|
|
|
Manage and optimise hard disk space
All computer hard disks are arranged into partitions to make allocating space easier. For most people one disk equals one partition, but if your disks are particularly large or small it can be worth organising them more effectively.
Partition management is one of those things that need to be done flawlessly when reorganising a computer, adding a new hard disk or upgrading the operating system. Considering people may do that once a year or less, the £25 asking price of Partition Manager 9 Personal would be high if it didn't do its complex job in a way that’s understandable to home users.
Paragon has introduced a number of extra wizards to handle tasks that might otherwise lead to costly mistakes and encourages the user at every point to make sure their hard disk is backed up. This isn’t completely altruistic behaviour – a trial copy of the company's other software, Drive Backup, is included with Partition Manager 9.
The things you might want to do with a partition manager include splitting a partition into two to better manage available space, reallocating space between two or more existing partitions, or merging partitions to make one large space on a disk.
Partition Manager 9 can do all these things and do most of them from within Windows. A recovery CD is also supplied, and when you start the computer with this in the drive it loads Paragon’s own operating system for the few tasks that can’t be achieved from inside Windows. The new version of the program works under newer 64-bit versions of Vista as well as 32-bit ones, something previous versions didn’t.
Also new to the program is the Install New Operating System Wizard, which prepares a disk for a new operating system and ties in with the supplied boot manager so you can run several operating systems and start up into any of them easily. That's handy for those wanting to try Vista but keep their Windows XP installation. Most operations performed on partitions can be undone, too.
Vista compatibility: Yes
Read more reviews
Good points
Be a money saving expert
Return of the Mac computer
The benefits of owning a smartphone
Choose Gold, Silver or Bronze membership
Save up to 40% on the cover price of each issue
Get access to the subscriber club exclusive website
Our price won't be beaten by any shop or website
When typing web addresses into a browser, make sure you put them in the address bar rather than the search box further down the window
|
|
|
|
|
Nikon Coolpix S570 BlackPrice: £66.99 |
Computeractive Ultimate Guide - Storage, Sharing & BackupPrice: £5.99 |
Back Issue CD-Rom 13 (2010)Price: £9.99 |
Hallmark Card Studio DeluxePrice: £15.31 |
Marine AquariumPrice: £15.41 |
Flags
I have a problem with my external hard drive in that, after having deleted a load of data, the hard drive does not recognise this fact and still believes itself to be full up. I heard this was something to do with the flags that windows sets up, so signify to the hard drive how much more space is available. Can this program help me to fix this problem? Because at the moment, without wanting to format my whole external hard drive, as there is still 100GB of data on there that i want, it is pretty much useless right now. Thanks
Posted by Dean Betts, 02 Nov 2008