PartitionMagic

About 1 pages (408 words)

Questions on this topic? Just ask!

PartitionMagic
Main window of Norton PartitionMagic 8.05
Developer	Symantec
Latest release	8.05 / 2004-05-05
OS	DOS, Microsoft Windows, WinPE
Genre	Disk partitioning utility
License	Proprietary
Website	www.symantec.com/partitionmagic/

PartitionMagic is a computer program for hard disk drive partitioning originally made by the PowerQuest corporation but now owned by Symantec. The program runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems or from a bootable CD-ROM and enables creation and modification of partitions. Existing partitions can be resized without loss of data.

1 Details
2 Future versions
3 Compatibility issues
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

Details

PartitionMagic is capable of resizing NTFS or FAT (16 or 32) partitions without data loss, and can copy and move partitions, including to other disks. It also has various other features, including being able to convert between FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS, modify the cluster size of FAT16/32 and NTFS filesystems, and merge adjacent FAT or NTFS filesystems (all without data loss, though some NTFS-only metadata is lost on conversion to FAT). Additionally, it has somewhat limited support for ext2 and ext3 partitions. Partition Magic releases through 3 were offered both in OS/2 and Windows versions. Symantec's Partition Magic version 8 only supports Windows.

Future versions

PartitionMagic, while under PowerQuest, was updated regularly, adding new and useful features. Since Symantec purchased the application, there has not yet been a new release, and Symantec has stated that it has no plans on releasing a new version.^[1]

Compatibility issues

PartitionMagic is compatible with Windows NT, 98, ME, 2000, and XP desktop editions. When run on a server edition it displays a dialog box reading "PartitionMagic cannot run on Windows NT/2000/.NET Server.". Partition Magic 2.0.5, VolumeManager 7 and 8 cannot resize dynamic disks; only basic is supported (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/215314-46-changing-volume-sizes-dynamic-disks). It fails to run under Windows Vista. When launched, with a Windows Vista partition present, even from another version of Windows, Partition Magic displays the following error: "Init failed: Error 117. Partition's drive letter cannot be identified." The same error has been reported in some occasions under Windows XP too, without any solution found yet.