Re: Partition Magic Incompatibility??

Tech Tip: Click here to run a free scan for Windows Errors and optimize PC performance


"Stu Culp" <Stu Culp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:63560BF1-3A22-4060-8784-6944B0B7FC75@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I just took delivery of a new system with Windows xp, sp2 and two 120 gig
> SATA hard drives. Since the os was set up to use all of drive 1 I
> repartitioned it with Partition Magic so has to have a smaller c:
> partition
> and then an extended partition with d:, e:, and f:. The second drive was
> set
> up as an extended partition with logical drive g:, to be used for backups.
> I
> should mention that the video card is an ATI All In Wonder X600 Pro.
>
> I had no end of problems: The floppy drive wouldn't respond, the video
> would only play tv for about 5 minutes before freezing and locking up the
> system and the dvd would only transfer large files (from my old computer
> to
> the new using DVD/RW) without locking up and freezing the system after
> several minutes of downloading. In addition, the ATI configuration
> utility
> said that DMA was not enabled on the hard drives (it was).
>
> I took the system back to the dealer, and his suspicion was that Partition
> Magic had screwed up the system. The solution was to wipe everything
> clean
> and start over. After doing so, he claims everything is ok. Because of
> the
> holidays I won't be able to pick it up for a week or so.
>
> Since the disk manager in windows xp won't resize partitions, I will have
> to
> basically waste most of the c: drive unless I use Partition Magic, but
> that
> puts me vulnerable to cause the whole set of problems again--if that was
> the
> cause, but I don't know what else to think.
>
> I have heard that Partition Magic can cause problems with SATA drives, and
> I
> am also wondering if the ATI card has some issues with SATA drives.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?
>
> Stu Culp


Stu:
First of all, our experience with using Partition Magic, the 8.01 version
which I assume you're using, has been positive with respect to basic
manipulation of SATA hard drives involving partition sizing and merging of
partitions. We do *not* use PM for partitioning purposes involving
new/unpartitioned drives. In those cases we either use the XP installation
CD where the OS is being installed on the drive or in the case of a
secondary HD about to be installed we use XP's Disk Management utility to
partition/format the drive.

As to your problem, it's hard, if not impossible to determine at this point
whether PM was the cause of the problem. It doesn't sound like it from what
you've described but who knows? It sounds to me like your dealer has the
right "fix" at least at this point. Time will tell if there's a hardware
problem after you get the computer back.

But the real purpose of my response to you is to get you thinking about
another backup strategy once your machine is back & running. Since you have
two internal HDs, consider using a disk imaging program such as Symantec's
Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image, to "clone" the contents of your
day-to-day working HD to your second HD. Having (in effect) a bit-for-bit
copy of your working HD on a second HD will give you the kind of peace of
mind that's hard to get using any other backup system. And thereby achieving
that new-found safety & flexibility, you may want to rethink your present
partitioning scheme.
Anna


.

Quantcast