Programs for changing disk space in Russian. Review of free programs for working with hard disk partitions. How many sections should there be

This article explains how to create, modify or delete hard disk partitions using Windows 7.
To work with hard disk partitions in Windows 7, there is a tool called "Disk Management": Control Panel → System and Security → Administrative Tools → Computer Management → Disk Management OR Start → in the search bar enter: diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

1. Section creation
Right-click on a free, not occupied by other partitions, place of the desired hard disk → Create a simple volume... The "Simple Volume Wizard" window will open, click the "Next" button. Then specify the size of the partition to be created, assign a drive letter, select the required file system and formatting options, once again make sure that you did everything correctly and click "Finish"
2. Partition compression
Shrink Volume... A message box will appear asking for a place to compress, wait until the end of the survey. Then in the window that appears in the line "size of compressed space" specify the amount of free space and click "Compress"
3. Partition extension
Right click on the desired section → Extend Volume... The "Extend Volume Wizard" window will appear, click the "Next" button. Then select the desired free area in the list, click "Add", then specify the size of the free space allocated to the partition, click the "Next" button, check the information and click "Finish"
4. Deleting a section
Right click on the desired section → Delete volume... Before continuing the operation, copy all the necessary files and folders to another drive, because. After deleting a volume, all data on it will be lost.
5. Change drive letter
Right click on the desired section → Change Drive Letter or Drive Path... Click on the Change button, select the desired drive letter and click OK. Next, we will take a closer look at ways to expand disks and not harm the information stored on them.

In order to divide the hard disk into partitions, you need to go to the "Start" menu → right-click on "Computer" and click on "Management".

In the window that appears, go to the "Disk Management" section.

Select the hard drive and partition you want to partition and right-click on it.

In the drop-down menu, you need to select "Shrink volume" and then select the size to which you want to reduce the existing partition. The space freed up after compression will be the new hard disk partition.

To create a new partition, you need to right-click on the free space and select "create volume". Then specify the size of the new partition and wait for the operation to complete. Sooner or later, any computer user is faced with such a problem as lack of free space on the system partition of the hard drive. This is where the question arises: How to expand C drive?

First we need to go to the "Computer Management" tab (see above).
When this tab opens, you will see in the window all the media that is currently connected to the computer. Each hard disk can be divided into several logical ones. The very first one will be "Disk 0". The space reserved by the system and the logical partitions (C, D, E, F, etc.) will be displayed on the right. If you have only one C drive and it is full, then you can try "Compress Volume" (see above). If you have several logical partitions, then go ahead.

Principle of disk division.

The principle of action is as follows: we must expand the C drive at the expense of the adjacent logical partition. It can be drive D, E, and so on. In the same way, you can increase not only section C, but also others, if you have such a need. So, we delete the neighboring disk, for example, D. Right-click on it and select the "Delete volume" option. We press OK. Immediately after that, this volume should be displayed in black. It should show "Volume Unallocated". Now we can add the space we need to the C drive. To do this, right-click on the C partition and select "Expand Volume". Click "Next" and select the size you want to add.
You can use the maximum size as suggested by default, or choose your own. Click "Next" and then "Finish". If no additional windows popped up, then the operation was successful. You have learned how to expand the C drive using Windows 7. The main thing to remember is that the system partition can only be expanded if there is free space to the right of it. Otherwise, nothing will work.

Possible difficulties.

What else can be difficult? Suppose we have five volumes. We want to configure them in such a way that we add part of the space to drive C, and the other to drive D. When deleting one of the partitions, the "Delete volume" function may not be active, and the "Expand volume" function is not available on volume C
The thing is that the section style can be used MBR*. This is an outdated style. In this case, two neighboring volumes can be connected by a green frame. This means that more than four volumes cannot be created with the MBR partition style.

Windows 8 provides the same tools for increasing space. Therefore, this method is also applicable on this operating system.

Partitioning a hard drive into partitions in the Windows 7 operating system is a very simple thing. You can see for yourself if you partition and create a new partition according to the described algorithm.

