The Trouble-Free PC

Wrangle Disks Like A Pro

Now that both hard drives and the files they contain can be huge, it's more important than ever to create and manage drive partitions. (Even though Windows 2000 and XP don't require it, partitioning a large hard drive makes backing up and restoring easier.) The disk-management tools that come with Windows XP are severely limited--you can delete and create partitions, or convert a FAT32 partition to NTFS, but that's it. Anything else requires backing up the partitions on your hard drive, creating a new partition, and then reinstalling and/or restoring the operating system, applications, and data.

If you want to delete, move, or resize partitions, or convert from one file system to another without the backup-and-reinstall hassle, you want a drive-partitioning utility. Using such a tool, you can manipulate partitions without destroying their contents, although backing up your data beforehand is always a wise precaution. PowerQuest's PartitionMagic 8 is the tool to beat. It permits you to explore your existing partitions and make multiple changes, all from within Windows. When you're done with your modifications, PartitionMagic automatically restarts the system, makes the changes you want without further assistance from you, and then boots the computer back into Windows. Handy special-purpose wizards split, merge, and redistribute free space among your partitions. The program can create, move, and resize partitions formatted with common PC file systems, including Windows' FAT32 and NTFS, as well as Linux's EXT2, EXT3, and Swap types (but not the newer ReiserFS). It also includes PowerQuest's BootMagic multi-OS boot manager, which lets you install several OSs onto one machine and choose which to run.

The Alternative

The problem with PartitionMagic is that $60 is lot to pay for a tool you may use only once or twice a year, no matter how good the program is. If the price galls you, V Communications' Partition Commander Version 8 costs only $45, but it lacks some of PartitionMagic's automation and polish. Like PartitionMagic, Partition Commander allows you to create, delete, and resize partitions; however, it doesn't run within Windows, and it requires you to boot with the install CD in order to launch its Partition Wizard interface. Partition Commander defaults to creating FAT or FAT32 partitions, depending on the partition size. You can opt to create one of the other supported types, but the interface doesn't make figuring out how to do this easy: We had to resort to the online help. And regardless of the task you undertake in Partition Commander, you must wait until it's complete before attempting another one. If you expect to do a lot of partition wrangling, PartitionMagic's slightly slicker interface may be worth the extra $15.

Scott Spanbauer