h.d. partitions

i just built a computer and installed a 160 gb barracuda ata
when installing xp it asked if i wanted to partion so i did 3000 mb
and now thats all it shows what happend to the other 10000 or so mb?
can i un partion without having to re install windows ?
thanks , jason

 

Well, you can't unpartition. But you can create another partition with the remaining space.

In the desktop, right-click My Computer and choose "Manage" to open everyone's favorite app: Computer Management. In the left pane, under "Storage," click "Disk Management." You'll be presented with a display of all your disks (see attached pic for example).

Your new HD should have a bunch of it named "Unpartitioned Space". Right-click the unpartioned area, and choose create partition. Create an Extended Partition, and tell it to use the remaining HD (which should be the default). Now you'll have a partition, but you have to define drives for it. Right-click the new extended partition and choose "Create Logical Drive". You'll be given the option of choosing the size of the logical drive, the drive letter the drive gets assigned, and the file system the drive use. If you don't know which to use, use NTFS (if it's over 20-30GB, Windows XP might require you to use NTFS anyways).

The drive will be created, assigned a drive letter, and formatted. It should now be visible in My Computer and Windows Explorer. Now you can use it!

 

thanks. you rule!!!