Creating, deleting and formatting computer disk partitions is only part of the possibilities management applications hard drive . Today, they make it possible to securely perform operations that previously required data deletion or other mind-boggling combinations.

Many tasks implemented through the partition manager can, in theory, be performed using the built-in Windows tool for disk management. However, it is not as intuitive as the programs discussed here.

A good disk management application consists of several modules. They are used to create, delete and format partitions. Apart from these functions, they also have functions for copying and moving partitions, creating images and backups.

Additional modules support system migration, merging and splitting partitions. Supports various partition schemes, dynamic disks, RAID configurations, various file systems and boot records.

Attention! Anytime you work with sections hard drive, you need to carefully plan everything, execute backup data, make sure you select the correct one HDD or partition, before pressing Enter.

Attention! All operations carried out on partitions are fraught with risks. The editors recommend extreme caution and are not responsible for possible loss of data or other damage incurred by readers.

EaseUS Partition Master Disk Management

One of the most popular partition management programs hard drives on Windows. Ensures the allocation of new partitions without data loss.

Benefits of EaseUS Partition Master

  • Easy conversion of partition type, primary to logical and vice versa
  • Recovers deleted or non-existent partitions
  • Supported hard drive capacity up to 8 TB

Flaws

  • Inability to transfer data from HDD to SSD in the free version

License: freeware
Price: free

AOMEI Partition Assistant Disk Management

Also popular. Creates, divides, connects, copies hard drive partitions, changing their size, while saving files. System transfer is possible.

Benefits of AOMEI Partition Assistant

  • Convenient wizards for every operation
  • Supports all the most popular file systems
  • Displays accurate information about supported media
  • Allows you to create a bootable CD with the application

License: freeware
Price: free

Disk Management in GParted

A tool for managing computer hard drive partitions. Distributed as an ISO file. Install it on a flash drive or burn it to a CD and start your computer from it.

Benefits of GParted

  • Does not require installation and does not take up disk space
  • Attractive free offer for companies
  • Wide range of partition management capabilities for almost any file system

Flaws

  • Mastery takes time
  • Only available with using Live CD

License: freeware
Price: free

MiniTool Partition Wizard

Performs all operations with hard disk partitions and also hides it. Copying the contents of the disk and changing the file system.

Advantages MiniTool Partition Wizard

  • Lots of tools, including disk cleaning and checking
  • Convenient visual wizard for each operation
  • Allows you to convert NTFS to FAT32 without formatting, change the disk type from MBR to GPT

License: freeware
Price: free

Active@ Partition Manager

Performs operations on disk partitions. Formats the flash drive in FAT32 and NTFS. Fixes MBR disks. Converts MBR to GPT and vice versa.

Benefits of Active@ Partition Manager

  • Disk Imaging Tool
  • Convenient wizard for creating and changing partitions
  • Built-in boot sector editor, allows you to manually make changes
  • Shows S.M.A.R.T data. for hard drives

Flaws

  • English only

License: freeware
Price: free

Although CD or DVD drives Today they are becoming less and less common, you may still need to download programs to work with CD/DVD drives for Windows 10 64 bit. That is why we created such a category, and in it we collect free versions of programs for working with disks.


You may find CD/DVD programs useful even if you don't have a drive. Sometimes on the Internet you can find images recorded in ISO format. But you cannot open this format with a regular one; for this you will need to download a program for working with CD/DVD. Such programs allow you to:


  • Write information to disks;

  • Work with disk images;

  • Create disk images;

  • Burn discs;

Please note that Windows 10 64 bit, and 32 bit too, also has standard functions for working with disks. But these functions are often not enough. And if you have a physical disk drive, then you will definitely need a program such as or its analogues.

Disk emulation on Windows 10

But you don’t always need to work with real disks; sometimes you need to emulate a regular disk. This means that you need to create a record in the system that your computer, laptop or tablet has a disk drive, and there is a certain disk in it. This is often practiced specifically for hacking games, but sometimes this procedure is also needed for completely peaceful tasks.


