i need to partition, but.............

[wins]

Right now, im running winxp on 100% of mi harddrive (10gb) i want to resize that ntfs partition to 5gb, and leave the other 5gb as un unformatted partition so i can start up the linux installation and not partition manually. I tried Partition Magic, but then I discovered its a demo, and dosent work, which really pissed me off. Are then any programs out there that will let me do what i described?

 

[ianf]

I'd repost to a windows forum for a full response.
But PowerQuest DriveImage has always done the job for me. Ian

"IF" is not a word it's a way of life

 

[eduncan01]

You might want to try GNU Parted.

http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/

 

[willywonka]

In my experience (a lot) Partition Magic is the tool of choice. It's one of the most useful things I've ever purchased. However, here are some other possibilities.

Most Linux distributions come with a tool called 'fips' . fips will move your data toward the beginning of a partition so you can then use fdisk to reset the end boundary without killing your data. It's risky though and I don't know if it will work with NTFS.

I used fips once successfully a few years ago. Since then I've only used Partition Magic.

The only other way I know of is to back up that partition to some other storage, repartition the drive, reformat the partitions, then restore the data. Make sure you move hidden and system files. Be prepared to re-establish your boot record info. Linux will do that with LILO.

Norton may have tools to help. I don't know.

 

[wins]

I decided to back everything up and cd and nuke my drive. But, Im usin that program williwanka talked about, thanks.