Easeus Partition Manager 2.1

[Guest Reimar]

Easeus Partition Manager 2.1

As Partition Magic alternative, EASEUS Partition Manager is a comprehensive hard disk partition management software

for Windows 2000/2003 Server and Windows 2000/XP/Vista partition to Resize and Move, Create, Delete and Format, Hide and Unhide server and non server partitions and much more.

People divided EASEUS Partition Manager as Partition Magic Alternative, actually, EASEUS Partition Manager has overtaken Partition Magic for a big step. You can create, delete, format partitions on your hard disk quickly and easily. The most attractive feature is that it can resize/move your partitions by using the free spaces without destroying data.

One extremely important feature of the application is that it can resize partitions even if they are populated with data, without creating any problems and keeping the files intact. The app is designed to work with any type of Windows file system, from FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 to NTFS, but the limitation for the size of hard disks supported is set to 1TB. And considering that data storage devices keep increasing in capacity, it would be a great idea to adapt the software to the new conditions. On the upside, Easeus Partition Manager Server can handle up to 32 hard disks, which makes it a good choice for server systems.

Working with the application should be piece of cake regardless of your computer skills. It is actually a matter of right clicking on the desired partition and choosing one of the options available. You can resize drives (shrink or enlarge) according to the unallocated space available near them. In order to set the new size, all you have to do is either drag it from one side of the drive map or, if a more accurate size is needed, you can type in the value in MB yourself.

A very clever option is the possibility of moving a partition someplace else on the physical disk so that you can distribute the unallocated space to other drives as well (simply play with the values for unallocated space before and after). An easier way to do this is by simply clicking the partition and sliding it through the unallocated space.

But Easeus Partition Manager Server can be used for a little more than organizing your partitions on the disk and formatting or labeling them. You can also use the software to hide drives from view. Hidden drives will not be visible (or accessible) from Windows OS even if you boot in Safe Mode, but under Linux the data on them is completely unprotected from prying eyes.

Still, in the Advanced section of the application you can run a bad sector test to see if everything is A-OK or call on Windows CHDISK utility to check for errors on disk and fix them. This section also gives you the possibility to change a drive letter, but this can also be easily achieved directly from Windows, be it XP or Vista.

All in all, the application does a great job if run on XP as it offers a handful of options for partitioning your disks as well as a comfortable, straightforward and easy to use interface. Used on Vista, however, Easeus Partition Manager Server is not as necessary as this Windows environment

brings its own artillery to deal with disk partitioning and almost all the options are included. Nevertheless, Easeus Partition Manager Server has the edge thanks to its support of up to 32 1TB disks. This feature makes it stand out from the crowd and dots all the i's and crosses all the t's when used on servers.

It works fast and few are the cases where it needs to reboot in order to successfully complete the job(s) at hand.

Developer site and download: HERE

[zzdocxx]

That's pretty cool that it is free.

I think I bought Partition Magic several years ago, but never used it, it was a bit over my head. Then too a couple of guys I hired to help me with my computer said it was better to just create those partitions on OS installation -- also over my head at the time but now I know how to do that.

Also interesting about the hidden drives.

On my computer, running XP Pro, one thing about my partitions is that I have it set up so that my OS and programs are on C and most of my data is on D. But documents and so forth tend to fall into the pre-made folders in the C drive such as "My Documents" and "My Music". I set my download utilities to put my mp3s over in the D drive. But it would have been kind of nice if the documents and music folders on the Start menu were the ones I actually use most ie the ones on my D drive.

Haha, does any of that make sense?

Anyway, thanks for the post.

[Steve2UK]

Rather than use my ancient version of Partition Magic, I thought I'd take a look at this - and it's impressive....... certainly good enough for most So-Ho users and maybe also for more demanding users than that. The following Editor's Review from one of the download sites (PC World) sums it up well:

So what if Easeus Partition Manager Home Edition has a window-wide banner ad trying to sell you more of the company's products? We're talking free drive partitioning here, and for most users that's worth a little bit of what Madison Ave. calls "noise." It's especially welcome for XP users, who don't have Vista's new and more capable Disk Management application. (XP's will only create, delete, and format.)

I'm always a little wary of free applications that do low-level chores like partitioning, but darned if I could find any problem with Easeus PM. It created, deleted, formatted, moved and resized partitions with aplomb in my rather-more-rigorous-than-usual testing. All operations are virtual until you click the apply button so you can do complex partitioning chores in relative safety. Even so, if you haven't been warned at least a hundred times--always back up before you edit your partition table.

The thing that surprised me the most about Easeus PM is that it includes a bootable ISO image that you can burn to CD and use on a blank drive prior to OS installation. It worked fine, but it's only good for an OS prep since the move and resize functions seemed to be absent. Easeus sells more feature-filled versions of the program to businesses, but this version should see most home users through with no problem at all.

--Jon L. Jacobi

[Lordfoul]

I have said it before and I will say it again Gparted http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php is the best It can be booted from CD, USB or PXE.

In addition to moving around partitions it has saved me many times when an NTFS drive has forgotten what file system it actually is. Not limited to MS file sytems either.

[Rice_King]

But it would have been kind of nice if the documents and music folders on the Start menu were the ones I actually use most ie the ones on my D drive.

If you mean that you want your My Documents folder on the D drive, check How to Move the My Documents Folder.