A program for working with damaged hard drives. Hard disk programs: testing, partitioning, formatting, cleaning

Good day.

Questions regarding the operation of the hard drive ( or as they say HDD) - always a lot (probably one of the most numerous directions). Quite often, in order to solve this or that issue, the hard drive needs to be formatted. And here, some questions are superimposed on others: “And how? With what? This program does not see the disk, which one should I replace it with?” etc.

In this article I will present the best (in my opinion) programs that help cope with this task.

Important! Before formatting the HDD with one of the presented programs, save all important information from the hard drive to other media. During the formatting process, all data from the media will be deleted and it is sometimes extremely difficult to restore something (and sometimes even impossible!).

"Tools" for working with hard drives

Acronis Disk Director

In my opinion, this is one of the best programs for working with a hard drive. Firstly, there is support for the Russian language (for many users this is fundamental), secondly, it supports all Windows operating systems: XP, 7, 8, 10, thirdly, the program has excellent compatibility and “sees” all disks (unlike from other utilities of this kind).

Judge for yourself, you can do “anything” with hard disk partitions:

format (in fact, for this reason the program was included in the article);
change the file system without data loss (for example, from Fat 32 to Ntfs);
resize partition: very convenient if, when installing Windows, you, say, allocated too little space for the system disk, and now you need to increase it from 50 GB to 100 GB. You can format the disk again - but you will lose all the information, and with the help of this function you can change the size and save all the data;
merging hard drive partitions: for example, we divided the hard drive into 3 partitions, and then thought, why? It’s better to have two: one system one for Windows, and the other for files - they took it and combined it and didn’t lose anything;
Disk Defragmenter: useful if you have a Fat 32 file system (with Ntfs - there is not much point, at least you will not benefit in performance);
change drive letter;
deleting partitions;
viewing files on disk: useful when you have a file on your disk that is not deleted;
ability to create bootable media: flash drives (the tool will simply save you if Windows refuses to boot).

In general, it is probably unrealistic to describe all the functions in one article. The only drawback of the program is that it is paid, although there is time for a test...

Paragon partition manager

This program is quite well known, I think that experienced users have been familiar with it for a long time. Includes all the most necessary tools for working with media. By the way, the program supports not only real physical disks, but also virtual ones.

Main features:

Using disks larger than 2 TB in Windows XP (with this software you can use larger capacity disks in the old OS);
Ability to control boot of multiple operating systems Windows (very important when you want to install another Windows OS in addition to your first one. For example, to test a new OS before finally switching to it);
Easy and intuitive work with sections: You can easily split or merge the required partition without losing data. In this sense, the program works without any complaints at all ( By the way, it is possible to convert a basic MBR to a GPT disk. Regarding this task, there have been a lot of questions lately. );
Support for a large number of file systems- this means that you can view and work with partitions of almost any hard drive;
Working with virtual disks: easily connects a disk to itself and allows you to work with it as with a real disk;
Huge number of backup functions and restoration (also very important), etc.

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition

An excellent free (by the way, there is also a paid version - it has several additional functions) tool for working with hard drives. Supported OS Windows: 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits), there is support for the Russian language.

The number of functions is simply amazing, I will list some of them:

support for different types of media: HDD, SSD, USB flash drives, memory cards, etc.;
changing hard disk partitions: formatting, resizing, merging, deleting, etc.;
support for MBR and GPT disks, support for RAID arrays;
support for disks up to 8 TB;
the ability to migrate from HDD to SSD (however, not all versions of the program support);
the ability to create bootable media, etc.

In general, a good alternative to the paid products presented above. Even the features of the free version are enough for most users.

Aomei Partition Assistant

Another worthy alternative to paid products. The standard version (and it is free) has a bunch of functions for working with hard drives, supports Windows 7, 8, 10, and has the Russian language (although it is not installed by default). By the way, according to the developers, they use special algorithms to work with “problem” disks - so there is a chance that your “invisible” disk in any software will suddenly be seen by Aomei Partition Assistant...

Key Features:

One of the lowest system requirements (among software of this type): processor with a clock frequency of 500 MHz, 400 MB of hard disk space;
Supports traditional HDD hard drives, as well as newfangled solid-state SSDs and SSHDs;
Full support for RAID arrays;
Full support for working with HDD partitions: merging, splitting, formatting, changing the file system, etc.;
Support for MBR and GPT disks up to 16 TB in size;
Supports up to 128 disks in the system;
Support for flash drives, memory cards, etc.;
Support for virtual disks (for example, from programs such as VMware, Virtual Box, etc.);
Full support for all the most popular file systems: NTFS, FAT32/FAT16/FAT12, exFAT/ReFS, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4.

MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is free software for working with hard drives. By the way, it’s not bad at all, which only shows that over 16 million users use this utility in the world!

Peculiarities:

Full support for the following OS: Windows 10, Windows 8.1/7/Vista/XP 32-bit and 64-bit;
Ability to resize partitions, create new partitions, format them, clone, etc.;
Convert between MBR and GPT disks (without data loss);
Supports conversion from one file system to another: we are talking about FAT/FAT32 and NTFS (without data loss);
Backup and recovery of information on disk;
Optimizing Windows for optimal performance and migration to an SSD drive (relevant for those who are replacing their old HDD with a newfangled and fast SSD), etc.;

HDD Low Level Format Tool

This utility does not do much of what the programs listed above can do. In general, it can only do one thing - format the media (disk or flash drive). But it was impossible not to include it in this review...

The fact is that the utility performs low-level formatting of the disk. In some cases, restoring the functionality of a hard drive without this operation is almost impossible! Therefore, if no program sees your disk, try HDD Low Level Format Tool. It also helps to delete ALL information from the disk without the possibility of recovery (for example, you do not want someone to be able to restore your files on a sold computer).

In general, I have a separate article about this utility on my blog (which describes all these “subtleties”):

About 10 years ago, by the way, one program was very popular - Partition Magic (it allowed you to format the HDD, split the disk into partitions, etc.). In principle, you can still use it today - only the developers have stopped supporting it and it is not suitable for Windows XP, Vista and higher. On the one hand, it’s a pity when they stop supporting such convenient software...

That's all, good choice!

Today, many users and computer owners are faced with the need to maintain their hard drive. Most often, this term refers to managing hard drive partitions: creating, deleting, formatting, changing the file system, etc. However, sometimes in practice you have to solve a number of other problems. These include, for example, restoring partitions that were deleted or “lost” as a result of failures, cloning hard drives when upgrading a computer, etc.

To perform these operations you need special software, since the operating system is clearly not enough. Which one exactly? Each user will have to answer this question independently, taking into account their own needs, capabilities and features of certain products. We will help you make this choice by describing and comparing utilities for working with hard drives.

To begin with, it is necessary to note one aspect. The fact is that all software designed to solve the described problems can be divided into two unequal groups. The first includes universal products that can be used to perform a whole range of different hard drive maintenance tasks. All the tools in them are integrated with each other and “collected” in a single interface, which, of course, is very convenient. The second group is highly specialized programs designed to perform a single operation. With their help, you can, for example, only manage hard drive partitions.

Why did we call these groups unequal? Everything is very simple. There are much fewer products belonging to the first group on the market today. The most famous of them are programs and. Naturally, both of them were included in our review today. The second group has much more representatives. For comparison, we selected several of the most typical programs from it and also included them in the comparison.

Today it is one of the most well-known programs on our market for maintaining computer hard drives. Its important feature is that it can work with almost all types of hard drives, including external hard drives and flash cards.

Functionally it consists of four modules (each of which was once a separate software product). The first of them is “Partition Manager”. It is designed to manage hard disk partitions. With its help you can perform almost any operation with them. In particular, the user can create and delete partitions, change their size, convert them to another file system without losing information, change the letter and much more. In addition, the latest version of the product in question has introduced such features as splitting a section into two new ones and, conversely, merging two existing sections into one. These operations are also performed without data loss. A distinctive feature of the "Partition Manager" is its two modes of operation. The first of them, automatic, is intended for inexperienced users. It is as easy as possible to use. And thanks to the use of clear step-by-step wizards, the risk of doing something wrong is significantly reduced. The second operating mode, manual, is intended for more experienced users.

The second module included in the software is called "Download Administrator". It allows you to install various operating systems on your computer and manage the order in which they load. Thanks to it, up to 100 operating systems can “get along” on one PC, and not only Windows of different versions, but also various versions of Linux, FreeBSD, UNIX, OS/2, etc. It is noteworthy that thanks to the “Boot Administrator” it is possible to install in the future boot the OS from any partition on any hard drive. You can also install several versions of Windows in one partition.

The third module is “Disk Editor”. With its help, you can view and change the contents of the hard drive directly, without using operating system functions. This is a professional tool whose capabilities can be used to solve problems such as recovering lost information, restoring hard drive zones, and backup.

