Freeware Partition Manager

The partition table tools listed below allow you to create, resize, move, concatenate, copy, undelete (unerase) the partitions on your hard disk.

1. Gnome Partition Editor
GParted is a well-known Linux application that allows you to create, delete, resize (some partition types), move (some partition types), copy and check partitions on your hard disk. This version of GParted comes in the form of an ISO for a CD, which you can burn to your CD to create a bootable CD from which you can modify your hard disk partitions. GParted supports the following partition types to varying degrees: ext2, ext3, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, HFS, HFS+, JFS, linux swap, ReiserFS, Reiser4, and XFS.

2. Partition Logic
Current version: 0.7
Partition Logic is a free hard disk partitioning and data management tool.  It can create, delete, format, defragment, resize, and move partitions and modify their attributes.  It can copy entire hard disks from one to another.

3. SwissKnife
Current version: 3.22
You can create, delete and format partitions on your hard disk drives in one smooth, simple process. While the product has been tested up to 400GB, it should support hard disks of up to 2048GB. SwissKnife allows creation of FAT32 & NTFS partitions. FAT16 option is provided for compatibility. Supports Internal interfaces such as IDE and SCSI and External interfaces such as Hi-Speed USB, Parallel port, PCMCIA, USB On-The-Go, Firewire®, SATA interfaces etc. Creates Fixed and Removable Disk Format types.

4. Ultimate Boot CD
Current version: 4.1.1
Ultimate Boot CD is a bootable CDROM for PCs that contain a variety of software for diagnosing and fixing problems on your computer, managing your hard disk partitions (including creating, resizing, copying, moving, etc), imaging or cloning your hard disk partitions.

5. Ranish Partition Manager
Current version: 2.44
Ranish Partition Manager is a powerful hard disk partitioning tool.It gives users high level of control for running multiple operating systems,such as Linux, Windows 98/XP, FreeDOS, and FreeBSD on a single disk.

Partition Manager can create, copy, and resize primary and extended partitions.It includes command line interface and simulation mode that works with large filesso you can safely experiment before working on the real hard drive partition tables.

6. The Partition Resizer
Current version: 1.3.4
The Partition Resizer resizes and moves your existing partitions for hard disks up to 2 TB (that is, 2 terabytes). It can handle both primary and extended partitions. It is able to move your data (where necessary) so as to make space for (say) an expanded FAT which may be needed if you are increasing the partition table. You can resize (expand or shrink) or move FAT partitions (including FAT32 partitions) and move NTFS partitions (though not resize). The program is a DOS program, and you can put it on a startup disk, reboot to it, and work on your system from there.

7. NTFS Resize
NTFS Resize is a Linux program that non-destructively resizes NTFS partitions (enlarges and shrinks). It supports all NTFS versions, including those created and used by Windows NT, 2000, XP (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions), 2003 and Longhorn.

8. TestDisk
TestDisk is a tool to check and undelete partitions. It essentially searches for lost partitions, and allows you to repair errors in the partition table, create a partition table, create a new MBR, etc. It works with FAT32, FAT16, FAT12, NTFS (Windows NT, If you have accidentally lost (or deleted) a partition, you might want to try TestDisk to see if it can find the partition and recover it. 2000, XP), ext2, ext3, BeFS (used by BeOS), BSD disklabel, CramFS, IBM Multiboot, JFS, Linux swap (versions 1 and 2), NSS (Netware), ReiserFS 3.5 and 3.6, and XFS. The program runs under DOS, Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP/2003, Linux, FreeBSD, and Sun Solaris. It is licensed under the GNU GPL.

9. Extended FDISK
Extended FDISK allows you to create and delete partitions and logical disks on your hard disk. It appears to come with a boot manager (that allows you to choose between multiple operating systems when you boot).

10. EASEUS Partition Master
Current version: 3.0
EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition is a FREE disk partitioning utility that offers a powerful range of functions such as resizing partitions, copying partitions, creating new partitions, deleting partitions, formatting partitions, hiding partitions, changing drive letters, setting active partitions, and a handful of other functions.

it works perfectly with hardware RAID and Windows 2000/XP/Vista (32 bit) Operating Systems. ONLY supports 32 bit Windows systems。

If you wish to create more partitions from the existing one that you already have on your hard disk, these tools will allow you to resize the existing partition to make space for more partitions without losing your data that is currently on your existing partition. They can also assist you in creating, and sometimes also formatting, new partitions. Some of the tools may have the ability to slide your partition, that is move your existing partition from one location on the disk to another location, without losing data, as well as convert a partition from one type to another (for example, converting from NTFS to FAT32 or vice versa). Still others may be able to help you recover partitions that you have already deleted, that is unerase or undelete partitions.

11. Partition Wizard Home Edition
Current version: 1.0
Partition Wizard Home Edition is a free partition manager designed by MT Solution Ltd. It supports 32/64 bit Windows Operating System including Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. Home users can perform complicated partition operations by using this powerful but free partition manager to manage their hard disk partition such as Resizing partitions, Copying partitions, Create partition, Delete partition, Format partition, Convert partition, Explore partition, Hide partition, Change drive letter, Set active partition and Partition Recovery.Partition Wizard Home Edition is designated for home user only, to use Partition Wizard in a business envirnoment, Partition Wizard Business Edition is required.

