## Partition Manager FAQ

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Partition Manager vs Partition Magic
Advanced Boot Manager vs System Commander
Why would anyone need 31 bootable partitions?
Does Partition Manager support disks larger than 8G?

When I run Partition Manager I get the message "Note that BIOS reports only 624 cylinders." Is there a problem with my computer?

How do I set default partition?
How do I set boot menu timeout?
How do I boot my old MS-DOS from the second hard drive?

Can I shrink FAT partition?
Can I enlarge FAT partition?
Can I convert FAT-16 to FAT-32?
Can I convert FAT-32 back to FAT-16?
Can I merge two FAT-16 partitions into a single FAT-32?

Why I cannot boot MS-DOS from FAT-16 if it is located above 2G?
Is it possible to have Windows 95 with FAT-32 and NT with NTFS on the same disk?
When I tried to install Windows 95 onto the second hard drive setup failed with error "SU0013". What should I do?

I installed Advanced Boot Manager and now I cannot see Extended partition.
I installed Advanced Boot Manager. Should I do anyting before installing a new OS?
I installed Windows 95 and Advanced Boot Manager has disappeared. What happened?

Why are there only four choices - Last, Next, Prev, Last3 - in Advanced Boot Manager?
Why are you spending so much energy writing this program and giving it out for free?

Q: Why do I need your Partition Manager, if I already have Partition Magic by Powerquest?

A: Partition Manager and Partition Magic are different programs. They are complementing each other. While Partition Magic isolates you from small details and does all work for you, Partition Manager lets you see all those details in the partition table (cylinders', heads', and sectors' numbers) and you have to make all decisions yourself. I use Partition Manager for non-standard tasks, such as creating more than one primary (bootable) FAT partitions on the disk, and use Partition Magic to resize partitions or change their cluster size.

Q: What is the difference between Advanced Boot Manager and System Commander?

A: While both programs allow you to have multiple Operating Systems on one hard drive they do it in the different ways. System Commander lets you boot several OS from one partition by manipulating with system files (for example you can put several versions of MS-DOS, Windows 95, and Windows NT into a single FAT partition). With System Commander you still have a limitation of four partitions per disk, but you can put many OS in each of those partitions. On the other hand Advanced Boot Manager does not manipulate inside partitions, but, instead, lets you create up to 31 bootable partitions on your disk, and then boot from them different OS. I have not tried, but it might be possible to use both at the same time.

Q: Why would anyone in the right mind want to create 31 bootable partitions?

A: Probably 31 is too much, but the current limitation of four partitions is a problem. For example, I have six partitions on my 5.1G hard disk. I have an old version of MS-DOS, Windows 95, Solaris x86, another Windows 95 partition for programs downloaded from web, some empty space to test Partition Manager, and an Extended DOS partition. When I boot from DOS or Windows 95 I can see two partitions: one, from which I have booted and an extended partition with my files and programs.

In addition, it is now common to have several OS, such as Windows 95/98, Windows NT, and various flavors of Linux in order to develop crossplatform applications.

Q: I just have installed Advanced Boot Manager but I cannot see my extended DOS partition? Here is my disk layout:

      1 DOS FAT-16     500Mb
      2 DOS Extended   300Mb
      3 Linux          400Mb
      4 Linux swap      20Mb

A: When you install Advanced Boot Manager it automatically picks extended partition only if it is last on the disk. In your case you have to edit boot menu (press Space in the main screen) so it will look as follows:

      # Part Show   Name
      1   1  Next   MS-DOS
      2   3  Next   Linux
      3   3  Last3  Linux (sees D:)

After that you will be able to see extanded partition from both DOS and Linux.

If you did this, but you still cannot see Extended partition, it might be that you have unused space at the end of the disk, which is considered to be the last partition. Then you have to enlarge Extended partition up to the end of the disk (just increase its size in MBR).

Q: Why are there only four choices - Last, Next, Prev, Last3 - in Advanced Boot Manager?

A: The reason, why number of choices was limited, is that I wanted to keep all occupied (by partitions) space covered in MBR. Then if somebody runs fdisk or similar utility, it wouldn't think that disk space not mentioned in MBR is empty (and available), even though it has some valuable information.

This is a reasonable behaviour, since most people want to hide primary partitions from each other and put all shared data in the Extended partition, making it visible to all of the systems, and implemented set of choices seems to be enough.

Q: After I installed Windows 95 Advanced Boot Manager has disappeared.

A: Click here to see what you should do before installing a new OS in the Partition Manager's help.

Q: Can I boot my old MS-DOS from the second hard drive?

A: Yes you can do that. See an example in the Partition Manager's help.

