How to partition hard drive or any free software?

[huntr]

I plan to keep both Win 98 and 2000 in one drive but would like to split into 2 or 3 separate drives so how do I do that. Are there any free software? I have about 100 GB free.

Hope to hear your input.

Thanks!

Bob

[Capmaster]

I plan to keep both Win 98 and 2000 in one drive but would like to split into 2 or 3 separate drives so how do I do that. Are there any free software? I have about 100 GB free.

Hope to hear your input.

Thanks!

Bob

Google "partition software" or "partition freeware". Or look through the tools section here. I don't know offhand if we have any disk utilities listed.

If you feel like spending a little for an excellent partition app, get Partition Magic. It'll allow you to manipulate partitions at will without losing the data on them.

[siratfus]

What's the reason for partitioning?

[gmatov]

Ranish Partition Manager, freeware. Never used it, but should, per the writeups equal PM.

If you are going toinstall in full, both OS's, use fdisk.

Cheers,

George

[glockjs]

usualy the drives come with the software...if you dont have that anymore go to the manufactures web sites directly

[gmatov]

I personally do not advise using the install disks come with a drive.

They have their own interpretation of drive parameters.

I would sooner use fdisk, as it is MS-DOS, and that is MS, X cyl, X sectors, X heads.

Cheers,

George

[handyguy]

download.com

search for: partition

Matter of fact, search for whatever you need.

[Garibaldi]

There are a couple on linux live-cd distros that you could use-- QT Parted found on the System Rescue CD:
www.sysrescuecd.org
I'm not sure where to get the other one, ntsfresize. All you do with a live-cd is stick it in at boot up and you will run the linux os from the cd. You can then used Parted (which I guess is quite safe) to resize or repartition your hd. It also supports stable ntsf writing because I believe it has the 2.6 kernel.

[racer-x]

I too recomend Ranish Partition Manager. I've used it many times to resize and/or create new partitions. You can fit the program on a Boot-Floppy, then bootup with it and create up to 99 Primary partitions if you want.

For the record, I dual-boot 98/XP and used it to create the partitions and boot manager. Make sure you know what you're doing before you resize a partition, or you could end up loosing data on it.

[Garibaldi]

For the record, I dual-boot 98/XP and used it to create the partitions and boot manager. Make sure you know what you're doing before you resize a partition, or you could end up loosing data on it.

I've also been thinking of resizing my windows partition so I can do a linux install and maybe even a BeOS. Would Ranish allow me to shrink my windows partition safely, so that I won't loose my data? Are there any good guides to doing this? Also do you have a link for Ranish?

[gmatov]

Garibaldi,

Link here: http://www.ranish.com/

You will also find xosl, a boot manager that would allow you to quit installing-uninstalling the vs of Linux etc that you are. Will boot 30 diff OSes. All you need is a little larger HDD.

I would choose the stable[b version, as I think the program has been sold to or morphed into something called Swiss Army Knife.

As I have said, I have had it for several years, never used it as I bought PM on a foolish whim.

Cheers,

George[/b]

[Garibaldi]

Thanks alot for the link!

[racer-x]

The best and safest way to resize an active partition without loosing data, is to first Defrag the partition. This will bring all data to the begining of the partition. You can then safely shrink it by bringing the end of the partition in closer to where the data ends. Make sure you leave some space! Partition Manager let's you do this by changing the partition end values for the Cylinder and Heads on the HDD.

It is a very powerfull tool and you will learn a few things about a HDD when you use it. One of my favorate things it does, is it allows you to hide/unhide partitions. This comes in handy when you want to install multiple OS's. Many OS's want to be top dog and are very picky about where you can install them. For instance, you would normally install 98 on first partition, then XP on second partition. I wanted XP on first, so I installed it on first partition, then I hid the partition and installed 98 on the second partition. 98 thinks it's the only OS on my PC and so does XP. I made a boot-manager with Partition Manager and it let's me decide wich OS I want to load. Very clean and discreate.

[jimmalenko]

I set up a dual-boot 98 and XP by making 1 partition with fdisk off a boot floppy then installing 98. Then boot off XP CD and create another partition. I have always read that you should put XP on last with whatever you are dual-booting with, as it tries to take over and cracks the shits if it's first on. I was very interested to read racer-x's method for this very reason. I didn't have any partition tools available, only fdisk, and it's working a treat. 98 can only see the drive it's own, whereas XP can see the drive it's on, as well as 98's drive.

[racer-x]

The reason 98 doesn't see your XP partition, is because it's NTFS and 98 can't read it.

The method you used works, but XP install files in the 98 root directory and becomes the boot-manager. If you used your method and installed XP on 1st partition, then installed 98 on 2nd, 98 would wreck havoc.

My method is much better, because I installed XP on 1st partition. Then I hide the 1st partition and install 98 on 2nd partition. 98 doesn't see the hidden partition and thinks it's going on C:\. Next I go back and unhide the 1st partition. Both OS's keep their files on their own partitions only. I create my own boot-manager and both OS's live happy but seperate lives.

XP can see the 98 partition, but doesn't realize it's an OS. 98 can't see XP because it's NTFS. This works out great because XP is my work horse and 98 is used for web access only. I don't even run antivirus, because if 98 gets infected, it will be the only partition effected. All other partitions are invisable to it. I have a ghost image and can restore 98 in less than 5 min. Quicker than an average virus scan.

[jimmalenko]

The reason 98 doesn't see your XP partition, is because it's NTFS and 98 can't read it.

The method you used works, but XP install files in the 98 root directory and becomes the boot-manager. If you used your method and installed XP on 1st partition, then installed 98 on 2nd, 98 would wreck havoc.

My method is much better, because I installed XP on 1st partition. Then I hide the 1st partition and install 98 on 2nd partition. 98 doesn't see the hidden partition and thinks it's going on C:\. Next I go back and unhide the 1st partition. Both OS's keep their files on their own partitions only. I create my own boot-manager and both OS's live happy but seperate lives.

XP can see the 98 partition, but doesn't realize it's an OS. 98 can't see XP because it's NTFS. This works out great because XP is my work horse and 98 is used for web access only. I don't even run antivirus, because if 98 gets infected, it will be the only partition effected. All other partitions are invisable to it. I have a ghost image and can restore 98 in less than 5 min. Quicker than an average virus scan.

Interesting. As I said, mine's been working fine for 18 months now, with no "crossover" of anything, so I'm quite happy leaving it that way instead of f@#$ing with it .