Partitioning hard drives.

Partitioning hard drives can be a nightmare. I've been using PQ Partition
magic for years, I've seen no updates to it since Norton purchased it other
than name change. PM isn't compatible with XP x64 or Vista at this time
other than booting it from the CD or floppies which works. I'm not holding
my breath for an update since there have been no updates in over three
years. When I rebuilt my FX51 tower, dropping raid and installing a 320GB
hard drive, I didn't have a copy of XP X86 to install without violating
licensing. I installed XP x64 instead on a 30GB partition setup during
installation. That left 268GB unallocated. Using "Disk Management" in x64 I
created two 49GB primary partitions, F data and G Vista and formatted them
NTFS with name and letter. Installation of Vista x64 on the G partition was
flawless. Under hard drives I see C x64 30GB, F Data 49GB and G Vista 49GB
in either operating system. Under "Disk Management" I see the same
partitions plus 170GB unallocated. This proves that with a little planning
from the beginning a third party partitioning tool isn't needed. I will
still boot PM from floppies if I need to resize the partitions because it
works, but for partition creation and formatting "Disk Management" is faster
and easier.

John
Thu Aug 24 19:54:58 CDT 2006

With Vista, you can resize your partitions, so you should not need PM even
for than any more.

"Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 (5384), OPP2007B2" <dennispack@nospamhotmail.com>
wrote in message news:F4BA6C92-4C69-4C53-BD1F-CA48697666CB@microsoft.com...
> Partitioning hard drives can be a nightmare. I've been using PQ Partition
> magic for years, I've seen no updates to it since Norton purchased it
> other than name change. PM isn't compatible with XP x64 or Vista at this
> time other than booting it from the CD or floppies which works. I'm not
> holding my breath for an update since there have been no updates in over
> three years. When I rebuilt my FX51 tower, dropping raid and installing a
> 320GB hard drive, I didn't have a copy of XP X86 to install without
> violating licensing. I installed XP x64 instead on a 30GB partition setup
> during installation. That left 268GB unallocated. Using "Disk Management"
> in x64 I created two 49GB primary partitions, F data and G Vista and
> formatted them NTFS with name and letter. Installation of Vista x64 on the
> G partition was flawless. Under hard drives I see C x64 30GB, F Data 49GB
> and G Vista 49GB in either operating system. Under "Disk Management" I see
> the same partitions plus 170GB unallocated. This proves that with a little
> planning from the beginning a third party partitioning tool isn't needed.
> I will still boot PM from floppies if I need to resize the partitions
> because it works, but for partition creation and formatting "Disk
> Management" is faster and easier.

Dennis
Thu Aug 24 20:06:08 CDT 2006

John:
Thanks for catching my omission. I haven't tried resizing with Vista yet.

"John Barnes" <jbarnes@email.net> wrote in message
news:%23oL$aE%23xGHA.4660@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> With Vista, you can resize your partitions, so you should not need PM even
> for than any more.
>
> "Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 (5384), OPP2007B2" <dennispack@nospamhotmail.com>
> wrote in message
> news:F4BA6C92-4C69-4C53-BD1F-CA48697666CB@microsoft.com...
>> Partitioning hard drives can be a nightmare. I've been using PQ
>> Partition magic for years, I've seen no updates to it since Norton
>> purchased it other than name change. PM isn't compatible with XP x64 or
>> Vista at this time other than booting it from the CD or floppies which
>> works. I'm not holding my breath for an update since there have been no
>> updates in over three years. When I rebuilt my FX51 tower, dropping raid
>> and installing a 320GB hard drive, I didn't have a copy of XP X86 to
>> install without violating licensing. I installed XP x64 instead on a 30GB
>> partition setup during installation. That left 268GB unallocated. Using
>> "Disk Management" in x64 I created two 49GB primary partitions, F data
>> and G Vista and formatted them NTFS with name and letter. Installation of
>> Vista x64 on the G partition was flawless. Under hard drives I see C x64
>> 30GB, F Data 49GB and G Vista 49GB in either operating system. Under
>> "Disk Management" I see the same partitions plus 170GB unallocated. This
>> proves that with a little planning from the beginning a third party
>> partitioning tool isn't needed. I will still boot PM from floppies if I
>> need to resize the partitions because it works, but for partition
>> creation and formatting "Disk Management" is faster and easier.
>
>

