EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition on Data Recovery CD/USB allows managing partitions/volumes on hard disks. The program is useful for extending or shrinking partitions/volumes after data recovery (Disk Management in Windows XP has no shrinking support). Merging two adjacent partitions without losing any data is also possible.
Just like with Windows Disk Management, you can also create and format partitions and mark partitions as Active (bootable). The program also comes in handy if Disk Management console in Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8 fails to initialize the new disk with error "The system cannot find the file specified".
If you see errors like "The operation did not complete because the media is write-protected" or "The volume is read only", you should follow instructions in the Clear disk or volume read-only attribute with Windows 7 DVD instead.
Partition and volume mean the same thing in this article.
On the recovery side, EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition is able to restore Windows XP, Vista and 7 MBR-s (Master Boot Records) and therefore make the disk bootable again.
You can recover deleted partitions, even those that have been overwritten and re-formatted. On a re-partitioned disk, the success of data restoration depends heavily on how much of the old data has been overwritten. You should not expect stunning results from re-formatted drives!
Unlike Partition Find and Mount, EaseUS Partition Master recovers data to the very same disk, so make sure you are not overwriting anything important! Back up your data before trying partition restore.
To run EaseUS Partition Master, click its icon on Desktop. The program opens an introductory screen, click Go to main screen here.
Resizing partitions with EaseUS Partition Master
Resizing is a useful feature after duplicating partitions from an old disk to a new, larger disk. This usually leaves unformatted space in the end of the new hard disk. You can both shrink and extend partitions/volumes.
To resize the partition or volume, click it on the bottom pane. Then stop mouse pointer on either of its sides so that the pointer turns into arrows pointing to the left and right.
Then click and hold left button of your mouse and drag the partition's end to the direction you like. Release mouse button after you are satisfied with the result.
Nothing has really changed yet. As a precaution, you need to click Apply on the program's toolbar for the changes to take effect.
EaseUS Partition Master then confirms the action. Click Yes.
Another Apply Changes window opens, displaying the progress of the selected action. Stand by, this won't take long.
After the operation is complete, a success dialog opens. Click OK.
Merging adjacent partitions or volumes with EaseUS Partition Master
Merging partitions/volumes is useful when a hard disk is divided into separate parts - one for operating system, another for data, etc. Often users run out of disk space on the partition/volume containing the operating system and this causes Windows slowdowns and other problems.
You can easily merge partitions or volumes that are adjacent without losing any data on either one. Just click a partition on the disk and then click Merge on toolbar.
In the Select partitions to merge window, use check boxes to select the partitions to turn into one.
From the Merge selected partitions to: combo box, select which drive letter should be assigned to the merged disk. If you are merging partitions on a Windows disk, always select the partition that has "Active" in the Status column. In case you ignore this, the disk will be unbootable and you cannot start operating system until you mark the merged drive as Active (jump to this section for more information).
Click OK.
Before merging, both partitions will be checked for file system errors. This might take up to an hour for large partitions. Please wait.
As usual, click Apply on the program's toolbar for the changes to take effect.
EaseUS Partition Master then confirms the action. Click Yes.
Another Apply Changes window opens, displaying the progress of the selected action. Please wait while EaseUS Partition Master moves files and folders and merges the partitions.
After the operation is complete, a success dialog opens. Click OK.
Rebuilding MBR with EaseUS Partition Master to make the disk bootable again
Several rootkits are able to change MBR (Master Boot Record) of a hard disk so that the malware gets executed before Windows starts. Complete removal of these malicious programs sometimes leaves computers unable to boot. This is indicated by an endlessly blinking cursor or messages like "No operating system detected" message after turning on a PC.
To make the disk bootable again, right-click the disk (not any partition or volume on it!) on bottom pane. Select Rebuild MBR command from menu.
In the Rebuild MBR dialog, select the version of Windows installed on the disk from the Please select the type of MBR with the current Operating System combo box.
Click OK.
As usual, click Apply on the program's toolbar for the changes to take effect.
EaseUS Partition Master then confirms the action. Click Yes.
After the operation is complete, a success dialog opens. Click OK.
Marking partitions Active with EaseUS Partition Master
An "Active" partition or volume means that any operating system is able to boot from it. Inactive partitions do not support any form of booting.
To mark a partition or volume bootable, right-click it and select Set active from the menu.
EaseUS Partition Master warns that other partitions on the same disk will be set as inactive. If there are no other Active partitions on the disk, click OK.
Recovering deleted or overwritten partitions with EaseUS Partition Master
Restoring an overwritten partition/volume takes place on the very same disk, so please back up all important data to some external media first! For deleted partitions on disks that have not been repartitioned or reformatted, this action is not necessary.
Please note that the recovery results depend heavily on how much data has been overwritten on the partition you want to restore. Do not expect to restore everything!
Right-click a partition or volume on the disk you want to recover and select Partition recovery from the menu.
In the Please choose a search method window, leave Fast selected and click Next.
In the Please select the Partitions you want to recover from the list below window, wait until the blue progress bar in the bottom reaches 100% and the Proceed button becomes clickable.
Below is an example of the disk that had Windows 8 Developer Preview installed and was then re-partitioned and formatted and deleted again.
Putting a check mark in a check box will show how the disk would be partitioned. You cannot restore overlapping volumes.
Click Proceed after you are satisfied with the results.
Apply Changes window opens, displaying the progress of the selected action. Please wait while EaseUS Partition Master restores selected partitions.
After the operating is complete, a congratulations dialog opens. Click Exit.
