I have a new 80GB Western Digital HD (USB 2.0, preformatted FAT32) that will be for backup/storage only and transport between my Desktop and Notebook. I've hit a situation with Partition Magic 8.0 that may or may not be cause for concern (I'm still getting used to Primary/Logical etc.)

From what I've read and has been recommended to me, since there is no OS on this external drive, the partitions should be Logical. I'll have to convert it to NTFS (same as my desktop and notebook, both running XP) then partition it.

No matter what I try, P.Magic always wants to assign 7.8 MB of unallocated space at the front of the drive as Primary. (What I'm shooting on the external is a minimum of 4 Logical Partitions, 20GB each -OR- perhaps two 20GB Logicals and four 15GB Logicals.)

I did try formatting and converting the External drive to NTFS using Disk Mgmt in XP, but whether I do a full format or quick, the process gets nearly completed and I get an error that format was unsuccessful.

Here's how I partioned my desktop drive with P. Magic:

DESKTOP Disk 1: 40GB total
C:\ NTFS 6,000.8 MB (Primary)
D:\NTFS 12,197.8MB (Extended/Logical)
E:\NTFS 3,004.3MB (Extended/Logical)
F:\NTFS 5,098.7MB (Extended/Logical
G:\NTFS 5,977.3MB (Extended/Logical)
H:\NTFS 5,898.8MB (Extended/Logical)
(no unallocated space on this Disk)
Y: DVD-ROM
Z: CDRW

This is what the WD External HD looks like in P. Magic in it's raw state:
DISK 2
(*) Unallocated 76,293MB Used MB=0 Unused MB=0 Primary

If I then use PM to do a Pending Operation to just convert the entire drive to NTFS (no partitions) it will look like this:
DISK 2
(*) Unallocated 7.8 MB Primary
(*) Extended 76,285.2 MB Primary
Local Disk (I: ) 76, 285.2MB Logical

I can continue creating partitions in Pending Operations, and the drive letters descend as they should (I, J, K, etc.) and they will be Logical. But that 7.8MB at the front always remains as Primary. No amount of maneuvering on my part will get rid of that first 7.8 MB as Primary. It's almost like it's a default that some amount of space will be put at the front of the external drive, and assigned by PM as Primary.

Does anyone have any idea why P.Magic insists on this 7.8MB of unallocated space at the front of the drive as Primary?
Is it cause for concern, since there won't be an OS on the drive?