For laptops with pre-installed Windows XP and with system recovery disks.
Do not make partitions unless you know that you are doing. If you do so only for a purpose of preventing from losing data when your system dameged, it does not make a strong sense. When you do so, you gain one separate data partition, but you lose more than what you get. Keep original your system steady and your the drivers function well.
In the case, you need to make a dual OS on the laptop, such as Linux/Windows, partition is a MUST. EnPatitionMagic 7 works well with Windows including WindowsXP, easier and safer than PartitionMagic DOS version. When you do that, one thing you need to pay a close attention is that
pre-installed OS status or using system recovery disk make one more partition on your disk. That partition is for OS auto-dia purpose. You need to delete it in your Linux/Windows dual OS system in order to dual boot normally. If you still use only one windowsXP, just want one more separate data partition, you could leave it as it is.
If you are still serious about trying partition your HD and you are in Montreal, you could post your phone # here. I could call you to send you a copy of EnPartition7, which is about a size of 21.6M |