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Program for managing Windows 7 hard drives. Programs for hard drive recovery: review of the best

The hard drive stores all the files on your computer. The operation of each program and even the operating system itself depends largely on the operation of your hard drive. Therefore, it is important that it is in perfect condition and optimized.

Optimizing hard drive performance in Windows 7

Disk optimization is a complex process that involves several steps. These steps differ depending on whether you are using an SSD drive or an HDD drive.

Advanced Disk Cleanup in Windows 7

The first step in optimizing disk performance should be cleaning it. Temporary files and other garbage accumulate on the disk over time and slow down its performance. To remove them, we will use the Disk Cleanup system utility. We do the following:


In addition, you can delete additional files in the “Clean up system files” section. But that's not all. You can access advanced disk cleanup by entering the command at the command prompt. For this:


Disk defragmentation in Windows 7

Defragmentation of the hard drive is the basis for its optimization. If over time your drive begins to work slower than before, and the response when opening files and launching programs has become significantly faster, then your hard drive needs to be defragmented. This process itself consists of moving file fragments towards each other for faster access to them. The need for defragmentation arises when these pieces, during active use of the disk, end up being written to different parts of the disk.


During the defragmentation process, all red areas will appear nearby, providing quick access to the file

Disk defragmentation should be done as needed. Before defragmentation, you should allow the utility to analyze the fragmentation of all partitions and issue a report. If the share of fragmented files is 10% or more, then it is worth defragmenting them, but if it is less than 10%, then you can postpone defragmentation.

By default, automatic defragmentation is enabled in the Windows 7 operating system. It is set to Wednesday and turns on at night. However, depending on your computer work schedule, this may not be enough, or the defragmentation process may be interrupted by you. In this case, you need to start it manually. This is done as follows:


It's worth mentioning that defragmentation is a rather long process. You may have to wait for several hours.

Video: how to defragment a disk on Windows 7

Optimizing an SSD on Windows 7

If you have an SSD drive, the situation is slightly different. It does not require defragmentation, and the system takes this into account. Automatic defragmentation will not occur when using an SSD drive. But in the case of such a drive, there are a number of other actions that can help increase the speed of the disk. And instead of manually setting up an SSD drive, it will be easier to use a special program - SSD Mini Tweaker.

After downloading the program from the Internet and downloading it, do the following:

The complex setup of your SSD drive has been completed. Of course, you can configure most of these options yourself, but it will take much more time. And you can also get information about each option that this program changes if you read the help data.


In the help you will find information about all SSD settings

Video: how to configure a system for an SSD using SSD Mini Tweaker

Disk Management utility

To configure the disk, you may need to access Disk Management. With its help, you can change the drive letter, divide the drive into virtual volumes, or, conversely, merge them together, which can be convenient for creating a separate partition for the operating system. In the future, this can help avoid losing important data and provide the opportunity to format the partition without the risk of deleting necessary files.


To interact with the disk, use the context menu: it is called up by clicking the right mouse button

To open the Disk Management Manager in Windows 7, just call the “Run” menu by pressing the Win + R key combination and enter the command “diskmgmt.msc” there.


Enter the command "diskmgmt.msc" and click "OK"

Actions in the dispatcher itself are performed mainly using the context menu. That is, just select the required disk and call up the menu by clicking the right mouse button.

Hard drive bug fixes

Let's figure out how to solve the most common errors that can occur with your hard drive.

The disk is defined as dynamic foreign (unspecified)

If in the manager you find that the disk is not defined as basic, but as dynamic with the annotation “undefined” or “foreign”, then most likely you will not be able to access the data on this disk.


Dynamic foreign disk will not work properly

This error can be corrected using special programs. To fix it, we will need to convert the dynamic disk back to a basic one, and this can be done using the free TestDisk program or the paid Acronis Disk Director. The capabilities of a paid program, of course, are much wider, and we will use its example to analyze this process. Do the following:


Of course, if the problem occurs on the disk with the operating system installed, you will not be able to access it. The solution here is simple - insert the disk into another computer as an additional one and perform all the actions you need, and then return it to its place when the disk is restored.

