How to format a hard drive with Acronis. The best program for low-level formatting of hard drive and USB devices - review. Formatting with Windows tools

Formatting is the process by which the media is marked up, that is, a file system is created. To the user this usually means that what is happening complete removal information that was previously contained on the medium. In this article we will look at how formatting is performed hard drive via BIOS.

Let's assume you have a computer connected to HDD, which needs to be formatted, and formatting must be done through the BIOS, for example, if the computer does not have the operating system.
If we talk about formatting, then as such this procedure cannot be performed only through the BIOS, since this menu does not provide the ability to erase connected disks. However, if you use special utilities, which can be launched through the BIOS, then the task becomes feasible.

Formatting a hard drive via BIOS

Below we will look at two methods available to each user that will allow you to format a hard drive through the BIOS. Each of the methods will use additional tools in its work (you can’t do without them), and you just have to choose the most suitable one.

Method 1: Format the hard drive through the Windows setup menu

This method is the most common, since today a boot disk or flash drive with a distribution any Windows available to many users.

As you may have already figured out, you will need a bootable device that contains the Windows Installer. In this case, we will not install Windows, but will launch the installation program through the BIOS, in which the formatting process will begin.

The nuance is that using Windows installer You can perform extremely quick formatting - no additional settings are provided here. In addition, the size of the Windows installer is significantly larger than the utility in the second method.

1. First of all, you will need a boot disk or flash drive. In the event that you have neither one nor the other, the most convenient thing is to write down bootable USB flash drive with the distribution. For example, on the official Microsoft website at the link below there is a special utility that will download to your computer Windows distribution, and then allows you to easily and quickly write it to a flash drive, thereby making it a bootable flash drive.

2. Once you have the boot device in hand, you need to connect it to the computer on which the hard drive will be formatted, and then enter the BIOS. As a rule, for most computers, entering the BIOS is accomplished by quickly pressing the special hotkey- this is most often F2, Del or F1.

3. Once you get into the BIOS, you will need to find the “Boot MENU”, in which you can set the boot device that will start first. IN different versions BIOS this item may be located differently and have a slightly different name variation, but the essence is the same. In our case, the item we need is in the menu "Advanced BIOS Features" - "First" Boot Device» , where you need to set the name of the flash drive as the first boot device (if the name of the flash drive is not displayed, select USB-HDD) or CDROM (if you are using a Windows disk).

4. When the necessary settings are set, you just have to exit the BIOS, after which the computer will begin to reboot, and as a result, the Windows installation menu will be displayed on the screen.

5. Having selected a language, a window will appear on the screen in which you will need to select the drive on which Windows will be installed. Select the disk with one mouse button, and then click on the button below "Disk Setup".

6. An additional set of options will appear on the screen where you need to select "Format".

7. A warning will appear on the screen stating that formatting will delete all data from the disk. If you agree with this, click "OK" to continue.

The process will begin. Once the formatting is completed, a message indicating the successful completion of the procedure will be displayed on the screen.

Method 2: Format the disk using Acronis Disk Director

In the event that you do not have bootable media with Windows OS, then it is better to go straight to this method, since in this case you will need to write much less information to a disk or flash drive (3-4 GB versus 15 MB).

Popular instrument Acronis Disk Director allows you to carry out complex work with hard drives even if there is no operating system installed on the computer. The utility is paid, but it has a free demo version that will allow you to verify the capabilities of this program and, of course, complete the formatting task we have set.

Download Acronis Disk Director
1. After downloading the utility from the developer’s official website, you will need to install it on your computer and then launch it.

2. Connect the USB flash drive or disk to the computer on which the Acronis Live-CD will be written. In the left area of ​​the program window that opens, click the button "Acronis Bootable Media Builder".

3. A utility window will appear on the screen, in which you will need to click on the button "Further".

4. Leave the settings presented in the next window as default.

5. Specify the components that will be written to the bootable media (in our case, for example, the component for 64-bit systems will be used, but if you do not know the bitness of your computer, select both).

6. Finally, you will need to choose where the utility will be written: directly to a flash drive or saved as an ISO image for subsequent recording to disk. Since in our case a flash drive is connected to the computer, we select it and move on.

