How does PM store new partition info.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark M
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark M

I have usually used a partition manager like Bootit to partition my
drives but now, reluctantly, I probably need to use Partition Magic 8
for a certain operation to do with the 137 GB limit.

Of course there are two Partition Magics: one for Windows and one
for DOS. I need to use PM for WinXP Pro.

I'm not particularly familiar with PM but my guess of what it does
when it creates a new partition is as follows:

(1) If I use PM in WinXP to specify a new partition, then I believe
PM will need to reboot the system in order to be able to create the
partition.

(2) If this is so then presumably PM needs to store the information
which specifies the new partition somewhere on the hard drive (in the
MBR perhaps?).

(3) PM would then access this info and use it at boot time to create
the partition before XP is launched.

I don't know if I got all that right as I am guessing at how PM
works.

My real worry is that PM's way of working might corrupt my boot
manager, Bootit, which puts some of its own code into the MBR and
which also occupies a few sectors following the MBR.

Does PM work as I guessed?

Am I likely to get a conflict with the boot manager?
 
Mark said:
I have usually used a partition manager like Bootit to partition my
drives but now, reluctantly, I probably need to use Partition Magic 8
for a certain operation to do with the 137 GB limit.

Of course there are two Partition Magics: one for Windows and one
for DOS. I need to use PM for WinXP Pro.

I'm not particularly familiar with PM but my guess of what it does
when it creates a new partition is as follows:

(1) If I use PM in WinXP to specify a new partition, then I believe
PM will need to reboot the system in order to be able to create the
partition.

(2) If this is so then presumably PM needs to store the information
which specifies the new partition somewhere on the hard drive (in the
MBR perhaps?).

(3) PM would then access this info and use it at boot time to create
the partition before XP is launched.

I don't know if I got all that right as I am guessing at how PM
works.

My real worry is that PM's way of working might corrupt my boot
manager, Bootit, which puts some of its own code into the MBR and
which also occupies a few sectors following the MBR.

Does PM work as I guessed?

Am I likely to get a conflict with the boot manager?
Click to expand...

I have done a Fat32 > NTFS in Partition magic, and basically it doesnt
touch the MBR. In fact it went to my Lilo boot menu (I have linux too)
and when I went into WindowsXP, it started up, then it appears just like
a scandisk, converts the FS then reboots and loads as normal.

I did have a corrupt FS once (my fault, no scandisk used) and it got
stuck in a repetative loop. Backup first :-D

HTH
 
Hi,

PM uses batch files, I think the '.pqb' extension would be what you're
looking for. I think it puts whem in the system folder (for XP that would
default to \windows\system32\).
 
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