Video: working with Acronis Disk Director

Windows 7 has detected a hard drive failure

If, during any check, the system displays a message about problems with the hard drive, the first thing you should do is create a backup copy of the necessary files. While your drive is still functioning, copy all the necessary files from the drive to another drive or upload them to the cloud.

This may help you salvage these files later if the problems get worse.


You can determine which disk you have a problem with by carefully studying the error message. The letter designation of the virtual disk partition will be indicated there.

At the bottom of the notification you will see a drive letter

  • The error could occur for the following reasons:
  • The problems appeared directly with the drive itself. This may be due to physical damage or contamination. In this case, it is recommended to take your drive to a service center for diagnostics and troubleshooting;

Regardless of the cause of the problem, the best thing you can do is back up your files beforehand. If the error message continues to appear and you want to get rid of it, you can disable the disk diagnostic system. This is done as follows:


Formatting a disk to install the Windows 7 operating system

To make the disk work more efficiently, when reinstalling Windows, it is recommended to format it, that is, completely clear the disk of files on it. You can format the disk directly during the installation of Windows 7. Be sure to make backup copies of all necessary files, since formatting will completely delete them.


To start formatting:


Thus, formatting is carried out quickly and without any special frills. In addition, it is possible to perform formatting using special programs. For example, this option is available in the Acronis Disk Director program mentioned above. The program must be written to disk, and the disk itself must be selected as the boot device. This can be done in the Boot BIOS menu or by pressing the corresponding key when turning on the computer (depending on the version of your BIOS).

Install CD/DVD as the first Boot device


After the disk with the program is loaded, do the following:

Disk programs

There are many programs that can help you optimize, clean, or do other things with your drives. Let's look at the capabilities of some of them.

CCleaner disk cleaning program

  • Disk Cleanup involves removing temporary files and installed applications of the user's choice. A good cleaning program can delete your browser cache and temporary files of various programs, and perform system diagnostics. And one of the best programs in this area is CCleaner. This program has the following features:
  • automation of system cleaning;
  • completely harmless and safe cleaning of temporary files, as well as analysis of registry damage and its correction;

works with all popular browsers.

The program's interface is simple and convenient, suitable for beginners who want to regularly clean their computer of junk. In addition, the free version of the program is not reduced in functionality and has the same capabilities as the paid one.


CCleaner will help you configure startup applications, which will also speed up your computer.

CCleaner is a popular disk cleaning program

Hard drive cloning program EaseUS Disk Copy

In this case, cloning means transferring information from one disk to another. This can be extremely useful when reinstalling the system. EaseUS Disk Copy is an excellent free solution for this task. It is different:

  • the ability to work with any operating system;
  • support for disks up to terabyte in size;
  • high cloning speed;
  • simple interface for novice users;
  • support for dynamic disks.

In general, it copes well with the task for which it was created, and its only serious disadvantage is the lack of Russian in the program.


EaseUS Disk Copy - disk cloning program

Recovering disk partitions using Starus Partition Recovery

If a hard drive partition is damaged, one of the special recovery programs - Starus Partition Recovery - can help. She does this job well. The main features of this program:

  • deep disk scanning for damage;
  • recovery of partitions that have been damaged or deleted;
  • recovery of information on any type of media;
  • comprehensive disk analysis.

The program is considered simple and effective among users.


Starus Partition Recovery can recover damaged partitions of your disk

Disk drive emulation program DAEMON Tools

If you are planning to reinstall the system, you cannot do without a flexible tool for creating virtual disks. DAEMON Tools Lite or another version of DAEMON Tools will help you create an installation disk or make virtual disks. The program also makes it possible to create several virtual drives at once and use them simultaneously.

This program is easy to use, and the limitations of the free version of the program are not too noticeable.


DAEMON Tools - a program for creating and using virtual disks

Video: review of DAEMON Tools Lite

It's important to know how to configure your hard drive to work efficiently. The disk optimization process is not a one-time process, and actions to improve its performance must be carried out from time to time throughout the life of the device. Now you know how easy and simple it is to improve the performance of your drive with the Windows 7 operating system.