*MBR (Master Boot Record) in a PC is a table in the first sector of the boot disk that stores data about the physical and logical organization of the disk. If this entry is corrupted, booting the OS becomes impossible.

That's all. Thanks for reading the article. I hope it was helpful to you.

The reasons for dividing a hard disk into several partitions are different for everyone. For some, this is an opportunity to systematize the necessary information and store it competently; someone using multiple partitions uses multiple operating systems to work on their computer or laptop. Finally, if the hard drive is divided into several parts, then it is easier to defragment them separately.

Standard PC equipment: the simpler the better

This program is rightfully considered one of the best or even the best hard drive partitioner.

This is the simplest program that will help you effectively manage multiple systems and different programs.

Its main advantages are the elimination of errors in partitions, the conversion of file systems and data protection. Another advantage is that this utility is very popular, because there is a lot of reference information on it on the network.

2. Disk Management in Windows

Any version of Windows has a Disk Management feature: this is the simplest, most affordable and quite effective tool that allows you to change partitions.

Each version of Windows OS has its own differences, but in the most popular ones (Windows Vista, Windows 7 and 8) there are no fundamental differences. Let's take a closer look at how to partition a Windows hard drive using this utility.

The program opens through the Start menu, and in the "Disk Management" item, even novice users using the three main items (Expand, Shrink and Delete Volume) perform all the necessary actions in real time. Special knowledge is not required for this - it is enough to give affirmative or negative answers and press the necessary menu items.

There is only one drawback of the regular program - there are risks of failures that lead to the loss of certain sections. The risk exists when there is a mass of unnecessary programs on the disk, or when trying to partition the hard drive partition in which Windows is running: the processor does not always unequivocally respond to an attempt to “experiment” on the system partition.

Free software for everyone

Two programs that can be downloaded absolutely free from the net - EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition and Paragon Partition Manager 11 Free - are also easy to learn and use, but require certain knowledge.

1. EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition

The program helps not only to partition the hard disk, but also to create, copy, resize or completely delete partitions; as well as restore deleted partitions.

The disadvantage that affects the popularity of the program is the only English version. But if you know English, you can appreciate the excellent functionality and predictability of the program, stability of work and the ability to carry out all procedures in virtual mode - at any time you can correct a settings error, cancel the disk partition procedure and restore the original data.

2. Paragon Partition Manager 11 Free

The program is again with an English-language interface, but for a beginner it is more interesting than the previous one - the main windows are quite visual and make it easier to navigate the functions. The disadvantages of the program include low speed and unpredictability.

If funds allow, you can buy a Russian-language version of this program for money, but it still retains the main shortcomings of the English-language product.

Programs for advanced users

These programs have advanced functionality - this is support for various disks and flash drives, the ability to convert file systems, create bootable media, and much more. The fundamental differences are in speed, functionality and accessibility.

5. [email protected] Partition Manager

This program is a free manager that simplifies work with logical disks: a system reboot is not required when creating, formatting or deleting disk partitions.

Even if you accidentally delete important partition data, the program will help you restore them!

But the lack of the ability to change the size of disks (the partition must first be deleted, and then another one must be created in the same place) leaves no chance of recovering the lost information.

6. MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition

Experienced users can use the equally simple and accessible MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition manager. The main plus of the program is the ability to work with both a separate hard drive and RAID arrays created on the basis of two or more drives.

To work with hard disk partitions (dividing into partitions or combining them into one) in the Windows 10 operating system, there is a built-in utility " Disk Management". Its use, in my opinion, is preferable to installing any third-party tools. How to divide a hard disk with your own means of "dozens" or, conversely, combine its sections, you can read in separate articles on this site: divide and unite. But sometimes there are situations when it is quite difficult to do without third-party tools.