Discs, such as CDs and DVDs, are being replaced by new formats. For example Blue Ray, or HD. But flash drives beat any disk, as they are convenient with their compact physical size and large memory capacity. Some free software for working with disks also supports advanced work with flash drives.

Utilities for working with CDs and DVDs

Modern computers are increasingly equipped with DVD+RW drives. At the same time, the problems that arise when working with media are the same as they were ten years ago. What to do if the disk is unreadable standard means operating system? How to copy DVD? Is the DVD purchased valid? good quality and supports everything specified methods records? All these questions will be answered by those presented in this section programs.

A very useful utility for diagnosing CD quality - CDCheck - has been working with CDs for many years. I'm sure you'll like it. The utility analyzes the integrity of information on CDs and other removable media and allows you to prevent errors, identify and restore corrupted files with an emphasis on identifying errors. The program supports working with CRC files and can tell you in advance what data on the disk needs to be saved before it is lost.

Among the main features of the program it is worth noting:

Easy creation of CRC files and automatic detection their presence during disk testing;

Very fast and efficient comparison of data recorded on a disk with the original, for example, on a hard drive;

Unicode file access support for directories and files larger than 4 GB;

After diagnosing the disk, presentation of a detailed description of all errors found and general statistics (number of files and directories and reading speed) (Fig. 3.11);

Working on the command line.

Rice. 3.11. Disk information provided by CDCheck

The practical benefits of the CDCheck utility are enormous. Immediately after burning a disc, you can check it using the program. If the utility reports that some of the information on it is damaged, it means that you either bought a low-quality product or chose an unsuccessful (too high) recording speed.

Is it possible to get a 550 MB floppy disk? It seems unrealistic. In fact, nothing is impossible... for the InCD program, which allows you to work with rewritable CDs like floppy disks.

What is needed for this? In the usual way install the utility, insert a blank rewritable disc into the drive and configure some parameters. In 5-10 minutes (depending on the speed of the drive), from a regular 700 MB CD-RW blank you will get a medium with a capacity of about 550 MB, which can be used as a large floppy disk, performing all operations with the data on it using Conductor Windows or any other file manager.

You won't have to use it anymore special programs for recording discs. In addition, the batch recording method (which is supported by the InCD utility) does not require the presence of lead-in and lead-out areas on the disk, allowing you to more efficiently use the available free space on it. The program supports working with discs in CD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RW formats.

However, using the InCD utility has its drawbacks. When working with disks formatted using it, you will not be able to record audio and video files on them, and you will only be able to read such a disk on the computer on which this program is installed. However, the last problem is easily solved using free application InCD 4 Reader, which allows you to read discs formatted in InCD on any computer.

The CD Drive Tool provides advanced capabilities when working with multiple physical and virtual drives CDs. The program is capable of controlling up to seven drives, for each of which you can individually configure autorun or blocking and assign automatic playback of an Audio CD in the default player. If you are using the Windows XP operating system and have a recording drive, you can block recording of discs on it.

After launching the utility, the program icon appears in the notification area. With its help, you can find out the name of the currently active drive, as well as programmatically control the opening and closing of the drive tray and the launch of the disk

DVD Region+CSS Free

One of the main questions asked by users who have just bought a DVD drive is why a disc brought from abroad refuses to play, but the DVD player software indicates a discrepancy of this disk regional code of the DVD drive. The reason lies in this. that the entire globe is divided into six regions, each of which is assigned its own regional code. Our region (Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe) corresponds to the fifth regional code, so discs brought from countries in other regions are blocked by the drive at the hardware level. There are many utilities that allow you to play DVDs with regional codes that are not supported by the drive. Let's look at one of these programs, DVD Region+CSS Free.

With this utility, you can view and copy DVDs brought from any country, even if it is no longer possible to change the region code on the drive. The program disables regional code checking in such popular DVD players as WinDVD, DirectDVD, Windows Player Media, PowerDVD, NVDVD, ATI DVD Player and Ultra DVD, and also allows DVD2One, Pinnacle InstantCopy and DVDFab programs to copy DVDs with any region code to the hard drive, creating backup copy.

