Multiple Primary Partitions

Bill,

There are only four partition table slots. Each Primary partition uses one, as does the Extended Partition Container (or first Logical). You can only have four Primary partitions or less than four Primary partitions and any number of Logical partitions.

Maybe it would help if you described what you're trying to accomplish. Perhaps there's another way that would work.

MudCrab I thank you for your response. I knew that only 4 primaries were allowed but I was not aware of the 4 partition limitation.
I am using primaies for Windows XP (my main OS) and DOS 6 (needed for a special application) and the third Primary is DellUtility. The logical is for exchaging data between Primaries.
The fourth Primary will be fow Windows 95. I need this for performing certain functins in Lotus 123 which are not possible with the newer OS's. Bill

Have you considered using Virtual Machines for the older operating systems? Or do they need physical hardware access?

You could install Windows 95 to a Logical partition but it will take over the booting process and place its booting files on the XP partition. There are ways around this that should work, though.

Do you have a current backup image of the entire drive?

What boot manager are you using?

What version of DD are you using?

The older programs need to see the printer as well as being able to pass data to the XP Partition.
I donot have a bachup of the entire drive, only selected files.
DDSuite version 10.0
Acronis Boot Manager version 10.0

Can you post a screenshot of what DD shows for the drive?

Do you want to keep the DellUtility partition?

I have just started to consider the removal route. Do you know of any downside.?

You wouldn't be able to access the utilities on the partition (there's probably an option to boot into them). A lot of users will just create a backup of it and then delete it. That way they can restore it later if they need/want to. Personally, I hate losing a Primary partition for something that never (or almost never) gets used. Windows is a lot easier to deal with on Primary partitions.

I'm sorry to keep leaning on you but, as you probably surmised, I am little more than a novice.
I deleted the DellUtilities partition, created a primary partition (Print Lotus) from the
unallocated space and increased it's size. (I pressed COMMIT after each operation. The OS
selector does not recognize the new partition. MY COMPUTER does see the new partition.
I enclose a screenshot of the DD and the OS.

You won't be able to use that space for the new partition (it's too small). You would need to delete that partition (G:), resize C: smaller from the right side, and create the new partition there. The new partition needs to be large enough to install Windows 95 along with any other programs you need installed.

OSS won't "see" the partition until you've installed an OS on it. However, it should show up in the other menu entries and be available to be hidden, for example.

Please note that it's recommended to create an Entire Disk Image backup before you make partitioning changes (just in case anything goes wrong).

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After you get the partition created, you would need make sure it is set Active before installing Windows 95. Otherwise, the installer will place the booting files on the current Active partition (replacing the existing booting files).

Here is an example:

1. Make sure you have a DD CD that includes the OSS programs. Create a new DD/OSS CD if needed.
2. Create an Entire Disk Image backup.
3. Delete the G: partition.
4. Resize the C: partition smaller from the right side.
5. Create the new Windows 95 partition (Primary) in the unallocated space now located after C:.
6. Use DD (from the CD) to set the Windows 95 partition Active. You can hide the DOS and XP partitions at this time, if you want.
7. Boot to the Windows 95 CD and install Windows 95. Make sure it installs to the desired partition.
8. Reactivate OSS. OSS should find the new installation and add it to the menu.

How do I boot to the Windows 95 disc?

It's been a long time since I've installed Windows 95. I'm trying to remember if the CD is bootable or not. You may need to install DOS to the partition and then install Windows 95 from there. Or boot to a DOS floppy (or Windows 95/98/ME floppy) and then install from the CD. Either method requires having the DOS CD-ROM drivers installed.

If the CD is bootable, you should be able to set the BIOS boot order to boot the CD drive first (before the hard drive) and have it boot.