Partitioning ? [a "today" question, if possible] thanks!

[Gina Stevenson]

Every so often I see something re partitioning. Does this mean that if I should have to do "recovery," as I just did, that there can be some partition saving back-ups that won't be affected in the recovery process, if the main running of this thing is done in the crashed partition?

If so, I'm wondering if the GAOTD partitioning thing today might be OK. It does say it's a "time-limited offer," so wondering if you would need that program to access the partitions you made with it, or just can't make anymore partitions after the offer expires.

Could you make partitions now, and just leave "as is," with the ability to access them again w/o this program still there? [would think so, but would like to make sure before trying that]

Thanks.

[Gina Stevenson]

Uh-oh! It's getting late for trying this today, if you can, in fact, partition something off, and then recovery only affects that particular partition. Thanks! ;)

[Todd Erickson]

Creation a partition just means that you are dividing your drive into parts. Technically, data on one side of the partition should be safe from what happens on the other side, though if you get your drive extremely infected, this is not guaranteeable.

I'm somewhat worried that when I google EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition 6.1.1, I get 20+ pages of the same advert text repeated. I don't see anywhere where an actual, physical person is reacting to or reviewing the software. However, I was able to find a review on PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/article/203958/easeus_partition_master_professional_now_recovers_ partitions.html) which would seem to indicate that it is a valid product.

For backups, I would really recommend investing in an external hard drive of some kind, so that if something goes physically wrong with the drive (which would negate the benefit of the partition) you aren't losing anything.

[Gina Stevenson]

Thank you. Do have an external hard drive ($30 for 40 GB). However, the thing so erratically decides to be recognized/readable by the computer, not sure what to do about the thing, since it's past time I can take it back (had it awhile, but seemed to not be too old before my computer was telling me it was not recognized, then it was, & so on).

Had some things on an 8GB jump drive. But some of the programs saved on there seemed to not want to work when trying to put them back on, so figured it might be good to just have them on another part of the drive/partition so it wouldn't be a download/upload situation.

Again, thanks. Wonder if I should try this, anyway?

[Todd Erickson]

If you back things up piecemeal, you cannot backup working programs. You can back up their install files, but you cannot back them up as functioning executed trees.

The alternative is to get your system precisely as you want it, and create what's called an image of the drive. The benefit to this is that you can periodically format the hard drive, wiping everything out, and just reinstall the image, which I'm told takes about half an hour. This kills registry errors and other problems, and then you just have to install other sundry programs that you've put on since then. Software like Carbonite is apparently helpful in doing this.

[Gina Stevenson]

Thank you. Carbonite, huh? Carbonite.com, I presume?

[Benjamin Burch]

Thank you. Do have an external hard drive ($30 for 40 GB). However, the thing so erratically decides to be recognized/readable by the computer, not sure what to do about the thing, since it's past time I can take it back (had it awhile, but seemed to not be too old before my computer was telling me it was not recognized, then it was, & so on).

Had some things on an 8GB jump drive. But some of the programs saved on there seemed to not want to work when trying to put them back on, so figured it might be good to just have them on another part of the drive/partition so it wouldn't be a download/upload situation.

Again, thanks. Wonder if I should try this, anyway?

The problem is a faulty USB connection. I would start by replacing your chord. That's what happened to mine.

[Norayr Hajian]

First of all, here is a review of Easus Partition Master (http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-partition-manager.htm) as well as some other products. Actually, I find Gizmo's Freeware Page (http://www.techsupportalert.com/) very helpful.

As far as partitions and recovery goes... unfortunately, there are no guarantees until you try. What I mean is that some system recovery programs restore all the programming into whatever your primary partition is and some recovery programs restore the entire hard drive to the original partition(s). In other words, if you buy a computer, partition the hard drive into two, then do a system recovery, you may end up with one partition again. Some won't do this, some will just work with your primary partition and leave your secondary partition the way it is.

For what it's worth... this is what I do with any new computer (or any computer I set up for someone else):

1. Create a secondary partition if there isn't one already.
2. Redirect all user file locations to the secondary partition (so that your docs, photos, etc, all go into the secondary partition by default).
3. I'll install and activate any program that is necessary.
4. I'll create an image of the primary partition using Macrium Reflect (http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-imaging-program.htm) and place the image on the secondary partition.

This way, if I ever run into a problem it will only take minutes to restore my system back to it's "modified-original" state and it will leave my documents all in tact. The only thing I'd need to do then is reinstall any programs that I've installed since created the disk image.