What is a good partition manager for Windows Vista

[patteo]

I'm sticking to Windows XP as long as I can. But I had to buy my son a laptop that is bundled with Vista - so much for free choice.

So I would like to partition the harddisk.

Can anyone suggest a good Partitioning software that works with Vista. Of course if it's freeware, so much the better.

[Wordzilla]

Paragon Partition Manager is what I use under Vista.

[urlwolf]

Tried that on my dell. Didn't let me do partitions.
BTW, vista has its own partition manager. google for it.

[patteo]

Thanks urlwolf and Wordzilla.

And I say thanks to Mouser for building this fantastic Donationcoder community.

Resize a Partition for Free in Windows Vista :: the How-To Geek
"Resize a Partition for Free in Windows Vista

Windows Vista includes a built-in functionality in Disk Management to shrink and expand partitions. No more 3rd party utilities needed!"
http://www.howtogeek...ee-in-windows-vista/

However, take note that there are limitations (as usual) to the native Vista partitioning software. You can only extend the volume if there's contiguous space. So if you have existing data, this may prove a challenge. In my case, I just deleted the empty partition, shrank my C partition and repartition the unallocated space from shrinking and deleting of the empty partition which becomes a contiguous space presumably.

So if you have existing data in D partition, like I have, the Native Vista Partition manager actually becomes useless and you are probably better with things like Paragon Partition Manager or maybe something like Partition Magic (assumuing they come up with a Vista version.)

[patteo]

Wordzilla, may I ask what is your experience with Paragon Partition Manager ?

Do you encounter problems etc with it ?

Thanks

[Wordzilla]

So far i have not encountered any (noticeable) problem with Paragon (under Vista).

I remember I had to use Paragon because Vista partition management was very limited (it didn't even allow me to merge partitions without losing data).

[patteo]

I remember I had to use Paragon because Vista partition management was very limited (it didn't even allow me to merge partitions without losing data).

-Wordzilla (August 07, 2007, 03:48 AM)

Precisely, Vista partition management is very limited. I could only used it because the 2nd Partition was basically empty and hence I could delete it so that it became contiguous in order to "extend it". Sort of a very round about way of doing things and it won't work if the partition is not empty.

Ie with Vista Partition Manager, you would be at a dead end in most situations.

[Tekzel]

I use Acronis Disk Director.  Works great, lets you split and merge partitions and everything.

[rute]

Aconis Disk Director gets my vote.  Works well in Vista and does what it says on the box...everything!

Good luck.

[mwang]

There are some known issues with Paragon under Vista, but at least they're pretty forthright about it as far as I can tell (I don't use Paragon).

Acronis, on the other hand, may have issues that they don't tell. I don't use their partition manager, but I do use their disk imager (True Image Home 10). They claim it to be Vista compatible, while in fact there are lingering issues (see, e.g., here & here), including one that would require a system repair after restoring from backup images. It has to do with Vista's new partitioning scheme, so the same issue might also bug their partition manager.

While Acronis learned about these issues months ago, till now they haven't put any information online (in FAQ or anything) yet. You have to go to their official support forums to find out.

Just FYI.