This article was written in response to questions from readers of the site who had problems dividing a hard drive or combining its volumes. The Disk Management utility built into Windows 10, despite all its advantages, has its drawbacks: sometimes it does not allow you to create a partition of the desired size, from time to time it does not allow you to split the hard disk at all, sometimes it is not possible to combine the necessary volumes into one. In these problematic situations (and only in them!) I recommend using a third-party, albeit free program for managing hard disk partitions in the "top ten". It is worth remembering that using any third-party tool to manage the operating system can be potentially dangerous. I am not inclined to dramatize the situation, but I feel it is my duty to warn about it, even if the probability of possible problems is one chance in ten thousand. Therefore, when possible, it is still better to use the built-in Disk Management utility developed by Microsoft in Windows 10.

When I was preparing this article, I spent several hours of time to find a truly completely free, reliable and reputable hard drive partitioning software(or their combinations). There are a lot of outright lies and dubious programs of unknown origin in this area. A separate item in my search was the question that the software found was not only free, but also had a Russian-language interface and also turned out to be completely compatible with Windows 10. The last question is far from idle - the fact is that on the Internet you can find information about how some disk partitioning programs created for Windows 7 or 8 ruined hard drives for Windows 10 users.

So, as a result of a long and careful search, I finally found and tried the program myself AOMEI Partition Assistant. In general, its full version of the Professional Edition costs from $ 59 and much more. But don't let that scare you, because the functionality of its free Standard Edition branch is quite enough to:

Divide hard drive into partitions
Merge hard drive volumes into one partition

In general, the presence of a paid version speaks only in favor of this software. After all, this testifies to the seriousness of the intentions of its authors. Those who create programs for money certainly make worthy solutions for free, albeit with somewhat limited functionality (all the more so, it will be enough for us). Another proof of the authority of AOMEI Partition Assistant, in my opinion, is the presence of an article about it in Wikipedia. By the way, if you doubt the reliability and safety of a program, always check through a search engine to see if Wikipedia writes about it. This, of course, is not a 100% guarantee, but still, since this electronic encyclopedia strives for maximum objectivity, in articles about software there you can find information about the possible "pitfalls" of a particular program. It is in the same place, on Wikipedia, that it is better to take a link to the official website of the program. The fact is that in search engines, the first places are often occupied by no means official sites of certain programs.

On the official site AOMEI Technology I immediately found section on Partition Assistant. We go down on this page a little down to the second screen. There, to download the free version of the hard disk management program we need, we find the item Partition Assistant Standard Edition and (of course) click "Download". Do not be afraid that the site is in English, the program itself has an official Russian localization. Please note that there are several options for downloading this program for different needs on the page - for home free use, choose the version Standard edition.

The process of installing the program is not complicated at all. First, it is proposed to select a language, then traditionally accept the usage agreement, if necessary, select the folder where the program will be stored - that, in general, is all. After installation, the program will automatically start if at the last step you leave a check mark on the “Run this program” item.

I will not consider all options for using AOMEI Partition Assistant to manage a hard drive. I will analyze in detail only the question of how this free program partition hard drive into multiple partitions in windows 10. Everything else (including merging volumes) is done by analogy.

Partitioning a hard drive with the free AOMEI Partition Assistant in Windows 10

When the program starts, all the physical hard drives installed on your computer or laptop, as well as the partitions that exist on them, will be displayed at the bottom of it. In order to divide a disk into several volumes, you first need to “pin off” a piece of space from an existing partition. To do this, stand on the donor volume and right-click on it, select " Resize Partition».

A new window will appear in which you need to specify what size you want to leave the existing volume. The rest of the space will be freed up for the new partition. I left the C drive 150 GB. We press OK.

Now we see that we have free space labeled " Unoccupied". We need to create a new partition (volume) on it. To do this, click again with the right mouse button on it and select the item " Section creation».

The pop-up window appears again. In it, we leave everything by default and click OK.

After that, a new section will already appear on the program screen. It would seem that you can rejoice. But it was not there. Turns out, no changes have been made to the hard drive itself yet! To complete the operation, you must press the button at the top Apply».

