Hi Folks,
Questions from Partition 101:
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Does partition software generally make 100% sure it is only partitioning away free space ?
Does the software move files away from the end of one partition to create the next partition before
doing anything else ?
Should you defragment before partitioning ? (presumably it is a smart idea). In any special way ?
Does this question vary a lot between software products ?
Do you find any great functional fundamental distinction between the Windows products (Paragon, Easeus, Aomei, etc.)
and the more tech partition stuff like Terabyte (Bootit) that works outside Windows ?
In the old days it made a difference where you started partitioning (e.g. in XP or underneath). Is that a factor today ?
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I always hesitate a bit before partitioning a system, presumably I have a good OS resinstall handy and all
the important data backed up as well, preferably including early images after the OS install and maybe the
final, current image. More important than images, the data should be backed up in individual files. (I do not
trust images completely, although some image software includes file-by-file as an alternative.)
Granted there are functional differences in products, (e.g. a Pro product compared to Lite or Free will show you
some differences, as will reviews) and there are differences in support and cost. It seems like the software has
generally become fairly good. One feature I noticed is that some software may be stronger than others in simply
moving x gigabytes of space from one partition to another.
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Your thoughts ?
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My short-term attempt is to take my lightly used Windows 7 64-bit puter and add a d: and some drives for
a linux install. And I may do similar on a spare older XP system.
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Here are some notes about free space.
"Partition Manager 11 Free Edition For personal use only The safest tool for hard drive partitioning! Partitioning is not for amateurs. That is why millions of people have trusted our safe, stable technology and professional software solutions for over 15 years. Our latest 11 version easily organizes your hard drive and redistributes free space to enhance system performance."
"Aomei Partition Assistant ...Allocate Free Space - Allocate free space from one partition to another for making the best use of disk space."
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Aomei is the new kid on the partition block. The reviews have been pretty good, the company is friendly in correspondence.
They do not at this time have forums like Paragon and Easeus. I may ask them their plans in this regard. Forums on a product like this means that the company is willing to face the public, and can have lots of helpful info. Dunno if any other windows products have forums, but Terabyte definitely does.
Along with the three mentioned as the main Windows-based programs, (Paragon, Easeus, Aomei, all active in promotions) Partition Wizard (positive from freewaregenius) also looks like it is quite interesting, so maybe that is a big 4. Partition Commander is from Avanquest, Partition Genius from Spotmau (not sure if active development-update). These programs should all have a CD-type alternative as part of their system. Any others of real note ?
While Parted Magic (GParted and Parted) and then also Partition Logic and Ranish are examples of below Windows tools. Terabyte seems to lead that section, as a commercial product with a fine reputation. You could probably add a gazillion Linux-style tools.
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I noticed a complaint with one about losing a Symantec serial #. So probably some programs look at free space through the Windows file system, and some programs do security in a hidden manner. And you could be forced to try to re-enter the numbers (be sure you keep them). I doubt that it would be easy for a partition software to do anything, since the software product will be pointing to that spot made defunct.
Steven
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