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The problem: Your hard drive is divided into multiple partitions (either to keep your data in small, efficient clusters, or because your version of Windows won't recognize a hard drive bigger than 2GB), but you'd like to aoid fiddling with D: or E: drives when you're installing new software or looking for files. The solution: Trick Windows into seeing all of your hard drive partitions as one big C: drive. That's the promising premise of Syncronys's BigDisk 1.5, which unfortunately fumbles the execution.

The problem with fooling Windows in this way surfaces when you install Windows programs with files that must be on the real C: drive. As a rule, BigDisk is smart enough not to redirect these files to another location. But what happens when there's no room on the C: drive--something you may not even notice if you use BigDisk? The result can be disastrous. Twice when I attempted to install Microsoft Office 97 on a crammed hard disk using a shipping version of BigDisk, I crippled Windows to the point where it wouldn't boot.

To be fair, this happened only when I had a very small (126MB) C: partition. With a 511MB C: drive, Office installed without catastrophe--though even then it was touch and go on one occasion. All in all, the advantages just aren't worth the risks.

SUMMARY

BigDisk 1.5 PRO: Simplifies multiple partitions. CON: Can do serious damage to Windows. VALUE: Not worth the risk. $40 Syncronys Softcorp 888/236-8582 www.syncronys.com