As a rule, a computer restart is required to complete the operation. This is what the new window in the AOMEI Partition Assistant tells us about. Click "Go" on it. It is better to leave a tick in front of the “Check partitions before execution” item. It will allow the program to check sections for errors before dividing.

After that, a new window will appear again with a warning about restarting the computer. We agree and click "Yes".

After the reboot, the actual physical division of the hard disk into two partitions begins. It occurs before the Windows 10 operating system boots in PreOS mode.

Personally, this process took me a couple of minutes. Most likely, the fact is that on the shared hard disk I had nothing but myself cleanly installed Windows 10 and several programs. Therefore, it did not take much time to move the files. If the computer is weak, and there is a lot of information on the disk, then the division process can take much longer. My computer rebooted twice and then started in normal mode. After that, a new section appeared in the explorer, and the existing one became smaller.

Let me remind you that by analogy with this instruction in Windows 10 Freeware AOMEI Partition Assistant Can Merge Hard Disk Partitions.

I foresee a question from some caustic readers of my site, why I reviewed only one free program for managing hard drive partitions on the "top ten". Will explain. The fact is that the rest of the programs I studied did not suit me for various reasons: some of them did not have the Russian language (and for many this is important), for others the functionality in the free version turned out to be too much curtailed, and still others raised doubts in terms of security for the operating system and compatibility with Windows 10. In addition, I absolutely see no reason to look for something else to solve fairly rare tasks. I think that the reviewed software copes with the tasks with a bang and has undoubted advantages over all other free programs that I have studied. So why fill your head with unnecessary information then?)

Multilingual registered version!

Aomei Partition Assistant- a powerful program for working with a hard disk, partition administration for PCs and workstations. The program will answer questions such as: “How to resize a partition or merge partitions without losing data? How to increase computer performance? In addition, PA includes AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager Pro (DDM), which means it has the ability to manage a dynamic disk volume.

Torrent Hard Disk Partitioning - AOMEI Partition Assistant Technician Edition 6.6 RePack by KpoJIuK in detail:
Key features:
· Ability to expand the NTFS system partition without restarting the computer to maximize computer performance and minimize downtime;
· Merging adjacent partitions into one big one without losing data, or combining unallocated space into a partition;
Splitting one large partition into two or more partitions;
·Create as many partitions as you need without using free disk space;
· Copy partitions for Windows system migration or when backing up important data;
· Cloning the hard drive helps with its upgrade;
· Quick distribution of free space from one partition to another for full use of disk space.

New opportunities:
OS Migration to SSD/HDD: For many SSD users, this simple technology can help you migrate your OS to an SSD and keep the original system.
Partition recovery: recover lost or deleted partitions in a few steps.
Partition Alignment: speeding up disks when reading and writing data, especially SSD disks.
Creation of bootable CDs: performs secure disk partition management in WinPE mode and boot from CD/DVD, USB flash memory.
MBR Overwrite: overwriting from the master boot disk to a corrupted MBR hard disk for easy recovery.
·Conversion between GPT and MBR: converting from a GPT to MBR disk without data loss and vice versa.
Linux Partition Management: creation, deletion, formatting, copying, destruction, restoration of Ext2/Ext3 partitions.
·Changing the partition type (ID) and changing the serial number.

Changes in version 6.6:
Fully support exFAT file system, including create, delete, format, move, and copy exFAT partition.
The Windows PE bootable media created on 64-bit system support both UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes.
Remove the limitation to resize/move system boot partition in Windows 10, version 1703 and later.

Version features:
·A type: installation [official installer]
·Languages: multi, there is Russian
·Treatment: carried out

Command line switches:
Silent Install: /S /Q
Select installation location: /D=PATH

The /D=PATH option is specified last

A hard drive in a computer and the drive icon in My Computer are two different things. For example, a computer may have one hard drive installed, while My Computer may have several. The reason for such a strange discrepancy is that the hard disk can be divided into so-called partitions. This is called logical disk partitioning.

I will talk about why such markup is needed, how to do it correctly (and whether it should be done at all), and also talk about free programs for such a delicate procedure.

