One of the most important pieces that our computer is made up of is the hard drive. In it, all the files that both the operating system and the various programs that comprise it are stored, organized and managed. Partitions are generally defined during Windows installation, and resizing them later can be a challenge. To help us, we can choose a tool like Paragon Partition Manager , which we are going to talk about today.
Paragon Partition Manager is a tool that has been developed to allow us to create, resize, divide and copy partitions in a few steps. It is free and is also part of the Paragon Hard Disk Manager suite. With it we can work with our hard disk, assigning a label, the letter of the assigned drive and analyze the different storage units in search of errors. It also includes a backup manager thanks to which we can copy a partition or the entire disk, as well as create a bootable recovery disk.
This program has been with us in the market for many years, so it has been renewed over time. It provides us with a wide set of features that will allow us to manage, resize, move and optimize partitions through integrated wizards that will guide us throughout the operation.
We can summarize the characteristics of Paragon Partition Manager in the following:
- Resize and move partitions: allows us to adjust the size of the partition by sliding the partition to the left or right, or by entering the exact size of the partition.
- Partition Recovery – Volumes and data can be recovered from partitions that have been accidentally deleted.
- Create and delete partitions: we can format our HDD, SSD, USB, memory card, SD card or delete a partition so that it is available for reuse.
- Expand partitions: the program allows us to redistribute the free space using the unallocated area and the open space in the adjacent volumes.
- Change label: both a partition and a drive letter to better organize our data.
- Test surface: allows us to check the selected partitions for errors and quickly correct them.
Manage all the content on our hard drive
Once we start the application, its main menu appears with an intuitive interface, although completely in English . It is divided into two columns. On the left we find the different functions, of which we will have access to the “Disk & Volumes” in this free version, since the rest are part of the Paragon Hard Disk Manager suite.
On the right side of the interface we find the different storage units that we have on our computer. If we select the hard drive, it shows us information about the brand, its capacity, the format, the available storage and the busy one. In the left column we will see three functions that we can perform such as “Properties”, “Convert GPT disk to MBR” and “View / edit sectors”.
Convert GPT disk to MBR
MBR used to be the main and only partitioning scheme until Windows Vista. From here we can convert our disk to MBR in case we need to install operating systems that do not support GPT disks. If this is not the case, it is convenient to leave the current partitioning system. We can also select how many partitions we need and see a view of the composition of the hard disk before the changes and after the changes.
View / edit sectors
This option allows us to view and edit sectors on the selected disk. We can modify sectors of both a disk or an individual volume, save and restore sectors from specific files, as well as browse the system metadata
Partitions of a drive
If we click on one of our hard drives in the left column a new column appears with different operations. Among the options we have available are those to move or resize, volume format, delete a partition, change the volume label, properties and check the file system.
To move or resize a partition we must click on the “Move or Resize” button. Here a new window will appear where we must establish the new volume size , check the unallocated space before and the unallocated space after. Using the “Before changes” and “After changes” buttons, we can check the changes before and after the changes we have made. When we have finished we will press the “Change now” button to confirm the changes.
Paragon Partition Manager free download
Paragon Partition Manager is completely free software for private and domestic use, which we can download from its website . It is compatible with Windows 7 SP1 onwards, as well as 32-bit and 64-bit systems . It also has a special version for companies that costs 99.99 euros.
Minimum system requirements:
- Windows 7 SP1 or higher
- Intel Pentium CPU or its equivalent, with a clock speed of 1000 Mhz.
- 1 GB RAM.
- Internet Explorer 10 or higher
- Hard disk with 250 MB of available storage.
- SVGA video adapter and monitor
- Open ports in Firewall: incoming and outgoing 80, 443.
- WinPE-based recovery CD.
Alternatives to Paragon Partition Manager
If we are looking for a program with which to manage and make partitions on our hard drive, we propose some alternatives to Paragon Partition Manager to take into account
EaseUS Partition Master
With this program we can divide our hard drive into several partitions. In this way it will be possible for us to keep the data well organized and accessible within the capacity of the disk. We can also create, merge, format, convert, resize and delete partitions. It has a free version that we can download from this link .
MiniTool Partition Wizard
It is a partition manager with which we can create and delete all kinds of partitions from our hard drive. It will also be possible to recover both hard drives and damaged partitions, as well as clean partitions to prevent anyone from accessing the data that we have saved. It has a free version that we can download from here.
AOMEI Partition Assistant
This complete software allows us to create, resize and move partitions, as well as partition existing ones to make copies or check their status. It is compatible with the FAT and NTFS file systems, allowing us to even create bootable discs. We can download it for free from its website .