[conspire] Resizing NTFS

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Heather Stern (star at starshine.org):

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

Quite.  I'm frankly astonished that people are willing to use
"non-destructive" repartitioners at all, let alone when they don't have 
tested, good backups and the ability to reinstall their OSes and all
applications.  On the flip side, if people _do_ have those abilities,
then I could argue that they'd be better off using them:  That is, back
up everything, blow away the filesystem(s), reinstall the OS on
different-sized filesystems, and put everything back.

For that reason, I recommend specifically _against_ the entire category
"non-destructive" repartitioners: http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/#partition

But people want to use them anyway -- especially the hapless
non-technical users who drop in on us and expect us to perform miracles.
So, at a minimum, I always make sure they know that what they're doing
risks their data, and it's their headache if something goes wrong.

> 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.

In the case of BootIt NG, I'm not _personally_ willing to guarantee that
it does anything at all:  I didn't write it, have no business
relationship with any of the parties, and don't know a thing about it.
I don't even have an NTFS volume around to test it on.  But anyone who
wants _me_ to give him a copy has to fork over that $29.95 cheque
payable to Terabyte Unlimited.  If they don't like those terms, no
problem -- but also no disk.

My having made this clear on several mailing lists has garnered me some
pretty transrational responses.  Surprising, really.

Thank you for your comments.

-- 
"Is it not the beauty of an asynchronous form of discussion that one can go and 
make cups of tea, floss the cat, fluff the geraniums, open the kitchen window 
and scream out it with operatic force, volume, and decorum, and then return to 
the vexed glowing letters calmer of mind and soul?" -- The Cube, forum3000.org