If you just use it once, it's worth it! (Powerquest Partition Magic 6.0)

Member Name: jfhopkin

Product:	Powerquest Partition Magic 6.0
Date:	07/03/01 (361 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Does a tough job very well

Disadvantages: A bit frightening to watch

I first used Partition Magic 6.0 when I grew tired of the way my hard disk had been formatted by a well-meaning but ill-informed supplier into four partitions, split across C:, D:, E: and F:.

I purchased this tool to reorganise the disk into two partitions - C: and D: - the first for Windows and the second for everything else. I could have repartitioned using Windows setup and lost everything on it, but reinstalling all my apps would have been too much like hard work. So, in came Partition Magic, and off it went to do its job.

It was a nerve-wracking task to perform the repartition, mainly due to the rather unhelpful messages (and the lack of helpful ones!), and it was difficult to calculate how long it would take to do the job. In the end, it whirred away for over three hours (for 8GB), and I was left with a very tidy system with plenty of free space.

I never expected it to do a perfect job of changing all drive references, and it would have been unreasonable to have done so. But it got the vast majority right, and the few that remained were quickly fixed, with the help of Norton System Check. Given that I had many applications on my E: partition, I'm not surprised the odd reference got missed.

If you don't already know, it's always a good idea to keep 2 partitions. Give 1GB (or so) to Windows on C:, and install everything else on D: (the rest of the disk). That way, if your system comes a cropper (which happens all too often), you can reformat and reinstall C: and Windows, and your apps slot back in. It's good for performance too, and helps to prevent those nasty experiences when Windows gets low on(or, heaven forfend, runs out of) disc.

For that reason alone, if your system is all bundled onto your C: drive, it's well worth looking at using Partition Magic to split it. It's best done when the machine's relatively fresh, so you can install all your applications onto D:.

All
in all, a solid utility that can save a lot of headaches.

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