Does Partition Magic "vanish" when it's done?

[Crius Anonymous Remailer]

Before making a purchase, I'd like to know if "Partition Magic"
completely purges itself after you've created or changed
partitions. Do any TSRs remain or can you completely uninstall
it when you're done partitioning?

I want to merge C & D drives on a laptop into one big C drive
and be done with it, as if the computer had shipped that way. D
is much larger than C on some Sony VAIO laptops because they
expect people to fill D with videos files, etc..

Also, if you partition a FAT32 drive, can you convert it to NTFS
later? In other words, is it "pristine" after the partitioning
is done or does the "Magic" mean something slightly funny was
done to create the partition(s) and some functionality may be
missing afterward?

You probably get my drift by now. I want to know if Partition
Magic is _completely_ transparent and removable after the deed
is done.

J.T.


P.S. I know about Ranish, etc., but it's too complex for the
person I'm going to help with this over the phone.

 

[Mac]

Yes, No/Yes, Yes, No, again Yes...

 

[steam3801]

Before making a purchase, I'd like to know if "Partition Magic"
completely purges itself after you've created or changed
partitions. Do any TSRs remain or can you completely uninstall
it when you're done partitioning?

I want to merge C & D drives on a laptop into one big C drive
and be done with it, as if the computer had shipped that way. D
is much larger than C on some Sony VAIO laptops because they
expect people to fill D with videos files, etc..

Also, if you partition a FAT32 drive, can you convert it to NTFS
later? In other words, is it "pristine" after the partitioning
is done or does the "Magic" mean something slightly funny was
done to create the partition(s) and some functionality may be
missing afterward?

You probably get my drift by now. I want to know if Partition
Magic is _completely_ transparent and removable after the deed
is done.

This is a newsgroup for WindowsXP. I would suggest you direct your
question to a symantec/norton forum.

 

[Squire]

Partition Magic 8 can be removed in the control panel - add/remove programs.

If you create the 2 emergency floppies while installing PM you can use them
any time without re-installing the main program.

 

[Chris May]

| Before making a purchase, I'd like to know if "Partition Magic"
| completely purges itself after you've created or changed
| partitions. Do any TSRs remain or can you completely uninstall
| it when you're done partitioning?
|
| I want to merge C & D drives on a laptop into one big C drive
| and be done with it, as if the computer had shipped that way. D
| is much larger than C on some Sony VAIO laptops because they
| expect people to fill D with videos files, etc..
|
| Also, if you partition a FAT32 drive, can you convert it to NTFS
| later? In other words, is it "pristine" after the partitioning
| is done or does the "Magic" mean something slightly funny was
| done to create the partition(s) and some functionality may be
| missing afterward?
|
| You probably get my drift by now. I want to know if Partition
| Magic is _completely_ transparent and removable after the deed
| is done.

Yes, it is. Partition Magic changes are self sufficient. That is, those
changes don't need the continued presence of Partition Magic in order to stay in
place.

ChrisM

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Before making a purchase, I'd like to know if "Partition Magic"
completely purges itself after you've created or changed
partitions. Do any TSRs remain or can you completely uninstall
it when you're done partitioning?

I want to merge C & D drives on a laptop into one big C drive
and be done with it, as if the computer had shipped that way. D
is much larger than C on some Sony VAIO laptops because they
expect people to fill D with videos files, etc..

Also, if you partition a FAT32 drive, can you convert it to NTFS
later?

I've never used Partition Magic, so I won't answer the first part of your
question. But regarding the "also" question, yes you can convert to NTFS
later. To convert to NTFS, you use the CONVERT command. But first read
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue regarding
cluster size that isn't obvious.

 

[Richard In Va.]

Hello J.T.

Partition Magic 8.0 (PM8) will not "vanish" that I know of.
It is an application that is similar to any other application in how it
installs and un-installs.

I purchased PM8 about a year ago because I bought a new Dell with one (1) HD
as drive C:\ 160GB.
However I wanted to split the drive into drive C,D,E and F.

