Partition won’t take

[mps69_1999]

Firstly using Acronis Disk Director Suite.
I’m trying to partition my daughters 160gb boot drive.
I’ve followed the wizard thro’ each step then I click to commit. The PC requires a reboot and I can see it starting the partition process. The Pc reboots again but the partition hasn't taken. I’ve done this several time now.
I know I’m doing the wizard right because I did the very same process on my own PC.
I've even been to Acronis website, to no avail.
Can anyone advise my next move?
mps

[mjc]

Computer specs...

[mps69_1999]

Sorry, I knew I forgot something.
2.4 processor (for gawd sake don't ask me the type ;) ), running XP Pro, 512mb.
It's got Avast AV and ZA firewall.
Anything else just ask

[Paul Komski]

Is the XP Pro patched with either SP1 or SP2?

As long as it has at least SP1 then the OS should support partitions greater than 128GB/137GiB, I would try partitioning and formatting it with BiNG (in my sig} or (unless you are trying to non-destructively repartition an existing system drive) with the drive maker's own utilities or from the WinXP installation itself.

It looks like a modern system so the hardware itself should support large drives but you never know for sure so possibly try creating a partition that is less than 127gig in size.

[mps69_1999]

Yeah, it's been updated with SP2.
I don't know if this is anything to do with the problem but when I tried to install OS I kept getting the message "error loading OS". After googleing it I had to change the BIOS from "auto" to "large". I've tried changing it back to auto, lbr and the other settings too, but ever time it boots up I get the same error, so I've left it on large.
I've even tried splitting the drive in 2, 70gb each with no joy either.
I've had a look at BiNG and I'm reluctant to use it, at the moment anyway, cause I don't really know what I'm doing 100% and acronis seems to have a simple wizard what walks me thro'. If that makes sense.
I'm sorry I don't understand when you say (unless you are trying to non-destructively repartition an existing system drive) with the drive maker's own utilities or from the WinXP installation itself. if you can maybe expand a little I'll maybe get it.
thanks
mps

[Paul Komski]

Where and on which PC are you trying to run Acronis? which is failing when "The PC requires a reboot and I can see it starting the partition process. The Pc reboots again but the partition hasn't taken".

If you are doing this on your daughter's PC then either there is already an OS installed (and since you say this is her boot drive that sounds likely)-(in which case you probably want to resize any existing partitions before creating any new ones) or if nothing is installed just boot to the Windows XP installation CD and it will do any partitioning as part of the setup process.

You don't have to use BiNG but its partition work section should at least let you see what the possibilities are (even if you dont use it) particularly when Acronis has already failed. BiNG will also let you see what it is doing at any moment in time.

If there are problems loading WinXP setup then the BIOS settings are probably wrong. SATAs vary very much from mobo to mobo support and some will require drivers to be installed at the start of setup using the F6 option at the bottom of the screen. Most recent mobos will read a single SATA as if it is an ordinary PATA IDE drive and others need to have an IDE configuration set and yet others use a SCSI interface necessitating the F6 driver support.

Which mobo or PC (make and model) is your daughter's PC?

[mps69_1999]

I've already loaded Xp and Acronis into my daughters PC.
When I say I can see the partition starting I mean, during the boot up to windows there is a screen appearing checking the drives, then it flashes to 100% checked, the PC then reboots and partition hasn't worked.
Sorry but I'm maybe not explaining myself very clearly.

I'm going to take a further look at BiNG and see if I can get it work.

Here are the details of the mobo, taken from PB website.
Sunshine (GA-8I915PM Ver 1.1)
Name: Sunshine (GA-8I915PM Ver 1.1)
Type: µATX motherboard
Manufacturer: Gigabyte

[Paul Komski]

I'm presuming there is a single disk, single partition currently on your daughter's PC and if so I've got a handle on what you are attempting and presumably that includes resizing the (primary active) system partition otherwise there shouldnt be a need for Acronis to force a reboot - although having said that Partition Magic had this annoying feature of rebooting after every bit of repartitioning that it did - unless, that is, you ran it with a switch to prevent such rebooting.

Personally I don't like the "flashy" Acronis software because of its expense, its bloat, its non-functional trial version and problems I have encountered with both RAID and SATA volumes in the past.

I think it always best to do any partitioning manouevres (with any partitioning utilities) from outside windows which is one of the reasons I like BiNG (non-flashy, unbloated, functional trial and minimal problems ever) and if using Partition Magic I would always run it from Floppy or CD and not from within Windows.

The problems I have had with Acronis and SATA/RAID (when run from outside windows on a bootable CD) was either not seeing the volumes at all or of corrupting the arrays. This was with Acronis Disk Image 7 so they may have corrected the problem in other software - but it has left me wary. I think its because they use some kind of WindowsPE environment from their bootable CDs - and so without the correct drivers can have problems accessing such "SCSI" interfaces.

When Acronis runs from within windows it sees everything perfectly because WinXP is doing all the identification but from outside Windows it is dependent on how its own OS interacts with the system BIOS.

The other warning with any partitioning utilities is to ALWAYS backup important data before proceeding.

[Mr.Umbrella]

hi there, i'm using ADDS for about a year and haven't met such a problem so far. No doubt Paul is real Pro, but, when i'm having problem's with my ADDS i usually visit Official Acronis Support Forum (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=73), they should help u (as they helped to me), or u can join acronis support team (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/).
They do their job good enough.