Partition Manager Software

Partition Magic - Partition Manager Software

Extend partition with one step
Resize/Move partition without data loss.
Create, delete and format partion with simple steps. Copy partition and disk to transfer data with ease. Support disk and partition size larger than 2 TB. Keep your data safe even in case of power outages or hardware failure.

About Resize/Move

Use Resize/Move to change the size of a partition and move it to another location on a hard disk.

Resizing a Partition
When you resize a partition, data is consolidated, not compressed. To make a partition smaller, unused space must exist within the partition. To enlarge a partition, there must be adjacent unallocated space on the disk. If there is unallocated space on the disk, but it is not adjacent to the partition you want to enlarge, adjust the location of the unallocated space by moving other partitions.
You should exercise caution when resizing partitions smaller, especially a partition containing an operating system. Leave at least 50 MB more space in the partition than the operating system requires. Swap files, drivers, and other files may require the extra space. Additionally, operating systems can become unbootable if moved beyond certain boundaries. For more information, click See Also on the Help toolbar.
Resizing FAT and FAT32 partitions smaller may reduce the amount of wasted space on a hard disk. When you resize a FAT or FAT32 partition, PartitionMagic automatically resizes the clusters to their optimal size for the partition. For more information, click See Also on the Help toolbar.

Important: Occasionally, resizing a FAT partition displaces the first few files on the partition (such as IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS if the partition contains an operating system). If you resize a boot partition and then it fails to boot, run SYS.COM to move the displaced files back to the front of the disk.

Moving a Partition
When you move a partition, the partition's data (and data on other partitions) is unaffected. The unallocated space adjacent to a partition determines the distance you can move it; if there is no unallocated space, you cannot move the partition. Additionally, you cannot move unknown partitions, partitions failing the Check operation, or unallocated space.
You should exercise caution when moving a bootable partition. Operating systems can become unbootable if moved beyond certain boundaries. For more information, click See Also on the Help toolbar.

Limitations of Resize/Move
1. You cannot make a partition smaller unless it contains unused space. You can only reduce a partition to the used size shown in the disk map plus a small buffer area. During a Resize/Move operation, data is consolidated to the front of the partition as needed, but no data compression takes place. Because of the way a FAT partition is structured, you can often resize a partition a second time and make it even smaller or larger than the first time you resized it.
2. In certain instances, you cannot make a FAT partition larger when the partition contains no unused space. If you have a full partition and plenty of free space adjacent to it, yet are not able to enlarge your partition, you may have to delete some files in the partition so that PartitionMagic has room to work. You may be able to slightly enlarge the partition (1 MB or less) and then enlarge the partition a second time to provide the necessary buffer area for PartitionMagic. To see how much space is needed in a partition to resize past a cluster boundary, see the table in Freeing Disk Space Before Enlarging a FAT Partition.
3. It is difficult to calculate in advance the minimum size to which an NTFS partition may be resized. During an NTFS Resize/Move operation, if PartitionMagic runs out of space, it returns an error without completing the operation. The integrity of the NTFS partition and data is never compromised.
4. A FAT partition has a 2 GB size limit; however, a FAT partition under Windows NT (service pack 6 or higher) or Windows 2000/XP can be sized up to 4 GB and have a 64 KB cluster size.

To resize a partition
To move a partition
Resize Scenario: To add free space to a logical partition
Resize/Move Scenario: To add free space to a primary partition