Hard Drive Partitions

K

Ken

After many years of faithful service the CD bootable version of Partition
Magic 8.0 has become obsolete when it comes to drives that have been touched
Vista 64-bit and Windows 7?! I get the Partition Magic "Error 105" and it
quits. In fact, Windows 7 will not install correctly on a Primary partition
setup by Partition Magic. Anyway, the partitioning and formatting
capability in Vista and Windows 7 gets the job done. I have just one
question - how do I set up an extended partition or is that a thing of the
past too? Any reconditions on a Partition Magic standalone replacement?
 
D

Dominic Payer

Partition Magic 8 has been obsolete and not recommended for some time.
It is not able to deal with recent versions of NTFS.

The installation disks for Vista and Windows 7 can create any partitions
needed.

A stand-alone installation of Windows 7 is best performed on an
unformatted disk so that it can create the 100MB boot partition it prefers.

In XP, Vista and Windows 7 partitions, primary and extended, can be
created in Disk Management.

If you must use a stand-alone partitioner, GParted
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ is well thought of.
 
J

John Barnett MVP

With both Vista and Windows 7 the system automatically creates 3 Primary
partitions. The fourth will be an 'extended' partition; therefore if you
don't already have the necessary 3 primary partitions then you are going to
need a third party application to create that extended partition. I
personally prefer Acronis Disk Director but Paragon Hard Disk manager suite
2008 is just as effective.

Parition Magic, sadly died years ago. The last time I used it, it was
developed by PowerQuest. Later it became part of Symantec and they, sadly,
put the final nail in the coffin.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk
Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
R

R. C. White

Hi, Ken.
how do I set up an extended partition or is that a thing of the past too?
Click to expand...

Ever since it first appeared in Windows 2000, over 9 years ago, Disk
Management has been THE tool for creating, formatting, assigning drive
letters and otherwise managing hard drives - and other devices that can be
assigned "drive" letters, such as USB flash drives, optical drives, cameras
and card readers, etc. Each version of DM has gained more capabilities; the
version in Win7 is the best yet. I haven't needed Partition Magic since
Win2K. ;<)

But the Vista version of DM did change the handling of extended partitions,
as John Barnett said. In Win2K/XP, we created an extended partition by
explicitly selecting that option from the new volume menu. In Vista/Win7,
the first 3 partitions are automatically created as primary partitions; we
aren't offered a choice. When we add a 4th partition, it is created as an
extended partition (using all the remaining space on the HDD) with a single
logical drive of the size we specified.

In Vista/Win7, to create the first, second or third volume as an extended
partition, we must do it by "Using a command line", as Disk Management's
Help file puts it. In other words, we must use the DiskPart.exe shell,
which can handle several tasks that the DM GUI cannot do. If you are
familiar with the DiskPart shell (NOT the very limited diskpart command in
WinXP's Repair Console) in WinXP, you will be comfy in Vista's version. (As
you probably know, you get into that shell by typing "diskpart" in an
Administrator:Command Prompt window.) If you are not familiar with the
DiskPart shell, be sure to proceed cautiously! It is a powerful utility
that can do a lot of good things - or create a disaster if you're not
careful. ;<)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100
 
C

Chad Harris

Ken said:
After many years of faithful service the CD bootable version of Partition
Magic 8.0 has become obsolete when it comes to drives that have been
touched Vista 64-bit and Windows 7?! I get the Partition Magic "Error
105" and it quits. In fact, Windows 7 will not install correctly on a
Primary partition setup by Partition Magic. Anyway, the partitioning and
formatting capability in Vista and Windows 7 gets the job done. I have
just one question - how do I set up an extended partition or is that a
thing of the past too? Any reconditions on a Partition Magic standalone
replacement?
Click to expand...

Ken--

I've had pretty good luck with G-Parted's Live Disk (free) as Dominic
recommends, which will do some things that the Disk Management utility in
Vista/Win 7 won't do when I've needed it. Both of them have been
considerably faster than the now obsolete Partition Magic which Symantec
strangely bought and then let die by not updating it.

G-Parted formats NTFS much faster--that's for sure.

One trick in using G-Parted that is strange. In order for its changes to
apply you have to stretch it's gui interface the width of the desktop by
dragging its lower left corner. That's not an intuitive connection, but it
sure is true in my hands.

CH
 
J

John Barnett MVP

Well, Randem, I'm glad someone has the same opinion of Symantec as I do:)

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk
Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
R

Randem

C

Camper

So it could not compete with their own inferior product. It you can't beat
the competitor then take them out.

Cheers
 
T

Terry R.

The date and time was Tuesday, June 02, 2009 1:30:41 PM, and on a whim,
Randem pounded out on the keyboard:
That makes no sense Symantec never had a partition manager...
Click to expand...

Powerquest (creator of Partition Magic) was purchased by Symantec. So
that's how they wound up with one.


Terry R.
 

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