®
User’s Guide
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
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Documentation by L. Bridgeman.
SW10000 Document Number 120-1520-10
AVANQUEST END USERS LICENSE AGREEMENT
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
End User’s License Agreement • 3
USE.
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4 • End User’s License Agreement
Partition Commander 10 Professional
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
End User’s License Agreement • 5
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6 • End User’s License Agreement
Partition Commander 10 Professional
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
End User’s License Agreement • 7
COMPLETE AGREEMENT.
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have been destroyed.
8 • End User’s License Agreement
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Contents
Getting Started
13
Introduction...............................................................................................................................13
Key Benefits and Technical Highlights ....................................................................................14
System Requirements ...............................................................................................................14
Installing Partition Commander 10 Professional ......................................................................15
Starting the Program .................................................................................................................15
Creating the Recovery CD ........................................................................................................16
Updating Your Software Using EasyUpdate ............................................................................17
Getting Help..............................................................................................................................18
A Quick Tour
19
Overview...................................................................................................................................19
Learning About the Program Window......................................................................................19
Viewing Hard Drive and Partition Information ........................................................................25
Exporting and Backing Up Files...............................................................................................27
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
31
Overview...................................................................................................................................31
What is a Partition?...................................................................................................................31
Types of Partitions: Partition Terminology...............................................................................32
Bootable Partitions....................................................................................................................33
Disk Formatting and Partitions .................................................................................................33
Characteristics of File Systems.................................................................................................36
Partitioning and Booting Information.......................................................................................45
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Contents • 9
Creating and Modifying Partitions
47
Overview ...................................................................................................................................47
Creating New Partitions ............................................................................................................48
Cloning Partitions .....................................................................................................................58
Redistributing Partition Free Space ..........................................................................................60
Merging Partitions.....................................................................................................................62
Moving and Resizing a Partition...............................................................................................65
Formatting Partitions.................................................................................................................67
Deleting Partitions.....................................................................................................................71
Recovering Deleted Partitions ..................................................................................................74
Managing Your Partitions
79
Overview ...................................................................................................................................79
Changing the Partition Drive Letter..........................................................................................80
Changing the Cluster Size.........................................................................................................82
Making Logical and Primary Partitions ....................................................................................83
Changing the Attributes of a Partition ......................................................................................84
Inspecting and Maintaining Your Partitions..............................................................................88
Downgrading an NTFS Partition ..............................................................................................90
Managing Your Hard Drives
91
Overview ...................................................................................................................................91
Updating the Master Boot Record ............................................................................................92
Changing the Primary Slot ........................................................................................................92
Changing the Security Identifier ...............................................................................................94
Cloning Your Hard Drive..........................................................................................................95
Applying Your Changes
99
Overview ...................................................................................................................................99
Viewing Proposed Changes to Your Hard Disk ......................................................................100
Undoing and Redoing Proposed Changes...............................................................................101
Discarding All Proposed Changes ..........................................................................................103
Applying Partition and Hard Drive Changes ..........................................................................104
10 • Contents
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Starting the Program from the CD
109
Overview.................................................................................................................................109
Starting the Recovery Diskette ...............................................................................................109
Starting the Recovery CD ....................................................................................................... 110
Modifying Partitions ............................................................................................................... 113
Processing Changes ................................................................................................................121
Fixing Boot Problems .............................................................................................................123
Saving Log Files .....................................................................................................................125
Glossary of Terms
127
Index
131
Complimentary Technical Support
135
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Contents • 11
12 • Contents
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Getting Started
Introduction
Sooner or later, you might find yourself faced with the challenge of
changing the structure of your hard disks. Whether you’re upgrading due
to lack of storage capacity of your current drive, or creating and changing
the partitioning of your current hard drive, Partition Commander® 10
Professional can help.
Partition Commander 10 Professional (Partition Commander for short) is a
fast, convenient, and reliable solution for all your disk copying, upgrading,
and configuring needs. It provides a wide-range of uses for managing disk
layout structures.
Major processes are automated using specially designed wizards,
simplifying the choices you must make and providing helpful suggestions
along the way. Graphical representations of the partitions and hard disks
help you gain a better understanding of the operations before they happen
and what the results of the operations will be after they’ve been applied.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Getting Started • 13
Key Benefits and Technical Highlights
•
Preview the resulting layout of hard disks before actually applying
any changes (so-called virtual operations).
•
Use basic features for initializing, partitioning, and formatting hard
disks. Unlike the standard Windows disk tools, the program supports
all file systems.
•
Perform advanced partitioning operations, such as redistribution of
available disk space or merging of adjacent partitions of NTFS, FAT,
or FAT32 file systems with the help of easy-to-use wizards.
•
Hot Resize NTFS upward to enlarge NTFS partitions (system and
locked) without rebooting.
•
Copy partitions or hard disks using wizards to transfer all on-disk
information, including standard bootstrap code and other system
service structures, while maintaining the operating system’s working
capability.
•
Non-destructively modify partition parameters for migrating
operating systems to larger hard disks.
•
Defragment FAT and NTFS file systems to improve the hard drive
performance using file system optimization tools.
•
Convert FAT and NTFS file systems without reformatting.
•
Recover any accidentally deleted partition by using the Undelete
Partitions Wizard.
•
Browse and export the contents of the local mounted/unmounted
volumes of any file computer.
•
Check the file system integrity prior to modification on FAT16,
FAT32, and NTFS partitions.
System Requirements
14 • Getting Started
•
Windows 2000 Pro, XP, or Vista
•
Windows 2000/2003 Server (Server Version only)
•
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
•
300 MHz Intel Pentium Processor or equivalent
•
128 MB of RAM
•
40 MB of available hard drive space
•
SVGA video adapter and monitor
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Installing Partition Commander 10 Professional
Before installing Partition Commander, make sure that no other programs
are running. Insert the Partition Commander CD into your CD-drive to
start the install program.
NOTE: If you downloaded the program, locate the file
using Windows Explorer and then double-click the file to
start the Installation Wizard (see “Using the Install Wizard”
on page 15).
If the Install program doesn’t start automatically, follow the steps below:
1.
Click the Windows Start button and choose Run.
2.
Click Browse to locate and select the Install.exe file on the program
CD.
3.
Click Open.
4.
Click OK and follow the on-screen instructions.
Using the Install Wizard
The installation wizard guides you through the installation process. The
steps for installing Partition Commander are listed below.
1.
Review and accept the License Agreement.
2.
Choose all users or only yourself for access to the program.
3.
Verify the install directory and click Next to start the installation.
4.
After the installation completes, restart your computer to finish the
installation.
Starting the Program
To start Partition Commander, click the Windows Start button and choose
Programs > Partition Commander 10.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Backup your system before
using this product. Extensive changes will be made to your
hard drive as you add a new operating system or use this
product. Remember to backup your system first.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Getting Started • 15
Creating the Recovery CD
The Recovery CD provides you with tools to help fix your partitions and
Master Boot Record (MBR) or perform pre-partitioning and formatting to
new disk drives prior to installing an operating system. It contains the
main components of Partition Commander and allows you to perform
many of its recovery operations.
NOTE: The program CD is also the Recovery CD.
When you run the installation program for Partition Commander, you are
given the option to create a Recovery CD. This option creates the full
version of the Recovery CD like that found on the program CD.
You can also create a Recovery CD using the Recovery Media Builder
wizard (see “Using the Recovery Media Builder Wizard” below).
NOTE: Recovery Media Builder creates a Recovery CD or
Diskette with only the Partitioning Operations feature of the
Recovery CD.
To create a Recovery CD, you need a blank CD/DVD and a CD-RW or
DVD-RW drive to burn the file to your media choice.
For information on using the Recovery CD, see “Starting the Program
from the CD” on page 109.
Using the Recovery Media Builder Wizard
The Recovery Media Builder Wizard creates a limited-feature DOS
version of the Recovery CD from within Partition Commander.
TIP: If you need a full version of the Recovery CD, you can
use the program CD or create one using the option when
you run the installation program.
To Start the Wizard
1.
Open the Tools menu, choose Recovery Media Builder, and then
click Next to start the wizard.
2.
Choose the type of media and click Next to continue.
3.
Choose the creation option and click Next to continue.
4.
Choose the recording device from the list and click Next to continue.
The wizard copies the Recovery CD data to your selected media.
5.
16 • Getting Started
Click Finish to close the Wizard.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Updating Your Software Using EasyUpdate
Avanquest periodically improves Partition Commander by adding
features, making changes based on customer requests, and fixing
problems. When these updates (also known as patches) are available to
you, EasyUpdate™ allows you to download and install these updates and
program patches in minutes.
We recommend running EasyUpdate we you first run Partition
Commander to get the latest updates.
To Run EasyUpdate
1.
Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
If you access the Internet via modem, you should already be dialed in,
or your browser should be set up to automatically dial in
1.
Start Partition Commander.
2.
Click the EasyUpdate link in the Task Bar to display the EasyUpdate
window (see “Task Bar” on page 22).
3.
Click Next to connect to the Avanquest server.
If you have other Avanquest products installed on your computer,
EasyUpdate will look for updates to those products as well.
4.
Continue following the instructions to download and then install the
update.
5.
When the install finishes, click Done to exit EasyUpdate.
NOTE: You might be required to restart your computer to
complete the update.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Getting Started • 17
Getting Help
Help for Partition Commander is installed with the program. The Partition
Commander Help offers many features to assist you in finding the
information you need.
Using Online Help
The Online Help opens when you click the Help tab in the Explorer
Frame. You can also open the Help menu and choose Help.
•
To view a help topic, click a topic in the Contents tab on the left side
of the help window.
•
To view an alphabetical index, click the Index tab.
•
To search for a topic, click the Search tab and type the text you want
to find.
•
To browse through the topics, click the Browse buttons located at the
top of the screen.
TIP: You can also open the User’s Guide PDF by opening
the Help menu and choosing View Manual.
18 • Getting Started
Partition Commander 10 Professional
A Quick Tour
Overview
Partition Commander is an advanced program with several wizards and
multiple tabbed views. Features are accessible through the Menu Bar,
Toolbar, Task Bar, and Explorer Frame.
Learning About the Program Window
The Partition Commander program window is designed to give you a
quick view of your hard drives and partitions and provides quick access to
several wizards. Each time you open the program, the Disk View appears
with information about your currently selected hard drives and partitions
with links for making edits or modifications. For more information, see
“Explorer Frame” on page 24.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
A Quick Tour • 19
Menu Bar
Toolbar
Task Bar
Explorer Frame
Map Legend
Disk Map
Status Bar
Menu Bar
The Menu Bar is located at the top of the program window and contains
menus to access the many features of Partition Commander.
To access the features on the Menu Bar, open one of the menu items to
display the list of options.
20 • A Quick Tour
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Toolbar
The Toolbar is located below the Menu Bar and contains a list of buttons
for commonly used features.
To add the virtual operation buttons to the Toolbar, open the View menu
and choose Toolbar > Virtual Operations.
Virtual Operations
Partition Commander supports previewing the resulting layout of hard
disks changes before you actually apply them. Virtual operations are
operations that are pending. All pending changes are placed on the list of
pending operations so you can apply them later.
The Virtual Operations buttons are used to undo, redo, view, apply, and
discard changes you make to your hard drive. These button are not
available until you have at least one pending operation. You can find these
same options in the Changes menu. For more information, see “Applying
Your Changes” on page 99.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
A Quick Tour • 21
Task Bar
The Task Bar is located on the left-side of the program window and
contains links to program wizards. This list is divided into three sections.
Basic Operations
•
Create Partition starts the Create Partition Wizard (see “Creating
New Partitions” on page 48).
•
Clone Partition starts the Clone Partition Wizard (see “Cloning
Partitions” on page 58).
•
Clone Hard Disk starts the Clone Hard Disk Wizard (see “Cloning
Your Hard Drive” on page 95).
•
Redistribute Free Space starts the Redistribute Free Space Wizard
(see “Redistributing Partition Free Space” on page 60).
22 • A Quick Tour
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Advanced Operations
•
Delete Partition starts the Delete Partition Wizard (see “Deleting
Partitions” on page 71).
•
Format Partition starts the Format Partition Wizard (see “Formatting
Partitions” on page 67).
•
Merge Partition starts the Merge Partition Wizard (see “Merging
Partitions” on page 62).
•
Undelete Partition starts the Undelete Partition Wizard (see
“Recovering Deleted Partitions” on page 74).
News and Documentation
•
About Partition Commander opens the About window that shows
information about your current version of the software and support
links and contact information.
•
Partition Commander Help opens the online help (see “Getting
Help” on page 18).
•
View Manual opens the Partition Commander User’s Guide in your
installed PDF reader program.
NOTE: If you don’t have a PDF reader installed, you
can install a version of Acrobat® Reader from the
program CD.
•
EasyUpdate starts the EasyUpdate program (see “Updating Your
Software Using EasyUpdate” on page 17).
Showing and Hiding the Task Bar
To hide the Task Bar, right-click inside the Task Bar and then choose
Common Task Bar from the context menu.
You can also access this option from the View menu in the Menu Bar.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
A Quick Tour • 23
Explorer Frame
The Explorer Frame is the large pane on the right-side of the program
window. There are three tabs at the top of this frame.