I opted to boot the computer from the PM8 installation CD. There is a DOS
based utility on the CD with a somewhat crude (but real good for DOS) GUI
that provides most of the features you would have available when installed
into the windows OS.

Using this approach allowed my to alter or reduce the size of C:\
(containing the operating system) without the OS actually running. I felt
more safer with this approach. I then booted into Windows XP to check that
all things were okay. I used the XP disk management utility to created an
extended partition with the newly freed disk space for the logical drives
D,E and F. Everything formatted NTFS.

I never did install PM8, It did all I needed while booted from the CD.

NTFS is the native file format for Windows XP. Supposed to be better when
dealing with file ownership and such. However FAT32 is still available to
you. I might suggest leaving drive C:\ (containing the OS) NTFS and then
formatting the other drives FAT32 if you prefer. (But then it sounds like
you won't be formatting anything based on what you want to do)

I believe some of the more advanced features new to XP will not work
properly if the drive containing the OS is not formatted NTFS.
(Maybe someone more smarter can expand on this issue tho)

I also understand that you can always convert a FAT32 disk to NTFS at a
later time, however it might not be as efficient (clean) as if you used NTFS
to start with.
(again, maybe someone more smarter can elaborate here too)

If the laptop came to you with something already on drive D:, you might
consider (based on the type of data) moving the files to drive C:. Then use
PM8 to delete the partition containing drive D:. Then with PM8, increase
drive C: to use all available disk space.

Move the files and folders using the XP operating system. Then use PM8 to
work on your partitions. (my preference only)

I hope there are no applications installed on your drive D:

If so, you'll need to deal with those first. Anything on drive D: that may
have an entry in the registry file pointing to drive D: may cause problems
after D: is removed. If your not certain about this, you could reduce the
size of drive D: enough to hold the existing data along with ample headroom
on the drive (maybe double) to provide space for the existing data to grow
over time. Suppose your drive D: contains 500MB of pre-installed
"something-or-the-other", you might reduce the drive to maybe... 1-2 GB or
something. (Just a thought)

You may need to open the system BIOS "F2" at boot (or something) and set it
to boot to removable drive first before a fixed drive to get it to boot to
the PM8 CD.

The user guide that came with PM8 should explain how to use it while booted
from the CD.

When I restructured the 160GB hard drive on my new Dell. I did the
following...

C: = 35GB = OS + pre-installed applications
D: = 25GB = Applications (installed by me)
E: = 30GB = Documents (all my personal and work files, email and such)
F: = 55GB (+/-) = Backup (Location for daily backup of ALL things important
to me)
Then I copy everything from F: to an external
USB drive every week or two.

I also suggest you look at what you have using the Windows XP utility "Disk
Management" before you do anything.

Start>Programs>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management

From here you'll see how your drive is currently setup as well as if any
files (hidden and or un-hidden) are on drive D:.
represented as % used, % free, total capacity and what have you.

The GUI you get when booted to the PM8 CD will look similar to the XP GUI,
just alittle rougher.

The only other thing I can think of right now is that you need to pay
attention to how drive D: is setup.
Is it a "Basic Disk/Primary Partition"? Or is it a "Logical Drive" within an
"Extended Partition"?

If it's a "Basic Disk" or "Primary Partition", it should be fairly straight
forward to work on.
If it's a "Logical Drive" within an "Extended Partition", you want to
resize/remove the Logical Drive first. Then resize/remove the "Extended
Partition". You won't be able to change drive C: until after you change the
"Extended Partition" if that's the case.

The GUI will represent this to you in a way that's relatively easy to see.

Hope this helps....

Sorry for all the input here, but there are a few important things here to
know about before you start!
Post back if I've caused more question than answers...

Best regards,

Richard in Va.
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[Guest]

Hello JT:

Great advice from Richard in VA. I have nothing to add except that I have
used PowerQuest PM for several years and I am impressed with it's stability
and reliability. The DataKeeper backup program that came with it is a pooch
though.

