get error 1611 with partition magic 8.0 on when trying to merge two ntfs 20gb partitions from same drive into one 40gb says bad file name, 9 (48) this is some MFT error on the ntfs drive but do not know how to fix chkdsk /f was no help

Don't do it. Just don't do it. Using ANY 3rd party partitioning s/ware with Xp is a big no-no. You're in for a world of problems if you carry on, and will more than likely end up formatting your drive. The choice is yours.

Try Acronis partition expert it is less prone to PQ's PM errors. It has worked for me where and when Partition Magic refused to cooperate. Remember to have up-to-date backups just in case.

I had the same problem - and weeks of dealing with PowerQuest support finally got me a "it's a known issue, and there is no solution". There is, however. I found in my case that the 'bad filenames' were actually files with UTF-8 characters (i.e., Ø,ä,ñ, etc.) This was NOT revealed by going through the ridiculous amount of work that PowerQuest put me through (running tons of special reporting utilities I had to download from their website). Once I located all these files (about 14) and deleted or RENAMED them using normal ASCII characters, all was well and I was able to run the product. PowerQuest refused to acknowledge that their software doesn't support UTF-8 characters in filenames, but it's a common issue - lots of software doesn't (Norton Systemworks/MS Office/Adobe PhotoShop to name just a few)... there is no fix, other than renaming these files. BTW, I found all but 6 of these files located in my "Temporary Internet Files" folder - the result of visiting websites in other countries where these characters are commonly used. Finally, while there is a certain amount of risk associated with using a product such as PartitionMagic on ANY computer, there is nothing about XP that makes using this product "a big non-no" as indicated above. As long as you've got ALL the necessary patches to PM8, you should be fine. Good Luck HS P.S. Have you attempted to BOOT from the PowerQuest CD-ROM? As that bypasses the OS, you might have luck doing the merge that way. It's worth a shot if you're having trouble locating those pesky hi-bit chars in filenames...

well partition magic hasnt caused anything bad...yet...and I have been warned before...but Im aware of the risk lol is there any tools out there that will help me search for files with invalid names?

Bryan, Assuming that your problem is indeed filenames with UTF-8 characters, the only way I'm aware of finding them is by using XP's search, Advanced options (hidden files, system files, etc. turned on). Use "Character Map" (All Programs/Accessories/System Tools) to input the chars (one at a time - it's a major pain) and do the search... it took me almost 3 hours to conduct the search on my system, and I had the advantage of knowing roughtly which characters to look for! Of course, there is no guarantee that this will resolve your problem, but it's a good bet that it IS the problem... UTF-8 Chars in filenames are supported under XP's NTFS as well as FAT32, yet many applications have difficulties with these chars. PowerQuest has a utility on their CDROM called BTINI.exe that's supposed to utilize the numbers returned from the 1611 error, but in my case, it kept returning valid filenames (like "NTDETECT.COM"!), which is what led me to believe it was the 'foreign' characters. Finally, you didn't indicate if you'd tried my other suggestion of booting from the CD. You might try that before going through the tedious search process. Good Luck! Hank