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A free software that allows users to create and manage partitions on their Windows desktop

A free software that allows users to create and manage partitions on their Windows desktop

Vote: (38 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: MiniTool Solution Ltd.

Version: 12.8

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(38 votes)

Free

Developer

Version

MiniTool Solution Ltd.

12.8

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • Basic version free
  • Advanced partition tools

Cons

  • No guided use

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a robust application suite that simplifies partition management.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is available in a base package that home users can download, install and use as much as needed at no charge. The simplest way to use this software is to create a partition or wipe one. For those who do not know, a disk partition is a means of breaking up a physical hard drive into two or more virtual drives.

Windows does this by default on your primary drive in order to contain the master boot record in its own space. From a user perspective, partitioning can help you make better use of available disk space. If you have a 2 TB HDD, for instance, you can assign 1 TB to C, which is used for the operating system and programs, and assign 1 TB to D, which you use for backup. If you need to reinstall Windows, you can do that on C without interfering with D despite them being the same physical drive.

To wipe a partition means to consolidate a drive or at least to combine the partitions being wiped. In the above example, D would be wiped in order to make the C drive 2 TB again. This is only MiniTool Partition Wizard at its most basic. It looks many advanced partitioning tools as well. These include move, resize, extend, merge, split, convert file system, set primary, set logical and so forth.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is available in a number of different versions. The product described here is Partition Wizard Free Edition. There are also paid upgrades for home users called Partition Wizard Pro Edition and Partition Wizard Bootable CD. In addition, there are versions designed for commercial use: Server Edition, Enterprise edition and Technician edition.

What is impressive is how most of the features are included in the Free Edition. Most home users will not need the extra features in the Pro Edition. Few users will need the specific tools provided for commercial use. More robust support may be the best reason for the causal user to upgrade. The most notable feature that the free version is missing is dynamic disk management, so if you do use dynamic storage, then that is another worthwhile reason to upgrade.

There is not much to complain about when it comes to MiniTool Partition Wizard. If we are nitpicking, then we would like to see more guided use. This is partition management software, so perhaps casual use is not expected. Nevertheless, more and better partition wizards for beginners would be nice as well as better information about when novices may be destroying data that they would rather not.

Pros

  • Basic version free
  • Advanced partition tools

Cons

  • No guided use