PM8 does it's "magic" completely through the OS; it does not work around it.
Neither does it add/maintain/monitor any traces which would be necessary to
keep your partitions in good shape. As far as I know, it is completely inert
until you call for it so there is no reason to keep it on your computer after
you have finished using it but there is no reason to uninstall it either
(unless you are low on disc space).



Using PM8 from the boot CD is fine. Or you can install it and use it from
the hard disc which ai have found to be much easier. In any case, have PM8
make the two recommended emergency discs when you have made all the changes
you want to. I also recommend that you make a new XP emergency boot disc
too. Once you have the basic partition scheme in place, you can re-size
partitions "on the fly" with confidence. I have done it dozens of times with
no problems at all. However, adding, deleting or converting partitions
should be well-planned before commencing in order to avoid unintended
consequences (learn the difference between "primary" and "logical" drives).
Of course, anytime you make a change to partitions, you should make a new set
of rescue discs.

Like Richard, I would also reccomend that you keep NTFS as the format for
all partitions unless you have a specific reason for some other format.
Powerquest says that you can convert back and forth from NTFS to FAT32 but I
have never done this. I would be confident converting FAT or FAT32 to NTFS
at anytime but I would not recommend the reverse as some funcionalities or
performance might be lost.

Richard's scheme for allocating hard disc space for various discreet
purposes on partitions C,D,E & F is an excellent one. Backups and recovery
are so much faster when OS, programs, data and "spare" files are all on
separate partitions. However, if two partitions are enough for you, I think
it would be much better to consider "shrinking" D: to a minimal size rather
than deleting it and "expanding" C: to a size that suits you. This would
prevent any potential linked file problems.

It is best to have made all your decisions as regards to the partition
scheme you want before you start. The PM8 help is a little thick at first
but soon it makes perfect sense.

Good luck

 

[Richard In Va.]

Hello Callmark1,

Thanks for your agreeing support and added things for the OP to consider.
(I do okay in a pinch)

I suppose that PM8's intention is to be fully functional and safely used
while installed into Windows.

It's only my personal preference to work on the partition containing the OS
while the OS is not running.
To me, it's like changing your oil while the engine is running... and I
don't have enough hands to do that.

One other tid-bit, I defragged my drive(s) using the Windows tool or Norton
System Works prior to running PM8. Defragging should move all or most data
to the top of the drive leaving PM8 to focus on what it's designed to do,
resize partition/drives and not having to move files around.

With this approach, PM8 did it's job in just a few minutes.

Speaking of the OP, what ever happened to J.T. anyway...

Thanks and have a good weekend!

Richard in Va.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Guest]

Hello Richard:

Not a bad personal preference to work from outside a particular partition
when making changes to that partition which is exactly what PM8 does!! Any
Commands requiring changes to any partion are translated from the PM8 GUI
into batch files which are run during the next reboot. No actual changes are
made to the partion while the OS is running so "on the fly" is really not
accurate. To use your car analogy, it would be like commanding your motor to
change it's own oil the next time you put the key in the ignition.

As far as defragging before making partition changes, that is a great idea.
The less time it takes to run the batch files, the better to avoid
interruptions (such as a power outage) which would immediately corrupt a
great deal of data. PM8 is capable of defragging as well which (like
everything else it does) it accomplishes through the appropriate windows
utility.

I guess you can tell I truly enjoy this program and that I have great
confidence in it. Its no-nonsense singleness of purpose gives it alot of
"road feel" like a car with no power steering. It reminds me of programs
such as Xtree Gold which I got so much use out of in the far DOStant past.

Please note that as of this date (9:18 PM 5/26/2006) I have posted a
question about mounting partitions to My Documents and similar.

Thank you for your well-wishes. Have a great weekend as well.

Mark

 

[Richard in Va.]

Aaaa, I did not know that.

That PM8 does it's work to the OS partition during the next boot. But then I have never
installed PM8 into the Windows OS.

So there... What do I know...!

Thanks for letting me know tho. Now maybe I have reason to go ahead and install it.

Great program!

Best regards,

Richard in Va.

At what time in history did man first develop the knot?
I'm not sure either... But it likely happened the same day he discovered rope!
For one can not exist without the other!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++