5. Before you start
Run CHKDSK or SCANDISK on the partition you want to split.
If you have Norton Disk Doctor or something similar, you may use it alter-
natively. Make sure there remain no 'dead' clusters on the disk.
Prepare a bootable floppy disk in drive A:. Under DOS this is usually done
by giving the command 'sys a:' or 'format a:/s'. Under Windows NT or OS/2
this may be different, if in doubt check your manual or boot from a boot
disk from a DOS PC.
Copy the FIPS files RESTORRB.EXE, FIPS.EXE and ERRORS.TXT to this disk.
Test booting from the prepared floppy disk. Read you manual or ask a local
guru if you can't boot from floppy disk or if you can not access your hard
disk after booting (test this by giving the command 'dir c:', you should
see your hard disk's root directory). If all else fails, try using FIPS
after booting normally from the hard disk (a bit more risky, but sometimes
the last resort).
When you start FIPS (later!), you will be given the opportunity to write
backup copies of your root and boot sector to a file on drive A: called
ROOTBOOT.00x (where x stands for a digit from 0 to 9). If anything goes wrong
while using FIPS, you can restore the original configuration by booting from
the floppy and running RESTORRB. Please note: if you use FIPS more than once
(this is normally not necessary, but it may happen), more than one ROOTBOOT
file is written to the floppy disk. RESTORRB lets you choose which configu-
ration file to restore. The file RESTORRB.000 contains your original confi-
guration. Try not to confuse the versions.
You will need this backup file (ROOTBOOT.00x) if you want to undo the
partition split later.
But before starting FIPS you _must_ now defragment your Harddisk. All of the
space that will be used for the new partition must be free. Be aware that the
Windows Swapfile will not be moved by most defragmentation programs. You must
uninstall it (in the 386enhanced part of the Windows Control Panel) and rein-
stall it after using FIPS.
If you use IMAGE or MIRROR, the last sector of the hard disk contains a
hidden system file with a pointer to your mirror files. You _must_ delete this
file before using FIPS (it will be recreated the next time you run mirror).
Do 'attrib -r -s -h image.idx' or 'attrib -r -s -h mirorsav.fil' in the root
directory, then delete the file.
If FIPS does not offer as much disk space for creation of the new partition
as you would expect it to have, this may mean that
a. You still have too much data in the remaining partition. Consider making
the new partition smaller or deleting some of the data.
b. There are hidden files in the space of the new partition that have not
been moved by the defragmentation program. You can find the hidden files
on the disk by typeing the command 'dir /a:h /s' (and 'dir /a:s /s' for
the system files). Make sure to which program they belong. If a file is
a swap file of some program (e.g. NDOS) it is possible that it can be
safely deleted (and will be recreated automatically later when the need
arises). See your manual for details.
If the file belongs to some sort of copy protection, you must uninstall
the program to which it belongs and reinstall it after repartitioning.
I can't give you more aid in this - if you really can't figure out what
to do, contact me directly.