Disk View
The Disk View tab displays information for the selected drive or partition.
Each time you start Partition Commander, this tab is selected. The top
portion of the frame shows volume, type, sector, and other information. If
the text to the right of the disk information is blue, you can click this text
to change the information. For more information, see “Managing Your
Partitions” on page 79.
In the middle of the Disk View tab, there are several links you can use to
further edit the information or start one of the wizards. Each of these links
has a brief explanation and possible warnings.
For more information, see “Viewing Hard Drive and Partition
Information” on page 25.
NOTE: A Dynamic Hard Drive also appears as a separate
Disk Map bar. For information on creating Dynamic Hard
Drives, refer to your Windows documentation.
Volume Explorer
The Volume Explorer tab is used for viewing and exporting files. When
you click the Volume Explorer tab, a tree-view similar to that of Windows
Explorer® appears. You can click the Plus symbol (+) to expand the tree
or click the Minus symbol (-) to close the tree. For more information, see
“Exporting and Backing Up Files” on page 27.
Help
The Help tab displays the Partition Commander online help. You can also
access the help by opening the Help menu and choosing Help. For more
information, see “Getting Help” on page 18.
Status Bar
The Status Bar is located at the bottom on the program window. When you
place the cursor over an option or link, information about the item appears
on the left side. The status of your pending changes appears in the right
side of the Status Bar.
24 • A Quick Tour
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Viewing Hard Drive and Partition Information
The shaded pie-chart gives a graphical representation of the disk
allocation for the selected drive or partition.
Viewing the Disk Map
The Disk Map is initially located at the bottom of the frame. This bar lists
each of your partitions by size, disk location, and type.
NOTE: A Dynamic Hard Drive also appears as a separate
Disk Map bar. For information on creating Dynamic Hard
Drives, refer to your Windows documentation.
Each installed hard drive has its own Disk Map bar.
Hard Drive
Partition
Legend
TIP: The shaded area of the partition indicates
approximately how much of the partition has been used.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
A Quick Tour • 25
To Move the Disk Map
You can choose to have the Disk Map at either the top or bottom of the
window.
Open the View menu and choose Show Disk Map to view the location
options.
To Show the Disk Map Legend
Open the View menu and choose Disk Map Legend. A check next to the
option means that the option is selected.
Viewing Hard Drive Information
To view information for a hard drive, select the area outside the partitions
in the Disk Map or click the hard drive name.
Each partition on the drive is identified by format (color) and size.
For information on partition formatting, see “Formatting Partitions” on
page 67.
26 • A Quick Tour
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Viewing Partition Information
To view information for a partition, select it. The information appears at
the top of the frame.
The partition pie chart is shaded giving you a general idea on the amount
of free space available. The darker shading is the amount of space used.
The light shading is the amount of space available. In the example above,
the partition is slightly less than half used.
For additional information about modifying the partition properties, see
“Managing Your Partitions” on page 79.
Exporting and Backing Up Files
Before performing any task that will alter your hard drive, you should
backup your important files to a location that won’t be affected. Below is a
list of some safe storage locations.
•
Another computer on your network.
•
A different internal hard drive on your computer
•
External Hard Drive
•
Zip Drive
•
USB Flash Drive
•
CD or DVD Media (requires that you have installed a CD or DVD
burning program)
Partition Commander 10 Professional
A Quick Tour • 27
Exporting Files with Volume Explorer
The Volume Explorer is a specially designed tool that lets you browse and
export the contents of partitions. Exporting the contents creates duplicates
of the selected data at another location. Partitions formatted with FAT16,
FAT32, NTFS, Ext2FS, Ext3FS, and ReiserFS file systems are supported.
To Export a File or Folder
1.
Click the Volume Explorer tab in the Explorer Frame.
2.
Click the Plus symbol (+) to expand the drives, partitions, and folders
and browse to the location of the file or folder you want to export.
3.
Right-click the file or folder and select Export from the context menu.
4.
In the Browse For Folder dialog, browse to the location where you
want to save the exported file or folder.
For more information, see “Backing Up Your Files” on page 29.
5.
28 • A Quick Tour
Click OK to complete the export.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Backing Up Your Files
Anytime you plan on making changes to your hard drive, you should make
a backup of your important files to ensure that no data is lost during the
procedure due to any unforeseen circumstances.
NOTE: Make sure your backup location has enough space
to hold your backup folder and its data.
Choosing a Backup Location
The backup location should be one that is safe and won’t be affected by
any changes you plan on making to your hard drive. The safest location
for a backup is either on a different drive attached to your computer or a
location on a different computer on your network.
Moving Files to an External Media Source
If you choose to create your backup on an external media source, you can
first create the backup locally on your hard drive and then copy or burn the
backup folder to the external source.
TIP: You can “zip” your backup folder using a data
compression program to reduce the size of your backup.
Some examples of external media include:
•
External Hard Drive
•
Zip® Drive
•
USB Flash Drive
•
CD or DVD Media (requires that you have installed a CD or DVD
burning program)
Partition Commander 10 Professional
A Quick Tour • 29
30 • A Quick Tour
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
Overview
Partition Commander gives you several powerful tools for changing the
partitioning of your hard drive. This section provides technical
background information about hard drives and partitioning fundamentals
that will help you fully understand the features offered by Partition
Commander.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Backup your system before
using this product. Extensive changes will be made to your
hard drive as you add a new operating system or use this
product. Remember to backup your system first.
What is a Partition?
A partition is a basic container for data on your hard drive. Although most
hard drives have only one partition, Partition Commander allows you to
divide up a hard drive into several distinct partitions. Each partition
occupies a physically separate area of the hard drive and operates almost
as if it were an independent hard drive. Because of this, a partition can be
given its own name, or label, can contain its own operating system and file
system, or can simply operate as an additional area for better organization
of your files. In Windows, partitions are assigned drive letters such as C,
D, E, etc.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics • 31
Types of Partitions: Partition Terminology
Primary partitions: A hard drive can be divided up into a maximum of
four primary partitions. The first partition on a hard drive is numbered
Partition 0; subsequent primary partitions are Partitions 1, 2, and 3.
Extended and Logical Partitions: To provide more than four partitions, a
primary partition can be designated as an extended partition. An extended
partition can be subdivided into several more sections known as logical
partitions. The example below shows a partitioning configuration using
logical partitions to contain different operating systems.
Beginning of Drive
32 • Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Bootable Partitions
Some partitions can be made bootable, which means that an operating
system can be started from that partition. A bootable partition is also
known as an active partition. A non-bootable partition cannot initialize an
operating system. The ability for a partition to be bootable is controlled by
the operating system. For example, Windows only allows a primary
partition to be bootable and won’t allow a logical partition to be bootable.
In contrast, other operating systems, like Linux®, can be installed to allow
a logical partition to be bootable.
To start up, every computer must contain at least one bootable partition.
For example, a new Windows system normally uses the first active
primary partition (Partition 0) of the first hard drive in the computer
(Drive 0). It is assigned the drive letter C. To run more than one operating
system on your computer, you typically want to configure a separate
bootable partition for each operating system.
Disk Formatting and Partitions
To understand partitioning and the benefits offered by Partition
Commander, it’s helpful to understand the structure of a typical hard drive
and the formatting process.
Hard Disk Mechanics
A hard drive consists of stacked metallic disks, or platters, that rotate
together on a spindle. Read/write heads (one for each side of a platter) are
mounted on arms that allow them to move in and out quickly and
accurately to reach any part of the surface of each disk. These heads
record and read the magnetic charges that represent your data.
For a new hard drive mechanism to become usable, it must go through
three processes:
1.
Physical Formatting (see page 34)
2.
Partitioning (see page 35)
3.
Logical Formatting (see page 35)
WARNING: Formatting can destroy all data on the drive.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics • 33
Physical Formatting
The first stage of formatting is physical or low-level formatting. The hard
drive manufacturer performs this operation in their factory. This process
creates a magnetic structure on the hard drive platters that allows data to
be accurately written and retrieved. The example below shows the
elements resulting from the physical formatting procedure: sectors, tracks,
and cylinders.
Sectors: A sector is the smallest part of the drive that can be addressed.
Each sector can hold a defined amount of data, typically 512 bytes (1/2
KB).
Tracks: Tracks are concentric rings onto which data can be written. Each
track has a number of sectors. Every disk surface on one drive has the
same number of tracks, starting with track 0.
Cylinders: A cylinder consists of all the same-numbered tracks on all
platters in the hard drive. For example, in a hard drive that has four
platters, there are eight tracks numbered track 0 (one track 0 on the top
surface, and one on the bottom surface of each platter). All of these track
0s form a cylinder 0. Drives today have thousands of cylinders.
34 • Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Partitioning
Following the low-level physical formatting by the drive manufacturer,
the hard drive can be divided into one or more partitions. Each partition is
assigned a set of contiguous cylinders, so that each partition corresponds
to a separate physical area of the hard drive. The following example is a
simplified drawing of a drive with four partitions.
The partition process is typically done the first time by the operating
system’s limited partitioning utility, such as Disk Administrator in
Windows XP. Partition Commander provides a more advanced, safer, and
easier set of partitioning features for adding, deleting, and adjusting
partitions on your hard drive.
Logical Formatting
Following partitioning, the disk is given a file structure that allows the
disk and the operating system to exchange data. This process is part of
logical formatting, and is performed by the operating system software’s
Format program. Partition Commander automatically formats Windows,
Linux, and DOS partitions when you create a new partition. After this, the
operating system can be installed loading the operating system’s
installation utility.
After a partition has been formatted, it is known as a volume. When using
Windows or DOS operating systems, each partition can correspond to a
drive letter, starting with drive C. Each volume (partition) can also be
given a name, or label, that will help you remember what is in that
partition.
Linux does not use drive letters, but assigns each volume a name, such as
HDA0, HDA1, etc.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics • 35
Characteristics of File Systems
When partitioning a hard drive, there are three important things you
should know about file systems:
•
Operating System and File System Compatibility (see page 36)
•
Operating System and Partition Size Limitations (see page 38)
•
Partition Size and Saving Space (see page 38)
NOTE: Partition Commander automatically takes these
constraints into account, and provides graphical displays of
these factors so that you don't have to worry about them.
Operating System and File System Compatibility
Each operating system is designed to work with a particular file system,
which is known as its native file system. Although some operating
systems are compatible with multiple file systems, some are compatible
with only one type of file system. Common file systems and Operating
System system compatibility are summarized below.
File Allocation Table (FAT): FAT is the native file system for DOS and
Windows. For very small partitions under 32 MB, a version known as
FAT12 is used, while larger sizes require FAT16. Although FAT12 uses
12 bits to record drive address, and FAT16 uses a 16-bit drive address.
They are very similar file systems and both are generically referred to as
FAT.
FAT32: FAT32 supports 32-bit file records to allow a partition size
beyond 2 GB. It can also help reduce wasted space on hard drives.
The FAT32 file system can only be seen by Windows 95 OSR2 and later.
Other operating systems such as DOS, Windows NT, and the first version
of Windows 95 will not see FAT32 partitions. You should also avoid a
FAT conversion if your drive is using disk compression, since the
compression software might not understand FAT32.
36 • Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
Partition Commander 10 Professional
High Performance File System (HPFS): OS/2 uses HPFS as its native
file system and is compatible with FAT. Older versions of NT are also
compatible with HPFS.
NT File System (NTFS): NTFS is the native file system for Windows NT,
2000, XP, 2003, and Vista. Windows 95/98/Me, DOS, and most other
operating systems cannot see NTFS file systems. There are also several
versions of NTFS, such that Windows NT cannot understand the newer
versions of NTFS.
Ext2, Ext3: Linux file systems. The Ext3 is an enhancement of the older
Ext2 file system. Ext3 is a journaling file system, which is much faster for
consistency checks than Ext2.
Linux Swap2: A Linux Swap file is an extension of the physical memory
of the computer that are generally created during the initial Red Hat Linux
9 setup.
ReiserFS: Another popular Linux journaling file system.
UFS: This is the Unix File System used by many Unix and Unix-like
operating systems. A separate file system must be created on each separate
partition of the disk
Common Operating System an File System Compatibility
Operating System
File System
DOS and Windows 3.x
Windows 95
Windows 95 OSR2, 98, Me
Windows NT v3 and older
Windows NT 4
Windows 2000, XP, 2003
Windows Vista
Linux (depends on version)
OS/2
Solaris
FAT
FAT
FAT, FAT32
FAT, HPFS, NTFS
FAT, NTFS
FAT, FAT32, NTFS
NTFS
Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, Swap
FAT, HPFS
UFS, NFS, VxFS, QFS, FAT
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics • 37
Operating System and Partition Size Limitations
The operating system and related file system support different maximum
partition sizes. The table below shows how each version of DOS and
Windows has increased the maximum partition size.
Limitations
Operating System
DOS 2.1 and older
DOS 3.x
DOS 4.0 and higher
Windows (all)
Windows 95 OSR2, 98, Me
Windows NT
Windows 2000, XP, 2003
Windows Vista
File
System
Maximum Partition
Size
FAT12
FAT12
FAT16
FAT 16
FAT 16
FAT 32
HPFS
NTFS
FAT32
NTFS
NTFS
15 MB
15 MB
16 to 32 MB
2 GB
2 GB
1000+ GB*
8 GB
1000+ GB*
1000+ GB
1000+ GB
1000+GB
* Accessing partitions larger than 137 GB requires hardware and BIOS support.