Finally, the last, fourth module is “Partition Recovery Utility”. This is a very easy-to-use tool with which anyone, even a novice user, can literally return to its place a section that was accidentally deleted by him or lost due to a failure, virus or hacker with just a few clicks of the mouse. In addition to automatic recovery, the program also implements a manual version of this operation. When used, adjusting various parameters allows you to give the operation greater flexibility.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that the product has the ability to create your own emergency disk (this can be a CD or DVD, or a USB drive). You can boot from it if the operating system stops starting (or it doesn’t exist at all, for example, on a new computer), and perform all the necessary actions with the hard drive. For example, this is how you can restore the OS if you accidentally delete a system partition.

As well as, it is one of the leaders in the Russian market of software for working with hard drives. Once upon a time, this product also began as a relatively simple utility for managing hard drive partitions. However, as it developed, it acquired capabilities and turned into a multifunctional program for maintaining hard drives.

In terms of managing hard disk partitions, it has all the necessary capabilities. Using this program, you can quickly create, delete or format a partition, change its size or letter, convert to another file system, etc. Naturally, all operations are performed without losing information recorded on the hard drive. Additionally, it implements such features as checking the integrity of the file system, testing the surface of magnetic “pancakes” and updating the master boot record. In general, you can use it to perform the entire range of work with partitions.

In addition, the product in question implements a number of additional features. First of all, it is worth noting the download management function. For this, a special manager is used, with which you can create a multiboot environment. This feature allows you to install several operating systems on your computer and control the order in which they boot.

The next additional feature is defragmentation. The program "can" optimize the placement of information on the hard drive in accordance with the user-selected parameter (for example, creation date or file size). In this case, not only the data itself is defragmented, but also the main file table, which speeds up its operation. In addition, it can optimize the allocation of space for paging and hibernation files in Windows.

Another additional function of the product in question is information backup. To do this, use the procedure for creating complete images of hard disk partitions. The resulting archives can be saved both on a local hard drive and on any removable drives. In the future, the data can be restored in its entirety (including to a new, even undamaged hard drive) or selectively. The capabilities are not enough to create a full-fledged automatic backup system. However, they are more than enough to back up the system in order to restore it after various failures.

Of course, there is also the possibility of creating rescue disks. They can be either CD/DVD/BD media or flash drives. When booting from such a disk, the user can work with hard disk partitions, as well as restore information from a previously created archive.

In addition, the product in question implements a number of other interesting features: copying individual partitions or entire hard drives, two operating modes (for beginners and advanced users), a wizard for installing Windows Vista and Windows 7 on Apple computers, and much, much more.

O&O Software GmbH is known for its defragmentation products. However, among its developments there is also a program for managing hard drives. It is called O&O Partition Manager 2. This product can work with internal and external hard drives, USB drives and flash memory cards.

Frankly speaking, O&O Partition Manager 2 does not shine with its functionality. This program allows the user to perform only basic actions with hard drive partitions: create and delete them and change their size. You cannot perform any other operations, such as changing a partition letter or converting it from one file system to another, using this product. Perhaps the only additional feature of O&O Partition Manager 2 is the function of secure deletion of information. It allows you to destroy confidential data without the possibility of recovery using special software.

Among the advantages of the product in question, note the presence of a bootable CD based on Windows PE. Having created it, the user can boot the computer from it and use all the features of O&O Partition Manager 2. In particular, this feature can help if it is necessary to partition the hard drive of a new computer.

One of the disadvantages of O&O Partition Manager 2 is the English-language interface. In principle, program management is quite simple and straightforward, and therefore experienced users will not have any difficulties. But for those who are just starting to master the computer, the Russian language of the interface and help system is still very desirable. Moreover, in such a program, the incorrect use of which can lead to very unpleasant consequences.

Active Partition Manager is a freely distributed, that is, free partition manager. It can work with internal and external hard drives, as well as flash drives. True, the functionality of Active Partition Manager leaves much to be desired. With its help, you can only create, delete and format partitions, as well as view information about them and change some attributes (for example, a letter), but cannot resize them. If the user needs to reduce or enlarge a partition, he will have to first delete it and then create another in its place (of course, if there is enough free space). It is clear that in this case all information will be lost.

Among the advantages of Active Partition Manager, it is worth noting that it is free and has a function for restoring an accidentally deleted partition. In some cases, this procedure can be of significant assistance to the user. Disadvantages, in addition to small functionality, include support for only three file systems (FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS), as well as the inability to work with the program in the absence of an operating system or its failure. More precisely, Active Partition Manager can be included in a special boot disk along with other Active products. But to create it you need to purchase a special program.

Let's sum it up

For ease of comparison of the reviewed products, we have summarized all their features in a single table.


