the Sony disks that Malke mentions, but his personal
data files probably don't exist anywhere else.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP

"tjdenver" > wrote in message
...
> My stepson has a Sony Viao desktop with XP installed. When he got it the
> previous owner set the hard drive up with fat 32 and NTFS partitions.
> He's
> constanlty running out of hard drive space. It appears he is using the Fat
> 32
> section. I'm a novice here, but what are my options and steps to fix and
> maybe convert all to NTFS. Is there a fairly simple easy way to get the
> whole
> hard drive back. I do not understand any of this very well so any help is
> appreciated. Please keep as simple as possible and with steps please. Why
> different partitions, how are they used and why, and how do you access two
> of
> them...just questions of interest...mostly need to know how to get back to
> jsut 1!
> tjdenver WindowsXP SP2

[tjdenver]

I installed the new One Care Beta on his Vaio the other nite ...will the
back-up programs feature of that copy all the programs I'll need to have to
reinstall the necessary software for his personal stuff ? This may be a
question for one of the Microsoft folks to answer....
--
tjdenver WindowsXP SP2


"R. C. White" wrote:

> Hi, tjdenver.
>
> What Malke said.
>
> And format it NTFS all the way!
>
> FAT32 is fast disappearing in the rear-view mirror. The only reason to keep
> it is if he plans to install Win9x/ME or MS-DOS on that computer. WinXP can
> use FAT32 just fine, but NTFS is the preferred file system for the future.
> It's faster on the large hard drives we use today. And it's more secure,
> both in the sense of secure from hard disk errors and in the sense that it
> can be made secure from prying eyes.
>
> If he has added his own irreplaceable files (photos, music, etc.), be sure
> to back those up before reformatting, because that will erase everything on
> the drive. His programs can be reinstalled from the original disks and the
> operating system from the Sony disks that Malke mentions, but his personal
> data files probably don't exist anywhere else.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
>
> Microsoft Windows MVP
>
> "tjdenver" > wrote in message
> ...
> > My stepson has a Sony Viao desktop with XP installed. When he got it the
> > previous owner set the hard drive up with fat 32 and NTFS partitions.
> > He's
> > constanlty running out of hard drive space. It appears he is using the Fat
> > 32
> > section. I'm a novice here, but what are my options and steps to fix and
> > maybe convert all to NTFS. Is there a fairly simple easy way to get the
> > whole
> > hard drive back. I do not understand any of this very well so any help is
> > appreciated. Please keep as simple as possible and with steps please. Why
> > different partitions, how are they used and why, and how do you access two
> > of
> > them...just questions of interest...mostly need to know how to get back to
> > jsut 1!
> > tjdenver WindowsXP SP2
>
>