Among other useful features of the program, I would like to note automatic change settings when playing a DVD through the TV-out on a stationary TV, disabling subtitles, as well as enabling safe mode V Windows environment 98/Me, if with default settings DVD Region+CSS Free works with errors.

For the ability to watch DVDs from foreign regions without any problems, the creators of the utility ask for almost $40, but they give you the opportunity to try the program without registration for 30 days.

DVD Genie also provides the ability to play DVDs from a foreign region. Unlike DVD Region+CSS Free, this utility can only modify software players such as PowerDVD and WinDVD. The program allows you to play discs only if the region code checking mechanism is not built into the DVD drive. If this condition is met, using the utility you can change the region code of the disc you are playing at your discretion and assign the default DVD player. In addition, to solve problems with disc playback, the program allows you to configure undocumented parameters of PowerDVD and WinDVD players.

Additionally, using the DVD Genie utility, you can find out the parameters of the inserted disc by specifying its region code, and test the drive for a mechanism for checking the region code.

Fengtao Software, in addition to the DVD Region+CSS Free utility, releases another program to increase the capabilities of a DVD drive. The DVDIdle utility uses read-ahead technology to minimize drive wear. When playing a movie from a disk, the program caches the data on the hard drive; as a result, the drive is not used during the entire movie viewing time, but only during certain periods: 2-3 minutes of operation, 15 minutes of inactivity.

The utility automatically recognizes the discs in the DVD drive and runs before the player starts, prompting the user to cache data. The program settings allow you to read and temporarily place information not only on the hard drive (this requires at least 600 MB of free space), but also in RAM.

The program testing period is 30 days.

If you want to make an exact copy of a DVD, use CloneDVD. This program has extensive capabilities for creating identical copies of DVDs in a relatively short period of time. The program supports recording to DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW and both types of DVD standards: DVD-5 and DVD-9. So, with its help you can easily create an image for DVD recording-9 on two DVD-5 discs. The program allows you to accurately copy not only video files, but also menus, subtitles, translation languages, even from copy-protected discs. The authors of CloneDVD did not forget about support for NTSC and PAL standards.

The program is easy to use. CloneDVD automatically recognizes the disc inserted into the drive, after which it can be saved to an image or to a specified folder on your hard drive. Keep in mind: DVD-5 requires approximately 5 GB of free space, and DVD-9 requires about 9 GB.

The unregistered version of the program is fully functional for 14 days.

If you want to not just copy a DVD to a hard drive, but create a complete backup copy identical to the original, pay attention to the DVD-CLONER utility. If you have a DVD+RW drive, making a duplicate will not be difficult. It is enough to indicate to the program the path to the original (DVD reader), install a blank DVD in the DVD+RW drive and start the copying process.

The utility allows you to copy either the entire disk (with menus and additions). or only files containing the movie. The program has almost no customizable parameters.

I note that the process of copying and burning to DVD takes more than three hours. If you are copying DVD-9, you will need two DVD-5 discs to create a copy. Before burning a DVD, you can check the quality of the copy you made by running a burning simulation.

In addition, please note: for the program to work, you must have at least version 4.60 of the ASPI interface on your computer. You can download the latest version of ASPI from http://www.adaptec.com.

One of the questions that worries users who have a DVD burner at home is which manufacturers should buy discs.

The DVD Identifier program is designed to correctly identify technical parameters DVD of any formats: DVD+R/+RW/-R/-RW/DVD-RAM, including the new generation of double-capacity DVD+/-RDL discs.

Users for whom media quality is of paramount importance have a difficult time choosing which disks are worth buying, given the wide range of companies producing Various types disks. Moreover, the name indicated on the label does not guarantee that the disc was manufactured by this particular company (most discs are produced by contract manufacturers). Therefore, in order not to bite your elbows later due to the loss of important data recorded on a low-quality workpiece, you need to find out as much as possible about it in advance.

