Member Avatar for JoJoand

Can you format the drives in an extended partition with 2 different file systems? One is already formatted and is not a regular system so is not seen by Vista's explorer and the other I would format as an NTFS logical partition.

thank you!

  • 4 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 94 Views
  • 4 Weeks Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by pip22

Dani AI

Generated

Following up on 's question and the replies from , , and , here are targeted checks and practical steps to diagnose why one formatted area is invisible to Vista and how to add an NTFS volume safely.

If Explorer does not show a formatted area it is usually because Vista does not recognize the filesystem or the partition type. Confirm what the partition actually contains by inspecting the table (Disk Management or a Linux live CD). The free utility TestDisk can reveal the filesystem signature and partition type; see TestDisk. Windows file-system support is documented here: File systems supported by Windows. If the area uses ext or HFS+, Vista will not mount it without a third-party driver (for ext: ext2fsd and similar tools exist).

If the plan is to create an NTFS logical partition from Windows, back up first. After selecting the correct partition with DiskPart you can format and assign a drive letter. Minimal DiskPart steps:

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list partition
select partition N
format fs=ntfs quick
assign letter=E

See the DiskPart reference for options: DiskPart. Also review partition-style limits before re-arranging disks: .

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for Stylish

The overall answer is "Yes".

The other answer is "I have no idea how Windows Vista handles extended/logical partitions." Hopefully someone with this experience in Windows will respond.

Member Avatar for mechbas

I've no idea just how you could put 2 different file systems on same partition, never heard of such a thing. If you want 2 different file systems on same drive then you'll have to make 2 different partitions, format each according to intended use. Don't use Vista yet but best guess why Vista doesn't see it is that it's probably Fat32 or below. Vista will probably not see anything less than NTFS. Same basic error when XP and/or 2k came out, would not see FAT16 or below.

Member Avatar for pip22

You cannot format an extended partition since it has no drive-letter assigned to it -- it's simply a 'container' for a 'logical partition' (or several logical partitions). These logical partitions are assigned drive-letters and can be formatted.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.