Without Partition Commander, existing disk partitions can’t be changed
without deleting the data within the partition. Partition Commander allows
you to flexibly resize a partition within its minimum and maximum limits
as well as easily move free space from one partition to another.
As drive sizes have grown, the operating system, the BIOS, and computer
hardware have also required changes. For example, IDE drives over 137
GB in size require new computer hardware and BIOS to work past this
limit. These only became available in 2002. Partition Commander
supports large drives (beyond 137 GB) when the computer hardware also
supports such drives. Without such support, the disk will be limited to the
first 137 GB, and the remainder of the disk will be inaccessible to the
system.
Partition Size and Saving Space
An unfortunate by-product of large partitions is the space they waste on
your hard drive. Partition Commander offers you two solutions:
•
Solution 1: Optimize Partition Size (see page 39)
•
Solution 2: Convert from FAT16 to FAT32 (see page 40)
38 • Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Solution 1: Optimize Partition Size
To better understand this remedy, let's focus on how FAT partitions waste
space. FAT file systems divide partitions into groups of sectors called
clusters. A cluster is the minimum unit that can be used for saving data
and more than one file cannot be associated with a cluster. This means that
if you save even a very tiny file, it will be allocated an entire cluster,
leaving a portion of the cluster unused. A similar situation often occurs
when saving files that are larger than a cluster. The last part of the file will
require an entire cluster, even if most of the cluster is left empty.
Wasted Space in Clusters
One Cluster
wasted space
readme.txt
Cluster 0
Cluster 1
wasted space
manual.doc
This problem gets worse as partition sizes get larger, as is typical with
large hard drives. The reason is that FAT allows a maximum of only
65,536 clusters in a partition. Therefore, as the partition size increases, so
does the necessary size of a cluster. For example, a 127 MB partition
requires a cluster size of 2 KB, but in a 2 GB partition, the cluster size is
32 KB. This difference has a big effect on file storage efficiency. Saving a
small file such as a 500 byte readme.txt file wastes about 1.5 KB in a 127
MB partition, and wastes 31.5 KB in a 2 GB partition. With a random
distribution of file lengths in a FAT partition, every file saved will waste
about 1/2 of a cluster. Simply reducing cluster size and partition size by
dividing a hard drive into multiple partitions can help recover a lot of
wasted space. As an overview, the table below shows possible waste as
related to partition size.
Partition
Size
Cluster
Size
Average
Waste per
File
Number of
Files
Average
Waste
Up to 128 MB
128 to 156 MB
256 to 512 MB
512 MB to 1 GB
1 GB to 2 GB
2K
4K
8K
16K
32K
1K
2K
4K
8K
16K
2,000
4,000
8,000
16,000
32,000
2 MB
8 MB
32 MB
128 MB
512 MB
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics • 39
Cluster Optimization and Partitioning
The optimum situation occurs when the file sizes in a partition fit
efficiently into clusters. For example, large graphic files can fit quite
efficiently into a large partition having large clusters. Partition
Commander analyzes your files and suggests the optimum partitioning
scheme and cluster size for them.
NOTE: Optimizing to a very small cluster size might
prevent some Windows utilities, such as Scandisk and
Defrag, from running.
Solution 2: Convert from FAT16 to FAT32
If you are running any Windows after Windows NT or the first Windows
95, Partition Commander allows you the option of saving file space by
converting your FAT partitions to FAT32 partitions. Because FAT32 uses
32 bits for recording file drive addresses, it can more efficiently locate the
beginnings and endings of files, and allows a smaller cluster size than
FAT allows. For example, in a 2 GB partition, FAT uses a 32 KB cluster
size. In contrast, FAT32 specifies only a 4 KB cluster size for partitions up
to 8 GB. As a result, the FAT32 file system is much more efficient than
FAT16 and changing over immediately results in recovered usable disk
space. Partition Commander automatically checks whether you are
running a FAT32 compatible Windows that can take advantage of FAT32.
40 • Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Selecting the Best Partition Type
This section can help guide you to the best choice for some of the major
operating systems you might be using. There is no absolute right or wrong
type, but you can save space and improve performance with the right
choice. The table below outlines some of the considerations when
selecting your partition type.
Windows
File
System
Benefits
95, 98, Me
FAT
•
95B, 98, Me
FAT32
•
NT, 2000, XP,
2003
2000, XP,
2003
NT, 2000, XP,
2003, Vista
FAT
•
FAT32
•
Compatible with •
DOS
No real size limits •
NTFS
•
No real size limits •
•
Higher security
•
Improved stability •
Disadvantages
Compatible with •
DOS
No real size limits •
•
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Limited to 2 GB
max.
Only accessible
with DOS
Limited to 2 GB
max.
Only accessible
with DOS
95/98/Me/DOS
can’t see it
More difficult to
fix if problems
occur
Only NT4 with
SP2 can see
XP/2003/Vista
NTFS
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics • 41
Dynamic Disk
Windows 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista have the ability to use a new type of
partition called a “Dynamic Disk.” It is a physical disk that contains
dynamic volumes created by using Windows “Disk Management.”
Dynamic disks do not use traditional partition tables like primary and
logical drives and cannot be accessed by Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, or
DOS operating systems. Consult Microsoft's web site for more about
Dynamic disks at www.microsoft.com.
Because a dynamic disk does not use a traditional partition table, Partition
Commander can be installed into, but will not resize dynamic disks.
Partition Commander can convert a single drive dynamic disk back to a
basic disk that has partitions understood by other operating systems (a
feature not available in Windows).
NTFS Volume Sets (Fault Tolerance)
Fault Tolerant or “spanning” partitions combine areas of unallocated
space from multiple disks into one logical volume, allowing you to more
efficiently use all the space and all drive letters on a multiple-disk system.
CAUTION: You do not want to delete one of the partitions
that are spanned. If one of the disks containing a spanned
volume fails, the entire volume fails.
You will need to restore the volume back to basic disk in Disk Manager
before re-partitioning the drive. Always back up data in a volume set
before changing it back to basic.
42 • Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Linux
Different Linux distributions might offer more than one choice, or require
one specific file system. The most common types are shown in the
following table.
Linux File
System
Benefits
Disadvantages
Ext2
•
•
Older file system, now
falling out of favor
•
Very slow consistency
checks
Journaling is a layer on
top of Ext2 (could be a
benefit)
Ext3
ReiserFS
Optimized for small
drives and small files
•
Journaling File System
•
Very fast consistency
checks
•
Easy to move from
Ext2
Journaling File System
•
•
Very fast consistency
checks
•
Efficient for small files
•
Excellent choice for
large partitions
•
•
Not recommended for
partitions under 100
MB
RAIDs
Hardware-based RAID uses an intelligent drive controller and a redundant
array of disk drives to protect against data loss in the event of media
failure and to improve the performance of read/write operations.
Hardware-based RAID levels 1 through 5 automate redundancy and fault
tolerance at the hardware level. All levels (0 through 5) incur no overhead
on the system processor. Individual data files are typically spread across
more than one disk. It is possible to implement a hardware-based RAID
solution that provides your system with seamless, non-stop recovery from
media failure.
Depending on the configuration, hardware-based RAID generally
provides good performance. It also makes it much easier to manage
multiple disks, allowing you to treat an array of disks as one disk. You
might even be able to replace a failed drive without shutting down the
system.
NOTE: Partition Commander Installation and the control of
multiple operating systems are compatible with Hardware
RAIDs, but not software-emulated RAIDs.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics • 43
Level 0
This level is also known as disk striping because of its use of a disk file
system called a stripe set. Data is divided into blocks and spread in a fixed
order among all disks in an array. RAID 0 improves read/write
performance by spreading operations across multiple disks, so that
operations can be performed independently and simultaneously.
Level 1
This level is also known as disk mirroring because of its use of a disk file
system called a mirror set. Disk mirroring provides a redundant, identical
copy of a selected disk. All data written to the primary disk is written to
the mirror disk. RAID 1 provides fault tolerance and generally improves
read performance (but might degrade write performance).
To repartition a Level 1 RAID, you first need to temporarily “break” the
mirror. After the mirror has been “broken,” you can re-partition the drives.
Both drives should be partitioned identically. After partitioning of both
drives is complete, you can re-enable the mirror.
Level 5
Also known as striping with parity, this level is the most popular strategy
for new designs. RAID 5 stripes the data in large blocks across the disks in
an array. It differs in that it writes the parity across all the disks. Data
redundancy is provided by the parity information. The data and parity
information are arranged on the disk array so that the two are always on
different disks.
NOTE: The Partition Commander Server Version supports
repartition of a Hardware RAID 5.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Partitioning and Booting Information
The hard drive keeps track of its partitioning structure and its booting
information on hard drive 0, the first hard drive in your system. The
example below shows a basic hard drive organization, including the
Master Boot Record (MBR) and Disk Partition Table.
Master Boot Record and Partitioning Table
Master Boot Record
The Master Boot Record (MBR) is contained in the first sector of the hard
disk (Cylinder 0, Head 0, Sector 1). It specifies which operating system
starts up the system. When Partition Commander is used to install multiple
operating systems, it replaces the original boot record with its own MBR
to control the boot process and allows you the choice of how to boot the
system. The old MBR is automatically saved to provide an uninstall
option.
Disk Partition Table
The Disk Partition Table is a hidden part of the hard drive that specifies
how the hard drive is partitioned. Under Windows 95, 98, and Me, the
FDISK utility can be used to view and change the partition information.
Under Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista, the Disk Administrator
can also perform limited partitioning.
Partition Commander provides a much more flexible and easy-to-use set
of tools for working with partitions. Unlike FDISK and Disk
Administrator, Partition Commander allows automatic or manual
partitioning, including resize, copy, and move without the loss of data.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics • 45
46 • Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Creating and Modifying Partitions
Overview
Whether you are working with a new hard drive or an existing drive,
Partition Commander has the tools you need create new partitions and
modify the partitions you already have. Below is a list of features to help
you make the changes you want.
•
Creating New Partitions (see page 48)
•
Cloning Partitions (see page 58)
•
Redistributing Partition Free Space (see page 60)
•
Merging Partitions (see page 62)
•
Moving and Resizing a Partition (see page 65)
•
Formatting Partitions (see page 67)
•
Deleting Partitions (see page 71)
•
Recovering Deleted Partitions (see page 74)
NOTE: Each of the modifications listed above are added to
a list of pending changes. For more information, see
“Applying Your Changes” on page 99.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 47
Creating New Partitions
The Create Partition wizard is used to create new partitions on your hard
drive. Before you start, there are a few guideline you must follow when
creating new partitions.
•
Don’t use the Create Partition Wizard to undelete the last deleted
partition (see “Recovering Deleted Partitions” on page 74).
•
The program can’t create new partitions on Dynamic Disks. Partition
Commander supports only hard disks that use the DOS partitioning
scheme. In Windows 2000/XP/Vista, these disks are called Basic
Disks.
•
According to the rules of the DOS partitioning scheme, the following
combinations of partitions can’t be created:
Two Extended partitions on one hard drive.
More than four Primary partitions on one hard drive.
More than three Primary partitions on a hard drive with an Extended
partition.
•
New partitions can only be created within blocks of unpartitioned
space. Free space on an existing partition can’t be converted.
Using the Create Partition Wizard
The Create Partition Wizard allows you to quickly create new partitions
on Basic Disks or disks that use the DOS partitioning scheme. New
partitions are created outside the selected partition.
48 • Creating and Modifying Partitions
Partition Commander 10 Professional
To Start the Create Partition Wizard
1.
Click the Create Partition link in the Task Bar or open the Wizards
menu and choose Create Partition.
2.
Check the Advanced Mode option to choose the location of the
partition on the disk.
CAUTION: When using Advanced Mode, the wizard
doesn’t control any possible boot problems, such as
placing the new partition before the system partition.
If you check this option, you can use the arrow buttons to move the
location for the new partition.
3.
Click Next to choose the partition with free space from which to
create the new partition.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Creating and Modifying Partitions • 49
To change the location of the new
partition, click the arrow buttons.
The wizard displays a Disk Map of how your hard drive currently
looks at the top of the window. Below that is a map of what your disk
will look like after the partition is created.
Before
After
TIP: On a multiple drive systems (not shown), first
choose the drive by clicking the area just above the
partitions where the disk drive is described.
50 • Creating and Modifying Partitions
Partition Commander 10 Professional
4.
Choose the partition with free space to create a new partition and then
move the slider to adjust the partition size.
The larger you make the new partition, the less free space will remain
in the selected partition. The new partitions is created outside the
selected partition.
TIP: Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter
to view details for the partitions. For more information,
see “To View the Partition Details from a Wizard” on
page 53.
You can also create the new partition as a logical partition by
checking the Create as logical partition option.
A logical partition is a partition within an extended partition that only
exists inside the logical structure of the software. This type of
partition doesn’t physically exist on the drive. A logical partition
appears with a light-blue boarder around it on the disk map.