Problems with hard drives are very common, and many users do not know what to do in such situations. And each hard drive repair program is designed to perform certain actions depending on the type of failure. Next, it is suggested that you become familiar with some types of failures and software tools that allow you to eliminate them.

Checking and repairing your hard drive: Windows programs and tools

Before using such a tool, you need to find out the nature of the failure. Among the main types are the following:

  • violation of the file system structure;
  • damage to the hard drive surface;
  • software errors;
  • loss of information due to failures or formatting.

Don't underestimate the tools available in Windows operating systems. The program for repairing a Windows 7 hard drive or any other system is called ScanDisk and in the simplest case is called from the section properties menu, where the scan button is used on the service tab.

In this case, you need to specify automatic correction of bad sectors, and if desired, you can also use surface checking.

However, using a similar applet (chkdsk), called from the command line (cmd), launched with administrator rights in the Run console, looks much preferable. For this tool you need to enter additional attributes. Among the most frequently used are the checks with space-separated combinations /f /r and /x /f /r. If system components are damaged, you can use the sfc /scannow command.

The best applications for hard drive treatment and data recovery

In order not to deal with the procedures described above, many users also use third-party utilities, among which the following can be highlighted:

  • HDD Regenerator.
  • Victoria.
  • R. Saver.
  • Acronis Recovery Expert.
  • Hetman Partition Recovery, etc.

Let us immediately note that applications like Recuva, designed to recover deleted files or missing information from damaged HDDs, will not be considered only because of their absolute ineffectiveness.

HDD Regenerator

HDD Regenerator is a relatively recently developed program for diagnosing and repairing a hard drive, designed not to restore lost information, but to search for problems associated with physical damage to hard drives or software failures.

According to its creators, the work is based on the principle of reversing the magnetization of the HDD surface, which makes it possible to completely restore the performance of the hard drive. It works in DOS mode, which causes users some problems with use, however, in some cases it shows good results when no other tool helps.

Victoria

The Viktoria hard drive repair program from Belarusian developers, according to most professionals, is the best in its field and allows you to eliminate many software problems associated with the file system, bad sectors, etc.

It can be launched in two versions: in DOS mode emulation and as a standard Windows application. However, as noted, it is better to use the first method, since checking in this mode is more effective, not to mention eliminating failures and errors (similar to the difference in launching a standard Windows tool).

R.Saver

The R.Saver hard drive repair program is designed to recover deleted or lost information. Its use is justified because the utility is able to find files, which may include important system components, even after formatting the disk or logical partition, completely reconstructing the file system.

Scanning, however, takes quite a lot of time, but the application finds files that the user may not even be aware of. And in most cases, using this program is the best option even for removable USB HDDs, flash drives and memory cards of any standard.

Acronis Recovery Expert

This program for repairing a hard drive is mainly used when the structure of the file system is damaged and even allows you to create bootable media for those cases when starting the OS from the hard drive becomes impossible.

At the same time, the application supports a huge number of file systems and large hard drives.

Hetman Partition Recovery

Although this utility is positioned as a means of recovering information if it is lost after formatting or in the event of software failures, it can nevertheless be used to find problems with the HDD.

The main advantage of the application is that it can be launched either manually or using a special “Wizard”, which makes it possible to automate the processes of analysis (scanning) and data recovery.

Results

These are not all programs capable of servicing hard drives, but only a few of the most popular ones. But even a brief acquaintance with them allows any user to understand the principles of their functioning and areas of application. If we recommend a universal solution, at the first stage of repair you need to use system tools (if possible), HDD Regenerator or Viktoria, and for subsequent information recovery - R.Saver or other software products.

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.

