Free Tools From Seagate:

[wtsinnc]

Earlier today, I read an article on the DVD Recordable website about two new and free downloads from Seagate. These tools, Maxblast 5 and Discwizard are rebadged Acronis software and both offer full support for Vista. Following the download of Discwizard, I successfully cloned a 200GB Maxtor HD with partitions for Windows XP Pro and Vista Ultimate to another Maxtor 200GB HD with the entire process taking about ten minutes. Additional features of both programs include HDD installation and set-up support, partitioning applications, and various backup options. Both tools are absolutely free (not trial software) and in the case of Discwizard, absolutely glitch free. I have used Maxblast previously and find it's disc erasure function a really great utility; now, it is even better with the aformentioned inclusions. The Seagate site also offers downloads of detailed users guides for both programs as well as other support info. I haven't searched these forums to see if this is old news, so please excuse this post if it is. Anyway, really nice to get Acronis plus the other utilities for only the time to download and install.

[daamon]

Thanks for the info. Here's the links:

DiscWizard

MaxBlast

Seagate download site

[Bjs]

This info has already been mentioned previously but whats more important , is the tools can be used in mixed setups where different manufacturers drives are installed .

Atleast one drive should be from the manufacturer of the tool , being used .

When it comes to unformatted drives , and xp installs , one should note the various products they wish to install after , and which partition format type to use .

I have had products , that when you dig down hard through the manufacturers sites , have listed the product as having issues under ntfs , and recommend fat32 to avoid such problems .

The australian product known as MYOB (mind your own business) , actually specified this as a fact , but you have to dig that out of them , hard , actually get those people on the phone to explain themselves .

Many games also mention issues with ntfs .

Xp , by default , only lists ntfs as an install option , for non-preformatted hard drives .

To get fat32 , use the hard drives manufacturers "new install" setup , to pre-partition and format it , then install xp .

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Create 2 partitions (one 5 gig at end) , and use gpart to backup the installed os after its completed to the smaller partition , then burn it to disc (dvd) . Its a backup image incase of major os screwup , saving you having to totally reinstall the os from scratch .

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php ... its a 56mb live cd .

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The good old days , using dynamic disk overlay : http://www.ontrack.com/diskmanager/

Bios limitations with larger capacity hard drives on older pcs , and I still have diskgo , from maxtor and seagate , just for older systems and it still works .