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Tech: Partition Manager software
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Tech: Partition Manager software |
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Subject: Tech: Partition Manager software From: GUEST,Richard Bridge with no cookie Date: 03 Jan 07 - 06:31 PM Time for Plan B (or maybe Plan 9 "Grave robbers from outer space"). I currently have Rachel (the old Piii933) and Royston (the Athlon 2000 that Royston gave me) up and on the network. I may or may not put Dominic (the very old W95 P233) on just for fun, maybe even as a non-office machine on one of those mains network things upstairs so my lodger can surf if he wants to - perhps with a version of Word Pro on it in case he wants towrite letters. Now that leaves RIchard - the Athlon 2400 with the cattle trucked mitherboard. Motherbaord on order. Gettng a socket A board with integrated graphis but overclockable toook a bit of hunting.... AANyway, I have this hge 160G hard drive - BUT it has data on. I need something like Partition Magic or Partition manager that I can use to create two little partitions near the beginning of the drive (puttint eh partition withteh dat near the end) so taht I can then put something (maybe XP, spit spit) in one partition and Linux in the other. I'llbe back wehn I need to pickbrains about multiboot systems, but right now the hunt is on for FREE software that I can use WITHOUT LOSING MY DATA (and I haven't got any other working drives big enough to write 60G to) to create those couple of partitions aat the front of that drive. THey need to be at the front because bootable partitions seed tobe near the front. Any suggestions? (I could go and buy anther hard drive, and copy the stuff I need to save through my 30G Freecom a bit at a time, but that takes the fun out of it.....) |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: Bill D Date: 03 Jan 07 - 09:38 PM The 'usual' recommended free one is Ranish partition manager |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Jan 07 - 11:22 PM If you ever get to a more modern operating system like XP I think you'll find you can do a lot of that partition management there. If you shop around you'll find Symantec (which bought Partition Magic's developer a few years ago) bundles software and sells it with rebates that result in the cost being very low or free. I typically see Norton Internet Security, Symantec Ghost, and Partition Magic bundled together. You pay about $70 for the three, and if you have one of those programs previously then you get a $20 rebate for the upgrade, and there is also a $50 rebate just for purchasing the bundle. It costs $20 if you aren't upgrading, free if you are. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: JohnInKansas Date: 03 Jan 07 - 11:39 PM Most of the hard drive manufacturers have "setup and management" software that you can download for free, and some of those programs may be able to do what you want. I've considered it good practice to keep a copy of the ones that came with my few new HDs in archive, but it's been too long since I've had to do a setup to remember details of the ones I've used. (Some of the programs appear to be specific to particular HD models/types.) I do recall that the Seagate setup program I used most recently let me "clone" a new 120GB from an old 40GB (just like Ghost?) with no problems (other than the shortage of EIDE ports to connect to). John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: Grab Date: 04 Jan 07 - 05:27 AM I bit the bullet and got Partition Magic. It was quite a small bullet as bullets go - I think it was about a tenner off Ebay. For that, you get software which can do the hokey cokey with partition sizes as much as you want. Graham. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: Richard Bridge Date: 04 Jan 07 - 12:51 PM I've got an old Partition Magic, and it has a maximum size you can manipulate. Also it seems to leave me usually with a section of drive unallocated that I can't do anything with! |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: JohnInKansas Date: 04 Jan 07 - 04:10 PM Richard - Depending on how old your Partition Magic is, it may be relying on an old FDISK (imbedded) that has some peculiarities about recognizing larger disks. No guarantees, but Seagate FAQ may offer insight(?). You can (maybe) get your lost space back by hooking into a computer with a later OS for the format, or do the partitioning as "percentages" rather than a byte size to get the extra partition space. I do recall having the problem of lost space when partitioning, but my last (that I noticed) was with Win3.11 and a 40 MB drive that absolutely refused to recognize more than 28 MB. Except where its necessary for a multi-OS installation, WinXP (and to some extent Win2K) discourage multiple partitions as being "unnecessary," and WinXP even allows an "extended partition" that includes more than one Hard Drive. (And FDISK doesn't appear in the WinXP Command set.) John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: GUEST,Jon Date: 04 Jan 07 - 04:17 PM Why not just go ahead with the Linux installation on it? The instalation for SUSE (using this as I use it) for example would do all the partitioning for you. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: Richard Bridge Date: 04 Jan 07 - 05:35 PM Sigh. I suppose I'll have to buy another hard drive, and whap the 60G of data on this one off, then I might as well Fdisk and do it myself. What I used to do was to have a C partition for my OS and programs, a D for a copy or two (in Ghost 7, or more recently Acronis drive Image format) of the OSetc, E for most data (put "my documents" in there and also the psts for OUtlook, and have a folder for the install versions of stuff I downloaded, and even got a FULL set of IE6 install stuff in there - what the hell was I supposed to do if I wanted IE5.5 back, the files seem to have vanished off the face of the internet!) and F for backups of E. Dual-layer DVD drive to write the psts since they got too big to go on CDs, for extra safety adn that would also give me extra copies of the documents I'd been working on recently. That leaves a risk if the hard drive itself disappears. Otherwise I could format C and reinstall from discs in an hour, and rewrite the program images in about 10 minutes. So next step was another hard drive (which had to go in as D in W98SE, so a lot of locations changed) to back up the backups.... What I think I'll do now is just have any old tiny hard disk for the OS and programs - maybe dualboot with Linux if I can make it work, have three partitions on the slave drive (spare OS(s) data and spare data) and write evrything off to CDs and DVDs. I think I've got the SUSE discs on the shelf. Hmm. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 04 Jan 07 - 08:32 PM ... and a partridge in a pear tree... "Dual-layer DVD drive to write the psts since they got too big to go on CDs," ... except you forgot that real life tests have show that some CD/DVD media corrupt within 18 months... 'You only THINK you can beat Murphy' :-) |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jan 07 - 10:35 AM Those may be real life tests, but I haven't experienced the kind of real-life stresses those tests suggest are out there--so far nothing has corrupted my disks. Hard drives are really cheap these days. The question is, will you make sure to make your partitions small enough so your older OS can write to them. Read the directions that come with the new hard drives--I think you need to stay under 128 meg in size per partition to stay safe. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: Richard Bridge Date: 05 Jan 07 - 11:04 AM I currently have W98SE on the machine I am sending to you on in a 5Gig partition. Drive just ordered on ebuyer. May arrive Monday. Off to read motherboard manual now. Note on ebuyer site to remind buyer of need to use something to create partition on disk before it will read.... |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: JohnInKansas Date: 05 Jan 07 - 01:06 PM Be sure to check the destructions (RTFM) that come with the disk. The last couple I've bought emphasized that you should not do a "low-level" format; that you'll "lose capacity" if you do. (There's some question as to whether the FDISK "low level format" really is what the drive makers are talking about.) The last couple of 120GB disks I added came pre-formatted FAT32, and my newest 160GB was set up as NTFS out of the box. With Win2K and WinXP I didn't even need to format. (I didn't need to partition anything.) John |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: GUEST Date: 05 Jan 07 - 01:28 PM Comment from me... Comment from me... |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Partition Manager software From: Bert Date: 05 Jan 07 - 01:45 PM BACK UP ALL YOUR DATA BEFORE you repartition and BEFORE you install Linux. One time I installed an extra hard drive on my machine and istalled Linusx on that drive. The installation of Linux also reconfigured my 'C' drive so that I couldn't access it. |
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