NOTE: The number of logical partitions you can create
depends on your computer’s processor and available
resources.
5.
Click Next to specify the operating system type.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 51
6.
Choose the operating system (OS) type that the new partition will
support.
The options on the left are for common OS types.
NOTE: If you choose Custom hex ID, or don’t choose
an OS type from the list on the left, the system ID will
be set, but the resulting partition will be unformatted.
7.
Click Next to enter the partition format options.
8.
Enter a name for the partition in the Volume Label box
9.
Choose a drive letter for the partition from the Assign the following
drive letter drop-down list.
If you don’t choose a drive letter, Windows automatically assigns a
drive letter to the partition.
10. Click Next to finish the Wizard.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
To View the Partition Details from a Wizard
When you are using one of the Partition Commander wizards, you can
view the details of the partitions to help you make decisions about
partition tools.
1.
Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter in the Disk Map.
A window appears with information about the partition.
2.
Click other Properties icons for different partitions to view their
details.
3.
Click inside the Properties window to close it.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 53
Changing the Partitioning Options
The Partitioning Operations settings set several options used when
creating partitions. To view the options, open the Tools menu, choose
Settings, and then choose Partitioning options from the Edit Settings
dialog.
•
Enable 64 KB clusters for FAT32 creates FAT16 partitions with a
capacity up to 4 GB.
NOTE: Only computers with Windows NT can access
these types of partitions.
•
Ask for volume label before partition delete requires that you enter
the volume label for the selected partition before it can be deleted.
•
Ask confirmation when converting FAT16 to FAT32 displays a
confirmation window to confirm the conversion.
CAUTION: You should avoid a FAT conversion is
your system uses disk compression or your are
operating Windows NT, DOS, or early versions of
Windows 95.
The Surface Test Level drop-down list has three options:
•
None doesn’t perform any disk surface testing during read or write
operations.
•
Normal performs disk surface tests during all read or write
operations.
•
Extreme performs detailed surface tests during all read or write
operations.
54 • Creating and Modifying Partitions
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Changing the File System Conversion Options
The File System Conversion settings set several options used when
converting file system. To view the options, open the Tools menu, choose
Settings, and then choose File system conversion options from the Edit
Settings dialog.
The Select a time zone drop-down menu allows you to choose your time
zone.
The Select a language for file names drop-down menu allows you to
choose the language to use when naming files.
If you want to allow customization of these settings when converting file
systems, check the Confirm settings before NTFS <-> FAT/FAT32
conversion box.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 55
Changing the Hot Processing Options
The hot processing is a technology that provides fast backup and copying
of locked partitions and hard disks. This process is compatible with
Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista and doesn’t require considerable
hardware resources.
•
•
Enable hot processing allows the use of hot processing.
Always use hot processing uses this technology for backups and
copies.
•
Use hot processing only when partition is locked allows for this
technology only when locked partitions or hard disks are encountered
when performing a backup or copy operation.
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Changing the General Options
The General Options are used to set data verification, protection, and
accessibility options for the program. To view the General Options, open
the Tools menu, choose Settings, and then choose General options from
the Edit Settings dialog.
•
Verify data written forces the program to verify data that is being
written. This option might significantly slow overall performance.
•
Enable data loss protection ensures that data will not be lost if your
computer unexpectedly shuts down.
•
Try to Access Non-BIOS Disk Cylinders allows you to bypass 8 GB
limitations on old hardware when using Windows 9x. You can check
this option if some areas on the disk can’t be read by Windows 9x.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 57
Cloning Partitions
Duplicating a partition is one way to create a backup of your computer’s
operating system, programs, or data. This can be very useful in case a
newly installed program or operating system does not work well. The
partition can be copied back to the original place within a few minutes.
This strategy allows you to make a clone of a partition into available free
space on the same physical disk or on a separate disk.
Partition Commander duplicates all usable partition data including files,
the exact structure of directories and file system metadata: location of
files, security information, access quotas, and so on.
NOTE: There must be a contiguous block of free
(unallocated) space to contain the duplicate partition. If
there is not enough room, you will have to free up space
either by reducing the size of a partition or deleting a
partition you no longer need. The Partition Wizard advises
you if this is the case.
Using the Clone Partition Wizard
The Clone Partition Wizard allows you to duplicate partitions for creating
backups of operating system programs or data.
To Start the Clone Partition Wizard
1.
Click the Clone Partition link in the Task Bar or open the Wizards
menu and choose Clone Partition.
2.
Click Next at the Welcome dialog to begin the wizard.
3.
Choose the Source partition you want to clone by clicking it in the
Disk Map and then click Next to continue.
TIP: Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter
to view details for the partitions. For more information,
see “To View the Partition Details from a Wizard” on
page 53.
4.
Choose the Destination hard drive for the cloned partition by selecting
it on the Disk Map and then click Next to continue.
NOTE: The Destination must be large enough to hold
a copy of the Source partition.
58 • Creating and Modifying Partitions
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5.
6.
Set the partition size and location.
•
Drag the Partition size slider to set the size (in Mb) of the cloned
partition.
•
Drag the Free space before slider to set the position (in Mb) of
the cloned partition relative to the beginning of the available
range of disk space.
•
Drag the Free space after slider to adjust the amount of trailing
free space (in Mb) at the end of the available range of disk space.
Click Next to accept the changes and close the wizard.
Changing the Clone and Backup Settings
The Settings window is used to adjust how partitions are handled during
copying. Open the Tools menu and choose Settings to view the Edit
Settings window.
Choose Clone and backup options from the list on the left to view the
General Clone and Backup Options.
•
Process all sectors, one by one creates an exact clone by copying
each sector, including unused sectors. This option requires more time
to complete.
•
Skip OS auxiliary files skips operating system auxiliary files, such as
pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys, etc. and reduces both operation time and
backup image size.
Choose the option you want and then click OK to apply the changes.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 59
Redistributing Partition Free Space
When you redistribute the free space on your partitions, you are
essentially changing the size of your partitions. This is accomplished by
taking unused space from other partitions (decreasing their size) and
adding it to a selected partition (increasing its size) on the same physical
drive. By doing this, you can optimize the amount of free and usable space
by placing it all in one partition. This is useful when installing programs or
storing data on a partition that doesn’t currently have enough space. In the
past, this procedure would have required a long sequence of resizing and
moving of partitions and data. The Redistribute Free Space Wizard allows
you to perform this process in a few easy steps.
Using the Redistribute Free Space Wizard
The Redistribute Free Space Wizard helps to increase free space on one
partition by redistributing unused space between partitions. The standard
setting of the wizard adds 50% of unused space from the selected
partitions to add space to the target partition.
You can also manually control the amount of unused space left on a
partition. The wizard automatically recalculates the positions of the
partitions and moves their contents to new locations on the hard drive.
To Start the Redistribute Free Space Wizard
1.
Click the Redistribute Free Space link in the Task Bar or open the
Wizards menu and choose Redistribute Free Space.
2.
Click Next at the Welcome dialog to begin the wizard.
60 • Creating and Modifying Partitions
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3.
Choose the partition you want to enlarge from the Disk Map and then
click Next to continue.
TIP: Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter
to view details for the partitions. For more information,
see “To View the Partition Details from a Wizard” on
page 53.
4.
Choose the source partition you want to take the free space from on
the Disk Map.
5.
Move the slider to adjust the amount of free space that should be
taken from the source partition and then click Next to continue.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 61
6.
Review the changes that you’ve selected.
Before
After
To make any adjustments, click the Back button.
7.
Click Next to accept the changes.
8.
Click Finish to close the wizard.
Merging Partitions
Partition Commander allows you to easily merge two adjacent NTFS or
FAT partitions to create one larger partition, without the hassle of copying
and deleting partitions, or the risk of loosing data.
CAUTION: Merging partitions can be a long procedure
taking hours to complete. DON’T turn off your computer
during this process or you might damage your hard drive’s
file system and loose your data.
TIP: Whenever possible, you should make a backup of your
files before merging partitions.
62 • Creating and Modifying Partitions
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Merging Partitions Using the Wizard
When selecting the two partitions, it is important that you select them in
the proper order because the contents of the second selected partition is
placed in a folder on the first selected partition.
NOTE: The merge feature of Partition Commander is only
compatible with adjacent NTFS, FAT16, or FAT32
partitions of the same format. For information on
formatting, see “Formatting Partitions” on page 67.
To Start the Merge Partition Wizard
1.
Click the Merge Partitions link in the Task Bar or open the Wizards
menu and choose Merge Partitions.
2.
Click Next at the Welcome dialog to begin the wizard.
3.
Choose the target partition you want to expand to include the adjacent
partition.
The partition you choose here is the one that will contain the data
from the other partition.
TIP: Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter
to view details for the partitions. For more information,
see “To View the Partition Details from a Wizard” on
page 53.
4.
Click Next to continue.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 63
5.
Choose the adjacent partition you want to merge with the target
partition.
The partition you choose here is the one that will be copied to the
target partition.
6.
Enter a Folder Name to store the content of the adjacent partition.
Partition Commander automatically enters a folder name to store files
of the second partition. You can use this name or enter a different
name.
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7.
Review the Before and After changes.
Before
After
The wizard displays a Disk Map of how your hard drive currently
looks at the top of the window. Below that is a map of what your disk
will look like after the partitions are merged.
If you need to make any changes, click the Back button.
8.
Click Next to accept the changes.
9.
Click Finish close the wizard.
Moving and Resizing a Partition
The Move/Resize Partition feature is used to modify the size and position
of partitions on the hard drive while keeping all on-disk information
intact.
NOTE: When resizing a FAT16 partition beyond the 2GB
limit (maximum file system size), the partition is
automatically converted to FAT32.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 65
To Move or Resize a Partition
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Move/Resize Partition to view
the Move/Resize Partition window.
3.
Enter the values, or use the arrows to set the following options:
•
Partition Size defines the size (in Mb) of the modified partition.
•
Free Space Before the Partition defines the position of the
partition relative to the beginning of the available disk space.
•
Free Space After the Partition defines the amount of trailing
free space (in Mb) at the end of the available range of disk space.
TIP: Click the Properties icon by the drive letter to
view partition details (see “To View the Partition
Details from a Wizard” on page 53).
4.
Click the More options button and choose from the following:
•
Verify Write Operation performs the Writing Verification test.
•
Sector to Sector Move activates the sector-to-sector mode for
processing any file system, even unknown ones.
•
5.
Open the Surface Test Level drop-down list to choose the level.
Click the Yes button to add this to the pending changes list.
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Formatting Partitions
Most partitions have some type of file system for storing data. The process
of installing a file system is commonly known as formatting. This process
involves dividing the hard drive into tracks, sectors, and structure files that
your computer uses to manage data. There is a large variety of file systems
that have been developed. Partition Commander allows you to format
existing or newly created partitions for the following types of file systems:
•
•
•
•
FAT12 & FAT16
FAT32
NTFS
Linux Swap v.2
•
•
•
•
Linux Ext2
Linux Ext3
ReiserFS
HPFS
There are several reasons why you might want to format a partition.
•
Installation of a new operating system
•
Improve disk drive performance by reducing wasted space
•
Faster defragmentation times
•
Compatibility issues
•
Increased security
•
Increased hard drive size limit
•
Improved file stability
For more information about formatting types and their benefits, see
“Characteristics of File Systems” on page 36.
Using the Format Partition Wizard
Formatting a partition is handled in Partition Commander by the Format
Partition Wizard. This wizard takes you step-by-step through this
formatting process.
CAUTION: Formatting an existing partition erases all data
on that partition. If you have any important files on the
partition, back them up to a different partition, hard drive, or
an external media source (CD, DVD, flash memory card,
zip disk, etc.). For more information, see “Exporting and
Backing Up Files” on page 27.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Creating and Modifying Partitions • 67
To Start the Format Partition Wizard
1.
Click the Format Partition link in the Task Bar or open the Wizards
menu and choose Format Partition.
2.
Click Next at the Welcome dialog to begin the wizard.
3.
Choose the partition you want to format and then click Next to
continue.
TIP: Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter
to view details for the partitions. For more information,
see “To View the Partition Details from a Wizard” on
page 53.
68 • Creating and Modifying Partitions
Partition Commander 10 Professional
4.
Enter the partition format information.
5.
Open the Partition Type drop-down list and choose the format type
for the new partition.
If you don’t choose a format type, the resulting partition is
unformatted. Only formats that can be correctly used for the selected
partition are available.
6.
7.
Enter a name for the partition in the Volume Label box.
Choose drive letter for the partition from the Assign the following
drive letter drop-down list.
If you don’t choose a drive letter, Windows automatically assigns a
drive letter to the partition.
8.
Click Next and then click Finish to complete the wizard.
For information about the Change format options box, see “To Perform
Advanced Formatting” on page 70.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 69
To Perform Advanced Formatting
When choosing the format type in the Format Partition wizard, you can
check the Change format options box to perform advanced formatting.
NOTE: We recommend that only advanced users perform
these advanced formatting changes.
•
The Surface Test Level allows you to choose the level of surface
testing to perform during format. Surface testing scans the surface of
the partition to look for errors.
