Partition software?

I would like to partition my new notebook computer but am aware that sometimes things do not go as planned when partitioning. I always used Partition Magic which worked before I knew that it was not fully compatible with XP (read some reviews on Amazon ) the reviews made me stop and think.

I have Acronis PowerUtilites 2004 but as I do not have them installed at the moment I am not too sure if they include a partition manager. I have tried to get information on the Acronis site, unfortunately at the moment the first page loads fine but when I go to find out further info the rest of the pages are not loading for me. I will try again later to see the further details etc

I would be grateful if someone would advise on Acronis software for partitioning and is it fully compatible with Windows XP Pro SP2. I want to partition my notebook's hard drive (80GB NTFS) to have 'C' and one other partition as I just do not like working with 'C' alone.

My main PC was partitioned when setup so I didn't have the possibilty for failure and now I have given thought to 'potential' failure I would like to have the best possible software to help me.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hello Robyn,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/).

The main partitionig program we offer is Acronis Disk Director Suite 9.0 (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/). However since you haven't got it and have Acronis Power Utilities (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/powerutilities/) instead you may use Acronis Disk Editor (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskeditor/) that is included into the package.

You may create the back up of all your system before repartitioning with Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/) and if something goes wrong you will be able to roll back easily.

All Acronis software is fully compatible with Windows XP SP2.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Thank you for your reply. Is the disk editor included in my Power Utilities just as good as the one ine the main package? The main Disk Director is a little over the top for me to only want to use the partitioning element for one partition

My Power Utilites was purchased pre SP2 will this still be OK plus I have Acronis True Image v7 just purchased prior to V8 was released. I loved the software but was disappointed when updates stopped due to the release of v8 therefore I will have to install my copy again if v7 is still compatible with SP2.

I have used Partition magic in the past but feel if Acronis partition software has a friendly GUI like TI then I would prefer to use it to create a partition on my laptop. My main PC was partitioned on install; my notebook is just new with one hard disk and I would prefer to have it partitioned for my files and folders.

Hopefully the Disk Editor in PU will suffice. It is PU 2004 I have but after reading the details I presume this is not the same as the user friendly actual partition manager included in the other suite

 

Hello Robyn,

We have tested our products with SP2 and they prove to work properly. I suppose that Disk Editor will be enough for mere partitioning. Acronis Disk Director Suite is a separate software and is not included into Acronis Power Utilities.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I found my discs with my Acronis software on it. I have a copy of Partition Expert 2003 - would this be compatible with SP2 if I used it to make my one partition. Thank you in advance.

Edit: I have read some of the posts about this and think I would be worried about using this version. I also took the product tour and note a lot of FAT32 used as demo and NTFS only 'mentioned'. I will have to think as I do not want an error on boot or when trying to create a partition as this is an unsupported version.

I hope the new version included in the suite which I have not made my mind up about would be able to cope with NTFS and new hardware When I used Partition Magic I must have been very fortunate or didn't consider what could go wrong

 

Hi, Robyn

Long time. [no see]

Yes it will work with XP-SP2, I used PE 2003 up to Christmas with SP2 with no problems, I moved to DDS9 because to of the Raid support of the Partitioning. [seeing the HDD's as Raid, which PE 2003 did not. [on my system]]

Best to do all the Partitioning from the BootCD.

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

Hi TheQuest

Just me back with all my worries I haven't been in this part of the forum as I lost a little confidence in TI when the upgrade to v8 left me without any future updates to v7 in a really short time. Now that I am back looking at Acronis I think I will install my v7 again and use it for my new notebook or re-install on my main PC to image with a little more confidence. It was so easy to use but then reading restore posts worried me

Thank you for the direction with PE2003 I am feeling a lot more confident about using this now as firstly I have good news from the tech about my notebook HD - there is nothing hidden on it which would depend on a restore if I needed to. My friend who has my old laptop doesn't mind testing things and he was able to partition using PE2003 last night and everything is fine - he thought it was a very good tool to use and made the task simple (even though he knows a lot more than me ) the software took a little while to work but when he booted again everything was exactly as it should be. He booted this morning and no errors at all

Now when I came to read your reply and have found your opinion on PE2003 I feel even better and hope to attmept my own partition very soon. Have a few things to do before I use it but at last I feel I will have the much wanted partition I need as I really do not like using 'C' without at least one partition.

Thanks again, appreciate your input

 

TheQuest, I am back again with my partitions created last night wth PE2003 I was nervous but when I started the process it was so much easier to use 'accurately' than PM was. I was only going to create one but really wanted 2 to have 'C' and then a partition for my Web Development projects plus another for Data storage. I have 3 partitions now and am so much happier than trying to keep a filing System on 'C' only.

Thanks for your added support, I have booted my notebook this morning to make sure all was well and will look forward to organising my files and folders how I would like them to be now.

 

Hi, Robyn

I am only glad to be of some help.

Well I knew you would find it easy to use after our posts on you first using Ti.

That is the wise way to store data, I have tried to tell every one to have a least two Partitions for safety, one for the OS and one Data. [if your OS is messed up in some way, before a backup the Data is safe]

I really pleased at that, I wished all my friends I have set up their systems for would do the same, I keep telling them to never to download anything to C:\, but they nearly all use the default My Documents , just to save a few click and make a folder on another Partition.

With regards
Take Care,
TheQuest