Partition Magic 8

[#1]

I have a 200GByte hard drive, all allocated to the C: drive. The C: drive has XP on it, plus I have now added Partiotion Magic 8. I want to put in a partition so that C: has about 40GB of the disk, and the 😧 drive has the rest. I have used PM 8 numerous times over the years without problem, but not this time.
I instructed PM to create a new partition, and asked for the new partition to be 140GB. When I then instructed PM to apply the new settings, it reboots the pc, but then fails with the error message "Error 983. Too many errors found. Process halted".
I did wonder if this was because the hard drive control was set up as Cable Select, but I changed the links on the hard drive to set it to Master, but the problem with PM remains.
1. Does it take more than just resetting the links on the hard drive to change the pc-hard drive combination setup from CS to Master?
2. Am I doing something I shouldn't (or not doing something I should) when using PM?
Many thanks

[#2]

You don't think this problem is related to the one on this thread http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,94229.0.html ?  I would have thought it was.

[#3]

Have you run chkdsk on the whole surface?
Is it fully defragged as well?

[#4]

Answer to ReedRichards - Yes, same pc. Have solved other problem by changing power supply. This Partition Magic problem was me trying to improve the setup of the hard drive.
Answer to HPSauce - have done as you suggested, i. e. ran chkdsk and defrag. Now PM is working as I want so I have been able to reduce the size of the C: drive and create the D:drive.
Many thanks to both of you

[#5]

Never used anything like this.... so I have a query.... which may seem obvious to some, but not to me...
I have a 250gb hdd. with two operating systems  Windows Vista Home Premium and Linux Mint 9 Isadora, with a choice at boot up screen, as to which I want to use....
at present, I think that both operating systems are allocated 50% of the hdd space, but only Windows is being used, with Mint 9, as a Stand by (no files or folders - only the operating system)
is it possible with PM 8 to re-configure the HDD so that Windows has (say ) 80% and Mint 9 the remainder 20%  ?
If so,,.... please give me a "noddy`s guide "..... TKS 

[#6]

You could do it from a Mint CD.

[#7]

Quote from: penneck

Have solved other problem by changing power supply. .... ran chkdsk

The Partition Magic error message was telling you there were so many disc errors that the software didn't want to mess with your partitions for fear it would all go horribly wrong.  Running chkdsk has fixed those errors, at least in the short term, allowing PM to run.  Hopefully these errors were down to an old under-performing power supply that has now been replaced but you need to keep an eye on your hard disc to make sure this is true.  Run chkdsk again in a week and make sure it finds no errors this time.  If an old faulty power supply was somehow causing disc errors then maybe the old disc you replaced was okay after all? 

[#8]

In case anyone wants a good free Partition Manager:-
http://download.cnet.com/EASEUS-Partition-Master-Home-Edition/3000-2248_4-10863346.html