by Carol Theodore, LACS

Partition Magic 7.0 is the latest partitioning software from PowerQuest. For those of you who are not familiar with partitioning software and partitioning in particular, here is a brief introduction. Before you can install an operating system on a fixed disk (hard drive), the drive must be partitioned. In Windows and DOS this means using the utility called Fdisk. Fdisk destroys any partitions on the hard drive. Therefore, if you want to change the size of a partition already created, fdisk is not a good choice. Enter Partition Magic. This program allows you to resize, change, and combine partitions without destroying your data.

System requirements for Version 7.0 are a minimum of 54 MB of hard disk space, CD-ROM drive, 3.5 floppy drive. Minimum memory requirements for Windows 95/98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0 Workstation is 32 MB. For Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP the minimum memory requirement is 64 MB. For Windows 95/98 you will need at least a 486 or compatible. For Windows Me you will need a Pentium 150 or greater (or compatible.)

I installed Partition Magic 7.0 on a Pentium 4/ 1.5 Ghz machine with 384 MB of 133 SDRAM and a 30 GB hard drive running Windows 98/SE. Installation was easy and started automatically when I put the CD in the drive. (This will occur only if you have auto-insert notification set.) I had Partition Magic 6.0 previously installed. Version 7.0 recognized that installation and asked me if I wanted to uninstall Version 6.0 to which I said yes. After Version 6.0 was uninstalled, installation of Version 7.0 started automatically. I chose the Custom installation option that allowed me to set a different directory and partition, and choose which features to install. I was prompted to make Rescue Disks and clicked "YES." I needed two formatted floppies. The first floppy is a boot disk and the second has the Partition Magic program information. These disks will run the program. .

I ran the program from Windows 98, although some operations were completed in DOS mode. This was done automatically after changes were applied.

One of the most useful features of Partition Magic is resizing partitions. I resized one of my partitions in order to add more space to a swap partition I had created when the drive was set up initially. This operation was accomplished by selecting the partition I wanted to resize, choosing RESIZE from the menu and moving the slider to the appropriate amount of space I wanted to create.

Another useful feature allows the user to split a partition and move some files and folders to that new partition. This is a great feature if you purchased a computer with one large hard drive and one large partition. It is advisable to make more than one partition. I always create several partitions including a swap partition to avoid memory problems.

Using Partition Magic and Boot Magic (a separate installation on the Partition Magic CD), I was able to make a separate primary partition to install Windows 2000. I just ran the Wizard for creating a new partition, installed Boot Magic and installed the new operating system. Boot Magic allows you to switch between the two primary partitions by hiding the inactive partition.

Features that are new to this version:

• Support for Hard Drives up to 80 GB
• Support for an external USB Hard Drive
• Splitting partitions below the root folder
• Merging NTFS (NT files system) partitions

Partition Magic has always been a very useful program. This latest version works more smoothly and is more user-friendly than previous releases. Along with Drive Image, Partition Magic has been a part of my toolkit for a long time and will continue to be so.

Partition Magic 7.0
PowerQuest Corporation