partition a hard disk in Windows 8

Suppose if you have all backed up files and folders in the same drive i.e C: and if your C: drive suddenly crashes then you may not be able to retrieve the files. But if you have divided the hard disk into different partitions then you can store them safely into other partitions so that if the C: drive containing the operating system crashes then you can still retrieve them.

You can use another partition to create a system image file so that in case if your operating system crashes then you can restore your operation system from the system image stored in the other partition.

If you want to have dual operating system in your computer i.e win7 and win vista then you can create it easily if you have more partitions.

How to partition a hard disk ?

• Right click on “My Computer“
• Click on “Manage“. You will get the following screen.

• Right click on the partition which you want to partition. eg. D: drive and select “shrink volume“

• Now you will get the following screen.

 

• You will see the default amount of space to shrink you can change the amount of space to shrink. After that you can click on “shrink” button.

But do you think it is too complicated? Actually MiniTool Partition Wizard is a nice free tool for you to partition a hard disk.

MiniTool Partition Wizard 8.1.1 Released

MiniTool Partition Wizard 8.1.1 was officially released and this new version rocked it.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a Windows based PC and Server partition manager software. Our server partition software supports both MBR and GUID partition table (GPT) on 32/64 bits Operating System including Windows XP, Vista, Windows Server 2000/2003/2008/2008-R2/2012, Windows SBS, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

The main functions of 8.1.1 are:

Convert NTFS to FAT.
GPT Disk and MBR Disk interconversion.
Copy Dynamic disk volume.
Copy UEFI boot disk.
Convert GPT-style Dynamic Disk to Basic.
Move Boot/System volume for Dynamic Disk.
Fully support UEFI boot.
Extend partition with one step.
Split one partition into two safely.
FULLY Support 4096-byte-sector-based hard drive.
Align all partitions or align a specified partition to optimize hard drive performance.
Move/Resize dynamic disk volume without data loss.
Create, delete and format dynamic volume.
Change cluster size for dynamic disk volume without data loss.
Wipe dynamic volume for data security reason.
Merge Partition: Merge adjacent partitions without data loss
Hot Extending: Extend NTFS Windows system partition without reboot
Windows and Linux file system: Support FAT12/FAT16/FAT32, NTFS and Linux Ext2, Ext3, Ext4 system
Move/Resize Partition: Change your partition size without data loss nor reinstallation
Partition Recovery: Restore partition after accidental deletion or partition table damage
Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk without data loss
Partition copy, Disk copy to easy backup and transfer your data
Create Partition, Delete Partition, Format Partition
Convert File System, Hide/Unhide Partition, Explore Partition
Check and repair file system error for dynamic volume.

Windows Disk Manger Is not Perfect

Thanks to the superior performance advantages, Windows 7 fast seizes operating system market and becomes one of the current most popular operating systems. However, compared with the earlier operating systems, the outstanding performance advantages of Windows 7 will be more and more ordinary as time goes by. This is because many factors influence operating system performance in daily computer use. System space lack is just one of the most common factors. To avoid system partition space lack, good Windows 7 partition management is essential.

How to manage Windows 7 partition well? Lots of Windows 7 users are doubtful. Because of the function flaws of Windows 7 built-in disk management tool, this tool fails to meet Windows 7 partition management requirements. Just like the same case in Windows XP, many Windows users choose to use the third-party professional partition manager for Windows 7 to manage Windows 7 partition. However, as for the solution for system partition management, you’d better use the powerful and reliable professional partition manager for Windows 7 MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Since lots of important operating system files are kept in system partition, once the important files loss event occurs during Windows 7 system partition management, users have to face some serious results, such as operating system crash and important data loss. All users are unwilling to encounter such kind of situation, so the security of partition manager for Windows 7 draws most attention. MiniTool Partition Wizard, the best partition manager for Windows 7 with diverse security protecting solutions, has incomparable security. Therefore, the partition manager for Windows 7 MiniTool Partition Wizard is the best choice for Windows 7 partition management.

Since MiniTool Partition Wizard, the best partition manager for Windows 7, is able to extend partition without damaging data, users can easily extend Windows 7 system partition with this partition manager for Windows 7. Thus you prevent Windows system partition space lack from causing performance decline. If you have downloaded this partition manager for Windows 7 from the official website http://www.partitionwizard.com, start MiniTool Partition Wizard to see “Move/Resize” function button on the main interface.

To extend Windows system partition, please choose Windows system partition and click “Move/Resize“.

