Looking for Partitioning software

d.c · 10-12-2006, 07:36 AM

that recognises seperate physical drives.

I have a new Dell with 2 250GB drives, eventually it will be dual boot and I don't want to create a partition that overlaps from one physical drive to another.

Can anyone help or recommend a partitioning tool that will recognise the drives and allow me to partition them separately. Apologies if this is a silly question, been a long time since I bought a new pc!

**Fr4665** · 10-12-2006, 07:53 AM

look at Partition Magic Pro(the last version i have is 7 but thats a couple years old)

**linderman** · 10-12-2006, 08:44 AM

Partition magic is very good software look for version 8.0

here is a free one
http://majorgeeks.com/Partition_Logic_d4780.html

also google for Ranish Partition (free)

d.c · 10-12-2006, 01:59 PM

Ok, I went and purchased Partition Magic 8.0, not only doesn't it recognise the 2 physical disks, it won't partition them either!

I hope I haven't spent £40 for nothing! Guess its time to talk to their support

~~OMGmissinglink~~ · 10-12-2006, 02:52 PM

Welcome to TSF

If the first partition is under 137mb you can use the HD manufactures install disk and the rest of the partitions you can make any size although if there over 137mb you will have to format the additional partitions after you load the OS. addition partitions can be created on the 2nd HD also if both drives are the same manufacture, when the install disk prompts which disk to partitions to use one your pc you should see 2 HD's listed, partition 1, then the other.

**linderman** · 10-12-2006, 02:53 PM

PM is a great software call their tech support it sounds as if you are running the trial version that lets you get familiar with the software and what it can do, but actually cant do anything they have an activation code that gets supplied to you by email that activates your program!

keep us posted on your progress

john6 · 10-13-2006, 12:43 AM

Joe,
I agree with Linderman. Somethings wrong here. You say that you paid $40 for Partition Magic - thats not right The standard is $110. Until authenticated nothing will work. I was surprised by this I thought Christ I'm only going to use it once. I am confused by these comments in my readings of the past month. Linux will mount 'willy nilly' and will find its own space without interfering with the target program. Now on the free abuntu disk attached to this months Australian PC Authority there is strong warning that the disc can damage or destroy your target O.S. Confusing isn"t it? Good luck.
John6.

**Fr4665** · 10-13-2006, 02:54 AM

well its 40 pounds so thats equivilant to like 80ish bucks still a little shy. did you purchase it directly from their site ? did you register it ?

my PQMagic 7 recognizes all of my 3 250GB drives.

**hwm54112** · 10-13-2006, 05:49 PM

Don't want to hijack the thread, but I don't get it. All drive manufacturer's utilities recognize seperate drives as does windows. Are the drives already set up as one partition? It would seem that if that is the case, you could restore the OS from the dell restore disk, then partition the 2nd drive however you want and save the the cash.

For that matter, for roughly the amount of money you are spending-you could buy a copy of XP and setup the drives however you like AND as a bonus, have an install cd rather than restore disks if the need arises in the future.

I could be wrong.

john6 · 10-13-2006, 10:34 PM

Hi hwm 54112, You're not hijacking any exchange of info is OK with me.
Now lets have a look at this partitioning subject: and I'm going to quote from Scott Mueller of Ugrading and Repairing PCs. Arguably the worlds best computer brain. It irritates him that people snatch at the meat of partitioning and most are not even aware of other equally important issues involved.
Although Windows is on C drive - the whole of your hard drive is also C drive.
so you have to come along with say PM and put a fence around your C drive then chop it off. NOW the remainder of the hard drive 'unallocated' space NOT 'free' space. It's only becomes free space After you have selected the size (sectors) of of your secondry partition. I shall keep this basic and not talk about adding swap and file partitions at this stage, highly recommended for security reasons. Finally there is the lettering issue C drive stays C drive. Now you cannot name your new drive D because you already have a D (conflict) so you have to name it E, so that letter when you do add other partitions, some may be very small, you are clear to do so with uninterupted F,G,H etc. Why? Because your computer then takes charge automatically taking the next letter up by default so your new partition will have to jump D -PM will ask you what letter you want, but from there the computer allocates and doesn't ask. Of course you should clean up your disc and defragg before any of this takes place. One obscure reason is that, suppose your new OS is Linux. Linux will find its own space. The downside is - 'anywhere available' which can lead to a slow OS so a nice big clean space is welcome. Note some OS's do not support scussy drives.
Fidisk has limitations. briefly - its destructive to your HD, doesn't provide help with lettering, requires the whole drive to be formatted before use, and might cause conflicts with existing CD Rom drives. Hope this will help you.
John6.

john6 · 10-13-2006, 10:55 PM

Hello FR 4665, It may be of interest to you if you read my todays post to hwm54112. Partition magic is available world wide. It should be on the shelf of any electrical come computer store. It will safely guide even basic knowledge users through the partitioning and Installing proceedure.
My own personal disappointent with it was its Windows type authentication process. It's expensive and I assumed that I could use it on my second and third computer or even loan it to my friend next door. Now that its done it's job I'm asking myself what I'm keeping it for.
John6.

10-12-2006, 07:36 AM	#1 (permalink)
d.c Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Looking for Partitioning software that recognises seperate physical drives. I have a new Dell with 2 250GB drives, eventually it will be dual boot and I don't want to create a partition that overlaps from one physical drive to another. Can anyone help or recommend a partitioning tool that will recognise the drives and allow me to partition them separately. Apologies if this is a silly question, been a long time since I bought a new pc!