Why you need to partition your hard drive

There are several reasons for dividing a hard drive into partitions:

Partitions on a hard drive are primarily needed for proper storage of information. For example, some users prefer the following division: operating system and programs on the same disk (usually C), documents - on the second ( D), photo archive on the third ( E) etc. In this case, the hard drive may well be one.
If you have one hard drive, but want to have two or more operating systems, you will have to divide the hard drive into partitions, since Windows and other operating systems can only be installed on different partitions or hard drives.
Notebook manufacturers (and some well-known computer manufacturers such as Acer) have their own reason for dividing hard disk partitions: on a partition that is visible as a disk c, Windows installed, second ( D) is completely empty, and the third one (which is not visible in the My Computer window at all) stores a compressed copy of the partition C. This hidden partition of the hard drive is called recovery partition. If something happened to the operating system (“Windows crashed” - as some users like to say), then when you turn on the laptop, just press the key combination (which one - see the instructions for the laptop) and a special program will clean the disk C, then unpacks the contents of the hidden section there. As a result, the user will receive a laptop with the programs that were originally on it at the time of purchase in the store. Disk D it will not be changed. The conclusion suggests itself: if on a laptop with such a recovery system all documents are stored not on C drive, a only on D, it will be possible at any time to restore damaged Windows with a new one, while not losing important data for yourself. By the way, any advanced user can make such a recovery system for himself, but I will talk about it some other time.
Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems, when installed on a blank, "unpartitioned" hard drive, create a hidden partition of 100-350 megabytes in size. This small section stores the bootloader, which, oddly enough, is designed to boot Windows. This partition will not exist or its contents will be damaged - and the computer will not start the operating system, displaying the inscription on the black screen "Boot fail", "Cannot find boot device", "Boot error" or similar, the meaning of which is the same - a boot disk with operating system. In fact, the bootloader can be stored on disk C:, and / or in hidden sectors of the hard disk (outside partitions), but the developers decided to use a separate hidden partition in Windows 7/8 to somehow protect the bootloader from damage by other programs, viruses or the user.
There are other reasons for dividing a hard drive into partitions. For example, for the correct operation of GNU / Linux operating systems, several partitions should be created, but this is a topic for a separate article, we will not consider them here.

So, The main reasons for dividing a hard drive into partitions are: for the convenience of storing information, for installing several operating systems, for the operation of the recovery system, for storing the Windows 7/8 bootloader.

A bit of theory: file systems, partition types

Information about partitions (i.e. logical drives) is stored in a "partition table". Each logical drive can have its own file system. You can read more about all this in the Wikipedia articles: Disk partition, Logical disk, File system. It is enough for a novice user to know the bare minimum:

If you divide the hard disk into logical disks (partitions), disk capacity will not increase- there is simply nowhere to take a free place! You can make partitions of any size, but in total they cannot be larger than the size of a real hard drive. Here is less - please. Then you will get unallocated free space, not visible in My Computer, from which you can get one or more new partitions. This is a question I often get from newbies, so I put it in the first place.
Exists primary (basic) and extended (optional) sections. One hard drive cannot have more than four main partitions (for some reason, follow the links above), so we came up with an extended partition - this is a primary partition that can include as many partitions as you like. As a result, thanks to the extended partition, the hard disk can have as many partitions as you like - tens, hundreds.
Each partition can have its own file system. Currently, only NTFS can be used to install Windows Vista, 7 and 8, while the outdated Windows XP can be installed on disks with the FAT32 file system. However, I do not recommend doing this, as it imposes too many restrictions. Make all partitions in NTFS - everything will work as it should.
Any hard disk must be partitioned one way or another. To one or more logical drives - it's up to you. When buying a hard drive, it is usually already marked into one partition - the manufacturer decided so. If you are satisfied with this way of organizing information - do not touch.
It is very undesirable to partition a disk in laptops - most of them have hidden recovery partitions that can be damaged (see point 3 of the previous chapter).
If you bought a hard drive with a capacity of 2 terabytes, and in "My Computer" - "only" 1.86 terabytes (1860 gigabytes), then do not rush to run back to the store. It's all about how manufacturers and Windows consider volume. Read more about this in the Wikipedia article Hard drive. The larger the size of the hard drive, the more clearly it can be seen that there are fewer real gigabytes.
Sections can delete, create, move(change their physical position on the disk), resize, format, convert file systems on partitions from one to another. Moreover, many programs are able to do this while saving all the data. There are other operations, but novice users most often need the above.
In the event of an error during the process of changing partitions (see point 7), information is almost always lost. Yes, it can be restored (or part of it) with special programs with the participation of specialists, but it is best to save all important information in advance to other disks (not logical, but real disks) or flash drives, so as not to pay money for data recovery.

