3 stars (Some trouble with installation) - I purchased Partition Commander 9 specifically so I could add (and dual-boot) Linspire to my PC which already had Windows XP. The initial installation of the basic program was accomplished flawlessly with the setup wizard. The problem arose when I tried to use the automatic "add another OS" feature. The partitioning would seemingly progress fine for several minutes, but then I would get a message that the program encountered "an error," and it would stop. I uninstalled and reinstalled the program without difficulty, but with the same result (except the error message popped up at different times) for a total of four attempts at "add another OS." Incidentally, I chose to not make the boot disks, as this is a new computer with nothing important on it yet, so I could more easily restore it than rebuild it. So, I then decided to create the new partition manually. I am closer to "novice" than "experienced," and I did have a few false starts. However, it did come with a well-written printed manual, and I did not have too much difficulty figuring out what to do. Everything then worked out fine, and thus far I have had no problems running either operating system.
5 stars (Flawless for me) - Last time I used Partition Commander was version 6. Yes, I had an issue where I lost a partition, but I became well aware of the program after that.
Bought Version 9 (even after reading the reviews) because I bought a Dell laptop and for some reason Dell thinks I like a 80 GB drive all in one partition. Thinking I had nothing to lose since the laptop is so new, I bought Partition Commander 9 and installed it. I too chose NOT to use the 2 floppies, and install continued fine for me. I chose NOT to install or use System Commander because I didn't want to have that as a boot loader.
For the single purpose of breaking my one drive into 3, I rebooted the laptop and went to work in the familiar interface that I was used to in Version 6. After making the changes, exited out, rebooted and expected the worst due to the previous reviews here. XP booted with no issues and I now have 3 partitions.
This is one program that one needs to get to know first before doing anything. Just like any other partitioning program, one mistake can cost alot.
For me, I'm quite happy with my choice. It was $20 after rebates and it did just what I wanted it to do.
1 stars (Know what you are getting into before you start) - I picked up this program because I wanted to partition and format an external harddrive with FAT32 over 80GIG and XP Home would only partition a drive this size with NTFS. This looked like a good choice from reading the description on the box (next time I'll look over the reviews also). I briefly read the directions and figured I'll load it on my PC and work with the program later when I have time. I knew I was in trouble as soon as the CD started to load. It didn't ask where I wanted to load the folders or programs, it just started to load. When it came time to ask to make the 2 floppies I decided to abort the program and cancel. The program loaded anyway, and things were fine till I shutdown and went to restart the next day. I got a blank black screen. I could only boot from the CD. After much teeth gnashing I was able to get my system up and running with a backup I made earlier.
Uninstalled and never will use again.
It says make a backup of everything and they are not lying. BEWARE |
