Q106423: Repartitioning Your Hard Disk to Upgrade to 6.0 or 6.2
Article: Q106423
Product(s): Microsoft Disk Operating System
Version(s): 6.0,6.2,6.21
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): msdos kbgraphxlinkcritical
Last Modified: 26-FEB-2002
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 6.0, 6.2, 6.21
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SUMMARY
=======
This article describes how to determine whether you need to repartition your
hard disk before you install MS-DOS 6 or 6.2 Upgrade and how to complete the
procedure if it is necessary.
DO YOU NEED TO REPARTITION?
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In most cases, you don't need to repartition your hard disk to install MS-DOS
version 6.0 or 6.2. You need to repartition your hard disk only if:
- The primary DOS partition on your hard disk is too small (less than 2
megabytes [MB]).
- The size of the clusters or sectors on your hard disk is incompatible with
MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2.
- There are more than four primary partitions on your hard disk.
- The primary DOS partition is inaccessible.
- A disk-partitioning program that is not compatible with the Setup program for
MS-DOS was used to partition your hard disk.
- Your primary DOS partition is incompatible with the Setup program for MS-DOS.
(This may be the case if you receive an error message when trying to run
Setup.)
If you don't need to repartition your hard disk for any of the preceding reasons,
but you still would like to, see "Optionally Repartitioning Your Hard Disk" at
the end of this document. If you have determined that you cannot install MS-DOS
version 6.0 or 6.2 without repartitioning your hard disk, use the procedures in
the "Preparing to Repartition" section.
Warning: Once you repartition your hard disk, you can no longer use the Uninstall
disk to return to your previous version of MS-DOS.
PREPARING TO REPARTITION
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Before you partition your hard disk, you need the following:
- Enough floppy disks to back up your hard disk. Make sure your floppy disks
are newly formatted.
- A single floppy disk on which to install MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2.
Repartitioning your hard disk involves:
- Creating an MS-DOS Startup disk
- Backing up your hard disk
- Repartitioning your hard disk by using the Fdisk program
- Formatting your hard disk
- Restoring your backed-up files
- Upgrading your system to MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2
Warning: If you are using software such as Disk Manager, SpeedStor(R),
Priam(R), or Everex to replace the BIOS in interactions between MS-DOS and
the hard disk controller, do not repartition your hard disk with the MS-DOS
Fdisk program. Instead, use the disk-partitioning program you originally used
to partition your hard disk.
To determine whether you have one of these disk-partitioning programs on your
computer, search for the following files: DMDRVR.BIN (Disk Manager),
SSTOR.SYS (SpeedStor), HARDRIVE.SYS (Priam), and EVDISK.SYS (Everex). If you
need help in repartitioning your hard disk or are unsure whether the BIOS is
being replaced, contact the manufacturer of your original disk- partitioning
software.
Creating a Startup Disk:
Begin by creating an MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2 Startup disk. To do so:
1. Start your computer with your current version of MS-DOS.
2. Insert MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2 Setup Disk 1 in drive A.
3. Type "A:SETUP /F" (without the quotation marks) at the MS-DOS command prompt,
press ENTER, and then follow the instructions on your screen.
Setup expands key MS-DOS files onto your floppy disk. You'll use this floppy
disk with the expanded files to temporarily run MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2.
Backing Up Your Files:
You should back up files on every partition and each logical drive of your hard
disk.
Warning: Make sure you back up your files before using the Fdisk program. When
you delete or modify a partition, all files on that partition are deleted.
Use the MS-DOS BACKUP command to back up all the files on your hard disk to a
floppy disk by typing the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and pressing
ENTER
" backup <drive>:\*.* <floppy>: /s" (without the quotation marks)
where <drive> is your hard disk drive and <floppy> is your floppy
disk drive. The /S switch specifies that every file in every directory will be
backed up. For example, to back up every file in every directory on hard disk
drive C onto disks in floppy disk drive A, type the following command and press
ENTER:
" backup c:\*.* a: /s" (without the quotation marks)
NOTE: Use the backup command to back up files on every partition and each logical
drive of your hard disk.
You can use your current version of the MS-DOS BACKUP command because it should
be compatible with the RESTORE command provided with MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.2. Because
MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.2 include the full-screen version of Microsoft Backup for
MS-DOS and Microsoft Backup for Windows, the MS-DOS command prompt version of
BACKUP is not included with the product. However, the RESTORE command is still
provided.
NOTE: Before using your current version of the backup command and repartitioning,
you should back up a few files and use the restore command provided with MS-DOS
6 Upgrade or MS-DOS 6.2 Upgrade to restore the files. This should be done as a
safety precaution to ensure you are not using an original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) version of backup that is not compatible with the MS-DOS restore command.
If you do not want to use BACKUP and RESTORE, you can use a third- party backup
program such as Fastback, Norton Utilities(R) Backup, PC Tools Backup, and so
forth.
