how do you reorder partitions (does partition magic do it?)

[jameshanley39]

I want to do it, partly for the hell of it, and also because I have
heard that win9x is only meant to run in the primary partition within
the first 1024 cylinders or 8ish GB.
Partition magic lets me move partitions into unallocated space if there
is unallocated space immediately adjacent, but it doesn't let me
reorder partitions. If there is no unallocated space either side then I
can't move a partition at all.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi James,

Good news and bad:

Bad: You cannot simply "relocate" or "reorder" a partition. You might be
able to copy it from one location to another. Keep in mind that you are
working with the physical drive structure.

Good: Win98's installation location is not restricted to the first 8GB of
the drive.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Robert Baer]

I want to do it, partly for the hell of it, and also because I have
heard that win9x is only meant to run in the primary partition within
the first 1024 cylinders or 8ish GB.
Partition magic lets me move partitions into unallocated space if there
is unallocated space immediately adjacent, but it doesn't let me
reorder partitions. If there is no unallocated space either side then I
can't move a partition at all.

1) Does not matter which partition number, but the position you state is
correct.
2) If you cannot remove sufficent space (after defraging) from the
partitions you have, in order to "slide" some "up" for space were you
want one of them to be, then you cannot do it with that HD. However, one
could copy to a larger HD (Ghost or DriveImage) and do the deed there.
3) Once the new space is made, one would have to boot one of the OSes to
do the copy *or* use DriveCopy, as PM cannot change the order of the
partitions.
4) Alternately, use DriveCopy to a new HD and select each partition you
want to copy (to new HD) in the order that you want them on the new HD.
Simpler and quicker.

 

[Peter Wilkins]

I want to do it, partly for the hell of it, and also because I have
heard that win9x is only meant to run in the primary partition within
the first 1024 cylinders or 8ish GB.
Partition magic lets me move partitions into unallocated space if there
is unallocated space immediately adjacent, but it doesn't let me
reorder partitions. If there is no unallocated space either side then I
can't move a partition at all.

You can do it in stages. Reduce the size of existing partitions as
far as you can to create unused space. If that's not enough, backup
your data partition to DVD or CD or to another HDD, delete it to make
sufficient free space, then after reorganising the partitions,
reinstate the data.

But before you try anything like that, create a full system backup!

Or just upgrade to Win XP and re-letter your partitions to the order
you want (ie leave C as C but change D to E and E to D (do D to Z then
E to D, then Z to E ie via an intermediary letter) if that's the way
you want it, and then run DriveMapper if necessary.