Hard drives are huge nowadays, not just in popularity, but also in data storage size. Now that you can easily pick up a terabyte hard drive for a reasonable price, you have a new problem: how do you split up that space? Partitioning is a method of dividing storage space inside a hard drive and lets you avoid having one big disk in My Computer.
I like to keep my operating system in its own partition, separate from my personal data like My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, and My Videos. This means that if I ever have a problem with my OS (or want to wipe it, install a different version, or a different OS altogether), I can easily interact with that specific partition and my personal data will be left alone. Partitions are also great for installing multiple operating systems on a disk – I currently have an NTFS partition for Windows 7, an NTFS partition for Windows XP, as well as ext4 and swap partitions for Linux.
Now that you know how useful partitioning your disk can be, you need some good software to do it. In this giveaway, we’re offering 50 copies of Paragon Partition Manager 11 Personal Edition to MakeUseOf readers!
Paragon Partition Manager 11 Personal Edition is great for advanced users and basic users alike. Sporting two interfaces, you can enable as much control as you need when partitioning your hard drive. Power users can reveal advanced controls with the click of a button.
With Partition Manager 11 Personal Edition, you can easily create, delete, resize, and merge partitions. If you have a new hard drive, you can use Create Partition to divvy up your space and select different file systems. If you’re working with an existing hard drive, you can use Delete Partition or Merge Partitions to remove unnecessary partitions and make room for new ones. Finally, you can use Resize Partitions to resize your current partitions to free up more space for data or other operating systems.
You will also have access to sophisticated features like migrating your current hard drive to an entirely different disk (of the same or different size), and also making an identical copy of a current partition.
Before working with partitions, you should always note that any activity that messes with the structure of your hard drive can result in loss of data. This is one of the worrisome parts of disk partitioning, but Paragon Partition Manager 11 Personal Edition mitigates this risk by providing backup functionality to provide a data loss free operation. This feature is worth its weight in gold – you can make changes to your disk without having to worry so much about your data surviving the transition.
You’ll even be reminded to create a recovery CD before you start making changes to your partitions, which I strongly recommend you do.
If you really like tinkering with your system, this software includes a few extra features that I’ve found to be very useful. The Boot Management feature allows you to customize the boot parameters of your system (stuff that anybody who is familiar with the Linux application Gparted would recognize) and also helps you prep your disk for the installation of a new operating system.
Finally, Partition Manager 11 Personal Edition includes a great partition manager with full access to all of the features I previously described – except this time you can easily view partitions across all your disks. Since I’ve always used Gparted for disk partitioning, I felt very comfortable working in the Partition Manager mode.
How do I win a copy?
It’s simple, just follow the instructions.
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This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, 6th August at 2100hrs PST. The winners will be selected at random and announced via email.
Spread the word to your friends and have fun!
MakeUseOf would like to thank the Paragon Software team for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.
Tagged: drive partitions • giveaway • hard drive • pc maintenance