Basic partition management features
Advanced partition management capabilities
Download Manager
Partition recovery
Disc editor
Defragmentation
Creating partition images
Availability of boot disk
Interface	Russian-speaking	Russian-speaking	English-speaking	English-speaking
License	a commercial	a commercial	a commercial	free

Looking at the table, it is very easy to draw conclusions. In terms of functionality, the products and . In addition to directly managing partitions, each of these programs has a whole set of additional service capabilities. It is clear that it is better to purchase such a “kit”, which can be useful for solving a number of problems, than to buy a simple utility with a limited set of functions for the same money. We must not forget about the Russian-language interface with a detailed help system. Their presence also makes them the best choice for inexperienced computer users. It is necessary to understand that errors in partition management can lead to undesirable consequences, for example, the loss of important information.

True, it was not possible to identify a clear leader among these two products. Both programs cope well with their tasks and are easy to use. Their cost is almost the same. Therefore, when choosing a solution, we can advise you to pay attention to their additional capabilities. In this regard, they are developing in slightly different directions. If the function of recovering deleted partitions and a disk editor are important to you, then you should choose the first product. If you prefer the presence of defragmentation and the ability to create images, then choose the second option. Boxed versions are published and distributed by 1C in the 1C Distribution line of publications. Buy or can be purchased from 1Soft partners.

Marat Davletkhanov

Even on the highest quality and most reliable HDDs, bad sectors begin to appear in the PC some time after installation. When the number of bad blocks becomes large, the hard drive stops working and requires replacement. However, the hard drive can often be restored using third-party software. This article will describe programs for treating a hard drive and provide instructions for working with them.

Bad sectors

HDD writes user information onto magnetic disks. Their surface is divided into tracks and sectors. If it is not possible to extract data from a sector, it is called faulty or bad. Recovering bad blocks, although difficult, is quite possible.

Remember that after treatment, the information from the HDD should be copied to another drive, and over time the hard drive should be replaced. If bad sectors begin to appear on the hard drive, then their spread will not stop even after repair. Another device failure can happen at any time.

VictoriaHDD

VictoriaHDD is a program for treating hard disk sectors, considered one of the most effective and absolutely free. The application runs in DOS mode, so it requires some preparatory steps. First you should

Download the VictoriaHDD utility image in ISO format.
Also download the WinSetupFromUSB application and run it.
From the drop-down menu, select the USB drive that will later become bootable.
Check the box next to “Autoformat”.
Check the “Linux ISO” box and provide the full path to the VictoriaHDD program image.
Click the “Go” button to begin the file recording process.

BIOS Settings

Since hard drive treatment programs operate in DOS mode, you must configure the BIOS.

Restart your computer.
After turning on, press the “DEL” or “F8” button several times to enter the “Setup BIOS” utility. Some devices have different keys to launch BIOS settings. To find out which one is responsible for entering the “Setup BIOS” on your computer, read the information at the bottom of the screen immediately after turning on the machine.
Go to the “Main” section and find the “SATA Mode” item. Press "ENTER" and select "IDE".
In the "First Boot Device" field, set the value to "USB".
Press the "F10" key to save the settings changes.
The computer will then restart.

Check and recovery

If all the above steps are performed correctly, after rebooting the PC VictoriaHDD will start automatically. To begin hard drive recovery:

Press the English letter "P" key on your keyboard.
In the menu that opens, select the port to which the HDD is connected. Today, almost all drives operate via a “SATA” socket, so you need to set the switch to the “Ext PCI ATA/SATA” position.
Press “F9”, information taken from the SMART table will appear on the screen. Pay special attention to the column “Current pending sectors”. This is where the number of sectors from which data is not read is indicated. Remember or write down this number.
Press the “F4” key and start scanning in “BB: Erase 256” mode. The utility will try to find all bad blocks and restore them. In this case, the information stored in them will be deleted.
Open the SMART table again and look at the number of bad sectors. If some of them could not be recovered, you should scan the HDD in a different mode.
Press the "F4" button and select "BB: Classic Remap". Now, when the application finds a damaged sector, it will not restore it, but will mark it as non-working. This approach will stop the spread of bad blocks.
When VictoriaHDD finishes checking, restart your PC.

Treatment programs built into the OS

After scanning the drive with the VictoriaHDD utility, it is worth checking it with the utility installed in the operating system by default.

Open My Computer.
Right-click on the local disk icon.
Go to the "Service" tab.
Select "Run check".
In the window that opens, check the box next to “Automatically correct errors.”
Click on the “Run” button and wait until the program finishes.
Do not turn off the PC under any circumstances until the verification process is completed.

HDD Regenerator

HDD Regenerator is a free program for treatment. The main advantages of the utility include its user-friendly interface. Many users choose HDD Regenerator for this very reason.