•
The Sectors Per Boot sets the number of sectors in the boot sector.
•
The Root Entries set the total number of file name entries that can be
stored in the root directory of the partition. Typically, this value is set
at 512.
•
The Sectors Per Cluster are groupings of track sectors that represent
the smallest unit of storage that can be written to or read. For more
information, see “Hard Drive and Partitioning Basics” on page 31.
To reset the values Partition Commander assigns for the selected format
type, click the Restore defaults button.
Click Next and then click Finish to complete the wizard.
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Deleting Partitions
Partition Commander allows you to delete partitions on hard drives
partitioned with a DOS partitioning scheme. Using the Delete Partition
Wizard, you can remove references to the partition from the Partition
Table, causing the information from the deleted partition to become
inaccessible. This results in disk space that can be used to create new
partitions. For more information, see “Deleting a Partition Using the
Wizard” on page 71.
Contents of the deleted partition don’t disappear from the disk but merely
are unavailable for the operating system. This enables you to restore an
accidentally deleted partition prior to reformatting the deleted partition by
using the Undelete Partitions Wizard. For more information, see
“Recovering Deleted Partitions” on page 74.
Deleting a Partition Using the Wizard
If you have a partition on your hard drive that you no longer need, you can
delete it and gain some extra storage space using the Delete Partition
Wizard.
CAUTION: When a partition is deleted, the data in the
partition is no longer available. Before deleting a partition,
you should backup any important files. For more
information, see “Exporting and Backing Up Files” on page
27.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 71
To Start the Delete Partition Wizard
1.
Click the Delete Partition link in the Task Bar or open the Wizards
menu and choose Delete Partition.
2.
Click Next at the Welcome dialog to begin the wizard.
3.
Choose the partition you want to delete from the Disk Map.
TIP: Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter
to view details for the partitions. For more information,
see “To View the Partition Details from a Wizard” on
page 53.
4.
Click Next to continue.
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5.
Review your proposed changes.
Before
After
If you need to make any changes, click the Back button.
6.
Choose how to manage the deleted partition space by selecting one of
the following options from the Merge free blocks options
drop-down list.
•
Add free space toward the end of the disk places all the free
space at the end of the hard drive.
•
Merge free blocks at the end of the disk combines all free
blocks of space and places it at the end of the hard drive.
•
Do not merge free blocks does nothing with the deleted
partition and leaves it as unallocated space.
•
Add free space toward the beginning of the disk places all the
free space at the beginning of the hard drive.
•
Merge free blocks at the beginning of the disk combines all
free blocks of space and places it at the beginning of the hard
drive.
CAUTION: Merging free blocks alters the Partition
Table resulting in a deleted partition that can’t be
undeleted.
7.
Click Next to accept the changes.
8.
Click Finish to close the wizard.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 73
Recovering Deleted Partitions
If you’ve accidentally deleted a hard drive partition and haven’t
reformatted the partition, your data can still be recovered. Deleting a
partition only removes the references to it in the Partition Table. The
Undelete Partition Wizard automatically locates and restores deleted
partitions by re-establishing the Partition Table references to the partition.
NOTE: The Undelete Partitions Wizard can only restore a
deleted partition that has not yet been reformatted, moved,
or merged with another partition. Formatting deletes all data
from a partition.
Starting the Undelete Partition Wizard
1.
Click the Undelete Partitions link in the Task Bar or open the
Wizards menu and choose Undelete Partitions.
2.
Click Next at the Welcome dialog to begin the wizard.
3.
Browse your hard drives to locate the partition to restore.
4.
Check the box next to the partition to examine.
If you want to select the filter and search criteria, check the I want to
choose file system and filter search criteria option. For more
information, see “Choosing System Filters and Search Criteria” on
page 76.
NOTE: This option is recommended for advanced
users only.
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5.
Click Next and Partition Commander scans your system for all
recoverable partitions and lists them in the window.
During the search, you can click the Stop search button if you need
to cancel the partition search. After the search completes, a list of all
deleted partitions appears.
TIP: Click the More Info button to view details for the
selected partition. Click inside the details window to
close it.
6.
Check the box next to the partition on the list of recoverable partitions
you want to undelete.
7.
Click Next to restore the partition.
8.
After the partition is restored, click Finish to close the wizard.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 75
Choosing System Filters and Search Criteria
When using the Undelete Partition Wizard (see “Recovering Deleted
Partitions” on page 74), you have the option to define your search. These
options include choosing the type of file system to look for and the how to
look for the deleted partitions.
To access these advanced features, click the I want to choose file system
and filter search criteria option when looking at the hard drive for the
partition to restore before starting the search.
To Set Your File System Filter
All known file systems searches for all types of files systems. This
options is used when you choose not to use the advanced search criteria.
When checked, the options listed below search for only those file system
types.
•
FAT and FAT32 file systems
•
NTFS file system
•
Linux EXT2 and Ext3 files systems
•
OS/2 HPFS file system
•
Other (unlisted) file system
Click Next to open the Search Criteria window.
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To Set Your Search Criteria.
Scan all sectors analyzes every sector in the search range. The results
might be more accurate, but the search can take longer.
Use all available criteria uses all of the options listed below for the search
criteria.
•
Check boot sector
•
Check boot sector copies
•
Check Master File Table
•
Other search rules
Click Next to start the search using your defined filters and search options.
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Creating and Modifying Partitions • 77
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Managing Your Partitions
Overview
Occasionally, you might need to change something about your partitions.
Whether you need to hide, unhide, or resize a partition, Partition
Commander has the tools to effectively manage your partitions.
All of the topics covered in the section are accessible from the Partition
menu, and its submenus, in the Menu Bar.
Many commands are also available as links in the Explorer Frame’s Disk
View tab when you select a partition from the Disk Map. For more
information, see “Learning About the Program Window” on page 19 and
the “Explorer Frame” on page 24.
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Managing Your Partitions • 79
Changing the Partition Drive Letter
Partition Commander allows you to assign or remove drive letters from
existing formatted partitions. A partition without a drive letter is not
accessible.
Assigning the Drive Letter
Assigning a drive letter, also called Mounting, is the process of choosing
an available drive letter and assigning it to the partition that doesn’t have a
drive letter.
To Assign a Drive Letter
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Assign Drive Letter to view the
Add Drive Letter window.
3.
Open the drive letter drop-down list and choose a letter.
4.
Click OK to assign the new drive letter to the partition.
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Removing the Drive Letter
Removing a drive letter, also called Unmounting, is the process of
removing the assigned drive letter from a partition. If you want to change
the drive letter of an existing partition, you must remove the letter first,
and then assign a new letter. For more information, see “Assigning the
Drive Letter” on page 80.
CAUTION: DO NOT the drive letter of the operating
system partition or you won’t be able to boot your operating
system.
To Remove a Drive Letter
NOTE: If you change a partition drive letter, you won’t be
able to access links or other installed programs on that
partition.
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Remove Drive Letter to view
the Remove Drive Letter window.
3.
Click Yes to remove the drive letter or No to cancel.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Managing Your Partitions • 81
Changing the Cluster Size
Cluster Size is one of the important parameters of any file system. The
Cluster Size value directly affects the performance of the file processing
activity because it defines the size of the file system metadata, or
information about another set of data. The “wasted space factor” also
depends on the Cluster Size value (see “Partition Size and Saving Space”
on page 38).
Partition Commander can change the Cluster Size to any available value
without loosing your data.
To Change the Cluster Size
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Modify > Change Cluster Size
to view the Change Partition Cluster Size window.
TIP: The Cluster Size value is shown in Sectors per
Cluster. To view the Cluster Size in Kilobytes, divide it
into half.
3.
Open the drop-down list and select the cluster size.
4.
Click Yes to change the cluster size or No to cancel.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Making Logical and Primary Partitions
Partition Commander can include a Primary Partition in the Extended
Partition, or exclude a Logical Partition from the Extended Partition,
without the need of creating copies.
CAUTION: Changing the status of the system partition
will result in a non-booting operating system.
Making a Logical Partition
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Modify > Make Partition
Logical.
NOTE: The Make Partition Logical option is only
available when the selected partition is adjacent to the
Extended partition.
3.
Click Yes to change the partition or No to cancel.
Making a Primary Partition
1.
2.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
Open the Partition menu and choose Modify > Make Partition
Primary.
NOTE: The Make Partition Primary option is only
available when the selected partition is adjacent to the
Extended partition.
3.
Click Yes to change the partition or No to cancel.
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Managing Your Partitions • 83
Changing the Attributes of a Partition
This section explains how to change partition attributes such as Active
flag, Hidden flag, Partition ID, Volume Label, and Serial Number.
Changing the Partition Activation Status
Partition Commander allows you to set the Active or Inactive flag for
primary partitions on your hard drive. The Active (bootable) partition is
used when starting up the operating system.
NOTE: There can only be one active partition on a hard
drive, otherwise the operating system will fail to boot.
To Change the Partition’s Active Status
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Mark Partition as Active/
Inactive.
3.
Click Yes to change the active status or No to cancel.
Hiding and Showing Partitions
You can Hide and Unhide primary and logical partitions. When a partition
is hidden, the operating system does not mount that partition preventing
access to its contents.
NOTE: You should not hide your system partition,
otherwise the operating system might fail to boot
To Hide a Partition
Click the Disk View tab, choose the partition from the Disk Map, and then
open the Partition menu and choose Hide.
To Show a Partition
Click the Disk View tab, choose the partition from the Disk Map, and then
open the Partition menu and choose Unhide.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Changing the Partition Label
The Partition Label is a small text field (up to 11 characters) that is located
in the partition’s boot sector. This value is detectable by any partitioning
tools and is used for notification purposes only.
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Modify > Change Volume
Label.
3.
Enter or change the volume label.
4.
Click the OK button to accept the changes.
Making Advanced Modifications
The following topics are intended for expert users only. The options in this
section allow you to make advanced changes to your partitions, such
changing the partition ID or boot size. These modification can have major
effects and might impact the ability to access data or operating systems.
All of these features can be found by opening the Partition menu and then
opening the Modify submenu.
•
To Change the Partition ID (see page 86)
•
To Change the Partition Serial Number (see page 86)
•
To Change the Root Size (see page 87)
•
To Change the Boot Size (see page 87)
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Managing Your Partitions • 85
To Change the Partition ID
The Partition ID is an identifier of a file system that is placed in the
partition. The Partition ID is saved in the Partition Table and is used to
quickly detect partitions of supported types. By manually changing the
Partition ID value, you can change the accessibility of partitions.
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Modify > Change Partition ID.
3.
Open the drop-down list and choose a predefined ID or check the
Please enter ID manually option to enter the partition ID in
hexadecimal.
4.
Click the OK button to accept the changes.
To Change the Partition Serial Number
The serial number for a partition is saved in the boot sector and is
generated when a partition is formatted. You can modify the serial number
for FAT16, FAT32, HPFS, and NTFS formatted partitions without
reformatting using Partition Commander.
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Modify > Change Serial
Number.
3.
Enter or change the serial number.
The serial number must contain 8 hexadecimal characters limited to
any combination using 0-9 and A-F.
4.
86 • Managing Your Partitions
Click the OK button to accept the changes.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
To Change the Root Size
The root directory is the directory that includes all other directories. In a
FAT12 and FAT16 file system, the root directory is located at the start
(bottom) of the DOS volume and is both fixed in location and in size.
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Modify > Change Root Size.
3.
Enter or change the root directory size value according to the range.
4.
Click OK to accept the size change.
To Change the Boot Size
Major file systems use initial sectors of a partition to store the bootable
code of an operating system. This area of a partition is generally known as
the Bootable Area, or the Boot Sector (actually it takes up several sectors).
Partition Commander allows you to modify the Bootable Area size of the
FAT formatted partitions without destroying data.
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Choose a FAT partition from the Disk Map.
3.
Open the Partition menu and choose Modify > Change Boot Size.
4.
Enter a new value for the boot area size.
5.
Click OK to accept the changes.
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Managing Your Partitions • 87
Inspecting and Maintaining Your Partitions
Partition Commander has several tools that allow you to inspect your
partitions before you perform any partitioning operations, and then inspect
and optimize your partitions after they’ve been created. You can also
defragment the partitions to increase the speed of access and retrieval of
data.
Performing a Surface Test
Partition Commander allows you to perform additional surface tests on
existing partitions and blocks of free space to locate each sector of the
partition for possible faults. While most new drives handle this step
internally, it is always wise to perform the surface scan before formatting
a partition.
To Perform a Surface Test
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Test Surface.
3.
Open the drop-down list and choose the testing level.
4.
Click OK to add the test to your list of pending changes.
Checking the File System Integrity
Before performing any operations on any existing partition, you should
check the integrity of the file system to find any possible system errors.
To Check the File System
Click the Disk View tab, choose the partition from the Disk Map, and then
open the Partition menu and choose Check File System Integrity.
The Check File System Integrity test is added to your list of pending
changes. This process runs the next time you Apply your pending changes.
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Defragmenting a Partition
Defragmentation is the process of rewriting parts of a file to contiguous
sectors on a hard drive to increase the speed of access and retrieval. When
files are updated, the computer tends to save these updates on the largest
continuous space on the hard drive. This is often on a different sector than
the other parts of the file resulting in fragmented files. When files are
fragmented, the computer must search the hard drive each time the file is
opened to find all of the file’s parts, which slows down response time.
