PartedMagic USB
PartedMagic is a complete hard disk management solution delivered conveniently on a bootable USB drive. It is designed to be the ultimate tool for anyone needing to work with disk partitions, recover data, or perform secure disk erasing without needing an existing operating system on the computer. It’s an essential utility for computer repair technicians, system administrators, and advanced users.
This bootable USB provides a comprehensive suite of tools accessible immediately upon booting your computer. PartedMagic excels at tasks like creating, resizing, moving, and copying disk partitions. It also includes powerful data recovery tools and utilities for securely erasing disks to prevent sensitive data from being recovered.
Ideal for troubleshooting, data recovery, and system maintenance, PartedMagic is built on a custom Linux distribution specifically tailored for these tasks. It boots directly into a functional desktop environment, giving you graphical access to all its powerful tools.
Key Features and Benefits:
- Disk Partitioning: Easily manage your hard drive partitions with GParted and other tools. Create new partitions, resize existing ones, move or copy partitions.
- Data Recovery: Tools like PhotoRec and TestDisk are included to help recover lost files from various file systems and repair partition tables.
- Secure Erasing: Perform secure deletion of data from hard drives (including SSDs with ATA Secure Erase) and USB drives, ensuring data cannot be recovered.
- Disk Cloning/Imaging: Software like Clonezilla allows you to create full disk or partition images for backup and restoration purposes.
- System Information: View detailed information about your hardware and disk drives.
- File Management: Browse and manage files on various file systems, including Windows (NTFS), Linux (ext2, ext3, ext4), and macOS (HFS+).
- Network Access: Includes a web browser and networking tools for accessing online resources or network drives.
PartedMagic uses a custom-built base system, optimized specifically for its purpose as a live utility distribution. It is not based on a standard general-purpose distribution. Updates are provided through PartedMagic’s own update mechanism, ensuring you have access to the latest tools and fixes. Users who purchase PartedMagic typically receive updates for a period after their initial purchase, allowing them to keep their USB drive current with the latest software versions and hardware support.
It comes pre-installed with a vast collection of disk management and recovery software. Some of the included software packages are GParted, Clonezilla, TestDisk, PhotoRec, rsync, Partition Image, dwemwipe, shred, zerofill, and many more essential utilities. It also includes a file manager, image viewers, terminal emulators, and a web browser for a complete working environment.
PartedMagic does not use a typical distribution-specific package manager like APT, DNF, or Pacman. The system and its tools are updated via its own internal update system. This ensures the integrity and stability of the specialized toolset provided.
The desktop environment used by PartedMagic is Xfce. Xfce is known for being lightweight, stable, and user-friendly. This makes PartedMagic quick to boot and responsive, even on older hardware, which is crucial for a rescue and utility environment. Its familiar interface ensures that users can easily navigate and access the powerful tools provided.
