Partition Magic 8 (PowerQuest version)

[risk_reversal]

A quick question as regards above. Does anyone know what HDD size this prog can handle in the real world. The PowerQuest instructions say 160Gb.

Given that Symantec have now taken over PQ, I am not sure that I want to purchase the latest PM version that can deal with HDD of 300Gb. I now want to change and 'Acronis' seems to be the obvious candidate. Question. Is it as simple to use as PM and can it be run from dos floppys in the same way as PM. Does it have a boot manager also.

Many thanks for any help you can provide

[Paul Komski]

There is a free upgrade to PM 8.01 whether you want to try it or not.
http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/files/pmagic/pmagic_8_files.html There is a rider about using PM on large drives to not exceed using 90% of the drive space.

BiNG (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html) supports drives up to to 2TB and has a boot manager and an image creator/restorer and is much cheaper. The fully functional trialware is free and the download is small so little to lose out on trying it out. My only proviso when recommending it as a boot manager is to only allow it to use 4 primary partitions; that way it keeps all the structures on the disk as standard meaning that changes can be reversed with generic software. One is prompted to install it onto the HDD by default but that can be cancelled and the partitioning and imaging functions can be accessed in Maintenance Mode without installing the boot manager. BTW, use the Copy command for creating clones or the Image command for creating compressed images if using its imaging features.

I've never used Acronis apart from the trialware, but since that is non functional it is hard to recommend it and I think PM and Acronis are far too expensive for what you get.

[risk_reversal]

Many thanks for your reply Paul Komski. Ideally, I would prefer to avoid another learning curve and stay with PM. I noted the link that you provided to update to v8.01 but this only refers to a bug fix no mention of upgrade so that it can detect larger HDDs.

I had a peak at BiNG reading the getting started .pdf and it looks as though it does the biz. I will download the prog and play around with it my test system first.

As a last question, I am weary about using BiNG on a HDD which has already been partitioned and formated with PM. I know that I am probably being paranoid but is that going to be ok. Equally, (using a max of 4 primary partitions) would PM's BootMagic still work or best to keep to the BiNG boot manager also.

Many thanks for your valued comments

Cheers

[Paul Komski]

I have been using BiNG and PM and DriveImage in overlapping fashion for the past year or so and have never yet come across any direct conflicts. Boot Magic I don't use or like if only because it can only boot primary partitions and I think (its so long since I used it) that it can only boot them on the same HDD that BM is installed onto. PQ's PQBoot for windows is however very handy for changing the active partition on the current drive from within windows if you don't want to install any 'resident' boot manager.

IMHO, BiNG is the real cat's whiskers and even though it doesn't have a glitzy interface, it is a nice compact application that gets the job done. The reason for suggesting not going above 4 partitions means that you can always use fdisk /mbr to remove it from the mbr whereas if you use more than four this is done with overlay which needs to be uninstalled, etc, etc.

BiNG is certainly the most versatile and best boot manager that I have used to date - though the free XOSL is a close second. BiNG can boot any partition (primary or logical) on any installed HDD - assuming of course that the relevant partiton has a bootable partition boot sector. It can also boot a floppy or CD and is the only application that I have been able to get to boot a pen drive on my Biostar mobo.

A couple of pointers of where I had some difficulty understanding with my own learning curve.

(1) What BiNG calls an EMBR is sectors 1 through 63 on each HDD; that is the whole of track-0 minus the mbr/sector-0. You have to designate which HDD this is to take place on before you can run BiNG's own SetUp.

(2) Learn how and what and what not to hide. In general it is best to hide system partitions from each other and just allow logical data partitions to be seen by each system in a multiboot environment. And avoid hiding any extended partitions themselves since if that gets forgotten about it confuses much other partitioning software (and me too). The extended partition can always be recognised by the one that has the Volume button ungreyed. You need to hit that button if you wish to hide any logical partitions for a particular boot option.