7. If you need to add drivers, the program will prompt you to do so in the next step.

8. Click the button "Continue", to start burning bootable media.

9. The recording of the bootable media will begin, which will take a little time, since the size of the utility being written does not exceed 20 MB. As soon as a message indicating the successful completion of the process is displayed on the screen, the flash drive or disk can be removed from the computer and connected to the one on which the hard drive will be formatted via BIOS.

10. You will need to enter the BIOS and set your boot device as the primary boot device. How to do this was described in the first method from the second to the fourth point, so we will not stop at this stage.

11. The Acronis window will appear on the screen. To continue working with the program, you will need to select the desired utility. In our case, only one version was recorded, so we select "Acronis Disk Director".

12. The utility will begin downloading, which may take several minutes. A disk browsing window will appear on the screen, showing the available disks. Click the button to continue "OK".

When you need to transfer partitions without losing data or format a hard drive, it is better to resort to auxiliary tools. Now there are many packages for data recovery and formatting work. Naturally, you can use Windows capabilities, but sometimes you can’t do without auxiliary programs. We will consider one of these below.

What opportunities does it provide?

The formatting function allows you to start the “life” of your computer on the selected device from scratch. It erases absolutely all information located on the media: user profiles, previously installed programs, OS. But the most important thing is that viruses come with them.

Thanks to this somewhat radical method of cleaning a USB storage device, you can install a new OS on a formatted device or reinstall the old one.

By its nature, this process is divided into two subtypes:

• high-level (software);
• low-level (hardware).

In the first case, the file system and tables are re-formed.

In the second, information about the position of the sectors (clusters) located in it is applied to the surface of the hard drive at the hardware level.

This allows the head of your HDD (Hard Disk Drive) to be oriented on its surface with greater accuracy.

Video: format your hard drive

Working with HDD using Windows

High-level formatting is easily carried out using standard Windows OS tools. In order to carry out a similar procedure on any external device, just insert it into the USB connector and right-click.

In the context menu that appears, select the formatting function, then select file system, and start the cleaning process. This method is the fastest possible solution.

However, in order to remove an operating system from a hard drive, if it is present on the computer in a single copy, you will need a little more knowledge: its removal is possible only through debugging mode and when using special operators command line (cmd), which not everyone can do.

It is performed in several steps:

From now on, we have two options for further action:

1. using the available set of tools, using the program, click settings, and then formatting;
2. or press a combination of two keys - Shift and F10. A standard command prompt will open.

And again a series of actions:

After successful formatting, we will need to update information about the existing disks and re-set their partition sizes.

But high-level cleaning of the hard drive is not the best option, especially if it has bad sectors: performance is significantly reduced, and periodic freezes and other “delights” become an integral part of the work. And only special applications will help with low-level formatting.

Hard drive formatting program Acronis Disk Director Acronis Disk Director is perhaps the best program for hard formatting disk today.

A user-friendly interface, high reliability and high-quality results make this application the No. 1 tool in preventing “illnesses” of your HDD.

Used by professional computer gurus, it allows you to perform many operations when working with a storage medium. Delving into the very structure of the program, it is easy to understand why it is so loved and even revered by many people whose activities are, in one way or another, related to the computer craft.

Acronis is a complete and, importantly, convenient tool for working with a hard drive, known to the public for many years.

Let's find out why.

Program features The Acronis Disk Director arsenal is aimed at maximizing the user's communication with the computer hardware. This is manifested in everything: detailed tips will help beginners who are just mastering it, so they won’t stumble during this process, and the ability to have absolute control over their actions will allow professionals to achieve exactly what they want in the end.

Acronis Disk Director is a universal program for deep formatting a hard drive.

Thanks to it, partitioning disks will not seem as complicated as it would be with the same standard Windows tools.

1. You can always, with mathematical precision, allocate for a future disk exactly as much space as you think will be enough. In addition, it is possible to transform ready-made sections into:
2. primary- those from which the operating system will be loaded, first of all;
3. active- additional operating systems are installed on them;

brain teaser

- acting as a repository for programs, data and other personal information.

