In this week's feature, I want to look at some software I consider absolutely indispensable. These are products that fill specific gaps in the system and should be among a new OS/2 user's first purchases. Although I will try to be as objective as possible, some of my choices will inevitably reflect my personal experience.

BackAgain/2 by Computer Data Strategies, Inc.
I'm including BackAgain/2 here because it is well-supported, very reliable, and does an outstanding job for me. However, another backup program may be better for you, depending on your situation. The main point is that a backup system including hardware, software, and a plan is essential. Please see my series on backup for more complete information, including a brief comparison of the main contenders for best software package.

Partition Magic by PowerQuest Corporation
Partitioning a hard disk means to divide a hard drive into separate, smaller drives each of which can be accessed as a separate logical disk drive with its own letter. For example, if you partition your new hard drive into two partitions, OS/2 would automatically assign the partitions the letters C and D. (If you have two or more physical hard drives, the situation is somewhat more complex, but the principle is the same.) Both C and D are considered (logical) hard disk, and in OS/2 you can use either disk for any function you choose. For example, you can make D your OS/2 boot drive instead of C. (In fact I usually do configure my systems this way.)

All operating systems provide a program (usually called FDISK) for the purpose of partitioning your hard drive. However, FDISK has one major restriction: any data on the disk when the partitioning begins is lost! (There may be exceptions involving "pimary" partitions, the relative location of the data to partitions being worked on, and the parition types. I won't go into that here.) Partition Magic was designed to get around this problem and allows you to partition or re-partition a hard drive without losing any data. As your system develops and your hard drive begins to fill up, you may recognize certain patterns in the way you use your computer and will probably want to re-partition the drive from time to time to make it more efficient. Another reason you may wish to re-partition your hard drive is to install more than one operating system. To do this without Partition Magic you need to backup the entire physical hard drive, re-partition your drive using FDISK, reformat each new partition, and then restore your backup to each individual partition. This process can take a couple of days or more. With Partition Magic the project is reduced to a matter of minutes! A few notable features are:

• Converts FAT partition to HPFS;
• Supports all OS/2 and Windows partition types;
• IBM's Boot Manager built-in;
• Performs all functions (except formatting) leaving existing data intact.

• Nearly every function can be customized.
• Unlimited nesting of message folders.
• One price covers all features and versions.
• Rexx interface support.
• Complex filter support.

• Automatic, complete Desktop backup (unlike the partial archive feature provided by IBM);
• All functions are totally customizable;
• Provides the ability to "transplant" your Desktop from one machine to another;
• Provides the ability to correct system .INI files left in a "locked" condition by a previous incomplete shutdown;
• Provides the ability to restart the Desktop.

• Package includes copies of Zip and Unzip;
• Preview feature, including ability to examine a file, such as a README file, without having to unzip the archive;
• SmartView feature that loads the appropriate viewer for a file, depending up its extension. For example, if the archive contains a file ending in .HTML, double-clicking the file loads your default browser to view the file.
• Self-extracting archives (*.EXE) can be extracted and created.
• Archives can optionally be tested and scanned for viruses before processing.