(3) Have a backup of track-0 on a boot floppy before and after installing any boot manager or other drive overlay. Mbrtool (http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/mbrtool.htm) does this job really well. I always have mouse.com and ptedit on the same or an adjacent boot floppy.

Post back if you need any further clarification.

PS And DONT install two resident boot managers simultaneously. ie Dont install BiNG and BM at the same time; always uninstall one before installing the other one. Another very handy utility to have in your first aid chest is SBM (SmartBootManger) from the Raninsh/XOSL site. This boot floppy allows you to boot/hide all partitions directly and bypass any current overlay "instructions". Like everything else it has its own peculiar learning curve.

[risk_reversal]

Paul Komski, many thanks for taking the time to provide this info. I am not too bothered about the BiNG interface. I have never installed the Partition Magic program in Windows and only run it in DOS mode by using the floppy diskettes. The PM inteface on DOS is very spartan.

What is attractive about BiNG is the size of HDD it can handle. So I never need to use anything else once I have overcome the dreaded learning curve.................

Can I trouble you for one last question I have browsed the BiNG site looked at the FAQ's and watched the videos but am puzzled about one detail namely can this program be run in DOS mode from floppy disks without having to install it to the HDD.

Again many thanks for your help

[Paul Komski]

From the download you can make either a bootable floppy or a bootable cd. You then use the prepared floppy or cd to either:
(a) install BiNG onto the HDD (using an embr and a small fat partition somewhere)
or
(b) not install BiNG by pressing Cancel and thus go into Maintenance Mode.

You can do all the partition work (partitioning/imaging/etc) from (a) or from (b) but you will only have a boot manager if you actually install BiNG as per (a).

Of course once installed onto the HDD you can get in and do partition work directly from the boot menu at startup without needing the floppy or CD. But keep the floppy or CD handy in case you need to reinstall or repair BiNG at some point in the future.

The CD is nice because it is much less likely to develop "bad sectors" but on the other hand you cant make any backup files onto it. Having either or both is up to you.

PS I virtually always install PM into Windows (particularly for Win9X installations) since its browse function lets you access the files on NTFS and Hidden Partitions. I dont actualy use it that much for partitioning in windows (preferring it on an EBCD for that work) but I regularly use its other utilities such as PTedit, PartInfo and PQboot.

[risk_reversal]

Cheers Paul Komski, I will have a play around with it. I must admit the good thing about Partition Magic is that you can do all the partition work in DOS with the bootable program floppys and merely install BootMagic onto the o/s which is what I usually do.

Many thanks again for your kind help.............

PS The Ramdisk drive on XP is great, I regret not having installed it sooner.

Cheers

[Paul Komski]

I wouldnt be without access to the two recovery floppies but they can also be a real pain with the floppies so often becoming corrupt and because you have to insert two of them in sequence. Thats why having them on a bootable CD is generably preferable in my opinion. By having them on an EBCD you can also include all your other "first aid" dos utilities on a medium that is unlikely to become corrupt. The only time such CD's have let me down is with older CDDrives that can only read pressed CDROMs. In such circumstances SBM on its own special floppy can still sometimes boot up such CDs on older hardware.

[Alister]

I gave up PM8 because it could not partition my almost 200 Gb hard drive. I use now Acronis Disk Director. I have had no problems with it. Very easy to use. After you make an emergency CD, it runs from the CD. It has also a boot manager that you can choose to install when installing the main program.You can download and try it in demo mode.

[Paul Komski]

I'm sure that ADD is a good app but I'm not sure that it's good value compared to BiNG. BiNG's download is much smaller and is fully functional (not demo) trialware. It is cheaper if you decide to purchase; and it is much cheaper if you consider that it does all the imaging tasks into the bargain. It can run from fdd, cdd or hdd as you desire. Just about the only thing that Acronis has that BiNG doesn't is a hex editor but there is a good freeware hex editor called TinyHexer for those who would be adept enough to use one.