This article talks about how to create, change or delete hard disk partitions using Windows 7.
To work with hard drive partitions in Windows 7, there is a tool called “Disk Management”: Control Panel → System and Security → Administrative Tools → Computer Management → Disk Management OR “Start” → in the search bar enter: diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

1. Creating a section
Right-click on a free space not occupied by other partitions on the desired hard drive → Create a simple volume... The “Simple Volume Creation Wizard” window will open, click the “Next” button. Then specify the size of the partition to be created, assign a drive letter, select the required file system and formatting options, once again make sure that you did everything correctly and click “Finish”
2. Partition compression
Right-click on the desired section → Shrink Volume... A message window will appear asking for space for compression, wait until the end of the survey. Then in the window that appears, in the line “size of compressed space”, indicate the amount of free space and click “Compress”
3. Section expansion
Extend volume... The “Volume Expansion Wizard” window will appear, click the “Next” button. Then select the required free space from the list, click “Add”, then specify the amount of free space allocated to the partition, click the “Next” button, check the information and click “Finish”
4. Deleting a partition
Right-click on the desired section → Delete volume... Before continuing the operation, copy all the necessary files and folders to another drive, because... Once a volume is deleted, all data on it will be lost.
5. Changing the drive letter
Right-click on the desired section → Change drive letter or drive path... Click on the Change button, select the desired drive letter and click OK. Next, we will look in detail at ways to expand disks without causing harm to the information stored on them.

In order to divide the hard drive into partitions, you need to go to the "Start" menu → right-click on "Computer" and click on "Manage".

In the window that appears, go to the "Disk Management" section.

Select the hard drive and partition that needs to be divided and right-click on it.

In the drop-down menu, you need to select "Shrink Volume" and then select the size to which you want to shrink the existing partition. The space freed up after compression will be the new hard drive partition.

To create a new partition, you need to right-click on the free space and select “create volume”. Then specify the size of the new partition and wait for the operation to complete. Sooner or later, any computer user faces such a problem as lack of free space on the system partition of the hard drive. This is where the question arises: How to expand drive C?

First we need to go to the "Computer Management" tab (see above).
When this tab opens, you will see in the window all the media that are currently connected to the computer. Each hard drive can be divided into several logical ones. The very first one will be "Disk 0". On the right you will see the space reserved by the system and the logical partitions (C, D, E, F, etc.). If you have only one drive C and it is full, then you can try “Shrink volume” (see above). If you have several logical partitions, then move on.

The principle of disk division.

The principle of action is this: we must expand drive C at the expense of the adjacent logical partition. This could be drive D, E, and so on. In the same way, you can increase not only section C, but also others, if you have such a need. So, delete the adjacent disk, for example, D. Right-click on it and select the “Delete Volume” option. Click OK. Immediately after this, this volume should appear in black. The message “Volume is not allocated” should appear on it. Now we can add the space we need to drive C. To do this, right-click on partition C and select “Extend volume”. Click "Next" and select the size you want to add.
You can use the maximum size as suggested by default, or select one of your own. Click "Next" and then "Finish". If no additional windows pop up, then the operation was successful. You have learned how to expand a disk using Windows 7. The main thing to remember is that the system partition can only be expanded if there is free space to the right of it. Otherwise, nothing will work.

Possible difficulties.

What other difficulties could there be? Let's say we have five volumes. We want to configure them in such a way that part of the space is added to drive C, and the other to drive D. When deleting one of the partitions, the “Delete Volume” function may not be active, and the “Extend Volume” function may not be available on volume C.
The whole point is that the section style can be used MBR*. This is an outdated style. In this case, two adjacent volumes can be connected by a green frame. This means that you cannot create more than four volumes with the MBR partition style.

Windows 8 provides the same tools for increasing space. Therefore, this method is also applicable on this operating system.

Partitioning a hard drive in the Windows 7 operating system is a very simple thing. You can see this for yourself if you partition and create a new partition according to the described algorithm.

*MBR (Master Boot Record) master boot record in a PC - a table in the first sector of the boot disk that stores data about the physical and logical organization of the disk. If this record is corrupted, loading the OS becomes impossible.

That's all. Thank you for reading the article. I hope it was useful to you.

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's not much point, at least you won't gain 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”):

PS

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!