Good Partition Program

[g4m3rof1337]

I need to partition a recently formatted hdd.


I will need an 80gb partition, 260gb partition, and another 80gb.

It will be on a 500gb hdd.


I need it to be as easy as possible, and what ever is safer.

Like, partition while connected to my main hdd. Or install it with a disk while only the partition hdd is connected.


I want, vista on one 80gb partition, the 260gb partition will be back up for my current hdd, and the other 8gb partition will be for a linux os.

And what ever I have left, will be for more back up.



Thanks

 

[evanscnce]

When you install vista it should ask you about partitions on that drive. Then you can make them.

Other than that I am not sure on other programs that are good as I don't use multiple partitions.

 

[Red Naxelaster]

I've used a few different partition programs, and Partition Magic is best by far.

 

[Violent 777]

I just used GParted to make a Partition which I used to dual boots Vista and XP.
It worked rather well so I'll recommend it XD

 

[subtle]

You can also try free soft GPARTED
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gp...s=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

 

[Jon]

hi, you will definately want to buy norton partition magic (i got mine for £7.99 off ebay) it is very easy to use and gets the job done with no fuss.

 

[g4m3rof1337]

with norton partition, do I connect my HDD that I want formatted and partitioned. And do I do the work through my main HDD?

Like keep my XP hdd connected, work on that, and connect my 500gb hdd that I want partitioned.




Thanks

 

[PC eye]

When you go to install Vista on the 500gb drive it will automatically install it's own newer designed boot loader onto the XP primary. If you don't want any changes made there you will have to unplug the XP drive during the installation. GParted live for cd has been a choice here for some time for both creating, deleting, and resizing partitions for different OSs. Once you create the Vista primary, storage partition, and then select the Linux type and create that you can use the format option when booting with the Vista install disk and cfdisk for Linux.

The 0.3.3.0 version of GParted live for cd is the newest "platform independent" version to use there. The main download page is seen at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=173828

For a look over at the screenshots to see how the main gui looks go to http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php

When booting from the cd-r you burn GParted onto one thing to know is that you simply press the enter key at the several prompts to avoid changing the default settings and getting lost somewhere. The 24bit default not 32bit option is the one to use and is the next to last for changing the default 1024x768 screen resolution. This keeps the drive selector button on the right side of the explorer visible.

Once the partitions are created you can easily use the Disk Management tool found in the Control Panel under "Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage" in order to format the storage partition. The Vista installer when choosing the option menu instead of the install now option will have the format option seen there as well. For Linux you still need a Linux tool like cfdisk.

For burning GParted onto a cd-r BurnOn works great for the 35mb iso disk image. http://www.burnworld.com/burnoncddvd/

 

[g4m3rof1337]

If I use Norton Partition Magic should I have my main hdd connected and the hdd I want formatted and partitioned?

 

[PC eye]

It shouldn't matter whether the XP drive is plugged in or not as long as the second drive is setup properly and you choose the correct drive to partition. Partition Magic like any other partitioning tool except the old Fat fdisk should readily see the XP drive if plugged in. That won't matter. The main concern will be seen when going to install Vista.

The question will be whether you do or don't want to isolate the XP drive and see the Vista boot loader go on the 500gb drive instead of the XP host drive? XP will be absorbed into the Vista boot loader as the option to boot "previous versions of Windows" at startup time. EasyBCD is a great tool installed on Vista not XP to reassign the default OS that will load automatically. With the board here there's an F8 boot device menu you enter at the same time you would otherwise choose the bios setup. This allows a quick choice of which drive to boot also determining which version of Windows to load if they are installed separately.