What's the best partitioning software these days?

[Barfo]

Preferably that runs in windows. Somehow I don't think my old copy of Partition Magic will work under Windows 7 64-bit.

 

[tweakboy]

Depends what OS your using. If your using Vista or 7 dont bother with a third party app, do it through Windows.

As far as best app I remember Partition Magic from years ago. There is also Partition Manager I believe the name was its been a app thats been running for 17 years. I personally would rather have the OS do it then a third party app you pay for and you never use again. Its just fancier thats it. gl

 

[Leros]

If you don't mind rebooting to partition, you can use GParted. Its a live Linux CD, but it boots right into the partitioning software.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Disk Management

 

[lxskllr]

I like Gparted

 

[Barfo]

Well the windows partitioning tool wouldn't get rid of the oem hidden partition that was angering me, gparted did. Now I need to resize and merge some partitions but heard somewhere gparted causes some problems and you need a rescue disk after using gparted to be able to boot into windows again, is this true?

 

[lxskllr]

You could have problems. Boot to your Windows disc, run fixmbr, and you should be good to go.

 

[Nothinman]

Well the windows partitioning tool wouldn't get rid of the oem hidden partition that was angering me, gparted did. Now I need to resize and merge some partitions but heard somewhere gparted causes some problems and you need a rescue disk after using gparted to be able to boot into windows again, is this true?

Those problems are caused by Windows, not gparted. The only way around that would be if the tool did the same thing that fixmbr/fixboot does like lxskllr mentioned.

 

[homercles337]

With HD prices in the basement why would anyone want to partition a single drive? This makes no sense to me, but then im running 4 1TB drives in RAID10, with 2 other drives as backup and video. Seriously though, 2TB drives are in the sub $100 range now.

 

[Modelworks]

With HD prices in the basement why would anyone want to partition a single drive?

Buy 1 really fast drive and split it for two different OS.
Buy slow cheap drives for general storage.

 

[homercles337]

Buy 1 really fast drive and split it for two different OS.
Buy slow cheap drives for general storage.

Are 10k drives really that fast? Not to mention they have prohibitively small capacity. Yeah, i know the argument, just install the OS on it right? The OS boots fast, but who cares? Then use "slow cheap drives" for other storage? Why not buy N cheap drives and RAID0 them? Better yet, RAID10 them.

 

[Barfo]

With HD prices in the basement why would anyone want to partition a single drive? This makes no sense to me, but then im running 4 1TB drives in RAID10, with 2 other drives as backup and video. Seriously though, 2TB drives are in the sub $100 range now.

I want the software to delete and merge partitions

 

[jobz]

Win7 disc has repair option to fix any boot problems.

 

[Auric]

Dunno about best but EASEUS offers Partition Manager which resembles ye olde Partition Magic. The 32-bit version is free but the 64 ain't. The former could be run from a diff'rent OS such as a PE though.

 

[corkyg]

My favorite app for this is currently Acronis Disk Director. It will also create bootable media, eg., flash drive or CD that can do it all outside of Windows. That eliminates Windows barriers. It is fast, and the interface is very easy and intuitive.

As a general rule, I try avoid doing any of these things within Windows. Booting with Partition Magic also works as long as it is a post-NTFS version. It doesn't need to work in Windows 7.

 

[imported_brandon]

My favorite would have to be PartedMagic, since it has partitioning software, handles many different filesystems, and now due to having Clonezilla built in, it can also make backup images of HDs, or clone them.

Not only that, you have all sorts of utilities to help alleviate issues if you mess up, along with the capability to browse the internet.

 

[jobz]

Does anyone know if GParted or PartedMagic (are they the same products?) affect disk alignment on SSDs?

 

[tweakboy]

Hey jobz for SSD the alignment doesnt matter, Its not a platter , with spinning device. I have read also if you defrag a SSD your messing it up and it might die on you. There is no need to defrag a SSD as its flash doesnt matter. Your playing with fire if you decide to defrag it. Thanks and gl and gb and tc,

 

[uberman]

Preferably that runs in windows. Somehow I don't think my old copy of Partition Magic will work under Windows 7 64-bit.

I know, I've used Partition Magic for years. I bought it again from Symantec 1.5 yrs ago. They bought it from Power Quest and then did no development. I believe its dead. I spent 2 hrs with Symantec support a few weeks ago. I don't believe they know their own program.

And as over the years I think disk size max is maybe 150 gig.

For me its PM no more. It was great for years though.

 

[Nothinman]

Hey jobz for SSD the alignment doesnt matter, Its not a platter , with spinning device. I have read also if you defrag a SSD your messing it up and it might die on you. There is no need to defrag a SSD as its flash doesnt matter. Your playing with fire if you decide to defrag it. Thanks and gl and gb and tc,

It'll cause unnecessary wear, just like doing it on a mechanical disk, but it won't "mess it up".

 

[jackofalltrades]

I have always used bootit next generation, I just don't install. I just tell it no when It asks to install and it works with many OS's and It can repair the boot image easy enough. I run it from a cd but I believe it will run from a flash disk as well, it is a really small graphical interface it fits on a floppy if you can believe that!

 

[WildHorse]

``

 

[KeypoX]

Win7 disc has repair option to fix any boot problems.

lol but to get to that menu you need to have the boot partition and mbr un messed up. Best bet is to always have a bootable media of windows 7 has all the boot fixes you need.

 

[ForumMaster]

partition magic is pretty old. won't work vista or windows 7. for those OS'es, you can use paragon partition manager.

 

[Modelworks]

open command prompt
Type diskpart
at the diskpart prompt type ? for the options