To Defragment a Partition
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Defragment > Defragment
Partition to view the Defragment Partition window.
3.
Open the drop-down lists and choose from the following options:
•
Directories Placement to select how you want the directories
sorted.
•
Sort Options
Sort by Size to sort the files according to their size.
Sort by Time to sort the files according to the last time of update.
•
System Files Options
Check the Do not save content option to ignore contents of the
pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys system files. These files are used
temporarily in the operating system.
4.
Click OK to accept the changes.
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Managing Your Partitions • 89
Defragmenting the Master File Table (MTF)
The Master File Table (MFT) is an NTFS system file that contains
detailed file information, including size, time and date stamps,
permissions, and data contents. Over time, the MFT file can also become
fragmented slowing down the speed at which data is accessed.
To Defragment the Master File Table
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Partition menu and choose Defragment > Defragment
MFT.
3.
Click OK to add the operation to your list of pending changes.
Downgrading an NTFS Partition
There are different versions of NTFS. If you install Windows XP, it
converts every NTFS partition it sees to the latest version. The problem is
if you have NT installed in another partition, converting the NTFS version
to the latest version makes NT fail to boot or see the newer NTFS version
partitions. This option converts the partition back to the older version, so
that NT can see and boot from it.
To Convert the NTFS Partition
Choose the NTFS partition from the disk map and then open the Partition
menu and choose Modify > Downgrade NTFS version.
Open the drop-down list and choose the NTFS version to convert to.
NOTE: You can only convert to a previous version of
NTFS. This option doesn’t allow you to convert an NT or
2000 version to an XP or Vista version of NTFS.
Click Yes to add this to your list of pending changes list.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Managing Your Hard Drives
Overview
The hard drive keeps track of its partitioning structure and its booting
information on hard drive 0, the first hard drive in your system. The
example below shows a basic hard drive organization, including the
Master Boot Record (MBR) and Disk Partition Table.
Disk Partition Table
Master Boot Record (MBR)
Utilities within Partition Commander enable you to make changes to
aspects of your hard drive related to how your system boots and security
access. For more information, see the topics listed below.
•
Updating the Master Boot Record (see page 92)
•
Changing the Primary Slot (see page 92)
•
Changing the Security Identifier (see page 94)
•
Cloning Your Hard Drive (see page 95)
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Managing Your Hard Drives • 91
Updating the Master Boot Record
The Master Boot Record (MBR) is contained in the first sector of the hard
drive. (Cylinder 0, Head 0, Sector 1). It looks at the partition table and
determines which partition is active. The active partition is used to start
the operating system when you start up the system (see “Master Boot
Record” on page 45).
Partition Commander allows you to overwrite the current bootable code in
the MBR. This feature can repair corrupted bootable code on a hard drive
caused by viruses or malfunctions in the boot management software.
Changing the Primary Slot
With Partition Commander you can change the numbering of your
primary partitions. This feature allows you to fix problems concerning the
inappropriate order of partitions.
Both Linux and DOS operating system numbering are described below.
Understanding Linux Partition Numbers
In Linux, every partition has a special symbolic names for the hard disks
containing a partition and for the partition itself, which are used to access
and address the partitions. These names are automatically generated by
Linux according to the order of the hard disks in the BIOS and the order of
partition records in the Partition Table. Modifying the primary partitions
numbering can change the paths to some important resources.
Understanding DOS Partition Numbers
The most recent versions of DOS use a sophisticated algorithm for
assigning drive letters. A drive letter assigned to a partition, depends on
the order of records in the Partition Table. The modification of primary
partitions numbering affects the drive letters assignment. In early versions
of DOS, it can even lead to the unavailability of a partition. In any case,
you might want to change the numbering of primary partitions.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Modifying the Partition Order
To modify partition numbering, following the steps below.
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Hard Disk menu and choose Change Primary Slots to view
the Change SID for Hard Disk window.
The top of the window shows the slot number, object type, and
volume label of the Primary Partitions in the Partition Table.
The bottom of the window shows the details for the selected partition.
3.
Click the up and down arrow buttons on the right of the list of primary
partitions to move the selected partition up and down in the Partition
Table list.
4.
Click OK to add this operation to your list of pending changes.
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Managing Your Hard Drives • 93
Changing the Security Identifier
Partition Commander allows you to update the security identifier (SID) for
all your drives and partitions.
NOTE: The SID changer utility can be applied only to NT
and Win2000 installations.
The SID is a unique alphanumeric character string used to identify an
object such as a user, group, or a computer. A user’s SID becomes part of
the user’s access permission, also known as the User’s Access Token,
which is linked to any action or process attempted by the user or group.
The User’s Access Token contains all User SIDs, Group SIDs, a list of
privileges, and other access information. A duplicated SID would allow all
users with that SID to authenticate as the same user.
NOTE: It is possible for cloned hard disks to have the same
SID. If you perform a hard drive or partition copy, the SID
should be updated
The SID Changer searches Windows installations and then changes them
by automatically generate random SID values.
To Change the SID
1.
Click the Disk View tab and choose the partition from the Disk Map.
2.
Open the Hard Disk menu and choose Change SID to view the
Change SID for Hard Disk window.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
3.
Choose from one of the following options:
•
•
Generate SID based on BOOT.INI files information searches
for boot.ini files on all partitions to extract information on
Windows installations and then changes the SIDs by
automatically generating random SID values.
Additionally look-up the directories listed below allows you to
browse to a location to search for the boot.ini files.
•
Look-up only the directories listed below allows you to choose
a specific location to search for the boot.ini files.
The Ask a user for SID value to be assigned for each Windows
instance option allows you to manually set each SID value.
4.
Click OK to add this operation to your list of pending changes.
Cloning Your Hard Drive
Hard drive duplication is becoming highly popular among computer users
due to some of the advantages it can offer. Many people clone hard disks
just to back up data for security reasons. Partition Commander can
successfully transfer all on-disk information, including standard bootstrap
code and other system service structures, for maintaining the operating
system’s functionality. In the event of a system malfunction, you can get
your computer back on track in minutes, without the inconvenience of
additional configuration.
Another use for cloning your hard drive is when performing an upgrade to
a new hard drive. The capacity of a modern hard drives doubles every two
years, creating new possibilities for software developers. As a result,
programs become more complicated and require a considerable amount of
free space, which can lead you to a hard drive upgrade. Usually, this
means that besides purchasing a new hard drive, you also face a large reinstallation procedure spanning several days of tedious work. However,
this can be avoided by copying the contents of the old hard drive to a new
one proportionally resizing the partitions.
Cloning of hard drives for cloning purposes can also be of great use when
setting up similar computers. There is no need for a system administrator
to install an operating system from scratch on every one of them. Cloning
the hard drive also copies all of the configuration information.
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Managing Your Hard Drives • 95
Using the Clone Hard Disk Wizard
The Clone Hard Disk Wizard is used to create exact duplicates of a hard
drive. During this process, Partition Commander moves controlling
records of used partitions, the bootstrap code, and on-disk partitions. You
can’t substitute this process by copying all on-disk partitions.
NOTE: To clone a hard disk, you must have at least one
additional hard drive attached to your computer with
enough available free space to save the copy.
For information on changing the settings, see “Changing the Clone and
Backup Settings” on page 59.
To Start the Copy Hard Disk Wizard
1.
Click the Clone Hard Disk link in the Task Bar or open the Wizards
menu and choose Clone Hard Disk.
2.
Click Next at the Welcome dialog to begin the wizard.
3.
Choose the hard drive you want to copy by selecting it in the Disk
Map.
All partitions from the selected hard will be copied to the destination
hard drive.
TIP: Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter
to view details for the partitions (see “To View the
Partition Details from a Wizard” on page 53).
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
4.
Click Next to choose the target disk.
All data from the source disk is copied to the target disk.
5.
Click Next to set the copy options.
Choose the copy options by selecting from the following options:
TIP: When you click an option, a description of the
option appears at the bottom of the wizard.
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Managing Your Hard Drives • 97
Copy Options
•
Copy all sectors, one to one creates an exact copy of the disk
including used and unused sectors.
Resize Options
•
Remove free blocks between partitions doesn’t keep blocks of
free space between partitions on the targeted hard drive.
•
Copy data and resize partitions proportionally changes the
size of partitions keeping their relative order proportional and
intact. The option can be useful when upgrading the hard drive to
a larger one.
Verification Options
•
Perform surface test scans the surface of the disk prior to
writing. Bad sectors found on the disk are marked as unusable.
•
Verify writing tests the integrity of the new copy.
6.
Review the disk copy settings.
7.
Move the slider to adjust the used disk space on the destination disk.
NOTE: If you selected either the Copy all sectors,
one to one or Remove free blocks between
partitions option, the slider doesn’t appear.
8.
Click Next to accept the settings.
9.
Click Finish to close the wizard and add the item to the pending
changes list.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Applying Your Changes
Overview
Using the wizards doesn’t actually make any physical changes to your
hard drive. Any wizard you use creates pending changes, or virtual
operations. For these changes to take affect, you need to apply them. The
buttons in the Virtual Operations toolbar and the options under the
Changes menu contain the tools you need to view, discard, undo, and
redo your pending changes. Click the Apply button to accept all pending
changes and make the physical modifications to your hard drive. For more
information, see “Applying Partition and Hard Drive Changes” on page
104.
To Turn On the Virtual Operations Toolbar
Open the View menu and choose Toolbar > Virtual Operations.
A checkmark next to the menu item means that it is currently shown.
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Applying Your Changes • 99
Viewing Proposed Changes to Your Hard Disk
All pending changes are stored on a list. To view this list, open the
Changes menu and choose View Changes or click the View Changes
button to view the Pending Changes window.
The window contains a list of both changes that are pending and those that
have been undone.
A Disk Map of how your hard drive currently looks and a map of how
your disk will look after any proposed modification to the partitions
appears at the bottom of the window.
TIP: Click the Properties icon next to the drive letter to
view details for the partitions. For more information, see
“To View the Partition Details from a Wizard” on page 53.
100 • Applying Your Changes
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Making Changes to the List
At the bottom of the Pending Changes window are four buttons.
•
Undo Last removes the most recent item from the pending changes
list (see “Undoing a Pending Change” on page 101).
•
Redo First replaces the most recent undone change back to the
pending changes list (see “Redoing a Pending Change” on page 102).
•
Apply commits all pending changes for processing (see “Applying
Partition and Hard Drive Changes” on page 104).
CAUTION: Before applying any changes, you should
backup all important data files.
•
Close closes the window without applying any of your pending
changes.
You can change the status of items on the View Changes list until you are
ready to apply your changes. All items that are effective and pending are
processed when you apply the changes. Those items that have been
undone are not applied and are removed from the list after the pending
changes have been applied.
Undoing and Redoing Proposed Changes
Your list of proposed changes contains your currently pending changes
and a list of pending changes that you have selected not to apply, or those
that you have “undone.” All pending and undone pending changes remain
on the View Changes list until you either Apply the changes (see
“Applying Partition and Hard Drive Changes” on page 104) or Discard all
changes (see “Discarding All Proposed Changes” on page 103).
Undoing a Pending Change
Any pending changes on your pending changes list can be removed from
this list and placed in an “undone” list. Undone changes are not applied.
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Applying Your Changes • 101
To Undo the Last Pending Change
Open the Changes menu and choose Undo or click the Undo Changes
button.
This removes the last pending change you’ve done and places it in the
ineffective list.
You can also undo the last change using the Undo Last button located on
the bottom of the View Changes window. For more information, see
“Viewing Proposed Changes to Your Hard Disk” on page 100.
To Undo a Pending Change from the List
Open the Undo button drop-down list and choose the pending changes you
want to undo.
Redoing a Pending Change
Any pending changes that you have removed from your pending changes
list can be added back to this list. Redone changes are made effective and
are included when you apply your pending changes.
To Redo the Last Pending Change
Open the Changes menu and choose Redo or click the Redo button.
This removes the last pending change you’ve undone and places is back in
the effective list.
You can also redo the last change using the Redo First button located on
the bottom of the View Changes window. For more information, see
“Viewing Proposed Changes to Your Hard Disk” on page 100.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
To Redo a Pending Change from the List
Open the Redo button drop-down list and choose the undone pending
changes you want to redo.
Discarding All Proposed Changes
If you decide that you no longer want to apply any changes, or perhaps
your list of proposed changes is not in the order you want, you can Discard
all your proposed changes. When you Discard the changes, all effective
and ineffective changes are removed from the list.
NOTE: After you discard your changes, they can’t be
recovered using Undo or Redo.
To Discard All Pending Changes
Open the Changes menu and choose Discard All Changes or click the
Discard button.
A window appears asking if you want to discard all the pending changes.
Click Yes to discard all pending changes or click No to cancel.
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Applying Your Changes • 103
Applying Partition and Hard Drive Changes
All the changes that you have setup have not yet taken affect. All pending
changes must be applied before any real changes occur.
To Apply All Pending Changes
Open the Changes menu and choose Apply Changes or click the Apply
button.
