PartitionMagic 8.0 Ate my partitions :-(

hardc0re

Gawd
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Messages
869
Hi,

I had put in a merge partition command and let it run overnight, in the morning I woke up to find 2 partitions missing, and the partitions were converted into free space, as per disk management. I find this app to be very unreliable for it to have consumed my partitions. Is there a way to get the data back?
 
Didn't it warn you that merging partitions would cause you to lose your data?
Technically it would still be there if there hasn't been any data written over it.


Try checking for a partition recovery program, or if PM8.0 will do that.
 
It is not a good idea to merge partitions anyway. Even if it works, it can take a very long time.
It is often easier to just backup the data, delete the partitions, and create a single one with the size you want. Then, restore the contents from the backup.

You can use data recovery software to get the files back.
You can download free demos that let you see your files. But, to recover them, you will have to buy.
You will get individual files back. But, you will lose the hierarchy of the folders.

This is just an example:
http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm
 
Partition Magic = Don't use it, ever. It's old, hasn't been updated in over 4 years, and will wreck Vista and Windows 7 machines even if you have other OSes on the drive(s). It is to be avoided at all possible costs... and luckily, Gparted (as noted) and Parted Magic are free solutions that are superior in almost every potential aspect, they're the ones to choose.

Of course, Vista and Windows 7 can do a lot of partition management themselves now, too...
 
Partition Magic = Don't use it, ever. It's old, hasn't been updated in over 4 years, and will wreck Vista and Windows 7 machines. It is to be avoided at all possible costs.
THIS ^^^

I would add XP to the list also.
 
so im using GetDataBack, so far I can recover some files except .AVI files. After having recovered them they do not play anymore. Gparted is for Linux right? I am using Windows XP.
 
funny because i have this old acronis disk director boot disk, and ive used it for like 5 years now and that of course never has been updated either. time and again its by far my most reliable solution- it has never failed me. of course, things will change as NTFS wont be the format forever
 
so im using GetDataBack, so far I can recover some files except .AVI files. After having recovered them they do not play anymore.
Do you have a paid version or just the demo version?


Gparted is for Linux right? I am using Windows XP.
GParted live CD is a boot media that you boot to. So, you can use it even if you have no OS.
 
thanks for the info, I guess lady luck was with me when I previously used it to add extra space to my boot partition. I'll use that live cd from now on since there is so much opposition to Partition Tragic -- I'm not surprised though, Norton screws up everything.
 
Partition Magic was the tool for partitioning for many years, from the day it came out till... that fateful day when Symantec bought out PowerQuest and effectively ruined that companies well earned reputation (they also created the first serious drive imaging application, Drive Image - Norton Ghost came later).

Because Symantec basically left Drive Image for dead in favor of their corporate foothold with Ghost (they really bought PowerQuest to quash competition for Ghost - a play right outta the Microsoft handbook), and then Partition Magic too by leaving it for dead with no updates, well... that's Symantec for ya.

I gotta wonder sometimes just how Peter Norton actually feels about how Symantec has effectively ruined his good name for so long... I wonder...
 
No matter what partitioning tool you use (Partition Magic, GParted, ...), as long as you use the Merge command, you are really rolling the dice!

I already told you how you should merge partitions.
 
Yea, PQ8 is old and I had it mess XP partitons once too. I now use Acronis Disk Director and have never had it give me an issue.
 
That's why no one uses PartitionMagic anymore, because it hasn't been updated in years. Gparted is free and is updated often, so it would do a much better job on current systems.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

I don't know what Gparted is like now but the last time I used it and had it do a format to NTFS it was not liked by Vista and caused a failure of the partition, luckily it was not the OS partition so just did a reformat with Vista itself. Gparted may be good for partitioning but not so sure about using it to format a HDD to NTFS that is compatible with Vista. I have Acronis Disk Director now anyway and that has been 100% reliable for me so far.
 
Does it matter if the disk is SSD with these partitioning tools?
 
It shouldn't, no. But most SSDs are so small (30, 64, 80GB, 128GB if you're rich, 256GB if you own the company making 'em), etc... why bother.
 
I have had great luck with PartedMagic, which I believe is very similar to Gparted.
Except that GParted is being updated continuously while PM has not been updated for years.
Partitions worked on by PM are not liked by Vista or Windows 7, which are newer than the last updated version of PM.

Edit; I thought you said Partition Magic. :confused:
 
Last edited:
He said Parted Magic and not Partition Magic, these are two different applications. Partition Magic is a commercial product as already discussed; Parted Magic is open source freeware and the result of some folks from the GParted project breaking off and creating their own product. Parted Magic is updated frequently (more than GParted from what I've seen) and is more current as well.

The reason Parted Magic and GParted are similar is because they're essentially based on the same code, but whereas GParted has lagged behind, development on Parted Magic continues.

Reading comprehension FTW!!! :D
 
PartedMagic PartitionMagic
So easy to confuse!
I am sorry about that.
 
It shouldn't, no. But most SSDs are so small (30, 64, 80GB, 128GB if you're rich, 256GB if you own the company making 'em), etc... why bother.

Mine is 80GB and I still did. One partition each for XP and 7. A third for a couple games.
 
Wow, never even heard of Parted Magic before. I have been using GParted with no issues.

Has anyone used both and have any insight on which is better? GParted seems to update pretty frequently with their betas.
 
The reason Parted Magic and GParted are similar is because they're essentially based on the same code, but whereas GParted has lagged behind, development on Parted Magic continues.

Reading comprehension FTW!!! :D

not true. PartedMagic uses GParted.
What you are talking about was the (temporarily non-updated) LiveCD that GParted makes. This lagged for a bit so a side project called PartedMagic started to make a LiveCD

There is really only one codebase and that is GNU Parted, the GParted wrapper is then used on the PartedMagic LiveCD and the Gparted LiveCD

http://partedmagic.com/
->
http://partedmagic.com/programs.html listing included application for the PartedMagic LiveCD
->
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/


Ergo GParted is the actual Application. No fork, no side developement, no lagging...
 
Yeah, I was confused because GParted gets updated like every other month.

Newest stable GParted is 5/17/09, where as latest PartedMagic is 4/10/09. Then there is a new beta for GParted EVERY month. Thus PartedMagic would is "lagged behind" if you go by this.

/me Sticks with GParted, since it does the job and most importantly has proven it's reliability.
 
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