Repartitioning Your Hard Disk:
Repartitioning your hard disk involves:
- Deleting any non-DOS partitions
- Deleting the logical drives in the extended DOS partition, if your system has
any
- Deleting the extended DOS partition, if your system has one
- Deleting any primary DOS partitions
- Creating a new primary DOS partition
- Specifying the maximum disk size for the partition, and making the partition
active
Before you repartition your hard disk, make sure you write down the volume label
for each partition. You will need this information later. To find the volume
label for your hard disk drive, type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt
and press ENTER
" vol <drive>:" (without the quotation marks)
where <drive> is your hard disk drive. For example, if you want to
determine the volume label for drive C, type the following command:
" vol c:" (without the quotation marks)
To repartition your hard disk:
1. If you are not already running MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2, insert your Startup disk in
drive A, and then restart your computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.
2. If you have not already done so, insert the Startup disk (which you created
using the procedure in the "Creating a Startup Disk" section) in drive A.
3. At the MS-DOS command prompt, type "FDISK" (without the quotation marks) and
press ENTER. The FDISK Options screen appears.
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MS-DOS Version 6.2
Fixed Disk Setup Program
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp. 1983-1993
FDISK Options
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
2. Set active partition
3. Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
4. Display partition information
Enter choice: [1]
Press ESC to exit FDISK
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4. Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive, and then press
ENTER. The Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
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Delete DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Delete Primary DOS Partition
2. Delete Extended DOS Partition
3. Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
4. Delete Non-DOS Partition
Enter choice: [ ]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
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5. If any of your partitions were created with a third-party disk- partitioning
utility or installation program, press 4 to choose Delete Non-DOS Partition,
and then press ENTER. If all your partitions were created with MS-DOS, press
ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen, then skip to step 10 of this
procedure.
If you chose option 4, the Delete Non-DOS Partition screen appears.
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Delete Non-DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS 23 FAT16 33%
2 Non-DOS 23 33%
3 EXT DOS 23 33%
Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
WARNING! Data in the deleted Non-DOS Partition will be lost.
What non-DOS partition do you want to delete..? [1]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
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6. Type the number of the partition you want to delete, and then press ENTER.
7. To confirm the deletion, press Y, and then press ENTER.
8. Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.
9. Repeat steps 4 - 8 if you have any other partitions that were created with a
third-party disk-partitioning utility or installation program.
10. The FDISK Options menu should now be on your screen. If you have a partition
that was created with MS-DOS, press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical
DOS Drive and press ENTER.
If you chose option 3 on the FDISK Options screen, the Delete DOS Partition
Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
11. If you have a logical drive, press 3 to choose Delete Logical DOS Drive(s)
In The Extended DOS Partition and press ENTER. The Delete Logical DOS
Drive(s) In The Extended DOS Partition screen appears. If you don't have any
logical drives, skip to step 19.
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Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
Drv Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
D: 15 FAT12 65%
E: 8 FAT12 35%
Total Extended DOS Partition size is 23 Mbytes (1 MByte=1048576
bytes)
WARNING! Data in a deleted Logical DOS Drive will be lost.
What drive do you want to delete.........................? [ ]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
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12. Type the letter of the drive you want to delete and press ENTER.
13. Type the volume label if there is one and press ENTER.
14. To confirm the deletion, press Y and press ENTER.
15. If there are other logical drives you want to delete, repeat steps 12 - 14
above.
16. When all logical drives have been deleted, press ESC. An information screen
appears.
17. Press ESC again to return to the FDISK Options screen.
18. Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive and press ENTER. The
Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
19. Press 2 to choose Delete Extended DOS Partition and press ENTER. The Delete
Extended DOS Partition screen appears. If you don't have any extended DOS
partitions, skip to step 21.
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Delete Extended DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS 23 FAT16 33%
2 EXT DOS 23 33%
Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
WARNING! Data in the deleted Extended DOS Partition will be lost.
Do you wish to continue (Y/N)........................? [N]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
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20. To confirm that you want to delete the extended DOS partition, press Y and
press ENTER.
21. Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.
22. Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive and press ENTER. The
Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
23. Press 1 to choose Delete Primary DOS Partition and press ENTER. The Delete
Primary DOS Partition screen appears.
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Delete Primary DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS 23 FAT16 33%
Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
WARNING! Data in the deleted Primary DOS Partition will be lost.
What primary partition do you want to delete..? [1]
Enter volume label...............................? [ ]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
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24. Press ENTER to delete your primary partition.
25. Type the volume label, if there is one, and press ENTER.
26. To confirm the deletion, press Y and press ENTER.
27. Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.
28. Press ENTER to choose Create A DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive. The
Create DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
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Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Create Primary DOS Partition
2. Create Extended DOS Partition
3. Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
Enter choice: [1]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
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29. Press ENTER to choose Create Primary DOS Partition. The Create Primary DOS
Partition screen appears.
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Create Primary DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS
Partition and make the partition active (Y/N)..............?[Y]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
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30. Press ENTER to specify the maximum size for the partition and make the
partition active.
