Partition Manager 8.5

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to carry out advanced partitioning operations (merge, redistribute free space, undelete) supported by the program.

Merge Partitions

The Merge Partitions Wizard enables to consolidate the disk space, which originally belongs to two adjacent partitions, into a single, larger partition. The order, in which two partitions have been chosen, is important since the contents of the second selected partition will be placed in the folder of the first selected partition.

The program provides the ability to merge only NTFS, FAT16 or FAT32 partitions.

Starting

There are several ways to start the Merge Partitions Wizard:

   In the Main menu: select Wizards > Merge Partitions…

   On the Common Tasks bar: click the Merge Partitions item of the Wizards menu.

After following one of the above mentioned actions, the Welcome page of the wizard is displayed.

Settings

The Merge Partitions Wizard allows the user to configure the settings and then start the operation in accordance with the entered parameters. Here the user sets the parameters of the operation defining:

   The partition to expand. Select a partition that will be expanded to take contents of an adjacent partition.

   The partition to merge with. Choose the second partition for the merge operation, the contents of which will be placed in the folder of the first selected partition. By default the program automatically offers a folder name to store files of the second partition, which however can be customized by the user.

Results

After the operation is completed the disk space of the two adjacent partitions will be consolidated.

Redistributing Unused Space between Partitions

The Redistribute Free Space Wizard helps to increase free space on one partition at the expense of unused space on others. By default, the wizard adds to the target partition the 50% of unused space of other partitions, which have been selected to donate space. The user can manually control what part of unused space will be left on a partition. The wizard automatically recalculates the positions of the partitions and moves their contents to new locations.

Starting

There are several ways to start the Redistribute Free Space Wizard:

   In the Main menu: select Wizards > Redistribute Free Space…

   On the Common Tasks bar: click the Redistribute Free Space item of the Wizards menu.

After following one of the above mentioned actions, the Welcome page of the wizard is displayed.

Settings

The Redistribute Free Space Wizard allows the user to configure the settings and then start the operation in accordance with the entered parameters. Here the user sets the parameters of the operation defining:

   The partition to enlarge. Select a partition, the size of which will be increased at the expense of other partitions. Blocks of free space, if any will be automatically added to the target partition.

   The partition to donate. Choose any partition (not only adjacent) to donate free space if available. By default, the program leaves 50% of the unused space on a partition and removes another 50% to add it to the target partition, however the size to take can be customized by moving the slider at the bottom of the page.

Results

After the operation is completed free space of the specified partition will be increased at the expense of unused space of the others.

Undelete Partition

When deleting a partition, disk management software only removes references to it in the Partition Table so that a previously deleted partition can still be recovered (in case of valid restoration of the record in the Partition Table). The program provides the ability to find and recover these partitions. This function minimizes the hazard of occasional partitions deletion and is usually known as undelete.

A restored partition will be fully functional, as long as other partitions were not created, moved or exceeded the disk space occupied by the partition. That is why the program enables the Undelete Partition function only for blocks of free space.

The operation can be accomplished with the Undelete Partition Wizard.

Starting

There are several ways to start the Undelete Partition Wizard:

   In the Main menu: select Wizards > Undelete Partitions…

   On the Common Tasks bar: click the Undelete Partition item of the Wizards menu.

   Select a disk on the Disk map and click the Recover Lost Partitions item on the page that appears in the Explorer bar.

After following one of the above mentioned actions, the Welcome page of the wizard is displayed.

Settings

The Undelete Partition Wizard allows the user to configure the settings and then start the operation in accordance with the entered parameters. Here the user sets the parameters of the operation defining:

   Free blocks to scan for lost partitions. Choose a free block from a tree-like list of available disks and their partitions.

   Manual setting of search criteria. The user can manually specify a particular file system to look for and define search criteria. Good knowledge of hard disk structure is required.

Results

After the operation is completed the user receives a fully functional partition.

Move & Resize Partition

The Move & Resize Partition function allows the user to modify the size and position of partitions on the hard disk keeping all on-disk information intact.

In order to move/resize a partition the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Move/Resize Partition dialog to define appropriate settings. There are several ways to do it:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Move/Resize Partition …

   On the Explorer bar: click on the current total size value.

   Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the List of Partitions, then select the menu item: Move/Resize Partition…

3. Define parameters of the operation with the Move/Resize Partition dialog.

   Partition preview. The disk map displays the resulting disk layout after the move/resize operation is completed.

   Partition size. Define the size (in Mb) of the modified partition.

   Free space before. Define the position (in Mb) of the partition relative to the beginning of the available range of disk space.

   Free space after. Define the amount of trailing free space (in Mb) at the end of the available range of disk space.

In addition, there is the possibility to make further detailed settings (although the default values will do in most cases). To activate the advance mode, the user needs to click the More options button at the foot of the dialog page. The following options become available:

   Verify write operation. Define whether the Writing Verification test will be accomplished during the operation or not.

   Sector to sector move. Activate the sector-to-sector mode (allows to process any file system, even unknown one).

   Surface test level. Select from the pull-down list the level of the surface test.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Mount Partition

The program allows the user to assign or remove drive letters of existing formatted partitions.

Assign Drive Letter

In order to mount a partition the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Add Drive Letter dialog to define appropriate settings. There are several ways to do it:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Assign Drive Letter…

   Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the List of Partitions, then select the menu item: Assign Drive Letter…

3. Define a drive letter for the selected partition with the Add Drive Letter dialog. Initially the program suggests some consistent value for this parameter. So the user may just press the OK button to confirm the operation.

Assign the following drive letter. The pull-down list contains vacant drive letters that can be associated with the selected partition. Assign a drive letter to a non-mounted partition, or change the existed drive letter for already mounted partition.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Remove Drive Letter

In order to un-mount a partition the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Remove Drive Letter dialog to define appropriate settings. There are several ways to do it:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Remove Drive Letter.

   Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the List of Partitions, then select the menu item: Remove Drive Letter.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Convert File System

The program provides the ability to change the file system type without destroying data. While performing the operation, the program first checks for consistency the current file system and then verifies whether the on-partition data meet the requirements of the desired file system or not. After having passed the testing, the program re-organizes the file system metadata The servicing structures of a file system, which contain information about allocating files and directories, security information etc, are named file system metadata. File system metadata are invisible for users and ordinary applications because accidental modifications of the metadata usually make a partition unusable. and user files.

The program enables to convert the following file system types:

- FAT16 > NTFS, FAT32

- FAT32 > NTFS, FAT16

- NTFS > FAT16, FAT32

- Ext2 > Ext3

In order to convert file system of a partition the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Convert file system of partition dialog to define appropriate settings:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Modify > Convert file system…

   On the Explorer bar: click on the current file system type.

   Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the List of Partitions, then select the menu item: Convert File System…

3. Define parameters of the operation with the Convert file system of partition dialog. Initially the program suggests some consistent values for all parameters. In most cases, the user may just press the OK button to confirm the operation.

   Current file system. The dialog allows the user to get information on the selected partition.

   New file system. The pull-down list contains file systems to convert to. The program only displays available variants, taking into account current parameters of the selected partition and the file system limitations.

   Convert options.

- New cluster Cluster is the smallest amount of disk space that can be allocated to hold a file. All file systems used by Windows organize hard disks based on clusters, which consist of one or more contiguous sectors. The smaller the cluster size, the more efficiently a disk stores information. If no cluster size is specified during formatting, Windows picks defaults based on the size of the volume. These defaults are selected to reduce the amount of space that is lost and the amount of fragmentation on the volume. A cluster is also called an allocation unit. size.  Define the Cluster Size for the partition to convert.

- Surface test level. Select from the pull-down list the surface test level.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Change Cluster Size

Cluster Size is one of the important parameters of any file system. The Cluster Size value affects implicitly the performance of the files input-output activity since it defines the size of the file system metadata. Besides, the so-called waste space factor also depends on the Cluster Size value.

The program provides the ability to change the Cluster Size to any available value without destroying data.

In order to change the cluster size of a partition the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Change Cluster Size dialog to define appropriate settings:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Modify > Change Cluster Size…

   On the Explorer bar: click on the current sectors per cluster value.