To extend Windows 7 system partition, you can increase the length of partition handle by dragging the border of the partition handle on this interface. The option marked by red box is “Using Enhanced Data Protecting Mode“. When you manage operating system, this partition manager for Windows 7 will automatically open this mode to ensure data security for system partition data. Since partition manager for Windows 7 MiniTool Partition Wizard has preview function, users can preview to ensure the effect after partition size adjustment is wanted. Then click “Apply” to perform all operations.

Partition Wizard Pro Licenses Giveaway

Got the info. from MiniTool Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MiniTool/230388176998483

Over 8 Million downloads on CNET! MiniTool Partition Wizard has become one of the most popular and useful hard disk management tools. To express our appreciation for your support, we will give away 8 licenses of Partition Wizard professional version on April 9th. First come, First served! Thank you all and we will keep up the good work.

 

MiniTool Released the Newest Partition Wizard 7.8

MiniTool Solution Ltd. released PC and Server partition manager software MiniTool Partition Wizard version 7.8. New features include:

•     Copy UEFI boot disk
•     Convert GPT-style Dynamic Disk to Basic
•     Move Boot/System volume for Dynamic Disk

 

Key features of MiniTool Partition Wizard v7.8:

•     Fully support UEFI boot.
•     Copy UEFI boot disk
•     Convert GPT-style Dynamic Disk to Basic
•     Move Boot/System volume for Dynamic Disk
•     Extend partition with one step.
•     Split one partition into two safely.
•     Fully Support 4096-byte-sector-based hard drive.
•     Align all partitions or align a specified partition to optimize hard drive performance.
•     Support Simple, Spanned, Striped, Mirrored and RAID-5 volume.
•     Move/Resize dynamic disk volume without data loss.
•     Create, delete and format dynamic volume.
•     Change cluster size for dynamic disk volume without data loss.
•     Wipe dynamic volume for data security reason.
•     Check and repair file system error for dynamic volume.
•     Support removable disk. For example: memory card, memory stick and flash drive.

 

As partition magic alternative software, MiniTool Partition Wizard has different license targeting different users and operating systems:

•     Partition Wizard Free Home Edition: Free for regular home users.
•     Partition Wizard Professional Edition: Added merge partition, support dynamic disk
•     Partition Wizard Server Edition: Support Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008R2, 2012 and SBS
•     Partition Wizard Enterprise Edition: Commercial enterprise solution.
•     Partition Wizard Technician Edition: Designed for IT consulting firms and individuals.

More information: http://partitionwizard.com

How to Partition Windows XP Hard Drive

When users install Windows XP, performing hard drive partitioning with System Disc and install Windows XP on partitioned system partition is the first task. Nevertheless, the majority of Windows XP System Disk merely allow user to partition hard drive into for partitions which is so unreasonable and will render troubles for future data storage. So how can we perform hard drive partitioning in line with personal needs rather than dividing hard drive into four partitions restrictively? It is easy to resolve this problem given that we connect the new hard disk to another computer where MiniTool Partition Wizard is installed to perform hard drive partitioning at will.

Hard drive partitioning is not the privilege for installing Windows XP, user, if need, can employ MiniTool Partition Wizard to perform hard drive partitioning anytime. MiniTool Partition Wizard is an all-in-one partition magic with high efficiency and comprehensive functions, with which hard drive partitioning becomes extremely simple. Perhaps, user will have such a question that can MiniTool Partition Wizard really be compatible with the increasing types of hard disk on market. Let’s first catch a glimpse of current hard drive classifications before answering this question. Hard drive, as the major storage device on computer, is classified by hard drive interfaces which commonly include IDE, SATA and SCSI, etc. Hard drive with different interfaces possess divers transfer rate. Apart from interface distinction, internal structure still differs sharply. It is these factors that lead to hard drive partitioning failure of a huge amount of partition magic software. However, this doesn’t apply on MiniTool Partition Wizard, a partition magic developed after years’ research and upgrade, which is perfectly compatible with all mainstream hard drives currently. Therefore, users don’t need to worry about whether MiniTool Partition Wizard can partition hard drive or not.

Hard drive partitioning is not merely limited to new hard drive and we always need to perform hard drive partitioning repeatedly along with the usage of hard drive since no one can guarantee the initial partition mode fits data storage needs all the time. When user needs one partition to store data of the same sort, creating partition is the optimal choice. And of course, user can also consider storing the data to this partition if there is excessive free space on it, which, unfortunately, usually leads to data storage turbulence. When we create partition but find unallocated space insufficient, we should spare some space from other partitions. However, for Windows XP users, this operation can not be realized by built-in Disk Manager and they must turn to Resize Partition function on MiniTool Partition Wizard to improve disk space utilization more efficiently. User can create big enough new partition by combining Resize Partition and Create Partition functions.

