Partition Wizard 7 offers little new in free version
MiniTool Solution Ltd has released a brand new version of its non-destructive partitioning software. MiniTool Partition Wizard 7.0, available as a free-for-personal-use Home Edition, is also can be had in a number of paid-for editions, with prices starting from $30 for Partition Wizard 7.0 Professional.
The biggest update in Partition Wizard 7.0 is actually restricted to paid-for editions of the program, namely the added support for Simple, Spanned, Striped, Mirrored and RAID-5 volumes, with the addition of a brand new Dynamic Disk menu offering a host of new options for handling such volumes.
Although the Dynamic Disk menu is present in Partition Wizard 7.0 Home Edition, it’s grayed out, indicating the option isn’t available. Other options restricted to paid-for editions include merging partitions, converting dynamic disks back to basic ones without data loss and changing a partition’s cluster size.
Dynamic volumes can be created, deleted and formatted, plus you can resize or move volumes without data loss as well as error-check and repair file system errors on dynamic volumes. You can also change dynamic volume cluster sizes as well as securely wipe volumes if they contain sensitive data. You can also explore volume contents before you change any parameters.
Partition Wizard 7.0 Home Edition does gain one feature, albeit one that was previously restricted to paid-for customers: the ability to “hot extend” the Windows NTFS system partition without having to reboot your computer as part of the process.
Despite the lack of new functionality in the Home edition, the free bootable CD version has also been updated to version 7.0, complete with grayed out Dynamic Disk menu. This is downloadable as an ISO file which you subsequently burn to a bootable disc using software like Active@ ISO Burner. Once done, boot from the disc and you gain the same functionality as found in the Home edition of Partition Wizard.
Partition Wizard 7.0 Home Edition is available now as a free-for-personal-use download for Windows XP, Vista and 7.