Close all applications and launch HDD Regenerator.
Open the “Recovery” menu and click on “Start processing”.
If a warning window about BIOS settings appears on the screen, click the “No” button.
Select the drive that needs treatment.
After this, a command line will open on the screen, where you will need to enter a number from 1 to 4.
Enter "2" and press "ENTER".
The utility will ask you to indicate where to start scanning. Just click on the "Enter" button.
The application will scan the HDD and provide information about bad blocks.
When the scan is completed, enter “2”, now the utility will not only scan the hard drive, but also try to recover bad sectors.

I must say that the program for treating the Windows 7 hard drive works very slowly. Sometimes the process takes 2-3 days. However, HDD Regenerator actually tries to restore the blocks' ability to store data, rather than simply marking them as unused, which explains the long scan times.

MHDD

The functionality of MHDD is almost completely similar to VictoriaHDD. The application runs in DOS mode. Using it, you can view the SMART table, diagnose and treat the hard drive. The program is not presented in Russian.

Create a bootable USB flash drive, just like for the VictoriaHDD utility.
Perform BIOS setup and restart your computer.
Press "F2" and select the device you want to work with.
To scan the surface of the hard drive, enter the word "SCAN" or use F4. The screen will display settings in which all destructive functions (erasing, removing bad blocks) are disabled.
Press "F4" again. The scanning will start, and the display will display a table in which the colors of the cells will change during the scan: white, gray, green - the sector is operational; yellow - there is a risk of damage; red - the block is damaged.

If there are bad blocks on the drive:

Copy all information to another HDD.
Enter the ERASE command, which will completely erase data from each sector. This will get rid of soft-bad blocks.
If this does not solve the problem, press the "F4" key and enable the REMAP option. Now the utility, like the programs built into Windows for hard drive treatment, will simply mark bad sectors and they will no longer be used.

Good afternoon

For some reason, many users believe that the heart of the computer is the processor (for some game lovers, the video card). But purely in my opinion, the most important piece of hardware in a computer/laptop is the hard drive (HDD).

Whatever the breakdown of the hardware (if it is not related to the disk), by replacing and repairing it, you will restore your work and continue it as if nothing had happened.

But if the hard drive “flies”, then restoring the data is not always easy... Okay, lyrics, on this page I want to collect the most necessary and useful programs for working with the hard drive. I present only the most popular and relevant programs, which I have used myself more than once or twice.

I really like this utility for its clarity and focus on novice users. All you need to do is install the program, after a while you will learn:

state of the “health” of your disk in percentage terms;
status about its performance;
temperature;
how much actual time it worked (not to be confused with age and date of manufacture).

The utility operates in constant mode (minimized in the tray, next to the clock), and when alarm signals appear, it will notify you in time. What else do inexperienced users need for diagnostics?!

Note : not only work on a PC is supported, but also on laptops, netbooks, etc. SSD drives are also supported.

One of the most renowned utilities for testing and diagnosing disks. The program allows you to test: HDD, FDD, CD/DVD, USB/Flash/SCSI.

Main functions:

viewing complete information about the drive;
support for IDE/SATA controllers;
tests to check the “mechanics” of the disk;
SMART monitor;
low-level formatting and much more.

In general, I must admit that the program is not very friendly and simple for novice users. It must be used with caution - here, more than ever, it is correct: “if you don’t know, don’t press!”

Developer's website: http://mhddsoftware.com/

A very popular free program for diagnosing hard drives. Allows for fairly accurate diagnostics of fur. parts of drives, view SMART attributes, identify defective sectors (note: bad blocks), it contains various tests, and other useful functions.

An excellent program for testing disks. Its main advantage over MHDD and Victoria (discussed above) is support for all drives with a wide variety of interfaces: ATA/ATAPI/SATA, SSD, SCSI and USB.

By the way, the program does not work under Windows; to run it, you need to burn bootable media (flash drive or CD/DVD disk), and after booting from it, run the utility.

A very high-quality utility for checking HDDs and SSDs for bad sectors, viewing S.M.A.R.T., for setting up special... parameters (power management, acoustic mode adjustment, etc.).

The hard drive temperature can be displayed on the taskbar (to be aware of how things are going ☺).

Supported drives:

HDD with ATA/SATA, SCSI, USB, FireWire or IEEE 1394 interface;
SSD with ATA/SATA interface;
RAID arrays with ATA/SATA/SCSI interface;
Flash drives with USB interface.

A decent program for monitoring the status of hard drives that support S.M.A.R.T technology.