MiniTool Partition Wizard offers a free edition for Windows XP home and family users and users can download this partition magic at the official website http://www.partitionwizard.com.
Run MiniTool Partition Wizard after installation:

To create new partition, select the unallocated space in partition list and click “Create” at toolbar.

Set partition properties including Partition Label, File System, Partition Size and location and driver letter in this interface and then click “OK“.

We can see the new partition has been successfully created in this preview interface. We should click “Apply” last to execute pending operation.

Partition Wizard – Top 10 Windows App from CNET in 2012

https://www.facebook.com/pages/MiniTool/230388176998483?sk=app_203351739677351

Extend Partition within One Simple Step

MiniTool Solution Ltd. released Partition Wizard 7.6 and this new version have more functions and it is more convenient and easy to use. The main new functions are: extending partition within one simple step and splitting one partition into two safely. And here in this article, we will have a talk about how to extend partition in one step.

Unlike Move/Resize Partition which needs an adjacent unallocated space to extend the target partition, Extend Partition feature allows users to extend partition by directly taking free space from other partition or unallocated space on the same disk.

1. Select and right click the target partition you like to extend, and then click “Extend” from the drop-down menu.

2. Select the source partition or unallocated space you like to take free space from by clicking the drop-down menu.

3. Drag the handle leftwards or rightwards to a desirable position to determine how much free space you like to take from the source partition or unallocated space. While dragging the handle, you will notice the new partition size of the target partition and source partition are altering simultaneously. After that, click “OK“.

4. Click “Apply” to finish extending partition.

Disk Management VS. Partition Wizard

• Vista is a fairly new operating system by Microsoft. Compared with the other operating systems in Windows family, Vista contains a new feature which allows users to resize partition without any additional software. Previously, resizing partition is only available through the use of 3rd party partition software. However, do you know the differences between Windows Vista Disk Management and a 3rd partition software, such as MiniTool Partition Manager?

  Features comparison between Windows Vista Disk Management and Partition Wizard

  Features	Partition Wizard	Windows Vista Disk Management
  Create Partition
  Delete Partition
  Format Partition
  Change Drive Letter
  Set Active
  GPT Disk
  Extend FAT
  Extend NTFS
  Shrink FAT
  Shrink NTFS
  Resize & Move Partition
  Convert FAT to NTFS
  Explore Partition
  Hide Partition
  Delete All Partitions
  Label Partitions
  Check Partitions

• As you can see, the built in partition manager in Vista is clearly lacking much of the features that Partition Wizard as to offer. Download MiniTool Partition Manager today for free.

Norton Partition Magic

Norton Partition Magic is the partition software for personal computers first developed by Power Quest. It can copy, resize, move disks partitions with NTFS or FAT16/32 file systems. With its help, FAT 16, FAT 32 and NTFS file systems can be converted from one to another. The size of cluster of FAT 16/32 and NTFS can be changed. And FAT file system and NTFS file system can be combined with this partition software. To some extent, this partition software can support EXT2 and EXT3 file systems.

However, ever since Partition Magic was purchased by Symantec, it has been slow to updating. As such, Operating Systems such as Vista, windows 7, and windows 2008 are not supported.

We can see clearly that due to this limitation, Norton Partition Magic is not the best choice for partition management. As a newly developed partition manager – Partition Wizard is highly recommended based on its powerful functions and efficiency.

MiniTool Partition Manager is a newly released partition software developed by MiniTool Solution Ltd. this partition manager is designed for both server and non-server users. It supports all 32/64 bits Windows Operating Systems including Windows 2000, 2003, 2008, XP, Vista and Windows 7. MiniTool Partition Manager has a powerful protect function of reporting abnormities. There would be no data loss due to computer failure, blue screen, power failure, or sudden cessation of the software by the user. It does not only have a protection mode but is also optimized on partition operations. Therefore, it has a much faster speed than any other partition software. All this saves a lot of time for users.

As the leading partition manager, Partition Wizard has many functions in partition management. With MiniTool Partition Manager, you can do the following things in minutes, including: Move/Resize Partition, Merge Partition,Change Cluster Size, Copy Partition, Create Partition, Delete Partition, Format Partition, Convert File System,Hide/Unhide Partition, Explore Partition, Partition Recovery, Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk and much more. All these operation would be carried out under a protection mode, so you never need to worry about data loss.

Some more advanced functions: rebuild MBR, convert DPT (disk partition table) format from MBR to GTP, and recover data, move/resize system partitions, convert file systems and much more.

MiniTool Partition Manager can support both MBR and GUID partition table format running on 32/64 bits Operating System including Windows XP, Vista, Windows Server 2000/2003/2008 and latest Windows 7.