Q: I have Windows 95 and Linux on my computer, after installing your boot manager I have added another Windows 95 partition for my little brother. The problem is that every time I leave my computer I have to reboot from second Windows partition, so my brother won't get into Linux, when he turns it on. Is there a better solution?

A: Yes, there is a solution for this case. You have to set a "default partition" in the boot manager's options. Then, instead of booting from rememberd "last time booted" partition, boot manager will always start with the default partition highlighted.

Q: My computer is so slow that when I turn it on I can go and get a cup of tea before it finishes BIOS tests. But some times there is a line in the cafeteria and I miss the boot manager's prompt. Is there any way to hold the prompt?

A: Yes, there are several ways. First of all you can set the prompt timeout up to 100 seconds - this will give you some time, or you can set it 0 - this will force boot manager to wait forever, even if you had to go to China for your tea, you still couldn't miss it. (In case of compact boot manager setting default partition to Space will have similar effect). And finally, you can get a faster machine, which will solve most of the problems.

Q: Does Partition Manaer support disks larger than 8G?

A: The old standard for partition table has an 8G limit for the size of the hard disk and partitions. Current version of the Partition Manager follows that standard and if you have 8G or greater disk it will not be able to see anything beyond 8G boundary. However, you can operate as usual under 8G line. I am now collecting information about new standard and will implement it in the next release of the program. If you already have partitions occupying space beyond 8G Partition Manager will complain, saying that their parameters are inconsistent. Don't worry about it.

Q: How do I convert FAT-16 to FAT-32?

A: There is a program which does one-way conversion from FAT-16 to FAT-32. You can download a copy of cvt.exe. This utility appears to be written by Microsoft, but I couldn't find any documentation or reference for it on their web site. So use it at your own risk.

Q: I have a 6G FAT-32 partition. I want to convert it back to FAT-16, because I am going to install Windows NT. Can Partition Manager do that?

A: Even if Partition Manager could do it - you still cannot have 6G FAT-16 partition. The limit for FAT-16 partition is 2G. I would suggest you to shrink FAT-32 partition down to 4G and create a 2G FAT-16 partition on the freed space.

Another case (more details)

Q: How do I shrink a partition?

A: First of all run SCANDISK and DEFRAG utilities. Then start Partition Manager and change partition size. Then go to the setup screen (press Enter on the partition) and change size there. Make sure that you do not go below MINIMUM partition size. Reboot computer. Done.

Note: DEFRAG moves all files to the beginning of the partition, but it leaves system and hidden files untouched. Therefore even after you run DEFRAG there still might be files at the end of partition. In this case you would have to find those files and remove system and hidden attributes, then defragment the disk again and after that restore those attributes.

Q: Can I enlarge existing FAT partition?

A: Yes, but only if it was shrinked before. The problem is the size of the FAT - it must be large enough to address all clusters on the disk. However, if you don't want to backup and restore all files so much that you are willing to spend $70, get Partition Magic and it will do it in a few minutes. (I am going to add this feature to my program in a month or so).
Note: you can format partitions with option /x:max_number_of_sectors so that you can enlarge them in the future. For example if you want to extend partition up to 4G you should put /x:8,000,000 as an option.

Q: Can Partition Manager merge two 2G FAT-16 partitions into a single 4G FAT-32, without erasing all data?

A: Yes, but it isn't automatic. You would have to do the following steps:

    Pictures:

    Original:      [ FAT-16  Data......... Free.... ] [ FAT-16 Data.... Free..... ]
    Move files:    [ FAT-16  Free.................. ] [ Data.................. F. ]
    Format:        [ FAT-32  Free.................. ] [ Data.................. F. ]
    Move files:    [ FAT-32  Data................ F ] [ Free..................... ]
    Enlarge:       [ FAT-32  Data................ Free........................... ]
    Unzip:         [ FAT-32  Data............................. Free.............. ]

Descriptions:

1. Copy all files from the first partition to the second one (better zip them)
2. Using Partition Manager format first partition as FAT-32 with option /x:max_num_of_sectors (to make FAT tables large enough for the future expansion)
3. Reboot computer
4. Copy all files back to the first partition
5. Delete second FAT-16 and enlarge FAT-32 up to 4G
6. Reboot computer

Note: be careful with copying system and hidden files. Also, if the first partition was bootable, you would need to run "sys.com" to install system files rather then just copying them back after formatting.

Q: I desperately need to convert 2G FAT-32 back to FAT-16. And I don't have money to buy Partition Magic.

OK. Lets go step by step.
Suppose that you have 1.2G of data on your partition.