The program displays detailed information about your drives: interface, total operating time, firmware, serial number, standard, allows you to manage AAM/APM settings (useful when your drive is very noisy), displays S.M.A.R.T. parameters. (reading errors, track search time, number of on-off cycles, performance, spindle starts/stops, sector errors, etc.).

Cleaning HDD from debris

Advanced System Care

One of the best programs for cleaning your computer from junk, fixing errors, editing the registry, removing incorrect shortcuts, etc. Allows you to put your Windows in order in a few minutes and make it work much faster.

Using the program is very simple: just install and run. In my example below, I did just that - it turned out that there were enough problems (although I regularly use wizards to clean up Windows...).

Also note that after installing Advanced SystemCare, a special manager appears in the upper right corner of the screen: it shows the current CPU and RAM load (in percentage). Thanks to this manager, you can take screenshots, watch disk, memory, processor load, perform quick cleaning, and diagnostics. In general, it replaces the task manager...

CCleaner

A free utility for comprehensive cleaning of your Windows. Cleans various garbage: temporary unnecessary files, “residues” from deleted programs, browsing history in browsers (all popular ones are supported: Firefox, Opera, Chrome, etc.).

There is a portable version: which does not require installation. The program works in all popular versions of Windows: XP, 7, 8, 10.

Wise Disk Cleaner

This program allows you to deep clean your Windows system and hard drive from various debris. No other utility will find as much garbage as Wise Disk Cleaner finds!

In addition to its main purpose, the program has a built-in defragmenter. Defragmentation carried out after cleaning has a very good effect on the responsiveness and performance of the hard drive.

Wise Disk Cleaner has a convenient and pleasant interface: all the main tabs are located at the top; by clicking on one of them, you can quickly complete the current task. In general, only positive emotions from such software ☺!

Formatting, breakdown - working with sections

A very convenient and multifunctional program for working with hard drives. Its capabilities are more than enough for the average user, here you can: change the partition size (without formatting), move a disk partition, join (merge) partitions (without losing information), delete a partition, format, backup wizard, migration wizard from HDD to SSD and much more.

What especially deserves attention: all operations with disks are performed using a step-by-step wizard, which at each stage will tell you what is being used for what. Also, most disk operations occur without data loss (unless the program warns otherwise).

Aomei Partition Assistant - what can be done with the HDD partition

Acronis Disk Director

A very powerful and reliable tool for managing disks and volumes on a computer. Main functions: split and merge disk volumes, disk formatting (all popular file systems are supported: FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Exts, Ext3, Reiser3, Linux or SWAP), recovery of accidentally deleted volumes, ability to download the program offline (without using Windows - for this you need to prepare a bootable USB flash drive in advance), etc.

MiniTool Partition Wizard

A very convenient machine for working with a hard drive: it allows you to perform the entire list of operations that an ordinary PC user might need.

Main functions:

Windows Migration Wizard to another disk/partition (convenient, for example, when migrating Windows from HDD to SSD);
Partition Copy Wizard;
recovery wizard;
merging, formatting, splitting, deleting partitions;
Russian language support;
Works in all popular Windows: 7, 8, 10.

EASEUS Partition Master Free

The best free solution for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP, which will help you create, delete, resize, transfer, expand, split, format, clone partitions of any disks: HDD, SSD, USB drives (flash drives, disks etc.), memory cards, and other storage media.

The program allows you to change the file system (from FAT32 to NTFS) without data loss, change the MBR disk layout to GPT or the reverse operation - GPT disk layout to MBR (also without data loss).

In general, it is a convenient and indispensable manager for working with disks (certainly more convenient than the built-in Windows wizard...).

Defragmentation

If, when opening some files from the disk, your PC begins to think, does it slowly and not immediately, then in the most harmless case, this is to blame fragmentation. To correct this mess, you need to carry out the reverse operation - defragmentation(such a tautology ☻).

Defragmentation- the process of optimizing information storage on disk to ensure a continuous sequence of clusters. In general, if we step back from unclear terms, then after defragmentation your disk starts working faster: reading and writing files speeds up. Thanks to this, your programs become more responsive, and it becomes more pleasant to work on such a PC!

Windows, by the way, has its own defragmentation wizard, but in my opinion, it does not work perfectly... Therefore, I will give a couple of necessary utilities.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

Despite its compact size, this utility will give a head start to many competitors! The program works very quickly, optimizes the file system, which speeds up your work. Needless to say, the program is used by more than 11 million users around the world!

Main functions:

defragments files and unused space on the HDD;
When defragmenting, special attention is paid to system files (which affects performance);
you can defragment specific files (there are not many programs where there is a data feature);
the ability to work in the background (i.e., unnoticed by you);
free for home use!

