Does anybody know a partition manager compatible with Windows Xp or Vista?
If anybody wants I'll give my full story on why I need on.
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I need something like this. Just free.
Somebody mentioned (I think it was Alpha1beta) that I destroyed my drive's mbr. So I can't boot pendrivelinux anymore :(.
Does anybody know how to restore it?
Look through the stuff here
http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/BootToolsRefs.htm
not sure how good quality any of it is, but it may be worth a look.
This is just for repairing the MBR, not for an OSS partition manager
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Well there is one already built in both XP and vista on the My Computer icon right click on it and hit manage it should bring you to a window with a bunch of crap in it
after that go to Disk Management (may take a moment to read your drives) and it will show you your partitions of each drive. Just click the one thats your drive that you want to format click either format or delete partition and your set to creat a new one
your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau
Thanks to everybody who helped.
I just realized something.
ZachThibeau, I tried that on a computer with admin privs and.... well.... I selected disk management on the sidebar and right clicked on the black box next to my drive. And "New Partition..." was grayed out.
Yeah, I don't think Windows will let you partition removable drives, only internal ones.
Until you posted this I was thinking that I busted my drive :(.
So do I have to use a different partition manager or something?
It won't let you because it can't handle more than a single partition on a disk it considers "removable".
Vintage!
@ Bruce
Who says I've done it many times with no problem
your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau
Well, I've got problems.
Even with admin privs.
if this is what you want, but it is free and OSS. Runs from cd. Link:
http://partitionlogic.org.uk/download/index.html
to do so, I manged under Linux, well after all one can also edit the partition table by 'hand' and will also end up with correct setup.
But the use of it seems to be somehow restricted, since windows will definitely not use it, it might use the first partition, but it will get confused and believe me, data loss is to be expected.
In addition, when a filesystem is set up with properties of the standard and not removable, this will cause other problems as rights, inclusion in recovery system etc.
Also under a Linux GUI I could in fact not use more then one partition reasonably, in comd line I sort of managed to access it but it refused to write to it what ever chmod I tried there.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
do you have or want ?
On which disk?
On normal disk, you can have max 4, that means up to 3 normal partitions (you need bootmanager to select and activate one) and a extended, which can then hold some logical inside.
BTW: since it is not well possible to have a partition manging software to do all tasks from windows directly, mostly you will get an ISO of boot CD for it.
Look for gparted, it come now with boot CD from their website, it is free.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
First of all, sorry for anything I may be repeating or if I got something wrong, I just glanced through the posts without reading them completely. Anyways, I always had a copy of a live cd (Knoppix) of even the GParted LiveCD to do my partitioning on my Windows machine. I never had any problems with it. In Linux, you CAN partition a flash drive, but as mentioned, Windows will only read the first partition. On hard disks, either 2.5" or 3.5", portable or not, you will be able to make *as many as you need*, depending on your setup, etc. Also, FYI, if you decide to partition your Vista drive with the built-in partition tool, it limit you to a minimum size on the main partition.
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Robert Frost
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: baby ain't mine." -- Adam Holguin
>you will be able to make *as many as you need*, depending on your setup, etc.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
The 4-partition limit isn't just a Windows thing. It's a limitation due to the way partition information is stored in the MBR. The partition table for an extended partition isn't stored in the MBR if I remember correctly, which is why you can have as many secondary partitions as you want.
I just did not want to go into primary/logical partitions, and having to define. Besides, most partition editors I've used do not let you create more than four primary partitions anyways, so even if he tried making them, it would be impossible.
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Robert Frost
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: baby ain't mine." -- Adam Holguin
I've managed to dig out my other flash drive and booted gparted with it.
And I've fixed my mbr (Master Boot Record) with the makeboot.bat from PendriveLinux.com.
Turns out I needed admin prives to use the makeboot.bat correctly.
But, even though my flash drive is fixed now, I would still like to know a windows compatible partiton manager.
there are some, partition magic, or disk manager from acronis or similar, but compatible with windows?
Some modifications to the partition table can be done under windows, that means from the windows GUI, but not all such operations can be completed.
Windows need reboot for any changes to be read correctly by windows.
There are some tricks, like partition magic replaces temporary some type markings in the partition table to be able to change some values there, but when it concerns the system partition or some partitions have been added, windows need clean reboot to be able to use the new partition table.
So I think there is little point of trying to produce partitioning toll working only under windows. The bootable media work more efficient and do the job more safely.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
google for swissnife, this will do some job from windows GUI, but will not work on system partitions.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
...and it appears to be the last surviving link
[link removed - illegally packaged software - Moderator Zach Thibeau]
Stick it to tha'man!
what people ask for.
You can have many such partition managers portable, but non of them does really work, none of them will ever really work as you can not make changes to system partition during the time it is in use.
You can only make kind of request how you wish the things should look like and then reboot and the changes will be applied before the operating system starts up completely.
Therefore there is no need to have portable partition managers as all changes have to be applied when the system is not running.
Partition managers are therefore distributed mainly as bootable media (CD) with some own operating system on it and then all changes can be made immediately.
Beside that, operating systems I know today have all their own partition manager on board, no need for an extra.
That any work on partitions can be done only under admin privileges is essential and normal in every operation system.
Paragon, well it is widely used software, but I did trash about 10 HP notebooks with it about a year ago when trying to partition them with it, so I am personally kind of biased here...
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland