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If you got a new hard drive, then you probably have to create some partitions before moving forward, right? For years and years, I kept hearing that Partition Magic is the best thing you can get for this task, and I must admit I also used it without bumping into any problems for almost a decade, but now things have changed...

After Symantec got its hands on Partition Magic, it came up with a new update, and then left it in the dust. Yes, if this sounds like a surprise to you, I am sorry to tell you that Partition Magic is officially dead, so no support for large drives and new file systems is being provided.

The good news is that we have a lot of alternatives to Partition Magic around, and EASEUS Partition Master is one of them, with its "Home" version also being available for no charge to home users!


Setup

The setup package of this program is as large as 8.9MB, and comes in a ZIP file. So far, so good. I guess most people shouldn't have any problems downloading such a small archive, and since there's only one executable file inside it...double click it and move on!

As soon as you run the setup program, you only need to check the License Agreement, read the important information(or skip it, it's your choice), choose the destination folder, where to place the shortcuts, create additional desktop and Quick Launch icons(or not, obviously), enter your name and email if you want to receive newsletters and additional info from EASEUS, and...that's most of it.

Once you press the Install button, it only takes a few seconds for the program to be installed, and after pressing the Finish button, you're free to fire up EASEUS Partition Master!

The version I played with is Home Edition 3.5, but there are also more powerful ones, namely EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition, Server Edition, and Unlimited Edition. Just before moving on, I think you should know that we got a coupon code just for you - CHEN-K0QO-SOFT! This one is available for all EASEUS Products, and will give you a 20% discount.

These being said, let's check the interface, shall we?


Interface

The interface of this program is just as it should be - easy to use, well organized, and without using outrageous colors(have you ever seen a vivid green interface? I've seen a few, and I don't want to repeat that experience!), with nicely done toolbar icons.

If you ever used Partition Magic or another similar program, EASEUS Partition Master will help you feel just like home, but even if you're using such a program for the first time, I am sure you won't encounter any problems. Anyway, if this happens, it's useful to know that Partition Master comes with a documentation well done and very easy to go through, so there's no room for "this is a program for experts" excuse!


Features

Needless to say, Partition Master is the master of partitions(hehe), so you can use this program to perform all those basic partitioning operations, but there's also a bit of extra juice to this piece of code, as we're going to see right away...

Partition Master supports hard drives between 2GB and 1.5TB, and as long as you don't have more than 32 drives in your system, working with them shouldn't be a problem. The basic partition operations I mentioned above are the following: create, resize/move, delete, change label(or assign a label, if a certain partition doesn't have it set yet), and format.

One nice feature, only present in the paid editions of the program, allows you to create Bootable Disks, but if we leave this aside, there are also two excellent tools in the Home Edition - the Copy Disk Wizard, and the Copy Partition Wizard. What's so special about them?

Well, as the name says, both wizzies allow you to copy an entire disk, or a partition. Obviously, you'll need another drive to do this, but this feature is great for those who want to keep backup copies of their installed OS, right after setting all up. The reason to do this? Think about the fact that time is our most precious asset, and I won't have to say another extra word!

Other than the above...I guess there's not much to say, apart from the fact that Partition Master Home Edition supports Windows Vista, but only the advanced editions come with 64-bit and Windows Server support. I guess you can't have everything for free, after all...


The Good

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition allows most average users perform tasks they considered only experts are up to, or that they required some expensive piece of code. Using it is as easy as 1-2-3, and the fact that it supports drives up to 1.5TB in size is also a big plus, but it doesn't stop here...give it a try to see it all, it's free!


The Bad

I know Windows is (still) almighty, but it's not wise to release such a program having only support for NTFS and FAT32. Other than that, I can't say anything bad about this program...apart from the fact that the Home Edition that I played with had the Tool menu, a menu with a single option - Create Bootable Disk, option that is not available in this version.


Conclusion

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition 3.5 is a great tool for anyone, as long as they're not thinking about a dual boot machine, and I am talking about Windows/Linux here.

More than just a partition utility, Partition Master also allows you to backup partitions or entire hard drives, and everything is well explained in the documentation, and very easy to achieve.

Even when we take the price of the paid versions into account, Partition Master still delivers great value, and the Home Edition is the best partitioning tool you can get for no money...at least I haven't been able to find a better all-around performer just yet.

Developer: EASEUS
Download Link: Download