Windows Disk Management snap-in

Windows has a standard partitioning tool - " Disk Management". Depending on the version of Windows, the capabilities of this program change a little, but in general over the past years (if we talk about Windows Vista, 7, 8) there have been no major changes. Windows XP looks more modest in this regard - apart from formatting and changing the drive letter, there is little you can do there.

As an example, I will take " Disk Management» Windows 7. There are several ways to open this program:

The simplest - right-click on the line Computer on the menu Start- choose an item Control- select in a new window Disk Management.
We open Control Panel - Administration - Computer management - Disk Management.
Click Start - Run(or keyboard shortcut Win + R) - enter in the window that opens diskmgmt.msc- press OK.

Disk Management looks like that:

Here you can see both physical disks (including DVD drives, flash drives and other storage devices) and logical ones, i.e. virtual - hidden Windows 7 bootloader partition, disks C and D. Your computer may have a different number of disks.

The main actions are available by right-clicking on the desired section:

The list of actions is rather sparse:

Items Open, Conductor allow you to see the contents of disks
Make section active- indicate on which disk (partition) the bootloader is located. In Windows 7 and 8, this is a system reserved partition. You cannot make another partition active - the operating system will stop loading.
Change Drive Letter or Drive Path- you can change the drive letter displayed in the "Computer" window or display it as a folder. Yes, partitions can be displayed not only as disks, but also as folders on a disk.
Format- you can read about it in the article Formatting Wikipedia. The item opens a window with which you can start high-level formatting.
Extend Volume- if there is a place on the hard disk that is not marked as a partition, then you can expand the size of the partition using this free space.
Shrink Volume- this item allows you to reduce the partition size. The result will be the formation of unallocated space, which can be put into action - to expand the volume of another section (see the previous paragraph).
Delete volume- delete section. Do not click on an item without thoroughly considering the consequences. If you delete a partition, then the information on it will be possible to save only with the help of special programs, and even then not always.
Properties- a properties window will open with information about the selected disk (partition).

Of course, this is not a complete list of possibilities. Disk Management. One can create dynamic disks, for example. However, novice users do not need this, this article is designed just for them.

So, to create, delete, resize partitions through Disk Management, you only need three menu items: Extend Volume, Shrink Volume, Delete Volume.

All operations take place in real time, i.e. after pressing the desired item and an affirmative answer to the question - do we want to do this - the actual action takes place.

Do not forget that there is a risk of failure, due to which we can lose one partition or all. This applies primarily to computers with a large number of unnecessary programs - each of them may be the culprit in deleting all data. Moreover, the scenario when you need to change the partition from which Windows is started (usually this is a disk C), is the worst - most often, users have problems when they try to change the system partition.

To minimize the risk of failure, there are three methods:

Insert a hard drive into another computer and change partitions from it by running Disk Management or any other program for changing partitions. Due to the fact that Windows will be launched from another disk, no programs will climb onto a foreign disk, interfering with a responsible operation.
Boot from a Live CD - the operating system and programs will be launched not from a hard disk, but from a CD or DVD, flash drive - again, nothing will prevent partitions from being changed.
Use a program that can work in Native mode to change sections. For example, check disk C always works in this mode - a black window with white text until the Desktop loads. In this mode, a minimum of programs is launched, the risk of failure is minimal.