    Pictures:

    Original:      [ FAT-32  Data... Free... Data... Free... Data... ............ ]
    After Defrag:  [ FAT-32  Data................... Free........................ ]
    Shrink:        [ FAT-32  Data................... F] [ FAT-16 Free............ ]
    Move or zip:   [ FAT-32  Free.................... ] [ Data................... ]
    Format:        [ FAT-16  Free.................... ] [ Data................... ]
    Move back:     [ FAT-16  Data................... F] [ Free................... ]
    Enlarge:       [ FAT-16  Data................... Free........................ ]

Descriptions:

1. Defragment and shrink FAT-32 partition down to 1.3G.
2. On the freed space create a temporary FAT-16 partition.
3. Reboot computer and move (or zip) as much as possible files to the second partition.
4. If there is no more files on FAT-32 go to step 5. Otherwise return to step 1 and keep creating those FAT-16 partitions until you move all files from FAT-32.
5. Format former FAT-32 partition as FAT-16 with option /x:4,000,000 - this tells partition manager to make FAT tables large enough to extend partition up to 2G in the future.
6. Reboot computer
7. Move all files from the closest temporary FAT-16 partition to the newly formated one. Delete that temporary partition and enlarge our destination FAT-16 up to that space.
8. Reboot computer.
9. If there are more temporary partitions go back to step 7.

If you have enough free space on the original partition the process will involve only one temporary partition and one copy cycle "to and back."

When you do copy use appropriate utility - one which handles long file names and hidden files.

Q: Why are you spending so much energy writing this program and giving it out for free?

A: I am a poor student. :-) And I know how it feels not being able to do simple things because you don't have money to buy software. It feels miserable, but you learn a lot, if you have enough determination. Now I know a lot (because I did all those things) and now I want to help other people.

If you think that I am not getting anything in exchange for my work - you are wrong. I am getting people to learn the staff. It is in Partition Magic you just click and it moves data around and you don't know what is going on (which is cool by the way). In my program, unlike the others, you will not get anywhere, unless you know which numbers to enter. Partition Manager will, obviously, help you and show everything it can, but it will require some efforts from the user side - basicly to think (that's why it is so small - it leaves decision making up to the user's brain :).

So, my program directed to people who learn, just like me or a bit younger. And I expect that when they become more experienced, they will also write something, which I and everybody else could use.

Q: Why I cannot boot MS-DOS from FAT-16 partition if it is located above 2G?

A: There is a bug in MS-DOS boot sector code. It will not work if partition is above 2G. I have written a replacement for that boot sector code. To install it you have to run Partition Manager, select FAT-16 partition and press Enter. You will get into boot sector configuration screen. Then press F6 to install the new code and F2 to save it.

In addition to fixing 2G problem with the new boot sector code you can now dual boot Windows 95 OSR2 with no problem (which was not possible before, because of the bugs in OSR2 code).

The new code is independent from Partition Manager and, once installed, it can be used with any other Boot Manager. To uninstall it simply run "sys.com" which comes with your OS.

Q: Is it possible to have Windows 95 with FAT-32 and NT with NTFS on the same disk?

A: Yes. You simply have to create FAT-32 and NTFS partitions with Partition Manager, and format FAT-32. Then you have to install Windows 95 into FAT-32 and NT into NTFS. After that you can use Compact or Advanced Boot Managers to switch between the systems.

In order to share files you can either create a small FAT-16 partition at the end of the disk (which both OS can read) or get NTFS driver for Windows 95 and FAT-32 driver for NT at http://www.sysinternals.com

Q: When I tried to install Windows 95 onto the second hard drive setup failed with error "SU0013". What should I do?

A: This problem exists with both Windows 95 and 98. However there is a way around.

First of all you have to create and format FAT-16 or FAT-32 partition for Windows 95/98 on the second disk. Then you have to reboot computer and in BIOS setup swap first and second hard drives or simply disable your first hard drive. After that you can boot computer with Windows 95 setup floppy and install Windows.

After Windows will be configured you have to reenable your first hard disk in BIOS setup. Then run Partition Manager and go to the second disk, install boot manager and change in the FAT-16/32 boot sector drive number from 128 to 129. (To get into the boot sector configuration select partition and press Enter).

When you will boot Windows from the second disk make sure that all primary FAT partitions on the first disk are hidden. (It can be configured automatically with Advanced Boot Manager).

Q: When I run Partition Manager I get the message "Note that BIOS reports only 624 cylinders." Is there a problem with my computer?

A: No. Your computer is OK. Most of the BIOSes follow an "old custom" to reserve last cylinder "for testing purposes." Newer BIOSes and OS (such as NT) ignore that and use last cylinder. To be compartible with them Partition Manager tries to detect the last cylinder.

More answers will be added as you will ask more questions...

Last modification date: July 23, 1998