i have an 80 gig hard drive and partition magic 8. i would like to partition my hard drive into sections like games, music, operating system etc but i do not know how to move the data to these partitions. I know how to create them but not how to move the data to them without stuffing up the whole computer. any help i would appreciate. Thanks.

first u will have to have enough room for all, make the first partition and then just drag the things to the second partion that go on it then with PT8 u can make the next partion, do the same until finished. hope this made sense.

Make your plan first. You should keep about 10GB for your Windows and most commonly used programs (C-drive). Use a 20GB partition for games, big programs like Office or photoshop etc. Uninstall these games/programs first and then re-install them in the new partition. Make a partition of about 30GB for music, and make the fourth and last partition to use up the rest of the space for personal data (like My Documents) and backups.
Actions in Partition Magic, in this sequence:
resize current 80GB down to 10GB or as small as will fit.
make a partition of 15GB at the very end of the HD (backup and personal data)
Make a partition of 30 GB just before that (for music)
Use up the rest (between first (windows) and third (music)) for programs and games. This will be about 20-22GB.
Format all new partitions in NTFS
Boot into Windows when done. Use Explorer to shift stuff around (drag and drop).
You may have to resize C: again after all the shifting (down to 10GB), and make the next one (games etc.) larger to use the leftover space.

If you can, make backups of all your important data before you start with PM. This program has been known to mess up horribly.

thanks guys. i will keep this thread posted on how it goes.

would like to reafirm what realblackstuff said about backing up everything. nothing is permantly in a computer it can go away easely go away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wouldn't moving most of your files cause huge problems anyway because what was previously C:/Program files/NFS Underground.... is now L:/NFS Underground...? Same for music files, move them around within C:/ and iTunes loses them. More effort than its worth isn't it? And what are the advantages of partitions when its all still on the same drive anyway?

If you read my post again, reinstalling takes care of new drive-letters.
With a separate partition for Windows alone, it is smaller and easier to backup/restore using DriveImage/Ghost/Acronis TrueImage etc.
If Windows crashes, you just restore your last backup. Your data will remain intact.