The third option is the easiest, because the user does not actually need to do anything - just restart the computer and wait a few minutes. The following two review programs can do this.

A free hard disk partitioning program for home use.

By clicking on a section (it doesn't matter - in the list above, in the picture below), you can see a menu (both pop-up and on the left panel) with all the required actions:

Resize/Move partition- resize the partition and/or move its physical position on the disk. By the way, the official website says that the EaseUS Partition Master Home version (free) does not support changing partitions. It's not - everything works great.

copy partition- copy the partition to another disk with all the information on it.

Merge partitions- merging two or more sections. It is convenient if you need to save information on the hard drive, but reduce the number of partitions. Convert to logical/primary- conversion to logical (extended)/main (primary) partition.

Change label- change the disc label.

change drive letter- change the drive letter.

defragment- launching a standard Windows program for disk defragmentation.

Check partition- checking the disk for errors using, again, a standard Windows program.

hide partition- make sure that the section is not visible in the "Computer" window.

Delete partition- deleting a section.

format partition- section formatting.

Wipe partition- clearing the contents of the section. All folders and files will be deleted, the partition will remain. Information deleted in this way cannot be recovered.

Explore partition- view the contents of the section.

view properties- see how much space is occupied on the partition, what file system it has and find out other technical information.

The list of actions changes depending on where you click. In the screenshot above, I clicked on the non-system partition. By clicking on the system partition (where Windows is launched from), there will be no deletion, hiding, cleaning items. If you click on the physical disk icon, the list of actions will be completely different:

I will list the points:

copy disk- the contents of the entire disk are copied: partitions, information in them. To do this, you need a second disk of the same or larger volume.

Upgrade disk- the function is primarily needed to transfer Windows to a new larger hard drive. The partition is copied and enlarged in proportion to the size of the new hard disk.

Delete all partitions- delete all partitions.

Wipe disk- the same as the previous paragraph, only with special deletion algorithms, making it impossible to recover information.

surface test- checking the surface of the disk (physical). Allows you to detect bad sectors (the so-called "bads", "bad blocks").

view properties- display information about the disk.

Yes, knowledge of English is clearly required here, especially considering that almost every item calls up a window with the settings for the action to be performed. After you make the necessary manipulations, you need to apply the changes by pressing the button apply(Apply):

Only then will partitioning begin. This process can take some time - from a couple of minutes to several hours.

Depending on whether the system partition is affected or not, operations are carried out either immediately in the window, or you will need to restart the computer and start changing the partition in Native mode:

The program has a lot of functions, it's impossible to list them all. I recommend that you read the help for EaseUS Partition Master. It is in English, unfortunately, but you can use Google translator. The translation is quite understandable.

Pros of EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition:

Lots of features.
All actions are "virtual" until the Apply button is pressed. So, you can cancel the operations up to this "point of no return" and try to do something else with the partitions. Or don't do it at all if you change your mind.
Works stably and predictably. For example, in the process of testing during the change of partitions, I started copying files to the partition that needs to be changed. The result - a window appeared stating that the partition could not be locked, all operations were interrupted, the data did not disappear anywhere.
The program is free for home use.

Cons of EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition:

The interface is in English only.
There are perhaps even too many possibilities - this can confuse beginners.
A serious failure during the operation will lead to serious consequences.
For example, if you turn off the computer while changing the partition, the data from the partition will disappear. However, this is a minus of absolutely all programs for changing partitions.

Conclusion: the program is good. You can and should use it, there are no alternatives among free programs.

Paragon Partition Manager 11 Free

Free partition changer from a company based in Russia. Unfortunately, the program is in English. What made the developers take such a step is unclear. Moreover, the paid version of the program is in Russian.

The main window of the program is no different from the window of the hero of the previous review, except that the buttons have changed their order:

Worthy of special mention Express Mode(Simplified mode). By clicking on this button, we will get a window with a list of the most frequent actions:

One could say that this is an ideal mode for beginners, if not for one "but": everything here is in English. Moreover, I had a suspicion that the English here was somehow wrong, as if it were not a person who translated, but a machine.