A window appears asking if you want to apply all the pending changes.
Click Yes to apply all pending changes and view the processing window.
Clicking No closes the window, but leaves all your pending changes on
the list.
Processing Applied Changes in Windows
Some applied changes don’t require the program to restart. These are
generally minor changes that have a minimal effect on your hard drive,
such as modifying the volume label.
104 • Applying Your Changes
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Processing Applied Changes at Restart
Many of the processes in Partition Commander require the system to
restart and process the changes prior to restarting Windows. These are
typically changes that inspect or modify your hard drive or partitions in
some way.
If the process requires a restart, a window appears.
Click the Restart now button to restart the computer and start the pending
changes.
CAUTION: If you click Cancel, all pending changes are
removed from the pending changes list.
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Applying Your Changes • 105
After the computer restarts, the boot processing window appears.
Boot Processing Window in XP
NOTE: The boot processing window you see might look
different depending on your version of Windows.
The boot processing window contains a progress bar and processing times
at the top of the window. The lower part of the window gives a brief
explanation of the processes that are being applied.
CAUTION: Cancelling this operation can disable the
booting of your operating system, create a high risk of total
data loss, or damage your hard drive.
When all processes have completed, your operating system restarts and
then restarts Partition Commander.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Changing the Virtual Mode Options
The Virtual Mode Options allow you to change how the virtual operations
mode functions. Choose from the following options to set the different
options:
•
Allow virtual mode carries out all operations in the virtual mode.
This mode allows you to preview all changes, as well as undo and
redo pending changes on the list.
CAUTION: If you turn off this option, all operations
will process immediately.
•
Close progress dialog automatically closes the progress dialog after
processing the changes.
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Applying Your Changes • 107
108 • Applying Your Changes
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Starting the Program from the CD
Overview
The Partition Commander Recovery CD can help you solve your booting
problems by repairing virus-infected MBRs, changing the order of
primary partitions, scanning the partition surface for errors, and opening a
command line for entering operating system specific commands.
Besides fixing problems, you can also use the Recovery CD to partition
and format new hard disks. Windows also allows you to partition and
format your hard disk, but Partition Commander is more flexible and
provides additional options in performing these functions.
Starting the Recovery Diskette
If you’ve created a diskette version of the Recovery CD using the
Recovery Media Builder wizard (see “Using the Recovery Media Builder
Wizard” on page 16), you’ll need to insert the first diskette into the
diskette drive before restarting your computer. The diskette version of
Partition Commander is a limited-option version.
To access to all the available Recovery CD options, you can use the
Partition Commander program CD or create a Recovery CD from the
installation program. For more information, see “Creating the Recovery
CD” on page 16.
NOTE: If your computer doesn’t start from the diskette,
you’ll need to change the system BIOS setting that controls
the boot order process. For more information, contact your
system administrator or refer to the documentation that
came with your computer.
For information about the options on the Recovery CD, see “Starting the
Recovery CD” on page 110.
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Starting the Program from the CD • 109
Starting the Recovery CD
When you start your computer using the Recovery CD, you have a choice
of operating systems in which to run Recovery CD. You must make your
choice before the 10 second count-down timer automatically starts in the
Linux environment. For most computers, Normal Mode works fine.
However, if you experience problems starting in Normal Mode, you can
restart the computer and choose the Safe Mode or Low-Graphics Safe
Mode option.
NOTE: If your computer doesn’t start from the CD, you’ll
need to change the system BIOS setting that controls the
boot order process. For more information, contact your
system administrator or refer to the documentation that
came with your computer.
The initial startup screen gives you the following list of choices:
•
Normal Mode uses Linux as the boot choice. This is the standard boot
environment that works with most computers (see “Booting in
Normal Mode” on page 111).
•
Safe Mode uses DOS as the boot choice. This is an alternate choice if
Linux doesn’t work properly (see “Booting in Safe Mode” on page
112).
•
Low-Graphics Safe Mode uses simple graphics and menus, and
doesn’t mount any partitions. Use this mode if you are having
problems with Safe Mode.
•
Floppy Disk allows you to boot from a bootable diskette.
•
Hard Disk 0 MBR boots from your hard disk.
•
Find OSes on your hard disks searches for and lists any installed
operating systems on your hard disks. This option might cause your
computer to freeze if you have any corrupted partitions.
NOTE: If the Recovery CD was created using the Recovery
Media builder, it directly opens the Safe Mode version of
Partitioning Operations (see “Modifying Partitions” on page
113).
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Booting in Normal Mode
When you choose the Avanquest Linux option from the initial Recovery
CD startup screen, the Partition Commander menu appears.
User your mouse or arrow keys to choose the option from the list on the
left. A brief description for the option appears in the pane on the right.
•
Partition Commander 10 creates, deletes, and formats partitions (see
“Modifying Partitions” on page 113).
•
Boot Corrector helps fix Windows 2000/XP boot problems, such as
repairing the System Registry or an infected MBR (see “Fixing Boot
Problems” on page 123).
•
Log Saver starts the Log Saver Wizard (see “Saving Log Files” on
page 125).
•
View the mounted partitions displays a list of all mounted partitions.
For more information about mounted partitions, see “Assigning the
Drive Letter” on page 80.
•
Command Line opens a command line for applying Linux
commands. This option is recommended for experienced Linux users.
•
Reboot the computer restarts the computer.
•
Power off the computer turns off the computer.
Click Enter to start the selected option.
TIP: If you have problems using the Normal Mode option,
you can restart your computer and choose Safe Mode (see
“Booting in Safe Mode” on page 112).
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Starting the Program from the CD • 111
Booting in Safe Mode
When you choose the Safe option from the initial Recovery CD startup
screen, the Partition Commander menu appears. You can use this option is
you have problems using the Normal Mode option.
User your arrow keys to choose the option from the list on the left. A brief
description for the selected option appears in the pane on the right.
NOTE: If you have problems using the Safe Mode, you can
restart your computer and choose Low-Graphics Safe
Mode.
•
Partition Commander 10 creates, deletes, and formats hard drive
partitions (see “Modifying Partitions” on page 113).
•
Boot Corrector helps fix Windows 2000/XP boot problems, such as
repairing the System Registry or repairing an infected MBR (see
“Fixing Boot Problems” on page 123).
•
View the mounted partitions displays a list of all mounted partitions.
For more information about mounted partitions, see “Assigning the
Drive Letter” on page 80.
•
Start the command line opens a command line for applying DOS
commands. This option is recommended for experienced DOS users.
•
Reboot the computer restarts the computer.
Click Enter to start the selected option.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Modifying Partitions
Much like the Windows version of Partition Commander, the Recovery
CD allows you to create, delete, format, and make other changes to your
partitions. Like the Windows version, you can also create a list of pending
changes. The pending changes list is processed only after you click the
Apply button. However, unlike the Windows version, the Recovery CD
version also allows you to change the settings to process changes
immediately as you create them (see “Changing the Virtual Operations
Settings” on page 121).
When you choose the Partition Commander 10 option from the list, the
program opens and displays a window similar to that of the Windows
version of Partition Commander.
At the top of the window there is a menu bar.
The left-side is divided into three sections:
•
A list of available tasks for the selected item (double-click to start)
•
A list of pending changes (see “Changing the Virtual Operations
Settings” on page 121)
•
Buttons to undo and apply your pending changes.
In the right pane is a disk map and details for each drive and partition. For
more information, see “Viewing the Disk Map” on page 25.
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Starting the Program from the CD • 113
To Close the Partition Operations Program
Open the General menu and then choose Exit. Closing Partition
Operations returns you to the Partition Commander menu.
NOTE: If you are running from a Recovery CD or Diskette
created with the Recovery Media Builder wizard, remove
the Recovery media from the drive before choosing Exit and
rebooting your computer.
Using the Context Menu
The options found in the Hard Disk and Partition menus can also be
accessed using the context menu. To open the context menu, choose an
item and then right-click to display the menu.
NOTE: The options on the context menu display according
to the item selected.
Browsing Partitions
To view and browse your files and folders, choose a partition, open the
Partition menu, and choose Browse partition.
Navigation in the Browse Partition window is similar to that of Windows
Explorer. After you choose an item, you can click one of the buttons on
the left to import, export, rename, and delete the selected file or folder.
You can also create new folders in the current directory. For more
information, see “Exporting Files with Volume Explorer” on page 28.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Copying Partitions
To make a copy of an existing partition, choose the partition from the disk
map, open the Partition menu, and then choose Copy Partition.
NOTE: You must have sufficient free space to create a
copy of the selected partition.
You can choose to allow resizing of the partition and to change the SID
after partitioning the copy. Choose the free space for the copy destination
and click OK.
Move the sliders to change the new size of the partition, as well as the free
space before and after. A disk map at the top of the window shows how
adjusting the sliders changes the partitioning.
For more information on copying partitions, see “Cloning Partitions” on
page 58.
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Starting the Program from the CD • 115
Formatting a Partition
To change the format of an existing partition, choose the partition from the
disk map, open the Partition menu, and then choose Modify > Convert.
CAUTION: Formatting a partition deletes all data on the
partition.
Open the Convert to drop-down list to choose the format and then enter a
value for the Sectors per cluster. Click OK to accept the changes. For
more information on formatting, see “Formatting Partitions” on page 67.
Changing Cluster Size
To change the cluster size of an existing partition, choose the partition
from the disk map, open the Partition menu, and then choose Modify >
Change cluster size.
Enter a new value for the Sectors per cluster and then click OK to accept
the changes. For more information, see “Changing the Cluster Size” on
page 82.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Defragmenting a Partition
To defragment a partition, choose the partition from the disk map, open
the Partition menu, and then choose Modify > Defragmentation.
Open the drop-down lists to choose the order in which the files and
directories should be placed. Click OK to accept the changes. For more
information, see “Defragmenting a Partition” on page 89.
Resizing and Moving Partitions
To resize or move a partition, choose the partition from the disk map, open
the Partition menu, and then choose Resize/Move.
Move the sliders to adjust the size of the selected partition, as well as the
free space before and after. A disk map at the top of the window shows
how adjusting the sliders changes the partitioning. Click OK to accept the
changes. For more information, see “Resizing and Moving Partitions” on
page 117.
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Starting the Program from the CD • 117
Creating a Partition
A new partition can only be created in an area of free space. You can
create free space by deleting or resizing a partition. A new disk drive also
contains free space. To create a new partition, choose the free space from
the disk map, open the Partition menu, and then choose Create.
Move the sliders to adjust the size of the new partition, as well as the free
space before and after. A disk map at the top of the window shows how
adjusting the sliders changes the partitioning. You can also choose to
format the partition by checking the Format new partition option.
You can choose the file type, enter a volume label, and perform a surface
scan. If you click the Show Options button, you can change the sectors
per boot, root entries, and sectors per cluster.
After you’ve made your selections, click OK to accept the changes.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Deleting a Partition
If you have a partition that you no longer need, you can create free space
by deleting it. You can use the free space next to an existing partition to
increase its size (see “Resizing and Moving Partitions” on page 117).
To delete a partition, choose the partition from the disk map, open the
Partition menu, and then choose Delete.
Enter the label for the partition you want to delete. If you don’t want to
enter a label next time, you can check the Do not ask volume label next
time option.
Click OK to delete the partition.
TIP: If you’ve accidentally deleted a partition, you might
be able to recover it using the Undelete option. For more
information, see “Undeleting a Partition” on page 120.
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Starting the Program from the CD • 119
Undeleting a Partition
If you’ve accidentally deleted a partition, and have not reformatted or
merged the free space of the deleted partition, Partition Operations can
undelete the partition.
To undelete a partition, choose the free space from the disk map, open the
Partition menu, and then choose Undelete.
Click the Start search button to examine the free space for any deleted
partitions. If any recoverable partitions are found, a search results window
appears with the deleted partition’s information.
Choose a partition from the list and then click Undelete to recover the
partition.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Processing Changes
Changes you make to your partitions are preset to use Smart Mode. This
mode allows the program to automatically perform minor operational
changes and place other major changes into the pending changes list.
Items on the pending changes list aren’t processed until you click the
Apply button located at the lower-left side of the window.
•
Undo Last removes the most recently added item from the list.
•
Undo All removes all pending changes from the list.
•
Apply starts the process of applying all of the pending changes from
the list.
Changing the Virtual Operations Settings
The standard setting for processing changes uses Partition Operations
Smart Mode. This mode processes some options immediately, such as
hiding partitions, while other options as added to a pending changes list
that you must start manually.
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To Change Process Operations
1.
Open the General menu and choose Settings to display the Settings
window.
2.
Choose Virtual operations from the pane on the left.
NOTE: Any changes you make only affect the current
session. Restarting the program returns the settings to
their preset values.
3.
•
Virtual Mode places all your changes in a pending changes list.
None of these changes happen until you click the Apply button.
•
Immediate Mode processes all of your changes immediately.
•
Smart Mode processes minor changes immediately, while major
changes are added to the pending changes list.
Choose an option and click OK to apply and close the settings
window.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Fixing Boot Problems
The Avanquest Boot Corrector is able to resolve some of the Windows
2000/XP boot problems you might encounter during the boot process,
such as repairing the System Registry or an infected MBR. When you
choose this option from the menu, the Boot Corrector program starts.
