Partition

  • Thread starter Thread starter gha
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gha

Is there a freeware partitioner where you can make a partition without
damaging any data and if you currently don't have any partitions. Thank you.
 
It would damage the data that I am using right now. I have a 80GB hard
drive, som I am using 1 80GB partition.
 
For the Partition Presizer, it says do not run it on a partition that is
going to be moved or resized. Since I am going to create my first patition,
wouldn't the C drive get resized so it would get damaged? If so, is there a
way to make a partition without any data loss.
 
Is there a freeware partitioner where you can make a
partition without damaging any data and if you currently
don't have any partitions. Thank you.
Click to expand...


Listen up:

There is NO freeware partition manager that is reliable and
dependable!

Nearly everyone with keyboard-calluses on their fingers will
tell you that PowerQuest Partition Magic is "The Tool".

You can spin yourself crazy looking and cleaning and
installing and reinstalling and wtf ever before you concede
that PQPM is "the deal."

And, as if that's not enough: you need to back up your
harddrive(s) before you start messing wif your partition
configurations!

That'd mean this:

1st - PowerQuest Drive Image
2nd - PowerQuest Partition Magic

That's the real deal; as real as it gets. If you survive,
that'll be the only conclusion you come to, unless you're a
total freewaretard - and then you're just saying some spew
that you ain't practicing.

So, M$, et al, really should provide these tools with the OS
because they are absolutely essential; but, since they don't,
you need to either blow-off the bucks for your absolute
security and peace of mind -- or maybe dwelve into the shadowy
world of file-sharing... but that's the way it is in our world
tonight.


Best regards.
 
Listen up:

There is NO freeware partition manager that is reliable and
dependable!

Nearly everyone with keyboard-calluses on their fingers will
tell you that PowerQuest Partition Magic is "The Tool".
Click to expand...
And, as if that's not enough: you need to back up your
harddrive(s) before you start messing wif your partition
configurations!
Click to expand...


I will add to this my suggestion that you add a 2nd HD. They are cheap.

Make one or more partitions on this 2nd drive.

Now, buy a copy of Norton Ghost and make a image of your "C" partition,
and save it on the 2nd HD. Ghost runs from a bootable floppy.

Make sure that you have FDISK and Format on your startup floppy then
boot windows from this startup floppy. You can now FDISK and Format
the first HD into smaller partitions. All the data is on the 2nd HD.
Now boot Ghost once more and restore the image from the 2nd HD back
the first partition of the 1st HD.

I own both Partition Magic and Ghost. I have used Partition
Magic perhaps twice over the past ten years or so but I use
Ghost at least monthly for Image backups.

Partial backups of data are another subject. You can also
stuff these files over on that 2nd HD.

I encourage the "whole windows drive" image for those times
when I install something or whatever and windows is totally
hosed.

I just reinstall the "C" image back on the "C" partition and
I am back where I was a few days or weeks ago. Go fetch
whatever data you have backed up and your all set.

-Jim
 
Make one or more partitions on this 2nd drive.

Now, buy a copy of Norton Ghost and make a image of your "C" partition,
and save it on the 2nd HD. Ghost runs from a bootable floppy.

Make sure that you have FDISK and Format on your startup floppy then
boot windows from this startup floppy. You can now FDISK and Format the
first HD into smaller partitions. All the data is on the 2nd HD. Now
boot Ghost once more and restore the image from the 2nd HD back the
first partition of the 1st HD.
Click to expand...

Another way to go: If you buy a non-OEM name-brand HD, chances are that
it'll come with a utility designed to copy windows files straight across
to the new drive and make it bootable. Every now and then just wipe it
and do the copy all over again. If your original HD craps out you can
reverse the drives or reverse the copy.