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Head damaged data recovery

Case:According to the customer’s description, the computer cannot enter the system, and the after -sales test is that the hard disk is broken.There are important data in it, and data recovery is required. Solution:The hard disk was damaged by the engineer’s test.So the opening engineer first opened the disk in the 100-level dust purification room,…

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Data Recovery Glossary (Letter H)

Half-Duplex
A communications protocol that permits transmission in both directions but in only one direction at a time.

Half-height Drives
Standard 3.5-inch hard drives are available in heights of 1.0-inch and 1.6-inches. Half-height drives measure 1.6-inches in height.

Hard Disk
A mass storage device that transfers data between the computer’s memory and the disk storage media. Hard disks are rotating, rigid, magnetic storage disks.

Hard Drive
An electromechanical device used for information storage and retrieval, incorporating one or more rotating disks on which data is recorded, stored and read magnetically.

Hard Drive Industry
The combined manufacturers of hard drives. In the United States, the industry is led by IBM, Maxtor, Seagate, Quantum and Western Digital.

Hard Error
An error that is repeatable every time the same area on a disk is accessed.

Hard Sectored
A technique that uses a digital signal to indicate the beginning of a sector on a track.

Head
The minute electromagnetic coil and metal pole which write and read back magnetic patterns on the disk. Also known as a read/write head. A drive with several disk surfaces or platters will have a separate head for each data surface. See also MR Head.

Head Actuator
A motor that moves the head stack assembly in a hard drive to align read/write heads with magnetic tracks on the disks.

Head Crash
Refers to the damage incurred to a read/write head when the head comes into contact with the disk surface. A head crash might be caused by severe shock, dust, fingerprints, or smoke, and can cause damage to the surface of the disk and/or the head.

Head Disk Assembly (HDA)
The mechanical components of a hard drive, including the disks, heads, spindle motor and actuator.

Head Loading Zone
An area on the disk specifically reserved for the heads to use when taking off or landing when power to the drive is turned on or off. No data storage occurs in the head loading zone.

Head Stack Assembly
The electromechanical mechanism containing read/write heads and their supporting devices.

Headerless Format
The lack of a header or ID fields (track format). This enables greater format efficiency and increased user capacity.

High-end Market
The enterprise market.

High-Level Format
A high-level format must be performed (with EZ-Drive or the Format command) on a new hard drive (in most cases) before you can use it. Formatting erases all the information on a hard drive and it sets up the file system needed for storing and retrieving files.

Host
The computer that other computers and peripherals connect to. See also initiator.

Host Adapter
A plug-in board that acts as the interface between a computer system bus and the disk drive.

Host Interface
The point at which the host and the drive are connected to each other.

Host Transfer Rate
Speed at which the host computer can transfer data across the SCSI interface; or, the speed at which the host computer can transfer data across the EIDE interface. Processor Input/Output (PIO) modes and Direct Memory Access (DMA) modes are defined in the ATA-4 industry specifications for the EIDE interface.

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Top 10 worst computer viruses (Sasser & I Love You)

2. Sasser
Shaun Nichols: Just how much damage can a virus do? Well, take the Sasser worm as one example. This relatively simple little attack managed to cripple airlines, news agencies and even knocked out government systems.

Perhaps most frustrating, however, was that Sasser infection was very easy to prevent. The vulnerability which the attack exploited had been patched for months, and all users had to do was install the most recent security updates from Microsoft.
Sasser was a stark warning that has yet to be heard by many. Unpatched systems are still pervasive around the world, leaving users vulnerable to Sasser and countless other malware attacks that target patched vulnerabilities.

Iain Thomson: I remember the Sasser outbreak well, as I was on holiday and staying with friends in New York when it struck. Being the token geek I spent a good few hours fixing my friend’s computer and cursing the fool who wrote the worm that had me sitting in front of a computer screen when I could be sipping cocktails in Greenwich Village.

The worm caused havoc, not just shutting down a news agency’s systems but causing Delta to cancel some flights and leaving the British coastguard crippled for hours, putting lives at risk. If I’d been a seaman in peril I’d want serious words with the 17-year old author, Sven Jaschan. He was caught after Microsoft put a bounty on his head, something they should do more often.

Jaschan got away with a suspended sentence because he wrote the code before reaching the age of 18. He also caused a storm by accepting a job with a security company in his German homeland. This is not done in the security industry and caused the company, Securepoint, to be shunned by others in the field

1. I Love You
Shaun Nichols: They say you always hurt the ones you love. In 2000, this was taken to extremes when the ILoveYou attack racked up some $5.5bn in damages.

The concept was pretty simple: a user receives a file from a known email contact under the title ‘LoveLetter’ or ‘ILoveYou’. When the attachment is opened, the virus is launched. After infecting the host, the virus then took control of the user’s email program and sent the same ‘ILoveYou’ message to every user in the host’s address book.

Love must have been in the air, because the virus was potent enough to infect some 10 per cent of internet-connected machines at its peak. At a time when many users were still trying to learn the finer points of the internet, ILoveYou was a major wakeup call to some of the dangers on the web.

Iain Thomson: Everybody wants to be loved and ILoveYou was brilliant social engineering. It helped that the virus was spammed out in the early days of internet use and there were a lot of newbies online who had only a vague idea about viruses and how dangerous they could be.

Email was a trusted format and, because the messages came from people the recipient actually knew, the likelihood of them being opened was much higher.

Things are different today, although there are still plenty of people who get caught by social engineering attacks, but ILoveYou makes it so high in the list because it was a brilliant piece of social engineering.

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