3. Define a new value with the Change Cluster Size dialog.

Sectors per cluster. Select a new cluster size value from the pull-down list.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Make Logical / Make Primary

The program provides the ability to include a Primary Partition in the Extended Partition Extended Partition is a type of partition that you can create only on basic master boot record (MBR) disks. Extended partitions are useful if you want to create more than four volumes on a basic MBR disk. Unlike primary partitions, you do not format an extended partition with a file system and then assign a drive letter to it. Instead, you create one or more logical drives within the extended partition. After you create a logical drive, you format it and assign it a drive letter. An MBR disk can have up to four primary partitions, or three primary partitions, one extended partition, and multiple logical drives., or exclude a Logical Partition from the Extended Partition, without partition duplication.

In order to change a partition type the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a primary or logical partition on the Disk Map.

2. There are several ways to Make Partition Logical/Primary:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Modify > Make Partition Logical/Primary.

   On the Explorer bar: click on the current partition type.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Changing Partition Attributes

This chapter explains how the user can change partition attributes (Active flag, Hidden flag, Partition ID Partition ID (or File system ID) is the identifier of a file system that is placed in the partition. The partition ID is used to quickly detect partitions of supported types. Some of the operating systems rely completely on the Partition ID when distinguishing supported partitions, while others again do not. The partition ID is saved in appropriate entries of the Partition Table. It takes up only 1 byte of space., Volume Label).

Mark Partition Active/Inactive

The program enables to set Active/Inactive flag for primary partitions of the hard disk. By default the operating system will boot from the active (bootable) partition at startup.

In order to mark partition Active/Inactive the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a primary partition on the Disk Map.

2. There are several ways to Mark Partition Active/Inactive:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Mark Partition Active/Inactive.

   Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the List of Partitions, then select the menu item: Mark Partition Active/Inactive.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Hide/Unhide Partition

The program allows the user to Hide/Unhide primary and logical partitions. The operating system does not mount hidden partitions, thus preventing access to their contents.

In order to Hide/Unhide a partition the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. There are several ways to Hide/Unhide partitions:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Hide/Unhide Partition.

   Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the List of Partitions, then select the menu item: Hide/Unhide Partition.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Change Partition ID

Partition ID is an identifier of a file system that is placed in the partition. Partition ID is saved in the Partition Table; it is used to quickly detect partitions of supported types. By manually changing the Partition ID value, it is possible to manipulate the accessibility of partitions.

In order to change a Partition ID the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Change Partition ID dialog to define appropriate settings. There are several ways to do it:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Change Partition ID…

   On the Explorer bar: click on the current partition ID.

   Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the List of Partitions, then select the menu item: Change Partition ID…

3. Define the ID of the partition with the Change Partition ID dialog:

   Predefined ID. Select from the pull-down list ID values for various file systems.

   Enter ID manually. The textual field contains a hexadecimal presentation of the Partition ID. Generally, the Partition ID should be presented as 1-2 digits hexadecimal number; only hexadecimal digits {0..9, A..F} are allowed to be used.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Set Label of a Partition

The Partition Label Partition Label (sometimes also referred to as Volume Label) is a small textual field (up to 11 characters) that is located in the partition's boot sector. This value is used for notification purposes only. It is detectable by any partitioning tool including DOS' FDISK utility. Modern operating systems use other methods to save the Volume Label within the file system, e.g. as a special hidden file. The Volume Label is able to contain a relatively large amount of text in multiple languages. In general, the Volume Label and the Partition Label are rather different. is a small textual field (up to 11 characters) that is located in the partition's boot sector. This value is detectable by any partitioning tool; it is used for notification purposes only.

In order to change a partition label the user should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Change Volume Label dialog to define appropriate settings. There are several ways to do it:

   Select in the Main menu: Partition > Change Volume Label.

   On the Explorer bar: click on the current volume label.

   Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the List of Partitions, then select the menu item: Change Volume Label.

3. Define the label of the partition with the Change Volume Label dialog:

New volume label. Enter the new value of the Partition Label. The length of the Label is limited to 11 characters.

The dialog also displays the current partition label.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.