making a partition

[PT Exorcist]

I'm in windows XP and i only have a harddrive. I want to format it but i have like 50gb of storage data that I can't put in CD's. How can i make a partition BEFORE i format the disk so I can put all my data there? Is it possible?

[Pirate]

If you have enough space for this 50Gb data , you only need Partition Magic . This is possible . After you create your partition , transfer your data in it and do your format .

[IntelSucks]

if you use partition magic to do this, make sure you create the rescue disks.

[Pirate]

Originally posted by IntelSucks
if you use partition magic to do this, make sure you create the rescue disks.

Time consuming and not needed at all . If he has enough space (let's say 100Mg larger than existing data) , system won't even ask for restart . When this stage done , he can easily put the cd in and start installing a fresh copy .

[IntelSucks]

whats funny is when he restarts and he gets an unmountable boot error/bsod...and if he didnt make the rescue disks there is alot of pain involved...dont tell me...I have seen this done a million times.

[Kasracer]

Originally posted by Pirate
Time consuming and not needed at all . If he has enough space (let's say 100Mg larger than existing data) , system won't even ask for restart . When this stage done , he can easily put the cd in and start installing a fresh copy .

It's partition magic, a piece of **** of a program. He'll have problems.

Rescue disks are junk though, I never bothered with them.

[Pirate]

and I've done a lot of partitioning stuff (moving , resizing , multi-separate primary partitions ) and I never needed these disks at all .
If he's very cautious guy then one extra step won't harm .

[PT Exorcist]

I think I found another way to do it. I'll get a free disk from a friend of me which is 20gb that will be where the OS and programs will be. The current disk will serve only for storage purposes

[Pirate]

Originally posted by kasracer
It's partition magic, a piece of **** of a program. He'll have problems.

Rescue disks are junk though, I never bothered with them.

so , you suggest ?

PM is the best .

[Kasracer]

Originally posted by Pirate
so , you suggest ?

PM is the best .

PM is the WORST.

nothing beats fdisk for partitioning, though it is destructive. Now mandrake 9.2 comes with a non-destructive partition re-sizing utility that works like partition magic and works ALOT better and it is free!

[Pirate]

Originally posted by kasracer
PM is the WORST.

nothing beats fdisk for partitioning, though it is destructive. Now mandrake 9.2 comes with a non-destructive partition re-sizing utility that works like partition magic and works ALOT better and it is free!

I'm sure you're not lucky with PM . At least , it's graphics-based app , shows lots of information , well-styled , can hide , unhide partitions, convert to/from multiple file system "safely" , merge , do backup stuff ...etc . Think about it and there is no way to compare it to the little fdisk .

[Kasracer]

Originally posted by Pirate
I'm sure you're not lucky with PM . At least , it's graphics-based app , shows lots of information , well-styled , can hide , unhide , convert to/from multiple file system "safely" , merge , do backup stuff ...etc . Think about it and there is no way to compare it to the little fdisk .

Oh wow, it has a GUI IT MUST BE BETTER!

Please, PM is a horrible product. I have had luck with it before so it isn't like "OMG IT DELETED MY PARTITION SO I'M GONNA ***** ABOUT IT NON-STOP!". fdisk can show just as much information. Hell compmgmt.msc shows as much information.

fdisk is a proven product and is just as good as PM. I guess you're used to the trashed version of fdisk that comes with Microsoft products. fdisk that comes with the gentoo live CD has houndreds of file systems to choose from when partitioning.

If you require a non-destructive partitioning utility, use the one that comes with Mandrake. Otherwise, fdisk is perfect.

[IntelSucks]

im gonna go with kasracer on this one...I have had bad luck with pm to