morriscox@gmail.com,
Well DON'T install it on any drive....see above....but what would be wrong with installing in the Program File......that would be normal.......and presuming you computer didn't DIE with a blue screen. would presume any files you might want to recover would be on some other drive or partition.
Bottom line, oh well had enough of THIS ONE PERIOD.

iwontell, I didn't state anything about Program Files or BSODs. I was suggesting an improvement in how the warning is stated.

MindyMac, you can try to recover the original partitions with the Recover Lost Partitions/ Partition Recovery Option, Hotkey L.

Michael, your lucky, I got a blue screen on two computers...lucky me......only took an hour to get back to normal........

Rob Crombie,
1. Click "Disk"-->"Create New Virtual Disk File"-->"Create .img File" and then can create an image file;
2. Put the image file to the boot sector of your cd by using CD creation software.

Rob Crombie,

You 'never clone' ???

The description of what you do - given in the rest of your post - is cloning.

andyf, i am using PartitionGuru for two years now with Win7 and Linux multiboot system. Had no problems with it so far. But i create all my Linux partitions with gparted, i use PartitionGuru to repair sectors on dead drives and such other more complicated stuff.

Thanks Burni, but I still wouldn't trust a program that incorrectly identifies an EXT4 partition as EXT3 to handle anything involving the file system on such a partition. That would be asking for trouble.

You may be right that it could be useful for repairing dead sectors but it's a long time since I experienced one.

Cheers!
Andyf.

mike, you mentioned the good choices, this one INST in the running unless you got a lot of time and like to play with BLUE SCREENS........

R Carter,

I tried recovering my original partitions recently using Partition Guru, but it only showed me the partitions with no files (Partition Guru has a preview window of directories and files in every partition before you try to recover it). I used the Partition Guru's files recovery wizard and it was able to recover the files in their original directories with their original names. :)

TK, you are completely mistaken. Twice. +Neil K. Friedman was, indeed, talking about cluster sizes.

In addition, the "low level format(ting)", you refer to is more relevant to the ancient Modified Frequency Modulation (MFM) hard disks introduced by IBM and, thereafter, also widely used in most floppy disks, than it is to today's HDDS. I quote Seagate:
"Actually the term "low level" is a bit of a misnomer. The low-level process first used years ago in MFM hard drives bears little resemblance to what we now call a "low-level format" for today's SATA and ATA (IDE) drives. The only safe method of initializing all the data on a Seagate device is the zero fill erase option in SeaTools for DOS. This is a simple process of writing all zeros (0's) to the entire hard disk drive." (http.... knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/203931en)

You probably are familiar with it already but, if not, take a look at this nice little gem, HDDGuru: (http.... hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/) You will see that changing cluster sizes, like the OP asked about, and low-level-formatting are completely different animals. What he was trying to do is rather straightforward and not all too difficult. I've done it a dozen times or more using both TestDisk and, more recently, the much more user-friendly tool I first recommended, MiniTools Partition Wizard Pro.

I hope you did not scare him with all the arcane, techie, low-level-formatting stuff. It really isn't that complicated.

TK, YOU ARE RIGHT and my advice was wrong, IF, indeed, his drives pre-date circa 2009.

In any event, again, YOU ARE RIGHT: You cannot turn a native 512 byte sector drive into a 4096 byte sector drive. The drives on which I successfully used TestDisk and MiniTools to change sector (cluster) sizes are all less than five years old and, therefore, were designed to be backward compatible with the old MFM standard.

Thanks for patiently repeating yourself until I finally got the better-informed message. ::sheepish grin::

-- JMJ

Mike OD,
?????????????????????

Hon Kong, PartitionGuru is DiskGenius.

Craig, Any partitioning app will do what your looking for, so yes this will do what you need. Just make a new partition and your good to go.

Craig, I have not used Partition Guru, but I've used every free partition program, and the one I prefer is called Macrorit Partition Extender Pro. I prefer it for one simple reason - it's the only one that has never failed me.

Failure can take several forms from not being able to perform the partitioning to catastrophic failure and complete data loss. So be sure to backup the partition before you split it up. For that job, nothing beats Aomei's Backupper, also free.

In my experience, all the partition programs are fairly easy and intuitive, but one thing you need to do after designing the partitioning you desire is to look for a button that says "apply" or "commit," or something similar. Otherwise, you'll get a message that you have changes pending when you try to exit the program.

Craig, doing what you wish to do it is a bit more complicated than just making a new petition. I will use Linux as an example. There is an article that describes setting up Linux as a second operating system. The article discusses Windows XP. The procedure is the same with any Windows version.

Step-by-step directions and explanation of each step

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-replace-windows-xp-linux-free.htm

If it's LInux Mint or Ubuntu, don't worry about it, as they will both help you create a partition for themselves. Be VERY careful with doing partitions! you can, and many do, destroy pre-existing data.

Craig, Disk management in windows will partition a hard drive for you no need for any program

"I want to partition my 1T drive so I can have a section for a second OS."

Ideally Craig, you'd have one ~200-300GB partition for your current OS, a 2nd partition of the same size for the 2nd OS, & a 3rd partition taking up the remainder that you could add software to, store media files etc., & subdivide into more partitions if/when needed in the future.

Normally you'd just defrag the disk/partition with the current OS to pack the files near the front of the disk, then create any new partitions in the free space [like shoving everything to one side on a shelf or in a drawer to make room for something else]. The Gotcha is if you already have partitions after the %system% partition where the OS [Windows] lives.

If that is the case, you may or may not be able to move them without hurting their functionality. And partitions can be hidden -- you might not know they exist until you run a partitioning app. In any case, if there are partitions after the one for Windows, safest way is to leave them there & work around them, subdividing the %system% partition as necessary.

