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I am planning on partitioning my hard drive and installing linux on one drive. I have a lot of valuable files on my computer that I don't wish to lose.
I don't have a cd burner and I don't know of any servers I can upload my files.
Are there any programs that can do the partition and I can still keep my files? I do not wish to pay money either, but if it comes to that I will.
Programs such as Partition Magic will retain your existing partition and simply create one with your free space. If you do go with such a solution, however, it is still highly recommended that you find a way to back up your information. Any large operation, such as repartitioning, has a risk of going wrong, and so it would be a good idea to have a copy of your information on a CD or other removable medium, just in case.
AJ
Depending on the FS, you could try FIPS ( http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/ ), it's free, but like adven said back up would be smart. Or you could go the Partition Magic route, but that'd cost you a few smacker-oonies.
Wow, I have been informed that PM is free, kewl.
Defrag, then run partition magic, make the partition outa your empty space, then move your files over...nothing lost....you can then format the other part, and your files will still be there :)
Magic isn't it!
- Noia
If i were you; and my file system was fat (32 or 16) (i think that what i'm going to tell you wont work with NTFS ); I would definitely first defrg my disk and then use FIPS. Why? because i have used both FIPS and Partition MAgic 5.0 (PM5); and lost some data with PM5. On the other hand; every time i used FIPS i had no problems at all... besides FIPS is free (it comes with your linux distrubution inside the dosutils directory) and you wont mess up with it.
Hope my pice of advice was of some use..
regards.
ampm2003
I recommend a program called BootIt Next Generation. Found here http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html
I used it to partition my hd to get ready for linux and had no troubles at all.
Salut!
if you have important files you cant afford to loose dont do it if you cant back them up. even partition magic screws up on rare occasions. Take the money you would spend on partitionmagic and go to a computer fair and buy a second hard drive. you should be able to pick an older one up for 10 bucks or so. all the partition resizers mentioned will work well most of the time and although ive never seen symantec screw up ive heard of it happening.
Here's a thought of a way to "test" an OS without having to worry about partitioning it. I use Connectix's Virtual PC to install differen't OS's like Redhat 8.0, Sun Solaris 7, Windows 98, Windows 2000, etc. It's nice because the program makes a file which within this program is an actual computer/hard drive. The only space that is used on your hard drive is the amount of space that it takes for you to install the OS and any other software you use.
I love it, because I don't need to play with partition and crap. Sure graphic wise it is not as fast, and you do need kind of a fast computer to use it since you lauch the software from within Windows (or at least that's the OS I have installed on my physical computer). Though for palying with things like redhat and Solaris in command line mode, you don't need anything super powerful.
Plus another advantage is you can take that computer/hard drive image file to any computer that has Virtual PC, and it will still work exactly the same way. Because whenever the OS is installed, all teh hardware is installed in a generic format.
Plus I have a computer that I use as a file sharing computer, has an 80GB hard drive. I have like 20GB's worth of images, and just move one over to my main computer when I want to play with it (since it's not often anymore). That way I can save space on my main computer.
For more information, check out Connectix's website: http://www.connectix.com/index_win.html
Whatever you do, dont use Partition Magic.
I have a friend who trusted in the software and lost his data.
If ya can backup, then use whatever you want.
Just say the "Partition Magic" Word :)
The best bet is partition magic, You can even use it to convert files from FAT32 to NTSF without any data lose :)
Its a great program You gotta check it out!
You said, you'd be willing to spend a little money on software to back up your files, right? Well, go out and spend the money on a burner, they've really come down in price. You don't even have to get a super fast spiffy one. Just get something reasonable, so you can back up your data. And then feel free to use any software you feel comfortable using. Trust me, backing up your data will really easy your mind, and it also can be used later on.
you best bet is to defrag your drive. i prefer O&O defrager cause it seems to do a much better job that your standard windoes defrager. then use partition magic 7.0 or more and change the size of your primary partition and make it as small as you can
partition the unallocated space re-boot and copy all your files to the new partition. then using partition magic again, format your 'old' partition to your linux primiary and linux swap. then re-boot and istall linux. then once thats all done. move your files into your linux partition.
re-boot and format the non-linux partition and merge it into your linux partition. easy
(note: when formating partitions ect i recommend you use the boot disks you can make)
or you can run a dual boot like me.
I use a program similar to AciDriveHB. I it called VMWare. http://www.vmware.com
This program creates virtual bootable partitions within your current OS. For example, if you have WinXP, you install VMWare and then run it. You then create partitions any size that you like (within the limits of your actual hard drive space remaining) and then you can load *any* OS that you want. You can even load multiple OSes as I do. There are several modes of operation which include "bridge" mode where the OS will share settings from your current OS or you can have them as stand-alone where the OS builds everything as if it were the only OS on the box.
There is a slight performance hit with this product but it is well worth it as it is VERY reliable.
Hope this helps!
Yeah and in reference to what techtech said, you can now get a 48x burner for $44USD (including shipping) from http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...82-007&depa=1. 700MB CD-R's are really cheap anymore, I just saw the local Best Buy (or was it Circuit City?) that were $9.99, the brand name was PNY. So really burner stuff is really cheap.
Plus you can use it for more than just backing up system files. You can create a "mix" audio CD of MP3 or other CD tracks that you like. I have used CD-R's for making my presentations at work portable and easy to give out to many people, so many choices!
And with having everything on a CD, now if you get a virus or crash your system or screw it up trying to make a partition, you'll be safe.
From personal experience, I have not had any problems with resizing a hard drive into a few different hard drives.... with or without having anything already on the physical drive. Though the very first time I ever played with Partition Magic, I totally wiped my entire life off my hard drive, and from there on I also made sure I had some sort of backup of my system.
<-- why he has a file server now!
Food for thought though, so many choices, just depends on the path you would like to take.