The DVD Identifier program displays all the information about the disc manufacturer, its type, speeds at which recording is possible, and the algorithms used (CLV/CAV) (Fig. 3.12).

Rice. 3.12. Interface DVD programs Identifier

Having access to the Internet, owners of DVD/+RW drives can access the online database of disc manufacturers and obtain more detailed information about the types they are interested in.

Like any other type of media, CDs have a limited service life, which depends on many factors: careful handling, disc quality, drive recording quality, etc. The DVDInfo utility provides great opportunities for working with drives and discs. The program has a beautiful and user-friendly interface: all thematic tabs are located at the top, and information about the selected parameter is displayed in the main part of the window.

Let's take a brief look at each tab.

? Drive Info(Drive Information) - represents the maximum full information about the drive, supported data reading and writing formats, as well as the specifications of the existing disc writer (buffer capacity, region code, interface, serial number and production date).

? Media Info(Media Information) - Displays information about the disc inserted into the drive.

? CD/DVD ISO Compare(Compare copies) - allows you to compare the data recorded on the disk with the original on the hard drive, and also create an ISO image for recording another copy.

? CD/DVD Speed ​​Test(Media speed test) - used to determine the speed of the disk when reading.

? CD/DVD Read Error Test(Media reading error test) - allows you to check the disk for reading errors that may appear immediately after recording if a not very good drive and low-quality disks from unknown manufacturers were used.

? Formatting & Erasing(formatting and cleaning) - designed to format and clean the disk from existing data.

In addition, using the utility you can obtain information about the copyright holder and the type of copy protection.

The program also allows you to copy the current working window to the buffer or take a snapshot of it in JPEG format with a preset quality level. A very interesting feature, essentially added by the author of the program as a bonus, is playback of video files in VOB, AVI, MPG and MPEG formats from a hard drive and CDs.

In general, DVDInfo Pro is a very interesting and functional utility that, although in English, has a simple and intuitive interface. The program supports not only internal, but also connected via USB ports and FireWire drives.

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Each PC user has his own attitude towards free software. Some perceive it with hostility, considering it unprofessional, and use only those programs that are distributed on a commercial basis. Others actively use free software in their daily work with a computer. Selecting a program to work with optical discs, just like the choice of any other software, depends on the needs and preferences of the user.

One of the most famous and popular commercial products for burning discs is Nero Burning ROM. Having a clear and convenient GUI, this application is used by a huge number of users and has held the palm among programs of this kind for many years. However, Nero has many free alternative applications that can perform the same operations. We will talk about some of the most popular of them in this material.

We will start with one of the most popular programs, which has a set of all the necessary functions for burning any images to CD/DVD discs. In addition, this software is equipped with such functions as changing the ISO image label, the ability to quickly and complete cleaning disk, the ability to close and open the drive tray, as well as block and unlock the opening of the tray.

The application supports a large number of drive models from various manufacturers, including all the latest drives. Moreover, ImgBurn has the ability to search the Internet for new firmware for drives, and then download them to your PC.

It is worth noting that the program has rich user settings and a clear graphical interface with support for the Russian language. You can download the latest version of this product from the official developer website. Localization files are also available for download there.

For those who are not going to bother with numerous functions and settings, but just want to burn a CD, DVD or Blu-Ray disc, we can recommend the application.

The logical and simple interface makes working with this program simple from start to finish. Another undoubted advantage of BurnAware Free is its support for working with Blu-Ray discs. True, you have to pay for simplicity with limited functionality. There is no ability to copy disks, create bootable disks, or create images. You can download the current version of the application from here.

One of the most famous free programs, designed for burning DVD, CD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs, equipped with a multilingual interface (including Russian). It supports ISO images and allows you to create audio CDs with recordings in the most common formats: MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA and FLAC.