Even if you buy an OEM hard drive, you can sometimes download the images
to make your own HD installation floppy. Some of these utilities will
even work with other brands of HD. :)

I'm finding a fujifilm smartmedia reader that I got for Christmas
useful. This is a pcmcia card for a laptop so it slides right into the
machine, and has a slot you can slide smartmedia cards into. I have a
lot of 64-meg cards and a couple of 128 meg cards laying around that I
use for my digital camera. With this setup I can also use the cards for
temporary backup when I don't need them for photos. The only problem is
that the smartmedia cards are formatted for DOS 8.3 filenames, so to
get long filenames to work you have to either zip your backup to an 8.3
filename before copying it over, or reformat the flashcard. I'm using
FreeBSD and format my cards to UFS, but I assume you could format them
as Fat32 under Windows. (Yeah, I know this is a lot like those USB
flash drives. But USB flash drives don't fit in my wallet the way those
almost paper-thin smartmedia cards do)

I also vaguely remember someone a few years ago talking about putting a
scramdisk partition on a smartmedia card. The partition could be given
an 8.3 filename, but when you mount it a scramdisk partition acts like
a FAT32 filesystem and can store long filenames.
 
Is there a freeware partitioner where you can make a partition without
damaging any data and if you currently don't have any partitions. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Get Ranish Partition Manager here: http://www.ranish.com/part/

It works well. But if you don't know what you are doing, you can
screw things up. It is DOS command line only. Partition Magic
(offtopic here as it costs money) is more powerful as it can merge
partitions as well as create and resize them. However, it, too, can
totally screw up.

If all you need to do is create a new partition from free space,
Ranish can do that easily. You don't need Partition Magic for that.
 
Fly said:
gha wrote:
Click to expand...
You can use qparted.
Very best is to use a knoppix-CD. Knoppix includes all the tools you
need for backing up your data and create/modify partitions.
There is NO freeware partition manager that is reliable and
dependable!
Click to expand...
IMHO:
there is no partition manager at all, which is 100% reliable.
Nearly everyone with keyboard-calluses on their fingers will
tell you that PowerQuest Partition Magic is "The Tool".
Click to expand...
No, try qparted, or KnoppixCD. I never had any problems.

Ciao,
Bernd
 
gha said:
Is there a freeware partitioner where you can make a partition without
damaging any data and if you currently don't have any partitions.
Thank you.
Click to expand...

You presumably have one large partition, probably C:\. If you are NOT
using XP and it is a FAT32 (or FAT or DOS) partition, the freeware
fips2.0 will easily and non-destructively split that partition into two
partitions at any point after all your used clusters. Defrag programs
for Win 98 (including the one MS supplies) usually move the information
toward the "front" of the partition. You can then split at any point
after all your files. Repeated uses can be used to create more than two
partitions if you wish.

The program is very easy to use, will make an "undo" file if you like,
and checks up on you to makes sure you're not screwing up. HOWEVER the
documentation explains everything in laborious detail and much of the
explanation is repeated during execution. You, however, make only two
decisions:
1. Where to split the partition.
2. Whether to make an Undo floppy. (You won't need it, but only a fool
wouln't make one).
Versions earlier than 2.0 won't work on FAT32. No versions work on NTFS
or on XP(even with FAT32). I'm not certain then XP-NTFS is verboten, but
I wouldn't risk it. Otherwise, I emphasize its safety and reliability.
It is widely available including at:

http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/
 
X-No-Archive: yes

For the Partition Presizer, it says do not run it on a partition that is
going to be moved or resized. Since I am going to create my first patition,
wouldn't the C drive get resized so it would get damaged? If so, is there a
way to make a partition without any data loss.
Click to expand...

Where did you get this info?

As you are referring to this utility by Zeleps I assume that you use
Windows are aware of DOS.

First defragment the disk to get all data to the beginning of the hard
disk. Then resize the disk using Presizer to the required size, say
40gb. When you reboot, the disk will show the balance 40 gb as
unused.

Use any partition tool to create the necessary additional partitions,
say an extended partition of 40 gb divided into two logical 20 gb
partitions.

HTH

--
Sandy Archer
Reply to newsgroup only

For links to Harddisk management freeware
http:/members.tripod.com/~diligent/harddisk.htm
 
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