Partition Resizer v. 1.3.4 ========================== (c) Zeleps 1994-2000 ==================== Program's Manual and Technical Information This file contains important information about the working and usage of Partition Resizer. Please read it carefully before using Partition Resizer. You MUST read README.1ST before running Partition Resizer. DISCLAIMER: This program is freeware. You may freely copy it and distribute it,as long as it remains unchanged and it is distributed with its original documents files. The author is not responsible for any consequence of the use or missuse of this program. Using this program is completely at your own responsibility. 1- What is Partition Resizer 1.1 Why you need Partition Resizer 1.2 How does it work? 1.3 Is it safe? 1.4 Changes made to the previous version 2- Working with Partition Resizer 2.1 Safety precautions 2.2 Running the program: What does what 3- Technical matters 3.1 The partition system 3.2 The DOS (FAT16 and FAT12 only) filesystem structure 3.3 The Windows FAT32 filesystem structure 4- Partitioning Techniques 4.1 Deciding what you want 4.2 Merging many small partitions into a larger one 4.3 Splitting a partition in two 4.4 Playing with partitions' sizes and positions 5- Credits and addresses -------||------- 1- What is Partition Resizer 1.1 Why you need Partition Resizer OK, this is simple: if you have a disk partition (or more), and you want to change its size or position for any particular reason whatsoever, you have 3 options: a) Backup everything, use FDISK to delete the partition, re-create the partition and restore the data. b) Pay $60 to buy a program that you will use 3 times in your life ($20 per use) c) Use Partition Resizer Always remember: This program does not intend to replace FDISK. It's rather complementary to it. You will still need FDISK if you want to create and delete partitions. Partition Resizer processes only existing partitions. Also, Partition Resizer does not convert FAT16 (older DOS partitions) into FAT32. Windows 98 provides a tool that does this conversion. 1.2 How does it work? Well, this is the tricky part. The details are described in section 3, but I'll try to make a start from here. I assume that everybody understands the importance of partitioning. I also assume that most of you understand how partitioning is achieved. For those who don't, here it is: Partitioning is just a marking of territories on the physical disk's surface. At the first sector of the disk (sector 1, head 0, cylinder 0) resides an executable code block, which looks for the bootable partition, and runs it's boot sector code. That sector contains the information needed to divide the disk space into partitions. Later on, the boot sector (which is created by the OS's format utility) loads the OS Kernel (in DOS's case it loads the IO.SYS and the MSDOS.SYS), which continues the job by loading the information of all the partition structure into memory. Partition Resizer does two things: When moving, apart from moving the data, it changes the information contained in the partition structure. When resizing, it changes the file system's data, which is contained in the boot sector and the FAT area. Both partition and FAT FS structures are explained at section 3. 1.3 Is it safe? A great deal of changes has been done to the resizing engine for version 1.3.0. The program has been known to work fine in most cases, but I've had two e-mails reporting data loss. Both cases were caused by a bug that is now corrected. Of course there has been lots of testing from my part, and from many users that used the program in their systems, so the probability for more critical bugs is highly unlikely. In case you find a problem, please inform me ASAP. In order to avoid trouble, you should backup the most valuable data in your disk, those that cannot be replaced. If something happens, you'll only have to reinstall what's lost. Most of the partition combinations this program has been tested with are combinations created with DOS's (or Windows') FDISK, or compliant to it. If you have created a partition structure which is not compatible with DOS, the program will most probably encounter problems and refuse to work with the offending disk in order to protect your data. The typical DOS partition structure is described later on in this document (section 3). The program utilises a special recovery mechanism that allows resumption of the resizing or moving process even if it is interrupted by a reboot (most probably due to power failure). Without this recovery mechanism, if the program was interrupted during the resizing or moving process, it would be impossible to access the partition's data again. This program stores every single step, so it always knows what the last action was. For speed and safety reasons I use the CMOS's bytes 1,3 and 5 (the alarm bytes) to store the step counter number. Because the contents of the CMOS are preserved even when the power is off, the program can always find the last step and continue its work like nothing happened. If you don't believe it, test it. There is one problem I do not prevent: Bad sectors. In case your disk has bad sectors, the program will not run, in order to protect your data. It will make a surface scan before it starts, but if you are certain that your disk is free of defects, you may skip it. It would be better if you had your disk surface scanned with a commercial program (like Norton Disk Doctor or Windows' ScanDisk) before you run Partition Resizer. And note this: The program can be *really* dangerous, if you don't follow ALL precautions described in the README.1ST file. Please read it carefully before using the program. 1.4 Changes made to the previous version -Fixed a bug with multiple primary non-FAT partition moving -Fixed a graphics mode problem with some Graphics cards that default to 16 pixel character height -Fixed a problem with the 2nd option (you'll now be able to change a FAT16 partition's cluster size) -Minor documentation update 2- Working with Partition Resizer 2.1 Safety Precautions As with every program that messes with your data, you should be extra careful. It is not difficult to make a mistake that will cost you valuable data. So, you MUST follow carefully the instructions contained in the file README.1ST, in order to ensure data safety. It would be a good idea to print TROUBLE.DOC file in order to have it available when something wrong happens. 2.2 Running the program: What does what The program will first look for the disk characteristics, it will scan the partition information, and it will identify and check all the DOS partitions of the disk. After some basic checks, it will continue with the main menu of the program. Here you have 4 choices. The first is resizing/moving a DOS partition or an extended partition. This option will resize a partition in order to make free space for a new partition to be created. It will also grow a partition if there is unallocated space available and the cluster size is big enough. You can also move the partition in the empty space. This way you will be able to change the order of the partitions in the disk. You can also resize extended partitions. The second option is used to change a FAT16 partition's cluster size. This will help you to make a small new partition able to grow up to any size you want. This option should be used ONLY on empty and formatted partitions, since it deletes all the data inside the partition. The third option will show you detailed information for every partition on the disk. This may sometimes help you find out which partition you want to move or resize. The last option will exit the program, and if you made any changes to the partition structure it will immediately reboot the machine, so that the new information will be loaded from the disk. Every choice but 4, will lead you to a menu where you will be asked to choose the partition which should be modified. Just enter the partition's number and press enter. Every partition description can have up to four flags. The first flag can be either P,L or E. These letters stand for Primary, Logical and Extended partition respectively. The flag * shows that the specified partition can be resized. Only partitions with * can be resized. The flag # shows which partitions can be moved. The flag ! shows that a partition is incompatible with the program, therefore it cannot be moved or resized. All partitions can be moved, but this is not always safe. I have tried moving FAT and HPFS partitions successfully, but I cannot be sure for every partition type. If you decide to move any other partition type but FAT, you will be proceeding at your own risk. The Drive letter indicated for a partition is the one originally assigned by DOS. Usage of some software drivers, like DblSpace or Stacker might alter the original drive letters. The user interface for resizing/moving partitions has been greatly simplified: appart from the use of graphics that make understanding the disk map easier, the most important functions of Partition Resizer are accessible through this screen. Using the Tab key, you can toggle between moving and resizing the currently selected partition. For advanced users, the space bar displays the extended partition of the disk and allows manipulation of its ends. By default, the extended partition is concealed, allowing the user to manipulate other part...
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