Free Partition Managers for Windows

Previously we had written how to manage partitions in Windows 7 using the in built tool. If you want to have more options, you will need to use third party applications for partitioning hard disk. There are quite a number of free tools for partitioning in Windows. Hard disk partitioning tools allow you to create additional partitions, resize existing partitions and also to extend the partitions. Although these applications does not change any data in the drives unless you format the drive, it is always advisable to back up the data. Here is a list of top free partitioning tools for Windows.

1. GParted Live: GParted Live is a bootable GNU/Linux distribution which can used for creating partitions, reorganizing disk usage, copying data residing on hard disks and mirroring one partition with another.

2. Partition Logic: Partition Logic is a free hard disk partitioning and data management tool.  It can create, delete, format, defragment, resize, and move partitions and modify their attributes.  It can copy entire hard disks from one to another. It boots from a CD or floppy disk and runs as a standalone system, independent of your regular operating system.

3. Cute Partition Manager: Partition Manager is an advanced hard disk partition management utility. Using Partition Manager, you can easily add, edit, delete and manage the partitions in your computer. It lets you preview the changes before you save them. It lets you edit the boot flag, partition type and other advanced parameters. It gives you total control of your system during the partition process.

4. Test Disk: Although test disk is a free powerful recovery software, it can also be used as a partition manager. It can search for lost partitions, and allows you to repair errors in the partition table, create a partition table, create a new MBR, etc. We had used Test Disk to recover one of the lost partitions and also to repair the partition table entries.

5. EASEUS Partition Master: EASEUS Partition Master is a comprehensive hard disk partition management software for Windows Server 2000/2003/2008 and Windows 2000/XP/Vista partition to Resize and Move, Copy, Create, Delete and Format, Convert, Explore, Hide and Unhide server and non-server partitions.

6. eXtended FDisk: eXtended FDisk, is a free DOS FDISK replacement that offers more comfort and comes with a bootmanager that allows you to have more than one operating system installed on your hard disk. With XFDisk you can partition your hard disk or install and configure the bootmanager, which will be located in the first 17 sectors of your first hard disk.

7. Ranish Partition Manager: Partition Manager is a powerful hard disk partitioning tool. It gives users high level of control for running multiple operating systems,
such as Linux, Windows 98/XP, FreeDOS, and FreeBSD on a single disk.

8. SwissKnife: With SwissKnife can create, delete and format partitions on your hard disk drives in one smooth, simple process. SwissKnife allows creation of FAT32 & NTFS partitions. Supports Internal interfaces such as IDE and SCSI and External interfaces such as Hi-Speed USB, Parallel port, PCMCIA, USB On-The-Go, Firewire®, SATA interfaces etc.

If you have any more recommendations or if we have not included your favorite partition tool, please do share it in comments, we will add it to the list.