Getting Started

• BootIt-NG (BiNG) is an extremely versatile and powerful program that should do just about all the partitioning, imaging and boot management tasks you need; all in a single utility.
• You can read about all its abilities and/or Download BootIt-NG from The TerabyteUnllimited Website, or use the direct link in the Quick Start area above, unzip the fully functional trial and then run makedisk.exe to make the boot medium of your choice or, for later attention, an ISO file from which you can burn a bootable CDR/RW when you are ready.
• The zip file can be unpacked with 7-Zip (821k/Free) or Izarc 3.5 (3MB/Free) if you don't have such software of your own.
• The boot CD can be burned from the .iso file with the very simple to use BurnCDCC (69k/Free) or ImgBurn (800k/Free) if you don't have such software or cannot work out how to burn an ISO with it.
• If you have problems booting to any boot CD there may be an answer on our Booting Bootable CDs page.
• The unzipped package contains a .pdf file that explains most things you will need to know. Linux users, just as an example, can use dd and mkisofs to make boot floppies and cds from the download.
• Should you decide to purchase, it will cost a fraction of an equivalent bundle of "big name apps"; apps which, unlike BiNG, are generally not fully functional until they have been purchased.

Some Notes

• ALWAYS have important, possibly irreplacable, data backed-up prior to using ANY partitioning utility. You have been warned! BiNG itself can burn a whole partition's image onto CD/DVD(s) or store it on another internal or onto an external USB drive for backup purposes, prior to beginning any partitioning actions.
• The boot floppy or CD that you create can install BiNG onto the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or not. Unless a boot manager is definitely needed, it is recommended that you DON'T initially run Setup to install onto the MBR. In other words, just cancel the first [Setup] screen and enter the utility's [Maintenance Mode]. Go into [Partition Work] and from there you can Create, Delete, Resize, Format and Move/Slide as well as Copy or Image (Image = CompressedCopy) the partitions on your HDD(s).
• There is a very useful Edit option under Properties whereby all files (on both FAT and NTFS partitions) can be edited with a simple text editor. (If not familiar with a dos-type GUI environment just know that combinations of the four arrow keys and the Alt, Tab, Esc and Enter keys should allow you to navigate around; underlined letters are "shortcuts" which may require for the particular letter to be pressed while the Alt key is held down).
• If creating Logical partitions remember to first make an Extended partition for them as a separate action; BiNG does what it's told and doesn't try to second guess you.
• The [MBR] button can be chosen to view, edit (eg change the active partition) and even alter the positions of the partition tables in the MBR. (NB: if you use Windows 2K/XP and above or Linux distros then altering the positions of these tables can lose {yet also often correct} the ability to boot-up your PC because the new position changes the references used by the boot.ini file or the Linux boot management).
• If installing as a boot manager onto the MBR you will need to have a primary FAT partition made somewhere in advance. One can choose, during the initial setup, to have the normal four or to have more than four primary partitions. The normal four option is NOT selected by default but it is recommended to only use the normal number of four since the whole BiNG bootmanager can, if so desired, then be easily removed from the MBR using the following commands.

• From DOS:

• #> fdisk /mbr

• From an NT-based recovery console:

• #> fixmbr

• Note that BiNG works very well with large hard drives (>127GB) and supports working with USB drives.
• If BiNG (or version 1 of its "cousins" ImageForDOS and ImageForWindows) have been used for making image files (on any media) then you can directly download the accessory TBIView (279k/Free) and which will enable you to view the contents of the image files in Windows as if the image file was a drive in Explorer.
• Note that BiNG has some recovery abilities. If free space exists resulting from a deleted partition then it may be able to undelete that partition. Read the manual for further details of how to go about this.
• If installing onto the MBR (the first HDD sector aka Sector0) don't be confused by the term EMBR. It just means Extended MBR and is the remaining unused part of the 63 sectors in the first track (aka Track0) of a HDD. BiNG places some code here and also places some hidden files in the chosen primary FAT partition during SetUp.
• There are two reasons to install onto the MBR. First if you want a boot manager and second if you want to always be able to access BiNG on the HDD without booting into any partition. It can be organised (IT-Mode in the Settings menu) to be hidden during boot-up yet still be initiating the default boot-choice and capable of being made available during every start-up by pressing the insert key at this time.
• There is just one limitation with BiNG that has been a minor irritating and that is that it cannot format NTFS partitions. Surprising since it can non-destructively resize them. It can "create" NTFS labelled partitions but they will be "raw" when later seen by an Operating System. Linux utilities, such as GParted, can format NTFS as can Windows Disk Management or Setup. Note also that it is easy for Windows to convert FAT to NTFS from the command prompt. Just enter convert /? to be shown a list of the options.
• Don't be put off by the absence of a shiny windows interface. The program, for very good reasons, runs in its own customised DOS-like OS with a very small footprint. This may restrict its beauty - but not its general abilities, its small download and fast startup when booted-to and its additional ability to access a very wide range of hardware without problems.

Additional Support

There are some FAQs etc on the website but there are also good newsgroups. The NNTP server is terabyteunlimited.com and the NNTP port should be changed to 1198.