GParted is alternative to Partition Magic
Ten years ago, Partition Magic is the top of partition software. But with the
updating of Windows, it does not support Windows Vista and more advanced version.
Although Windows disk management has also been upgraded, it also has many
limitations, such as resizing system partition, it is inconvenience because Windows
is just a platform and can not do everything.
Thus, there are many third-party software are developed to assist and make up the
inadequate of Windows program. GParted is a free(as in freedom and free beer)
alternative to Partition Magic and Window disk manager. GNOME Partition Editor
(short name is GParted) is an excellent open source partition tool for the
task-resizing existing partitions and available on Live CD.
Advantages of GParted
GParted is not only an alternative to Partition Magic - in many aspects, it is
superior. GParted is the default partitioning program for a number of versions of
Linux. Capable of resizing and creating partitions for Windows, Mac and Linux
systems, GParted can work with disk of any size. Next, let’s explain it in detail.
Although GParted is a Linux program, that still use by Mac and Windows users. The
GParted Live CD is a complete Linux operating system which boots from CD for the
specific purpose of running GParted. Download the program first, burn it to disc and
boot from the CD. Then it can solve the problem of impossible to resize a partition
that’s currently in use, altering the partition your operating system is on requires
booting to a different partition.
GParted has an interface which is similar to Partition Magic. Your partitions are
represented on screen; right click them to select optimizing options. Partitions can
be resized, moved or deleted. Free space can be created to extend another partition.
When everything is set up to the user’s wish, press “Apply” button to make all the
changes happen.
As we all know, Windows generally uses NTFS, Linux uses EXT3 or EXT4 and Mac OSX uses
HFS Plus. GParted can work well with these file systems. Partition Magic, in
contrast, could only work with NTFS out of all of these file systems. That’s why
GParted is alternative to Partition Magic.
Shortcomings of GParted
However, GParted has some disadvantages yet. GParted is OK for easy operations, but
it is terrible at resizing and moving system partitions. Some people posted on forum
it takes up to 10 hours to extend system partition that Partition Magic did in less
than one hour. If it isn’t a NTFS partition on Windows, it’s not simple to resize
it, some users said. Another disadvantage of GParted is that if you resize your
boot/system partition, you will be completely unable to boot without repairing
Windows sometimes because GParted is developed base on Linux. One more inconvenience
using GParted is that it have to work with CD sometimes.
AOMEI Partition Assistant is GParted Windows Alternative
So, is there any GParted Windows alternative? Yes, of course. Searching from Google
or software markets, you will find many partition tools. Here, I recommend you try
AOMEI Partition Assistant. Developed by AOMEI
technology, AOMEI Partition Assistant gets lots of awards in a few years. There are six editions of
AOMEI Partition Assistant. Standard Edition and Lite Edition are free, one for PC
user, one for Windows Server. Both their functions are not incomplete. Advancer than
Standard Edition and Lite Edition respectively are Professional
Edition and Server
Edition. However, they still allow to install on two computers. More
advancer edition is AOMEI Partition Assistant Unlimited Edition, it allows to
install on unlimited computers and allows unlimited usage within one company. The
most advancer edition is AOMEI Partition Assistant Technician Edition. It provides
profitable technical services to clients and free lifetime upgrades. More
information of AOMEI Partition Assistant edition comparison please click here. After comparing, I hope you choose
the right edition based on your needs.
AOMEI Partition Assistant supports all the storage devices which can be recognized by
Windows, such as SATA, IDE, SSD, SCSI, USB external disks, flash drive, Fire wire
disk, Hardware RAID and Flash drive and so on. It is able to support MBR (smaller
2TB) and GPT (bigger than 2TB) with 128 hard disks, with file system FAT, FAT32,
NTFS and also EXT2, EXT3.
It supports different versions of Windows depending on different software editions.
In general, it works on Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8/8.1, Small Business Server
2011/2003/2008, Windows home server 2011 and Windows Server
2003(R2)/2008(R2)/2012(R2) (both 32bit and 64bit).
Resizing system partition with AOMEI Partition Assistant won’t cause data loss, and
it does not need to reinstall system or reboot. So I say AOMEI Partition Assistant
is the best GParted windows alternative. “Windows to Go Creator” is an amazing
function of the latest version. With it, you can create a portable Windows 8/8.1
without need to buy a Windows Enterprise Edition.
Tips:
It is highly recommended to backup
any important files before doing resize/move operations.