A free and small utility for defragmenting HDDs, USB drives, memory cards, floppy disks. By the way, the program makes it very convenient to configure the startup time - you can set up a work schedule so that the disk is analyzed and defragmented when you are not working on the PC.

Main functions of MyDefrag:

there is a version that works from the command line (does not need installation);
2 algorithms for defragmentation;
there is a task scheduler;
The standard version of the program is automated and will not take you a minute of time to set up.

A free defragmenter from the manufacturer of the CCleaner utility (Piriform Ltd). The program allows you to work both with an entire disk partition and with individual files and folders.

After analyzing the desired hard drive partition: the program will display a list of fragmented files. You can select the ones you need, and Defraggler will quickly optimize their placement. As a result, you don’t waste time defragmenting the entire disk (in general, in some cases it’s very convenient!).

The page will be updated with new software as you work with the site.

Additions on the topic of the article are welcome!

The hard drive in your computer and the drive icon in the My Computer window are different concepts. For example, a computer may have one hard drive installed, while there may be several of them in “My Computer”. The reason for this strange discrepancy is that the hard drive can be divided into so-called partitions. This is called logical disk layout.

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

Why do you need to partition your hard drive?

There are several reasons to partition a hard drive:

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 one disk (usually C), documents - on the second ( D), photo archive on the third ( E) and so on. In this case, there may well be only one hard drive.
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.
Manufacturers of laptops (and some computers from famous manufacturers such as Acer) have their own reason for dividing hard drive partitions: on a section that is visible as a disk C, Windows installed, second ( D) is completely empty, and the third (which is not visible in the “My Computer” window) 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 a key combination (see which one - see the instructions for the laptop) and a special program will clean the disk C, then unpacks the contents of the hidden partition 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 however, it will not be changed. The conclusion suggests itself: if you store all documents on a laptop with such a recovery system not on drive C, A only on D, you can restore damaged Windows with a new one at any time, without losing your important data. By the way, any advanced user can make such a recovery system for themselves, but I’ll tell you about it some other time.
The 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 partition stores a bootloader designed, oddly enough, 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 message “Boot fail”, “Cannot find boot device”, “Boot error” or similar on a black screen, the meaning of which is the same - the boot disk with operating system. Actually, the bootloader can be stored on disk C:, and/or in hidden sectors of the hard drive (outside partitions), but the developers decided in Windows 7/8 to use a separate hidden partition in order to somehow protect the boot loader from damage by other programs, viruses or the user.
There are other reasons for partitioning a hard drive. For example, for the GNU/Linux operating systems to work correctly, several sections must be created, but this is the topic of a separate article; we will not consider them here.

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

A little 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. A novice user only needs to know the bare minimum:

If you divide your hard drive into logical drives (partitions), Disk capacity will not increase- there’s simply nowhere to find free space! You can make partitions of any size, but in total they cannot be larger than the capacity of the real hard drive. Less please. Then you will have 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 first.
Exist primary (main) And extended (additional) sections. One hard drive cannot have more than four main partitions (see the links above for why this is so), so they came up with an extended partition - this is a primary partition that can include any number of partitions. As a result, thanks to the extended partition, the hard drive can have any number of partitions - tens, hundreds.
Each partition can have its own file system. At the moment, only NTFS can be used to install Windows Vista, 7 and 8, and 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 drive must be partitioned one way or another. In one or more logical drives - it's up to you. When purchased, the hard drive is usually already partitioned into one partition - this is what the manufacturer decided. If you are satisfied with this way of organizing information, don't touch it.
It is very undesirable to partition the 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 2 terabyte hard drive, but in “My Computer” it is “only” 1.86 terabytes (1860 gigabytes), then do not rush back to the store. It's all about how manufacturers and Windows calculate the volume. Read more about this in the Wikipedia article Hard Drive. The larger the size of the hard drive, the more clearly it is clear that there are fewer real gigabytes.
Sections can be delete, create, move(change their physical position on the disk), resize them, format them, convert them file systems on partitions from one to another. Moreover, many programs can do this while saving all the data. There are other operations, but novice users most often need the above.
If there is 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 on other drives (not logical drives, but real drives) or flash drives, so as not to pay money for data recovery.

Disk Management in Windows

Windows has a standard partition changer - " Disk management". Depending on the version of Windows, the capabilities of this program change slightly, 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 that can be done there.