John
Thu Aug 24 20:47:16 CDT 2006

I installed my last version of PM on XP home when it first came out. I have
long since retired the computer, but I installed the hard drive in a USB
external. Whenever I have needed to use it I just hook it up and execute it
from the Programs folder. Works great on anything that doesn't require
going into DOS to execute (any partition but the boot partition)


"Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 (5384), OPP2007B2" <dennispack@nospamhotmail.com>
wrote in message news:76FDE152-7FA7-4909-AAB1-C86192304865@microsoft.com...
> John:
> Thanks for catching my omission. I haven't tried resizing with Vista yet.
>
> "John Barnes" <jbarnes@email.net> wrote in message
> news:%23oL$aE%23xGHA.4660@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> With Vista, you can resize your partitions, so you should not need PM
>> even for than any more.
>>
>> "Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 (5384), OPP2007B2" <dennispack@nospamhotmail.com>
>> wrote in message
>> news:F4BA6C92-4C69-4C53-BD1F-CA48697666CB@microsoft.com...
>>> Partitioning hard drives can be a nightmare. I've been using PQ
>>> Partition magic for years, I've seen no updates to it since Norton
>>> purchased it other than name change. PM isn't compatible with XP x64 or
>>> Vista at this time other than booting it from the CD or floppies which
>>> works. I'm not holding my breath for an update since there have been no
>>> updates in over three years. When I rebuilt my FX51 tower, dropping raid
>>> and installing a 320GB hard drive, I didn't have a copy of XP X86 to
>>> install without violating licensing. I installed XP x64 instead on a
>>> 30GB partition setup during installation. That left 268GB unallocated.
>>> Using "Disk Management" in x64 I created two 49GB primary partitions, F
>>> data and G Vista and formatted them NTFS with name and letter.
>>> Installation of Vista x64 on the G partition was flawless. Under hard
>>> drives I see C x64 30GB, F Data 49GB and G Vista 49GB in either
>>> operating system. Under "Disk Management" I see the same partitions plus
>>> 170GB unallocated. This proves that with a little planning from the
>>> beginning a third party partitioning tool isn't needed. I will still
>>> boot PM from floppies if I need to resize the partitions because it
>>> works, but for partition creation and formatting "Disk Management" is
>>> faster and easier.
>>
>>
>

VWWall
Thu Aug 24 21:00:38 CDT 2006

Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 (5384), OPP2007B2 wrote:
> Partitioning hard drives can be a nightmare. I've been using PQ
> Partition magic for years, I've seen no updates to it since Norton
> purchased it other than name change. PM isn't compatible with XP x64 or
> Vista at this time other than booting it from the CD or floppies which
> works. I'm not holding my breath for an update since there have been no
> updates in over three years. When I rebuilt my FX51 tower, dropping raid
> and installing a 320GB hard drive, I didn't have a copy of XP X86 to
> install without violating licensing. I installed XP x64 instead on a
> 30GB partition setup during installation. That left 268GB unallocated.
> Using "Disk Management" in x64 I created two 49GB primary partitions, F
> data and G Vista and formatted them NTFS with name and letter.
> Installation of Vista x64 on the G partition was flawless. Under hard
> drives I see C x64 30GB, F Data 49GB and G Vista 49GB in either
> operating system. Under "Disk Management" I see the same partitions plus
> 170GB unallocated. This proves that with a little planning from the
> beginning a third party partitioning tool isn't needed. I will still
> boot PM from floppies if I need to resize the partitions because it
> works, but for partition creation and formatting "Disk Management" is
> faster and easier.

If you ever get stuck, here's a free partitioner that will work on file
systems that Windows doesn't know about: It's a self booting CD and has
its own operating system--something called Linux! The download is free.
Its handy to have around even if you never need it.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

--
Virg Wall, P.E.

Dennis
Thu Aug 24 21:20:11 CDT 2006

VWWall:
Thank you for the alternative. It's good to see that Linux is
finally addressing the need to deal with NTFS as a type of formatting.


