Creating Paritions -- What are the risks?

[MrDoomMaster]

Hey guys,

I'm currently using Symantec Partition Magic 8.05 to create a partition. I am going to create a small partition for the installation of Windows Vista Beta 1.

Before I do this, however, I should tell you about a little problem I've had in the past. I created a parition previously and I believe some system files were in the area of the hard drive that got "sliced" for the new partition. They, in turn, were deleted and Windows XP become unbootable. So, I want to know how I can move all files off of a certain area on a disk that will be partitioned.

I have tried defragmentation with Diskeeper, but the files remain towards the back of the disk. I want them all to be tightly packed in the front, including system files.

Also, asside from this issue, what other suggestions might you guys have before I do this? This is a big step to take and does involve the risk of creating an unbootable windows... I want to make sure I get all of the professional advice I can.

Offer suggestions especially in the area of multiple bootable partitions and how to set this up and prepare for it. There is a small boot menu before any type of windows is booted that lets you select the operating system to boot from, I assume this must be manually configured?

Thanks for any help!

[Steve R Jones]

Looks like you’ve already been through a “worse case” with PM. Backing up your important data before doing a major change like adding a partition is all you can do.

In theory, the files at the end of the drive shouldn’t be an issue. PM “should” take care of that.

Getting a Second drive would be a very safe thing to do to install Vista. Used drives are pretty easy to find. Could find a used 10gig drive for 10 to 15 bucks..

The Vista installation will create a Boot Menu automatically so that you can choose which OS to use when you start the pc.

[MrDoomMaster]

Well, money and space is a problem here.

I have over one million files on my computer, and well over 300GB of data that needs to be backed up. I found that the ideal method for backing up such large amounts of data is a firewire 600GB hard drive that you simply plug in to backup the data and then keep it in safe storage for later.

This costs HEAPS of money that I don't have.

Also a small drive, even though it is 15 dollars, is still more than I can budget.

At this point, this is where you say "Well in that case, take the risk of a partition or don't partition at all.". I completely agree, and I don't think I will. I really wanted to test Beta 1, but I don't want to risk my system over it.

I just wish there were other alternatives.

Thank you for the input.

[SuperSparks]

If you don't back up that data, then you will lose it sooner or later, regardless of whether you use potentially risky software like PM or not. All hard drives will fail eventually, so you'd better try and find some budget for a backup solution soon. It will be a lopt cheaper that having to pay professional data recovery specialists to get it back, even if they can

[MrDoomMaster]

Well the only thing I can think of right now to back up my data are 700MB Recordables, but can you imagine how many I'd need to back up all this data? It would be insane... My hard drive and CD drive may fail in the process of getting it all on there!

[SuperSparks]

Then investing in a DVD burner might be the way to go, they don't cost much at all nowadays, and the blank media is close to the same price as CD's as well.