[conspire] Resizing NTFS

[Heather Stern]

[Snipping the proprietary solutions as well-known and unplatable]

I think it's worth noting, Rick, that not a single one of these is
guaranteed not to break you ...

...warrantied, maybe, for the commercial stuff, but guaranteed, hell no.

So *my* first question wouldn't be "are you a cheapskate or big opensource
fan" ... it'd be "did you make a backup so you won't weep and wail if
your system hates what we try?"

If they answer "no, but I installed a second hard disk we can have fun
with"  I'll let 'em get away with that, but remember to be extra-careful
during the install sequence, because the defaults might be unfriendly.
Also to -explain- that /dev/hda and /dev/hdc stuff.

The rest of this is roughly a Shareware-Advocacy HOWTO, with this case
as a specific example.

Q.  Should I pay this shareware fee, or can I just run off with the goodies?
A.  If you're sure that they're "goodies" you've probably already
    answered this for yourself ... pay up.

Q.  How can I tell the software is worth anything to me at all?
A.  Try it.  If it doesn't have your computer over for tea and send
    you back a Mogwai that's been allowed to eat after midnight, it's
    probably worth it.

    But the real question is about value.  Did it save you enough time
    to be worth the value this guy is charging?   For an example see 
    below.

> 2.  Redistributable (by individuals who don't charge), 30-day trial:
> o  TeraByte Unlimited's BootIt Next Generation: $29.95 "shareware", 
>    30 day trial
>    http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads/ . 
::>  Simtel...
::>  ... http://linuxmafia.com/pub/hardware/ , as bootit-ng-1.32a.zip . 
>    ...You make the [diskette] image, then boot... (Decline... "install".)

::> ...recommend letting people use it when they offer you a $29.95
::> check out to TeraByte Unlimited...
 
Good plan.  I'd make 'em cough up their own floppy too.

To those who want to skimp and say it's not worth a lot, I'd say at 
minimum wage that's about 6 hours of headache.  Most people have a
better opinion of what their personal time is worth than that - even
if unemployed.   So is MS and/or your vendor going to be 3 hours worth
of helpful to you "splitting" your C: into C: and D: so we can get on
with this?

Frankly -- no, probably not.  Even less so if your vendor is one of
the Borg who ships a "rescue" disc only good for re-assimilating your
drive back to its as-shipped state, instead of a real copy of MSwin.
 
> 3.  Open source:
> 
> o  The ntfs-progs utilities collection from Anton Altaparmakov's 
>    Linux NTFS Utilities effort, http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/ 
>    includes a prerelease "ntfsresize" utility, roughly similar to FIPS.

::> ...dangerously buggy ... had to play developer tricks to make it 
::> compile at all...
> http://linuxmafia.com/pub/hardware/ carries two versions of the source
> tarball, with and without my i386 Linux binaries:  
> 
>    ntfs-progs-post1.6.0-20021018-i386compiled.tar.gz
>    ntfs-progs-post1.6.0-20021018.tar.gz
 
If you've already confirmed that they've made their backup, then they 
can also breathe easier about trying touchy software like this.

pat answer for 
	Q. why is all the linux NTFS support so wimpy?
	A. Frankly, not many people use it...
	   If anyone who does finds no bugs then they don't need
	   to change anything...
	   and many who do just bail and use other tricks to deal
	   with it rather than properly beat down the bugs.

	   It's a critical-mass thing.

> Why?  Because open source isn't about being too cheap to buy
> proprietary software.  And it _certainly_ isn't about ripping 
> off proprietary software authors. 

I consider badmouthing open source folk who are actually keeping
their code maintained to be "ripping them off" too.  If they asked
for no more pay than respect, respect is what they ought to get paid.

If they kind of respect someone wants to get paid is cash on the barrelhead,
and the product is worth the respect (that is, it saves me more time
than it'd cost me) ... then by all means, I say pay up.

AT least until you can code it yourself... then you can grumble at each
other in LKML or other applicable mailing lists :)

  . | .   Heather Stern                  |         star at starshine.org
--->*<--- Starshine Technical Services - * - consulting at starshine.org
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