An Easier Way to Repartition
There's no other major item most of us own that is as confusing, unpredictable and unreliable as our personal computers. Everybody has questions about them, and we aim to help.
Here are a few questions about computers I've received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about laptops sans serial ports, repartitioning hard disks and expanding storage capacity.
If you have a question, send it to me at
mossberg@wsj.com, and I may select it to be answered here in Mossberg's Mailbox.
Because of the volume of e-mail I receive, I can't routinely answer individual questions by e-mail, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.
Q: I notice that Dell sells some laptops without parallel and serial ports. Is it OK to buy a laptop without them?
A: For the vast majority of average consumers, the answer is yes. Parallel and serial ports were, for years, the primary way to connect Windows computers to printers, scanners and other devices. But they have been replaced in the past five years by faster and more flexible USB ports, and, to a lesser extent, by FireWire, or 1394, ports.
Some corporate-computer departments still maintain equipment that uses the archaic parallel and serial ports, which is why IBM, Dell and others include such ports on some laptops aimed at the big-business market. But the only consumers who need these ports are the tiny minority that are still trying to use ancient printers or other peripherals.
Q: I want to repartition my hard disk to transfer capacity from the D drive, which is empty, to the C drive, which is full. When I called tech support, I was told that the only way to do this is to perform a system restore, which includes reinstalling all the software on my system. Is there an easier way?
A: Yes. You can use a very handy program called Norton PartitionMagic , which can change your hard-disk partitions without disturbing or deleting any of your installed software or data files. The program is made by Symantec, and costs about $70. More information is at
www.symantec.com/partitionmagic. Q: I've been dabbling in creating home videos with iMovie and iDVD on my iMac. I find I need more disk space to store all my clips and such. Is there a way to expand the hard-disk storage?
A: You might be able to bring the computer to a dealer and have a larger hard disk installed internally, and your data transferred. But a simpler solution would be to buy an external hard disk that hooks up to the iMac through its FireWire or USB port.
In most cases, these drives just plug in and work immediately, without any software installation or configuration. You can buy these external drives at most computer stores, physical and online. They vary widely in capacity and price.
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Because of the volume of e-mail I receive, I can't routinely answer individual questions by e-mail, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column. 对电脑硬盘重新分区的简单方法
在我们大多数人拥有的大件电器中，再没有什么比个人电脑更令人费解、更变幻莫测的了。每个人或许都有些关于电脑的问题，而《莫博士信箱》将为您提供帮助。
本周我将回答读者有关笔记本电脑无串行端口、对硬盘重新分区以及扩展存储空间等问题。
问：我注意到戴尔 (Dell) 的几款笔记本电脑没有并行和串行端口。买这样的笔记本电脑可以吗？
答：对大多数普通用户来说，回答是肯定的。在过去很多年中，并行和串行端口是将 Windows 电脑连接到打印机、扫描仪以及其他设备的主要途径。但是它们在过去 5 年被更快和更灵活的 USB 端口替代，或者被 FireWire ，即 1394 端口替代。
一些公司电脑部门仍然有设备使用过时的并行和串行端口，这就是为什么 IBM 和戴尔等公司在一些针对大型企业市场的笔记本电脑上保留这些端口的原因。但是需要这些端口的唯一消费者是仍旧打算使用传统打印机或其他附属设备的极少数人。
问：我想将我的硬盘重新分区，以将目前闲置的 D 盘空间转到已经装满文件的 C 盘。当我打电话给技术支持人员时，我被告知唯一方法是对将重新安装系统，包括在我的系统上重装所有软件。有没有简单一些的方法？
答：有。你可以使用一个很容易得到的软件 Norton PartitionMagic 。这个软件可以对你的硬盘重新分区，而不会改变或删除你安装的任何软件或数据文件。这个软件的生产商是赛门铁克 (Symantec) ，售价大约为 70 美元。你可以在以下网址获得更多信息：
www.symantec.com/partitionmagic 。
问：我一直尝试著在我的 iMac 上用 iMovie 和 iDVD 制作家庭视频。我发现我需要更多的磁盘空间来储存我所有的视频剪辑。有扩展硬盘储存空间的方法吗？
答：你可以将电脑带到经销商那里，装一个更大容量的硬盘，并将你的数据转移到上面。但是一个简单的方案是买一个外部硬盘，通过 FireWire 或 USB 端口与 iMac 连接。
在大多数情形下，这些外部硬盘连接到电脑上以后可以直接使用，你无需安装任何软件或进行任何设置。你可以在大多数电脑商店，不论是实地店铺还是网上店铺，买到这些外部硬盘。这些硬盘的容量和价格千差万别。
