If you have recovery CD's, you normally will not be able to access any of XP's install functions, as the procedure for replacing your OS is completely different. One way to preserve the status quo is to create an image of your harddrive as it exists right now. You will need either a CD burner or an external harddrive and some sort of imaging software. I use Ghost and many here recommend Acronis True Image (I hope that's the correct name). You can create an image of your drive, redo the partitions and then restore the image to the primary partition and use the other partition for whatever you want. There are tools like Partition Magic that will resize existing partitions, leaving the data intact. Please back up anything that is important to you as these things can always find a way to screw up when you least expect it. Tom ted wrote: > formating and partitioning with winxp > i am not getting off the ground with this, let alone flying. > please, will one or more techies give a blow by blow rundown on doing this > very delicate operation. > in my case, starting with a maker embedded copy of xp home [now honed to > perfection for me, therefore to be left undisturbed, > currently in the one and only partition] and two recovery disks, so far > pristine and untouched in their original packing, on a > notebook with 20gb hdd. > please don't tell me i don't need to, i already know how stupid i'm being in > attempting this. > > cheers ted To unsub or change your email settings: http://www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk To access our Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ http://www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ For more info: http://www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=pctechtalk