Will Partition Magic split a drive if it is full?

[Terry]

I have a 500G drive that is full.
I would like to convert it to 2 250G drives.
Will Partition Magic do this?

 

[John Doe]

I have a 500G drive that is full.
I would like to convert it to 2 250G drives.
Will Partition Magic do this?

Apparently you're asking before you have the program.

The first question is whether there are any important files on your
drive. If so, do you have a copy of those files? If you cannot lose
those files and you do not have a separate copy, the fact you can use
a computer for anything is truly amazing.

I have Partition Magic 8 but only use the recovery disk when another
recovery disk doesn't work, or vice versa.

Currently I'm using Acronis Disc Director. Following is what the
help file says about splitting partitions:

 

[sandy58]

I have a 500G drive that is full.
I would like to convert it to 2 250G drives.
Will Partition Magic do this?

Yes.

 

[SteveH]

Yes.

Just to be pedantic - no.
It will convert it into 2x250Gb /partitions/. Only Star Trek could make 2
drives out of one!
To the o/p - make a backup first!
;-)

 

[Phisherman]

I have a 500G drive that is full.
I would like to convert it to 2 250G drives.
Will Partition Magic do this?

Any drive that is full will cause many programs to crash and sometimes
mysteriously. The reason is that testing an application on a full
drive is often overlooked--what programmer checks available disk space
every time the drive is written to? When the capacity exceeds 85%,
it's time to think about adding another drive, moving files to DVDs,
serious cleanup, or better yet, all of the above.

 

[~AlicGinnis~]

Hi,
I see references to 85% full, 80%, etc. But I've been seeing this since
drives were 500mb. They are 500 GB now, and up. Does the same cautionary
85% full warning apply regardless of drive size?
thanks,

 

[Phisherman]

Hi,
I see references to 85% full, 80%, etc. But I've been seeing this since
drives were 500mb. They are 500 GB now, and up. Does the same cautionary
85% full warning apply regardless of drive size?
thanks,

Yes. If you are 85% full, then add another drive to double your total
capacity. Of course, that's a general guideline. Everyone has
different disk drive needs, depending on how the computer is used. I'd
rather spend the $60 for an additional drive than Partition Magic,
though if you have the extra money, get both.

 

[Skybuck Flying]

Probably not, I wouldn't risk it.

Some other info for ya:

1. NTFS is said to fragment really badly when drive is beyond 90% full or
so.

This could explain your slow search speed (?)

2. Try moving some stuff to another drive.

3. Then defrag.

4. Alternatively google for a tool called:

FileDisk and learn how to use it.

It can prevent fragmentation.

Just some tips for ya

By the way FileDisk can also work as a sort of partition replacement
technology

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Terry]

Yes. If you are 85% full, then add another drive to double your total
capacity. Of course, that's a general guideline. Everyone has
different disk drive needs, depending on how the computer is used. I'd
rather spend the $60 for an additional drive than Partition Magic,
though if you have the extra money, get both.

The reason I am considering Partition Magic is because the drive is
acting differently than the other drives.

It takes a long time to search the drive and when it is done searching
it starts over.

The other drives I have are 160G drives and they don't act this way.

I search the drives often and I am hoping splitting the drive in half
will stop this behavior.

I just bought another 750 drive but it will not work in my old clunker
computer. It does work in my main machine, but I bought it for my
clunker.

 

[John Doe]

I'd rather spend the $60 for an additional drive than Partition
Magic,

No one has to spend $60 for PartitionMagic. I got Acronis Disc
Director for $35 total shipped from NewEgg.

 

[Terry]

That could make your OS crash.

It is not the boot drive.

 

[Ron]

I have a 500G drive that is full.
I would like to convert it to 2 250G drives.
Will Partition Magic do this?

If it could, then you'd have 2 full 250GB drives. Buy another drive
and move some data. 500GB drives are less than 100 USD.

 

[Terry]

I have a 500G drive that is full.
I would like to convert it to 2 250G drives.
Will Partition Magic do this?

This is not a good idea.
After reading everyone's warning, I tried it anyway.

Partition Magic Hung durring the attempt.

I rebooted my machine and got an error that it needed to run scan
disk. It found a few errors and booted. (not the boot drive)

I don't think I lost any data but I still have one large partition.
The data comes from an unlimited supply of useless stuff that can be
had over the internet. It would have taken quite a while to collect
that much crap again, but it was really not worth anything anyway. (I
am glad I didn't loose it though)

I figured out my problem with the monster drive I just bought and now
I am moving the data to another drive before I split the drive.


Thanks everyone