"VWWall" <vwall@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:OBURCp%23xGHA.480@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 (5384), OPP2007B2 wrote:
>> Partitioning hard drives can be a nightmare. I've been using PQ
>> Partition magic for years, I've seen no updates to it since Norton
>> purchased it other than name change. PM isn't compatible with XP x64 or
>> Vista at this time other than booting it from the CD or floppies which
>> works. I'm not holding my breath for an update since there have been no
>> updates in over three years. When I rebuilt my FX51 tower, dropping raid
>> and installing a 320GB hard drive, I didn't have a copy of XP X86 to
>> install without violating licensing. I installed XP x64 instead on a 30GB
>> partition setup during installation. That left 268GB unallocated. Using
>> "Disk Management" in x64 I created two 49GB primary partitions, F data
>> and G Vista and formatted them NTFS with name and letter. Installation of
>> Vista x64 on the G partition was flawless. Under hard drives I see C x64
>> 30GB, F Data 49GB and G Vista 49GB in either operating system. Under
>> "Disk Management" I see the same partitions plus 170GB unallocated. This
>> proves that with a little planning from the beginning a third party
>> partitioning tool isn't needed. I will still boot PM from floppies if I
>> need to resize the partitions because it works, but for partition
>> creation and formatting "Disk Management" is faster and easier.
>
> If you ever get stuck, here's a free partitioner that will work on file
> systems that Windows doesn't know about: It's a self booting CD and has
> its own operating system--something called Linux! The download is free.
> Its handy to have around even if you never need it.
>
> http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
>
> --
> Virg Wall, P.E.

VWWall
Thu Aug 24 23:38:50 CDT 2006

Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 (5384), OPP2007B2 wrote:
> VWWall:
> Thank you for the alternative. It's good to see that Linux is
> finally addressing the need to deal with NTFS as a type of formatting.

I wonder if it will work on that new file system Vista was supposed to
have. :-) Linux can *read* NTSF very well, which is handy for
recovering files when Windows goes belly up by copying them to a flash
drive.

--
Virg Wall, P.E.

Charlie
Fri Aug 25 01:24:41 CDT 2006

Dennis -
FWIW, I've had very good success with Acronis DiskDirector. The current
version runs in x64, and is reasonably priced. And you can download and try
first. Of course, you may not need it at all come Vista - resizing is
supported there.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/xperts64


Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 (5384), OPP2007B2 wrote:
> Partitioning hard drives can be a nightmare. I've been using PQ Partition
> magic for years, I've seen no updates to it since Norton purchased it
> other than name change. PM isn't compatible with XP x64 or Vista at this
> time other than booting it from the CD or floppies which works. I'm not
> holding my breath for an update since there have been no updates in over
> three years. When I rebuilt my FX51 tower, dropping raid and installing a
> 320GB hard drive, I didn't have a copy of XP X86 to install without
> violating licensing. I installed XP x64 instead on a 30GB partition setup
> during installation. That left 268GB unallocated. Using "Disk Management"
> in x64 I created two 49GB primary partitions, F data and G Vista and
> formatted them NTFS with name and letter. Installation of Vista x64 on
> the G partition was flawless. Under hard drives I see C x64 30GB, F Data
> 49GB and G Vista 49GB in either operating system. Under "Disk Management"
> I see the same partitions plus 170GB unallocated. This proves that with a
> little planning from the beginning a third party partitioning tool isn't
> needed. I will still boot PM from floppies if I need to resize the
> partitions because it works, but for partition creation and formatting
> "Disk Management" is faster and easier.

Jud
Fri Aug 25 02:18:38 CDT 2006

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:36:39 -0400, "Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 \(5384\),
OPP2007B2" <dennispack@nospamhotmail.com> wrote:

>I will
>still boot PM from floppies if I need to resize the partitions because it
>works, but for partition creation and formatting "Disk Management" is faster
>and easier.

There is a disk called Ultimate Boot CD which contains all kind of
utilities for partitioning (among other things). I haven't tried it yet,
and am not familiar with the programs and their reliability.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
Floppies won't last that long anymore.

jud

VWWall
Fri Aug 25 18:54:58 CDT 2006

Jud Hendrix wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:36:39 -0400, "Dennis Pack x64, v64B2 \(5384\),
> OPP2007B2" <dennispack@nospamhotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I will
>> still boot PM from floppies if I need to resize the partitions because it
>> works, but for partition creation and formatting "Disk Management" is faster
>> and easier.
>
> There is a disk called Ultimate Boot CD which contains all kind of
> utilities for partitioning (among other things). I haven't tried it yet,
> and am not familiar with the programs and their reliability.
> http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
> Floppies won't last that long anymore.

There's one for Windows as well:

http://www.linux-ntfs.org/

You make it using your Windows CD.

At one time Microsoft had a similar thing, but dropped it.
Rumors were that there were license questions, as it installs an OS from
the "live" CD which lets you work on the failed one.

Sadly, it won't work for WinXPx64.

--
Virg Wall, P.E.