By using this application can be created boot disks and DVD video, convert ISO NRG to BIN files, copy optical media with information “on the fly” (without creating an image on the hard drive). Also this utility has the ability to print CD covers and is updated via the Internet. You can download the latest version of CDBurnerXP.

A free utility, primarily distinguished by its compact size and the ability to work from removable media without installation. In addition to the portable version, the program also has a distribution kit for regular installation. Moreover, in both cases, developers provide users with installation options on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.

Thanks to the convenient Russian-language interface, you can easily assemble the contents of the future disk. Almost all the preparatory work takes place in background. This program has the ability to create BIN/CUE and ISO disc images, convert audio data formats such as WMA, OGG, MP3 and WAV into Audio CD tracks, and extract tracks and turn them into WAV files. Newer versions have improved the WAV encoding system and added some additional options recording, including the ability to burn dual-layer DVDs. In addition, users can create video DVDs, directly copy the contents of one CD to another, and delete the contents of rewritable optical media in four different ways.

During normal installation, the program is integrated into the context menu Windows Explorer. There is also support for the Drag and drop function, with which you can drag files from the Explorer window directly into an open project. You can download different versions of InfraRecorder from the official developer page.

Free software, which is equipped with a Russified interface, supports work with almost two thousand different drives. It also works smoothly with devices connected to via USB, IDE/EIDE or SCSI interfaces. With this program you can burn discs of all the most common formats, process ISO images, and create audio CDs. The utility integrates into Windows Explorer, thus providing fast access to its own functionality.

Despite the fact that the program's capabilities are quite limited high level, it also has some disadvantages. First of all, there is a large number of banners and advertising links on its interface, which, compared to other programs, seems somewhat cumbersome. You can download the application from here.

It has all the necessary functions for burning discs. With its help, you can not only burn DVDs or CDs with data, but also burn discs from ISO images, create Audio CDs and bootable discs. This program has the ability to record multisession discs, allows you to specify the recording speed and select file system.

The program is very easy to use, so even novice PC users will be able to master all its operations. DeepBurner Free can work with any drive. In addition to the standard version of the program, there is also a portable version, thanks to which the use of this software is possible from removable media, and a paid version with a more expanded set of functions. You can download the latest versions of the application from the official developer resource.

It is also worth noting a very small, but at the same time convenient and easy to use program. Working without installation and requiring no space for file caching, this program has the ability to create bootable and multi-session disks, save projects in an ISO image. With this software you can view all sessions on the disk and extract files from them.

The program has a very simple interface, automatically detects the writing drive and recording speed, which makes working with it convenient even for beginners. To write files to disk, just select context menu conductor Windows item“Send to Small CD-Writer” and click on the “Burn” button in the window that opens.

Unfortunately, the utility does not support the UDF file system and files larger than 2 GB. If this is not critical for you, then you can download the program from here.

has a set of the most necessary functions: selecting a drive, burning speed, enabling testing. There is nothing superfluous in it, it is perfectly Russified and works quite quickly. Its main advantages include correct work with Blu-Ray discs, which not all free programs are capable of.

Users also have the opportunity to personalize Astroburn Lite by using different skins for the application interface. You can download the utility from here.

One more thing cannot be ignored useful program- , which is free version multifunctional application for working with CD, DVD and Blu-Ray discs. In addition to the functions of recording, creating audio/video discs and copying data to optical media, this utility allows you to archive necessary files, and also provides the opportunity to work with images and projects.

The program has a clear Russified interface and has, perhaps, the largest functionality of all the applications presented in this review, although some may find them unnecessary. Download distribution latest version Ashampoo Burning Studio Free is available from the developers website.

At the end of our review, it is worth noting that we did not specifically compare the programs reviewed and determine the best or worst of them. Each of these applications has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as both opponents and admirers. Some users require simple program for recording discs, others need software with extended functionality. For example, the tiny Small CD-Writer utility is more popular on many file-sharing resources than the multifunctional Ashampoo Burning Studio Free. So, in any case, the choice is yours!