To exit the Boot Corrector, click the Cancel button.
Correcting Windows Installations
The Search for Windows Installations to Correct option searches for
valid Windows installation on your computer. The results are displayed
and you have the following choices:
•
Correct drive letters in the System Registry
•
Edit the Boot.ini file
•
Correct the partition boot record
Choose from one of the options and then click Next to continue.
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Starting the Program from the CD • 123
Correcting the Master Boot Record
The Correct the aster Boot Record (MBR) option allows you to view the
MBR, update the MBR executable code, and change the order of primary
partitions.
To View the MBR
Click the View MBR option and then click Next.
You can open the Partition Table Entry drop-down list to change the
partition.
To Update the MBR
Click Update the MBR executable code and then click Next.
To Change the Order of Primary Partitions
Click Reorder primary partitions then click Next. Choose the partition
from the list and then click the up and down arrows to move the partition.
Correcting the Partition Boot Record
The Correct the partition boot record option corrects the partition boot
record for a selected partition and drive. To correct a partition boot record,
choose the drive from the drop-down list and then choose the partition.
Click Next to continue.
Changing the Partition Parameters
The Modify partition parameters option gives you the options to view the
partition properties, change the active status, hide or show the partition,
and change its serial number and ID using the buttons at the bottom of the
window.
Choose from one of the options and then click Next to continue.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Saving Log Files
When you choose the Start the Log Saver options, the program starts the
Log Saver Wizard. This wizard helps collect log files created using the
Recovery CD. You can pick out any log file, zip them all together, and
save them to any hard drive or other removable media. These log files can
be very helpful to the Avanquest Technical Support to better assist you in
the event you experience problems.
1.
Choose the desired log files from the list and then click the Save or
Do not Save button to choose which files are included in the list of
files to save.
You can choose Save all the logs into one archive file to save all the
files.
2.
Click Next and choose the destination path to save the log files.
3.
Click Next to confirm the path and enter a name for the log file.
4.
Click Next to save the log file and then click Finish to exit the wizard.
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Starting the Program from the CD • 125
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Glossary of Terms
Active Partition
An Active Partition is a partition from which an x86-based computer starts
up. The active partition must be a primary partition on a basic disk. If you
use Windows exclusively, the active partition can be the same as the
system volume. In the DOS partitioning scheme, only Primary Partitions
can be active due to limitations of the standard bootstrap.
Bootstrap Code
The Bootstrap Code is a small program that loads the software required to
start-up and run the computer.
Cluster
A Cluster is the smallest amount of disk space that can be allocated to hold
a file. All file systems used by Windows organize hard disks based on
clusters, which consist of one or more contiguous sectors. The smaller the
cluster size, the more efficiently a disk stores information. If no cluster
size is specified during formatting, Windows picks defaults based on the
size of the volume. These defaults are selected to reduce the amount of
space that is lost and the amount of fragmentation on the volume. A
cluster is also called an allocation unit.
Extended Partition
An Extended Partition is a type of partition that you can create only on
basic master boot record (MBR) disks. Extended partitions are useful if
you want to create more than four volumes on a basic MBR disk. Unlike
primary partitions, you do not format an extended partition with a file
system and then assign a drive letter to it. Instead, you create one or more
logical drives within the extended partition. After you create a logical
drive, you format it and assign it a drive letter. An MBR disk can have up
to four primary partitions, or three primary partitions, one extended
partition, and multiple logical drives.
File System ID
See “Partition ID” on page 129
File System Metadata
The servicing structures of a file system, which contain information about
allocating files and directories, security information, etc., are named file
system metadata. File system metadata are invisible for users and ordinary
programs because accidental modifications of the metadata usually make a
partition unusable.
Hard Disk Geometry
Traditionally, the usable space of a hard disk is logically divided into
Cylinders. Cylinders are divided into Tracks (or Heads) and Tracks are
divided into Sectors.
The triad of values {[Sectors-per-Track], [Tracks-per-Cylinder],
[Amount-of-Cylinders]} is usually named Hard Disk Geometry or C/H/S
geometry.
Tracks and Cylinders are numbered from 0, while Sectors are numbered
beginning with 1.
These disk parameters play an essential role in the DOS Partitioning
scheme. The alignment of partitions takes the parameters of the hard disk
geometry into consideration.
Modern hardware uses an advanced scheme for the linear addressing of
Sectors, which assumes that all on-disk sectors are continuously numbered
from 0. To allow backward compatibility with older standards, modern
hard disks can additionally emulate C/H/S geometry.
Hidden Partitions
The concept of hidden partitions was introduced in the IBM OS/2 Boot
Manager. Operating systems don’t mount “hidden” partitions, preventing
access to their contents.
Hot Copy
Hot Copy is a technology that enables you to run copy operations without
having to reboot the Windows system, which might interrupt some other
process on the computer.
Master File Table
Master File Table (MFT) is a relational database that consists of rows of
file records and columns of file attributes. It contains at least one entry for
every file on an NTFS volume, including the MFT itself. MFT is similar to
a FAT table in a FAT file system.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
MBR (Master Boot Record)
The MBR (Master Boot Record) is the first track of the hard disk on the 0
sector of the disk. It contains important information about the disk layout:
•
The partitioning scheme.
•
The starting records of the Partition Table.
•
The standard bootstrap code (or the initial code of boot managers,
disk overlay software, or boot viruses).
Generally, the 0 sector is used for similar purposes in all existing
partitioning schemes.
The capacity of the MBR is not sufficient to place sophisticated boot
programs. This means that the on-boot software uses the entire 0 track of
the hard disk in addition to the 0 sector because it is not included in any
partition. For example, boot managing utilities such as LILO, GRUB, and
Avanquest System Commander® are located in the 0 track.
Metadata
Metadata is information that relates to other data. It is used to describe the
information in a way that allows a computer or user to find certain items or
list of items that match specific criteria.
Partition ID
Partition ID, also knows as File system ID, is the identifier of a file system
that is placed in the partition. The partition ID is used to detect partitions
of supported types. Some of the operating systems rely completely on the
Partition ID when distinguishing supported partitions, while others don’t.
The partition ID is saved in appropriate entries of the Partition Table and
uses only one byte of space.
Partition Label
Partition Label, also known as Volume Label, is a small text field (up to 11
characters) that is located in the partition’s boot sector. This value is used
for notification purposes only. It is detectable by any partitioning tool
including DOS’ FDISK utility.
Modern operating systems use other methods to save the Volume Label
within the file system, such as a special hidden file. The Volume Label is
able to contain a relatively large amount of text in multiple languages.
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End User License Agreement • 129
Partitioning Scheme
The Partitioning Scheme is a set of rules, constraints, and the format of
on-disk structures that keep information of the partitions that are located
on the hard drive. There are several partitioning schemes that can be used.
The most popular is the DOS partitioning scheme (Basic). Introduced by
IBM and Microsoft, it uses multiple partitions in the disk subsystems on
IBM-compatible computers.
Another popular partitioning scheme is the LDM (Logical Disks Model)
that originates from UNIX mainframe systems. The Veritas Executive
accommodates the simplified version of LDM to the Windows 2000
operating system.
Windows 2000 and later operating systems support two different
partitioning schemes: the old DOS partitioning scheme and the new
Dynamic Disk Management (DDM). Older versions of Windows don’t
support DDM and most hard drive utilities don’t support it as well.
Root Directory
The Root Directory is the top-level directory of a formatted logical drive
and includes other files and directories.
Modern file systems, such as. Ext2/Ext3, NTFS, and even FAT32, have a
Root Directory that doesn’t differ from other directories in properties.
This is not the case for old FAT12 and FAT16 file systems.
Serial Number
In the DOS partitioning scheme, every hard drive and every partition has a
Serial Number, which consists of 32 bits and is represented by an 8-figure
hexadecimal value.
The hard drive’s Serial Number is stored in the MBR. Its value is assigned
when the MBR sector is initialized by standard disk managing tools from
Microsoft, such as Windows Disk Administrator and FDISK utility.
The hard drive’s Serial Number is not important for most operating
systems and software. Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Vista store hard drive
Serial Number values in the database of assigned drive letters.
A partition’s Serial Number is stored in its Boot Sector (in FAT16,
FAT32, and NFTS file systems). Its value is assigned when the partition is
formatted. The partition’s Serial Number doesn’t play an important role
for most operating systems and software.
Volume Label
See “Partition Label” on page 129
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Partition Commander 10 Professional
Index
A
C
activation status 84
applying
hard disk changes 104
partition changes 104
pending changes 99, 104
changing
boot size 87
cluster size 82
partition label 85
partitions attributes 84
pending changes list 101
primary slot 92
root directory size 87
security identifier (SID) 94
checking
file system integrity 88
Clone Hard Disk Wizard 96
Clone Partition Wizard 58
clone settings 59
cloning 58
hard disks 95
partitions 115
cluster
changing size 82, 116
optimization 40
size 39
copying 58
create
partition 47, 48, 118
Create Partition Wizard 48
creating
Recovery CD 16
cylinders 34
B
backing up 27, 29
external media 29
storage locations 29
backup settings 59
basics
hard disks 31
partitions 31, 31
Boot Corrector 123
boot problems 123
boot size 87
bootable partitions 33
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Index • 131
D
H
defragmenting 89, 117
master file table (MFT) 90
Delete Partition Wizard 71
deleting 71, 119
discard
pending changes 103
Disk Administrator 45
disk map 25
disk map legend 26
disk partition table 45, 91
disk view 24
DOS partition numbers 92
drive letter
assigning 80
changing 80
removing 81
dynamic disk 42
hard disks
cloning 95
managing 91
mechanics 33
help 18, 24
hiding 84
HPFS 37
E
EasyUpdate 17
explorer frame 24
disk view 24
help 24
volume explorer 24
exporting 27
volume explorer 28
extended 32
Ext2 37, 43
Ext3 37, 43
F
FAT 36
FAT16 36
FAT32 36
fault tolerance (NTFS) 42
FDISK 45
file systems 36
integrity 88
Format Partition Wizard 67
formatting 34, 67
logical 35
partitions 116
free space 60
132 • Index
I
installing 15
Install Wizard 15
L
labels 85
Linux 43
partition numbers 92
Swap2 37
log files 125
Log Saver 125
logical 32, 83
M
management 79
managing
hard disks 91
master boot record 45, 91
master file table 90
MBR 45, 91
correcting 124
menu bar 20
Merge Partition Wizard 63
MFT 90
moving 65, 117
N
NTFS
file system 37
volume sets 42
O
online help 18
order 93
Partition Commander 10 Professional
P
S
partition boot record 124
partition ID 86
partition table 45
partition types 41
partitioning 35
partitioning options 54
PDF 23
pending changes 99
primary 32, 83
processing
changes 121
changes at restart 105
changes in windows 104
program updates 17
program window 19
explorer frame 24
menu bar 20
status bar 24
task bar 22
toolbar 21
saving space 39, 40
search criteria 76
sectors 34
security identifier 94
serial numbers 86
showing 84
SID 94
size limitations 38
spanning (NTFS) 42
starting the program 15
status bar 24
support, technical 135
surface test 88
Swap2 37
system filters 76
R
RAID 43
Recovery CD 16, 109
Boot Corrector 111, 112
DOS 112
Linux 111
Log Saver 111
Partition Commander 112
Partition List 111, 112
Partitioning Operations 111, 113
Recovery Media Builder Wizard 16
Redistribute Free Space Wizard 60
redistributing
free space 60
redo 101
pending changes 102
ReiserFS 37, 43
removing
drive letter 81
resizing 65, 117
restoring 71
root directory
changing size 87
running the program 15
Partition Commander 10 Professional
T
task bar 22
technical support 135
toolbar 21
tracks 34
U
UFS 37
Undelete Partition Wizard 74
undeleting 120
undo 101
pending changes 101
updating
master boot record (MBR) 92
V
View Manual 23
viewing
hard drive information 25, 26
partition information 25, 27
pending changes 100
virtual operations 99, 121
volume explorer 24
W
Windows
file systems 41
Index • 133
134 • Index
Partition Commander 10 Professional
Complimentary Technical Support
Before contacting Avanquest technical support, please review the user’s
guide or the online help from the Help menu within the program. We are
also pleased to offer you 24/7 access to our complimentary web support at:
support.avanquestusa.com
Here you can access the latest product updates, extensive FAQs, and other
information about your product. The FAQs might have information and
helpful hints that are more current than the user’s guide and online help.
If the FAQs do not help, you can submit a free email incident from the
FAQ page.
When reporting a difficulty, please include any information that might
help us diagnose the problem. The following details are often the most
helpful:
•
The version of the software you are using (check Help > About).
•
The version of Windows that you are running.
•
The circumstances and sequence of steps that led to the problem.
•
The text of the exact error messages (if any appeared).
•
A list of other Windows programs that you were running when the
error occurred.
Avanquest is dedicated to quality and fast support. Most email incidents
are handled within one business day.
NOTE: This technical support policy is subject to change
without notice. Support services will be provided according
to the prices, terms, and conditions in place at the time the
services are used.
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Partition Commander 10 Professional