Pros of Paragon Partition Manager 11 Free:

Many of the windows have a clear enough view to understand the functions.
Some operations are carried out immediately in the program window, some (if required) in Native mode. That is, the program does everything to reduce the chance of data loss.
The program is free to use at home.

Cons of Paragon Partition Manager 11 Free:

English, and because of the strange construction of phrases, it is quite difficult to perceive.
The simplified Express Mode works exactly the opposite: firstly, the descriptions of operations and the operations themselves have more technical subtleties than is required; secondly, this mode is very capricious and does not really work, giving meaningless errors.
The program is too slow. For example, it took me about 5 minutes to remove a 38 GB hard drive partition - long enough for such a simple operation.

Conclusion: The program works, but is somehow unpredictable. I do not recommend using this program, since there is an alternative in the form of EaseUS Partition Master Home.

Changing partitions during installation of Windows 7, 8, 10

This tool also deserves a mention.

We take any installation disk with Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 or 10, start the installation of the disk, go to the partition selection and click Disk setup:

Everything seems to be simple: you need to click on the section in the list, then the action button. Unfortunately, there is little action here: delete, format, partition and expand.

You can, for example, delete a partition and use the freed space to increase the size of another partition or partitions (while selecting the necessary partitions, press the Delete and Extend buttons in turn).

Alas, a very popular operation - reducing the size of partitions - is not here. It is possible to delete a partition, then re-create a new one with a smaller partition, but, unfortunately, we will lose data in this case.

All operations take place in real time, i.e. after the button is pressed, an action occurs.

Outcome: editing partitions during Windows installation is an extremely primitive tool. It works, but performs only a limited list of actions, among which the only one that saves data is increasing (expanding) the size of the partition. If you need to install Windows and do not need to save data on partitions, then the tool will come in handy.

If suddenly you accidentally deleted a partition during Windows installation or through any program, do not despair - the partition recovery feature is included in EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition.

To recover a deleted hard drive partition, do not touch sections, immediately boot into Windows (or insert a hard drive into another computer if you have deleted the system partition and Windows cannot be loaded), then run the above program, click on the line with the word in the list Unallocated("Unassigned"), then click the button Partition recovery.

The rest, as they say, is a matter of technique - the action wizard will tell you where to click, where to check the boxes, then restore your deleted disk.

Tip #2: Installing two or more Windows operating systems on one hard drive

All that is needed for this - several sections. If the hard drive already has a second partition that is visible in the " Computer"- make sure that there is at least 20 GB of free space (more is better), then during the Windows installation, simply specify this second (third, fourth, etc.) drive. After installation, you will be able to select Windows using the menu that will appear when you turn on your computer.

If you have only one disk C), I propose the simplest option: Through Disk Management give section first WITH command Compress, reducing at least 20 gigabytes (or better, more, because in addition to Windows, you will also install programs):

Right click on drive C...

After pressing the button Compress disk size C decreases, unallocated (free) space appears in the partition map:

Specify unallocated space. The partition will be created by the installer itself.

After installation, you will have two operating systems. You can make more unallocated spaces or empty disks, specify them for installation.

Thanks to reader Vladimir for bringing this topic up.

You may have noticed that in the screenshots of the Disk Management window, all partitions are marked with a blue bar. You may have sections with green stripes. What is the difference between blue and green sections?

The green bar in Disk Management is a sign of an extended (additional) partition. As I wrote above, there may be "nested" sections inside, which from the user's point of view are no different from the main (primary). Nested partitions have one feature - if you reduce their size, then due to the free space that has appeared, it will not be possible to expand the main partition just like that. You must first compress the extended partition itself (which stores free space and a reduced partition) to create free space outside of any partitions, only then you can expand the disks.

Standard Disk Management does not work properly with extended disks, so if you see green marks instead of blue ones, it's better to use the free programs above - they will reduce the extended partitions, move the free space where necessary and expand the main disk.