Partition Magic question

[debiy55]

A little configuration info first......I'm running w2k (a brand new install btw), and I have 2 SATA drives, one is 160GB and the other is 80GB. Windows is installed on the 60GB drive but its listed as drive 2...the 160 is drive 1 ....in Disk Management and in Partition Magic both. Physically, the 160 is the 'top' drive the bays....the 80 is the lower one. (i've thought about switching them around but thats another problem :roll: )

On the 80GB theres nothing else besides windows installed.. so I have alot of free space. On the other hand...the 160GB is partitioned into 4 diff partitions for music, docs, downloads and that sort of stuff....no OS. I did it in Disk Management since there wasn't anything on the drive when I did it.

I'm wanting to partition the 80 into 2 partitions.....one for w2k and the bulk of it for movies. I know, I know....I should have done that first.. What can I say....I had a brain fart!

In PM...I set it up first to resize drive 2, which has the 'active' partition (the one with w2k installed on it)...then to create another partition on it ....but when I click "APPLY"... I get this msg: "There is no active partition, are you sure you want to apply changes? This scares me so I click 'no' and exit.

Why is it saying theres no active partition when there is?? In PM, on the main screen it plainly says "active" next to the w2k partition! :? I'm afraid if I try this something will happen and I won't be able to boot up. Can anyone tell me whats going on here? I sure would appreciate it! Thanks!!!!!

Deb

 

[Captain-M]

When it comes to the active partition, this is the Partition where Win 2k is loaded. In you disk Mgmt, shoud say "Online" and "Healthy (System)".

Before you do anything, back up your data (cd, DVD or onto your other disk). Then unplug your larger HDD. What ver of PM are you using? I assume the one you have runs on 2k. Check Symantec.com for info.

In PM, if you view Properties, it will state the HDD size and partition size. Just resize the one you want to resize (keeping it simple, without any "brain farts!"). PM, if this ver is compatible with 2k, it is stable enough to resize.

 

[debiy55]

Thanks for replying Captain M, but I've already solved this problem a long time ago. I purchased Acronis Disk Director and it did the job beautifully!

 

[Captain-M]

Thx for the update. Computers are great, once they are running properly...

 

[bmouring]

Just for future refernce, a great alternative to Partition Magic and Acronis that is free as in beer and as in speech is the GParted LiveCD. Same friendly interface, free of charge, and since it's a boot cd, the disks you are repartitioning are offline and not mounted which makes repartitioning safer.