As an example I’ll take “ Disk management» Windows 7. You can open this program in several ways:

The simplest one is to right-click on the line Computer on the menu Start- select an item Control- in a new window select Disk management.
Opening Control Panel - Administration - Computer management - Disk management.
Click Start - Execute(or the Win+R key combination) - 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 devices for storing information) and logical ones, i.e. virtual - hidden partition of the Windows 7 boot loader, disks C And D. The number of disks on your computer may vary.

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

The list of actions is quite meager:

Items Open, Conductor allow you to view the contents of disks
Make the 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 any disk.
Format- you can read about this in the Wikipedia Formatting article. The item opens a window with which you can start high-level formatting.
Extend volume- if there is space on the hard drive that is not marked as a partition, then you can expand the partition size using this free space.
Shrink Volume- this item allows you to reduce the size of the partition. The result will be the formation of unallocated space, which can be used to expand the volume of another section (see the previous paragraph).
Delete volume- delete the section. Don't click on an item without thoroughly considering the consequences. If you delete a partition, the information on it can only be saved 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. You can create dynamic disks, for example. However, this is of no use to novice users; this article is intended specifically for them.

So, to create, delete, resize partitions via Disk management, you only need three menu items: Expand Volume, Shrink Volume, Delete Volume.

All operations take place in real time, i.e. after clicking the desired item and answering the question in the affirmative - do we want to do this - the actual action occurs.

Do not forget that there is a risk of failure, due to which we could lose either one or all of the partitions. 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 is when you need to change the partition from which Windows is launched (usually this is the disk C), is the worst - most often users experience problems when they try to change the system partition.

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

Insert the 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 drive, no programs will go onto the foreign drive, interfering with a critical operation.
Boot from a Live CD - the operating system and programs will be launched not from the hard drive, but from a CD or DVD, flash drive - again, nothing will interfere with changing partitions.
To change partitions, use a program that can work in Native mode. For example, disk check C always works in this mode - a black window with white text before loading the Desktop. In this mode, a minimum number of programs are launched and the risk of failure is minimal.

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

A free hard drive partitioning program for home use.

Surface test- checking the disk surface (physical). Allows you to detect bad sectors (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 opens a window with settings for the action being performed. After you have made the necessary manipulations, you need to apply the changes by pressing a button Apply(Apply):

Only then will the partition changes begin. This process may 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 so many functions that it is 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 functions.
All actions are “virtual” until you click the Apply button. This means that you can cancel operations before 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, during testing, while changing partitions, I started copying files to the partition that was to be changed. Result - a window appeared stating that it was not possible to lock the partition, 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, 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 a partition, the data on 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 is no alternative among free programs.

Paragon Partition Manager 11 Free

Free program for changing partitions 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 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:

Deserves 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 incorrect, as if it was not a person who was translating, but a machine.

Pros of Paragon Partition Manager 11 Free:

Many windows are clear enough 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-language, and due to 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, producing meaningless errors.
The program is too slow. For example, deleting a 38 GB hard drive partition took me about 5 minutes - quite long for such a simple operation.

Conclusion: The program works, but somehow it is unpredictable. I do not recommend using this program, fortunately 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.

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

It seems that everything is simple: you need to click on a section in the list, then the action button. Unfortunately, there is little action here: deletion, formatting, partitioning and expansion.

You can, for example, delete a partition and, using the freed up space, increase the size of another partition or partitions (when selecting the desired partitions, you must press the Delete and Expand buttons in turn).

Alas, a very popular operation - reducing the size of partitions - is not here. You can delete the partition, then re-create a new one with a smaller partition, but, unfortunately, we will lose the data.

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

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

In order to recover a deleted hard drive partition, don't touch the partitions, immediately boot into Windows (or insert the hard drive into another computer if you deleted the system partition and booting Windows is impossible), then run the above-mentioned program, click on the line with the word in the list Unallocated("Unallocated"), 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, and then restore your deleted disk.

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

All you need for this is several sections. If your 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 Windows installation simply specify this second (third, fourth, etc.) disk. Once installed, you will be able to select Windows using a menu that appears when you turn on your computer.

If you have one disk ( C), I suggest the simplest option: Through Disk management give it to the section first WITH team Compress, reducing it by at least 20 gigabytes (or better yet, more, because in addition to Windows you will also be installing programs):

Right click on drive C...

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

We indicate unallocated space. The installer will create the partition itself.

After installation, you will have two operating systems. You can create unallocated spaces or empty disks and indicate them for installation.

Thanks to reader Vladimir for raising this topic.

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

A 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) ones. Nested partitions have one peculiarity - if you reduce their size, then due to the free space that appears, you will not be able to simply expand the main partition. You must first shrink the extended partition itself (which stores free space and the reduced partition) so that free space is created outside of any partitions, only then can you expand the disks.