31. Make sure your Startup disk is in drive A and press any key.
Formatting Your Hard Disk:
You cannot use your hard disk until you format it.
To format your hard disk:
1. Make sure you are running MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2 from your Startup disk.
2. Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER
" format <drive>: /s" (without the quotation marks)
where <drive> is your hard disk drive. For example, if your hard disk
drive is drive C, type the following command:
" format c: /s" (without the quotation marks)
3. Press Y and press ENTER to proceed with formatting.
4. Once formatting is complete, type a volume label if you want one and press
ENTER.
Restoring Your Files:
Now you can restore the files you backed up previously. If you used a third-party
program such as Fastback to back up your files, use the same program to restore
your files. If you used the MS-DOS BACKUP command, use the MS-DOS RESTORE
command to restore them.
To restore your files using the MS-DOS RESTORE command:
1. Insert the Startup disk in drive A.
2. Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER
" restore <drive1>: <drive2>:\*.* /s" (without the quotation
marks)
where< drive1> specifies the drive on which the backed-up files are
stored and <drive2> is your hard disk drive. For example, if you insert
your backup disk in drive A and your hard disk drive is drive C, type the
following command:
" restore a: c:\*.* /s" (without the quotation marks)
The /S switch restores every file in every subdirectory you backed up.
3. Insert your Startup disk if you are prompted with the following message:
Insert disk with \COMMAND.COM in drive A
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 if you have other backup disks. For example, you might
have a set of backup disks for drive D.
Upgrading to MS-DOS 6.0 or MS-DOS 6.2:
Now you can upgrade your system to MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2. To upgrade:
1. Insert Setup Disk 1 in drive A.
2. At the MS-DOS command prompt, type "A:SETUP" (without the quotation marks)
and press ENTER.
3. Continue following the instructions on the screen to install MS-DOS.
NOTE: Before you restart your system, make sure drive A is empty.
Optionally Repartitioning Your Hard Disk:
If you don't need to repartition your hard disk in order to install MS- DOS
version 6.0 or 6.2, follow the steps outlined here. You have two choices when
optionally repartitioning your hard disk:
- Use your current version of the MS-DOS BACKUP and RESTORE commands to back up
your hard disk when preparing to partition.
-or-
- First install MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2 in order to use the Microsoft Backup
program (MSBACKUP) when preparing to partition.
While this option requires that you install MS-DOS twice (once before and once
after you partition), using the Microsoft Backup program provides you with
many more options when backing up your data.
To partition your hard disk by using MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2:
1. Insert Setup Disk 1 (the first of your installation disks) in drive A.
2. At the MS-DOS command prompt, type "A:SETUP" (without the quotation marks),
press ENTER, and then follow the instructions in the first few screens. At
the screen that begins with "The following programs can be installed on your
computer," note the default setting for "Backup." This setting will be either
Windows Only or MS-DOS Only.
3. If you have Microsoft Windows installed on your personal computer, change the
Backup setting to include MS-DOS. You can choose either the Backup: MS-DOS
Only option or the Backup: Windows And MS-DOS option.
4. Continue following the instructions to install MS-DOS.
5. Before you restart your system, make sure drive A is empty.
6. Insert Setup Disk 1 (the first of your installation disks) in drive A.
7. To create a startup floppy disk called Startup, type "A:SETUP /F" (without
the quotation marks) at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER. Follow the
instructions on the screen.
8. Run the Microsoft Backup program by typing MSBACKUP at the MS-DOS command
prompt and pressing ENTER. Create full backups of all the partitions on your
hard disk.
9. At the MS-DOS command prompt, type "FDISK" (without the quotation marks) and
press ENTER. This initiates the procedure to partition your hard disk. Refer
to "Using Fdisk to Configure Your Hard Disk" in Chapter 8 of the Microsoft
MS-DOS 6 "User's Guide".
10. Insert the Startup disk (which you created in step 7) in drive A and format
all of your partitions. When formatting your hard disk drive, use the /S
switch (this transfers system files to your hard disk drive, making it the
startup drive). For example, type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt
and press ENTER
" format <drive>: /s" (without the quotation marks)
where <drive> is your hard disk drive. For example, if your hard disk
drive is drive C, type the following command:
" format c: /s" (without the quotation marks)
11. Install MS-DOS on your newly partitioned hard disk. Be sure to install the
MS-DOS version of the Microsoft Backup program.
12. Run Microsoft Backup to restore your data by typing MSBACKUP at the MS-DOS
command prompt and pressing ENTER. If you used the MS-DOS Backup program to
back up your data, use the MS-DOS RESTORE command to restore it.
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DownloadDownload Pd0771.exe now
For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click
the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services
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Additional query words:
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Keywords : msdos kbgraphxlinkcritical
Technology : kbMSDOSSearch kbMSDOS621 kbMSDOS620 kbMSDOS600
Version : :6.0,6.2,6.21
Issue type : kbinfo
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