Resize, Copy or Move Partitions without Formatting

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One of our readers Geo Paul says, My hard disk has already 4 partitions. All partitions have free space above fifteen GB. My question is How to partition a drive without formating in XP?.

Well the answer to this question was not easy, I have been trying number of softwares for last two days, but none provided me great results, each had its own limitations. Finally I came across a software that is extremely user friendly, and resizes, moves or copy the partitions. Acronis Disk Director is a software that does it all, and supports FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Linux Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS and some more. I can say that you need not be an expert to use this software, and its lightning fast. Some of the key features are :-

• Split one partition into two and leave your data intact
• Merge two partitions into one and leave your data untouched, even if file systems on the partitions are different
• Explore partition data before performing partitioning operations
• Troubleshoot issues and reasons for failure by viewing logs
• Resize, copy, and move partitions without losing data
• Create and delete partitions of any type
• Format partitions
• Automatically optimize hard disk space usage
• Convert FAT16 <=> FAT32, Linux Ext2 <=> Ext3 partitions without losing data
• Change cluster size automatically or manually
• Browse through the detailed information about all hard disks, partitions and file systems
• Hide or make visible partitions of any type
• Preview changes made in partition layout before applying them to disk
• Support large disks over 180 Gb

The only drawback is, this software is not for free. I tested the trial version, and the results were pleasing. You need to shed 50$ to get the full version, and to apply the changes, but if you desperately need a software like this, and you are ready to shed money, you can go for it.
Else, if you need to partition your drive, you need to take a backup, and then format and create partitions.

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