GParted is a great Open Source partitioning utility. This utility, a Partition Magic clone, is fast and reliable. I use this utility frequently to partition new physical and virtual hard drives. You can select a number of file system types, including NTFS. I usually run GParted from Insert, which is a Linux LiveCD. Insert is only 60MB so it starts and runs quickly. To begin you need to boot your computer from the CDROM, so you might need to make a BIOS change for first boot device to be CDROM. Once you have made the BIOS change just place the Insert CD in the CDROM and restart your computer. Insert will bootup and provide a nice blue desktop.
1. Right click on the blue desktop and select Applications>Recovery/Backup>GParted
2. The GParted window opens. Now right click in the unallocated area and select new. Create Disklabel if needed and then right click again in the unallocated space and select New.
3. The first partition you create should be a Primary Partition (which is the default). The file system should be NTFS for Windows XP or FAT32 for DOS. You can also adjust the size of the partition you are creating by grabbing the right edge of the bar or typing in the amount in the New Size box.
4. Next click on the Add button and the first partition will be added to the main window.
5. Now right click in the unallocated space and select new again. This time change Create as from Primary Partition to Extended Partition and click Add to use the remaining space for the Extended Partition.
6. Now right click in the unallocated space again and create a Logical Partition (the only option). Set the partition size and the Filesystem to either NTFS or FAT32 and click the Add button. (Note: FAT32 does have some limitations.) Now right click again in the unallocated space and create your second logical partition.
7. When you are finished creating the partitions click on the Apply button with the green check mark to apply and
save all the changes. You will be amazed on how fast the partitions are created and the file systems are set.
8. Congratulations if this is the first time using GParted.
The Computer Repair Training website has some additional information you might find helpful.
a terminal window. Now type mkdir /backup and press enter. This creates a /backup directory using the mkdir command.
the default is Save partition. Press F5 to go to the next windows.
provides some configuration setting options which you can leave in their default and press F5 to go to the next window.
creating the image and saving the file. It will finish with a report of elapsed time, speed, and size of the image.