10-12-2006, 07:53 AM	#2 (permalink)
Fr4665 aka mr.fraggs Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: USA or Germany Posts: 2,965 OS: Win XP,Vista,Android My System	look at Partition Magic Pro(the last version i have is 7 but thats a couple years old) __________________ I don't subscribe to threads please PM me if i miss a reply. ------- Everest SensorView Pro DriverCleaner how to fix your game

10-12-2006, 08:44 AM	#3 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,403 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Partition magic is very good software look for version 8.0 here is a free one http://majorgeeks.com/Partition_Logic_d4780.html also google for Ranish Partition (free) __________________ Even a Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day ! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

10-12-2006, 02:52 PM	#5 (permalink)
~~OMGmissinglink~~ Troubled Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,535 OS: XP Pro sp2 My System	Welcome to TSF If the first partition is under 137mb you can use the HD manufactures install disk and the rest of the partitions you can make any size although if there over 137mb you will have to format the additional partitions after you load the OS. addition partitions can be created on the 2nd HD also if both drives are the same manufacture, when the install disk prompts which disk to partitions to use one your pc you should see 2 HD's listed, partition 1, then the other. Last edited by OMGmissinglink; 10-12-2006 at 02:55 PM.

10-12-2006, 02:53 PM	#6 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,403 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	PM is a great software call their tech support it sounds as if you are running the trial version that lets you get familiar with the software and what it can do, but actually cant do anything they have an activation code that gets supplied to you by email that activates your program! keep us posted on your progress __________________ Even a Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day ! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

10-12-2006, 01:59 PM	#4 (permalink)
d.c Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Ok, I went and purchased Partition Magic 8.0, not only doesn't it recognise the 2 physical disks, it won't partition them either! I hope I haven't spent £40 for nothing! Guess its time to talk to their support

10-13-2006, 12:43 AM	#7 (permalink)
john6 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 11 OS: XP and Xandros and Mndrake	Joe, I agree with Linderman. Somethings wrong here. You say that you paid $40 for Partition Magic - thats not right The standard is $110. Until authenticated nothing will work. I was surprised by this I thought Christ I'm only going to use it once. I am confused by these comments in my readings of the past month. Linux will mount 'willy nilly' and will find its own space without interfering with the target program. Now on the free abuntu disk attached to this months Australian PC Authority there is strong warning that the disc can damage or destroy your target O.S. Confusing isn"t it? Good luck. John6.

10-13-2006, 02:54 AM	#8 (permalink)
Fr4665 aka mr.fraggs Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: USA or Germany Posts: 2,965 OS: Win XP,Vista,Android My System	well its 40 pounds so thats equivilant to like 80ish bucks still a little shy. did you purchase it directly from their site ? did you register it ? my PQMagic 7 recognizes all of my 3 250GB drives. __________________ I don't subscribe to threads please PM me if i miss a reply. ------- Everest SensorView Pro DriverCleaner how to fix your game

10-13-2006, 05:49 PM	#9 (permalink)
hwm54112 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 2,233 OS: WINXP	Don't want to hijack the thread, but I don't get it. All drive manufacturer's utilities recognize seperate drives as does windows. Are the drives already set up as one partition? It would seem that if that is the case, you could restore the OS from the dell restore disk, then partition the 2nd drive however you want and save the the cash. For that matter, for roughly the amount of money you are spending-you could buy a copy of XP and setup the drives however you like AND as a bonus, have an install cd rather than restore disks if the need arises in the future. I could be wrong.

10-13-2006, 10:34 PM	#10 (permalink)
john6 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 11 OS: XP and Xandros and Mndrake	Hi hwm 54112, You're not hijacking any exchange of info is OK with me. Now lets have a look at this partitioning subject: and I'm going to quote from Scott Mueller of Ugrading and Repairing PCs. Arguably the worlds best computer brain. It irritates him that people snatch at the meat of partitioning and most are not even aware of other equally important issues involved. Although Windows is on C drive - the whole of your hard drive is also C drive. so you have to come along with say PM and put a fence around your C drive then chop it off. NOW the remainder of the hard drive 'unallocated' space NOT 'free' space. It's only becomes free space After you have selected the size (sectors) of of your secondry partition. I shall keep this basic and not talk about adding swap and file partitions at this stage, highly recommended for security reasons. Finally there is the lettering issue C drive stays C drive. Now you cannot name your new drive D because you already have a D (conflict) so you have to name it E, so that letter when you do add other partitions, some may be very small, you are clear to do so with uninterupted F,G,H etc. Why? Because your computer then takes charge automatically taking the next letter up by default so your new partition will have to jump D -PM will ask you what letter you want, but from there the computer allocates and doesn't ask. Of course you should clean up your disc and defragg before any of this takes place. One obscure reason is that, suppose your new OS is Linux. Linux will find its own space. The downside is - 'anywhere available' which can lead to a slow OS so a nice big clean space is welcome. Note some OS's do not support scussy drives. Fidisk has limitations. briefly - its destructive to your HD, doesn't provide help with lettering, requires the whole drive to be formatted before use, and might cause conflicts with existing CD Rom drives. Hope this will help you. John6.

10-13-2006, 10:55 PM	#11 (permalink)
john6 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 11 OS: XP and Xandros and Mndrake	Hello FR 4665, It may be of interest to you if you read my todays post to hwm54112. Partition magic is available world wide. It should be on the shelf of any electrical come computer store. It will safely guide even basic knowledge users through the partitioning and Installing proceedure. My own personal disappointent with it was its Windows type authentication process. It's expensive and I assumed that I could use it on my second and third computer or even loan it to my friend next door. Now that its done it's job I'm asking myself what I'm keeping it for. John6.