Product Reviews

If you don't manage your PC's hard disks and partitions properly, you could slow down your PC and even put your data at risk. Windows XP's built-in Disk Manager can perform simple tasks such as creating new partitions, but that's about all. For anything really sophisticated you need a third-party application such as Partition Commander.

Partition Commander is well-designed and does everything you'd expect. From the main screen you can create, delete, resize, merge, format and copy hard disk partitions. You can also undelete a partition and even copy an entire

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hard disk. All these operations are easy to carry out, but if you get confused you'll almost certainly find help in the clear and comprehensive manual.

The install disc also doubles as a boot disc, allowing you to partition a drive without accessing your PC's operating system, which is useful if Windows has crashed. It also offers an extensive range of options, including a utility that can fix damaged Master Boot Records. Both the Windows and bootable versions of Partition Commander support FAT16/32, NTFS and Linux ext2 and ext3 partitions.

Most of Partition Commander's functions can be had for free by downloading the bootable System Rescue CD from http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/download.en.html. You don't have to be a technical guru to use this - just able to follow instructions. If you don't feel adventurous, though, VCom Partition Commander is an excellent alternative. It's cheaper than its main commercial rival, Norton Partition Magic, and works just as well, although it lacks the boot manager, which lets you install multiple operating systems on a PC.