Re: Partition Magic Incompatibility??

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>> "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


> Anna wrote:
>> 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



"Rick" <fsholbrook@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23xJipRKCGHA.140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> yes all true except if you have damage to the HD's from a large static
> charge or direct lightening hit. A better backup system would be to use
> an external HD. They are very inexpensive.
>
> Rick


Rick:
Yes, I most certainly agree that when using a disk imaging program to clone
the contents of one's HD to another HD the user will be better served by
having a USB/Firewire external HD as his or her destination drive rather
than cloning to another internal HD. But since the OP already had two
internal drives installed I thought I would at least point him the "disk
imaging cloning" direction.

Actually, in my view, an even better system - and the one we've been using
for many years now and encourage our customers to use - is to equip one's
desktop computer with two removable hard drives in their mobile racks. The
flexibility, not to say peace of mind, you get with this arrangement is
enormous, both in terms of using backup systems as well as general
day-to-day computer operations. As I've stated many times, once you begin
working with this hardware arrangement you have but one regret. And that is
that your previous desktop computers weren't so equipped. It's that good.
Anna


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