" Is this a complex program? I am not looking for all the bells and whistles but to put in 100GB for the section and be done. Should I wait for a different program?"

DO a full disk image backup before you use any partitioning app, & if you do that you should be fine with PartitionGuru Pro.

Craig,
To repartition a hard disk: select the disk in PartitionGuru and click "Quick Partition" button, and you can select partition table type, partition number, size, 4K alignment, etc.
To split a partition into two: select partition you want to split and click the right button on mouse, then click "Split Partition"

Hi tedwest. :)

"I've used every free partition program, and the one I prefer is called Macrorit Partition Extender Pro"

Maybe you wanted to write free, because pro is the paid version of it.

xilolee, to be sure, though one would hope he'd figure that out and expand the tree before it's too late?!?

Craig,
SpyShelter and similar software causes this error

Archimede, try restarting the computer

Archimede, i suppose apps protected with VMProtect can bring this error

Archimede,
SpyShelter and similar software causes this error

cgp,
I almost jumped on this, but after seeing the company name and thinking the same thing, I have changed my mind. I bought three of the Easeus products and had to jump through hoops to get them installed to a new computer. Wasted many hours waiting for emails from them to just install what I already paid for, because of their stupid machine only registration system. They must think they are Microsoft. Then after all installed, all I saw were nag screens to upgrade -- to pay yet again! No way! I will never buy from them again, and if this is Easeus hiding behind another name, I don't want it. If not Easeus, they are stupid to use a name so close to another company's name, and don't deserve my attention.

anon, just installed it flawlessly and NOTHING of what you are mentioning above happened!! Seems a GREAT product. And please note I'm not a newcomer to computers. My first personal computer was an old Sinclair ZX Spectrum with 48k memory, circa 1982, which still works!!

anon,

Generally I agree with your observations about Easeus.
It is located in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
I did try an EaseUS backup and restore software once. Turned out to be not what I want.
I surfed the official EaseUS website forum where a so-called company guru was supposed to dispense advice. After reading the forum in detail, I realised that the EaseUS staff cannot understand the questions posed by their customers/users and usually gave irrelevant answers that did not solve any problem. It may be a serious language problem and English may not be their native language.
.
Back to this Eassos Ltd product.
No idea whether Eassos has any link with EaseUS.
Eassos Technology Co., Ltd. is a software developer located in Qinhuangdao, Hebei in China.
The Eassos website does not reveal this.
No idea why they are ashamed to reveal who they are and which country they are from.
I cannot comment on the performance and quality of this software product.
Because I never tried it and do not intend to.
.
The FREE MiniTool Partition Wizard Version9.1 is extremely good and that is what I rely on.

Mario, Still have my ZX80, ZX81 and Spectrum, all still working .... Ah! Those were the days!

DaveC, we're TOO old!! 99% of GAOTD users do not have a slightest idea of what we're talking about!!

Mario,
I do ;-) lost my zx spectrum 128k sadly.

cgp,
PartitionGuru - a great program with a glorious history. No relation to EaseUs has not, except a similar company name.
But when PartitionGuru (formerly known DiskGenius) was already great, EaseUs company did not exist.

rotsen, LOL - 128K??? man, you were a power user at that time!!! OR very rich!

Mario, You obviously did not read his post or understand he was talking about re-installing the Easeus version on a different computer. I had the same bad experience with Easeus paid version. Delays and delays from support.

Mario, Ill go back a bit further.. still got a sol 1 and sol 3 unit and my 8080.. now can we say s100 bus :) a few of us are still alive that remember the ol apple 1 computer and COLOR vice BW or amber or green or TTY machines.. as output..

ric, and others who might be interested,
MiniTool PW version 10 is about to come out, so they are giving away version 9.1 PRO for free.
No upgrades, no support, but we know that from other sites... ;)

You just need to subscribe to their newsletter.
You do need an e-mailadress to confirm the subscription... but you can use a junk mail address.
Or unsubscribe after you got the license code. :D

Waste of Time,
Thanks for actually reading and understanding my post about Easeus.
I guess the rest of those old geezers just want to brag about how old they are and not actually read the comments. (I am not young either, but I won't say anything here about my first computer, my first monitor or my first job that dealt with computers.)

Merlin,
Thanks for the info. I will go try to find the free MiniTool Pro.

Merlin,

If you're still there, where do I find this offer? Do you have a link? On MiniTool's site all it has is a demo of the Pro version.

Breew, I had a Commodore 64, with a 4-digit serial number. Betcha I'm older than you! Color? Much much later!

Keith Russell,
Just saw your message.
No reason for panic yet. You still have time to get it.

http://www.minitool.com/promotions/2016-thanksgiving.html is the place to be

MindyMac, Hey C64s came much later.. i went with the atari 800XL with a hand built memory of 256K upgrade.. had to wire the pins and stack solder the chips when i retired my sol terminal. Just a note helped build a few imsai 8080 .

Thanks, Merlin. Got it.

Cornjaco, a new physical partition - bootable if you wish. Not a virtual partition.

Cornjaco,

See: eassos[.]com/partitionguru/manual/RebootAndRunDOSVersion.php

A current Windows device may not boot to DOS -- with backup & partitioning apps etc. most often a version of *nix or WinPE provides the support needed to run a [usually minimal] version of the program. And those files can be added to a bootable USB stick or optical disk, or in this case, the hard drive.

For that to work, you don't need a separate partition on the hard drive -- otherwise bootable CDs/DVDs wouldn't work for this sort of app... the device bios just has to find & read the boot loader for the small copy of *nix or Windows [WinPE], & that's it.