Partition Magic 7.0 problems

[andy37142]

Hello
I am having problems with this program.
I have bought a new computer with 200GB hard disk and I am trying to partition it into 5 partitions of 40GB each. I have Windows XP installed on the diskbut nothing else only partition magic.
I have made 2 floppys as instructed for XP and then booted up with these 2 floppys and the partition magic window is open.
What is showing is:
Part Type Size Used MB Unused MB Status Pri/Log
*:C NTFS 238GB 2575 235888 Active Primary
*: Unallocated 7.8 0 0 None Primary

If I click on the *:C drive the 'CREATE' menu item is greyed out and I cannot use it to partition this drive. If I click on the *: drive the 'CREATE' button is available but I don't want to create partitions here I want them on *:C drive.
Could anyone please tell me where I am going wrong.
Many thanks
andy37142

[Paul Komski]

The C: "drive" is actually a partition on the hard drive. The hard drive doesnt itself get given a drive letter - though on single partition drives this may appear to be the case. So if you want more partitions you make them in the Unallocated space. When you are finished partitioning just check that the C: drive is still the active partition.

To make adequate unallocated space you must first resize the C: drive downwards. You should be able do this with PM or BiNG or GParted but do backup any important data beforehand. I also advise that you dont get PM to do all the operations in one go. Do them one at a time. Resize, create another partition, create another one, etc. Do the initial resizing from the floppies. Create the other partitions from the floppies or from within windows.

[andy37142]

Paul
Many thanks for your reply. This is one hell of a complicated program if you are doing it for the first time and aren't sure what you are doing. I did read all the help files and .pdf's in Windows beforehand but they didn't seem to help much.
I must admit the 'C' drive wasn't named as such. I used PM to name it 'C' as I thought as it wasn't assigned a letter it wouldn't create a partition. Have I created a huge problem for myself?
What you are basically saying is that I create a partition on the 7.8MB unallocated space. This does not seem logical when I want to partition the much larger drive and is probably where I have got stuck.
Do I now select the 7.8MB unallocated space then click 'CREATE' on the menu from the floppies then partition this into 50% then use Windows to repartition these two partitions?
Many thanks
Andrew

[Paul Komski]

You must start off either by deleting everything and starting over or by resizing the C: partition down to a reasonable size. If that is the partition with windows on it it is a good idea to first run disk checking and then defragmenting the partition before resizing it.

Are you finding PM 7 difficult or is it BiNG? Leave the "tiny" 7.8MB partition alone - its not big enough to be useful and only exists as a fragment at the end of the utilised space.

[andy37142]

Paul
Many thanks for your reply. I've defragmented and checked for errors. I've booted up from the floppy and got PM 7.0 up and running on the screen.
As I said previously the 'CREATE' command is greyed out.
If I select 'MOVE/RESIZE' however I can use the slider to split the 'C' drive into two however the Info box says 'This partition crosses the 1024 cylinder boundary and may not be bootable'.
Do I ignore this Info and am I on the right track in selecting 'MOVE/RESIZE' to split the 'C' drive into two and will one of the partitions still have Windows XP installed on it.
Many thanks
andy37142

[Paul Komski]

Yes - proceed - that warning doesnt matter on a modern BIOS.

Just Resize - I didn't think there was a split command but if there is I would avoid it. Then create new partitions in what should then be a larger amount of free or unallocated space. The create button should become OK once you select an adequate area of unallocated space.

[andy37142]

Paul
Brilliant!! I have split the disk into two using the floppy then used windows to split the empty half again. Now showing as 3 separate drives on 'My Computer'.
Many thanks
andy37142
PS Hope you win the lottery this week:) :)