Well, first of all let me say I'm doing this because I can't get the system backup utility in Mandriva 2009 to work. I've tried using my windows drive as the destination of my backup, but that doesn't work so I thought I'd give creating a new partition a shot.

When I select Gparted from applications/system tools/gparted, I get the following error message. Root privleges are required for running gparted. Since GParted is a powerful tool capable of destroying partition tables and vast amounts of data, only root may run it. I usually get a box to enter my password for things that require root, but not with this. So to begin with, how do I get gparted to run? Or should I created a gparted cd to boot from.

I know that I'm going to have a lot of questions once I get gparted to run, but here are a few: Should I create a windows partition for my backup? Should I just resize the existing drive that I have Mandriva installed on?

As for partitions, go with what feels right for you; decide what makes sense based upon your own specific needs

ive allways used gparted from a live linux disk.i dont believe a machine can hack itself up and still be able to tell itself what to do.as for the rest someone smarter will come along i hope.

peace

In order to get gparted to run I had to open a terminal and then type su with my password. Once I was root, I typed gparted and it loaded. Now that I have it opened, do I have to unmount the drive I want to partition? By unmounting it, will this create problems?

You need it unmounted. You can unmount it with gparted and nothing untoward happens (I've just tested it) to change the disk, seems to be pretty happy with that.

@ell02: What do you mean, 'hack itself up'?