We invite you to take a closer look at them:

• free conversion of HDD partitions between static and dynamic volumes;
• saving a backup copy of the current operating system: having an archive with backup copy on external media, you can avoid the need to install programs again after cleaning - just unzip the file and your system will be up and running again;
• recovery of previously deleted partitions;
• transformation boot entry from MBR to GPT and back without using the command line.

Looks good, doesn't it? However, what is striking is the fact that all this really works, moreover, without fail and is equipped with quite detailed instructions and help that will help you find a solution to almost any question posed to the program.

Work process

As mentioned earlier, clearing a disk of data on it can occur both on hardware and on program level. But how exactly it happens is a small mystery, but quite interesting.

Let's start from smallest to largest. The high-level option comes in two types: fast and full. With fast, the file system of the storage medium is completely rewritten.

The most modern standard is the NTFS file system, which is characterized by high performance and ease of data storage.

Full high-level formatting pre-scans the entire hard drive for bad sectors and then tries to fix them. And only then the file tables are written to the device itself.

The low-level option redistributes the available space on the disk surface, re-creating tracks (tracks), onto which the control program is subsequently reinstalled. This method takes the most time, but is considered popular for the most effective restoration of solid-state media.

After carrying out one of the procedures described above, there is only one file system on the disk - all partitions will have to be created manually, manipulating the free space of your hard drive.

Acronis Disk Director is the best solution for this task. Launch this program possible both from under the OS shell and by booting from a flash device. If everything is clear with the first option, then for the second we will need to enable support for booting the computer from drives in the BIOS. How to do this was described above in the section “ HDD formatting using Windows."

Let's look at the whole procedure step by step:

Pros and cons of Acronis

The program is paid, but the developer has provided the possibility of using a trial (demo) version of its own product. It is noteworthy that, despite the limited period of use, there are no restrictions as such: the user can enjoy the full functionality of this program for the entire period. The only downside is the fairly “decent” cost of the program for the average user.

The advantages include:

Taking into account all the capabilities of Acronis Disk Director, it is impossible not to highlight that this particular application will help you most effectively clean external or internal storage devices of any level, split them into partitions and much, much more. Its quality and reliability grow with the release of each new version

, the functionality is constantly expanding, and the possibilities are increasing. .

Nowadays, many modern PC users have no idea how often any program for formatting a hard drive has helped in the past.

After all, hard drives had to be formatted regularly.

This is all due to the imperfection of software products - both those that were used for basic user purposes and those that were used to perform maintenance operations on installed systems.

Background Another aspect of the need for the once frequent use of formatting programs hard drives

– problems with the hardware. Small media volume, frequent hardware errors and the like.

But oddly enough, over time, the need to format disks still remained, even with the advent of modern solid-state drives. At the same time, the formatting operation has ceased to be an everyday norm, and if it is necessary to format a hard drive, many users are at a loss as to how and in what way it can be done. Fortunately, over time, both the quality of software products designed for formatting hard drives and their number have increased noticeably. And now the user is not limited to built-in system utilities

, but has access not just to third-party software products, but to entire sets of software tools that allow you to perform not only formatting, but also several other useful operations, in particular, improving the condition of the hard drive and its service life. Some of these tools are classified as shareware, some come with, and the rest, however, is only available upon purchase. Each of them has its own advantages and we propose to consider several of the most commonly used and popular tools with sufficient functionality.

Paragon Partition Manager Free Edition

A program for formatting a hard drive called Paragon Partition Manager Free Edition stands out from other similar software products in its ability to perform operations on virtual storage media. In addition, for those who still cannot refuse using Windows XP, it will provide the ability to support high-capacity disks of the order of 2 TB or more. But it also works on modern Windows 7 and 8 operating systems.

An additional advantage of this complex is its support for multi-boot management functions. This option will be useful for those who use several operating systems in test mode or simply require their parallel use.

The program interface is quite simple and understandable, and in some cases it is simply irreplaceable. An example of this is the function of merging partitions without losing data, which is especially important when formatting partitions. In this case, the user is given the opportunity to even convert partitions.

As for file systems, the number of them supported is quite large. They can be converted from one to another using this program, in particular, NTFS to HFS.

Among other functionality, there is copying and restoring disks, merging them, moving them and resizing them. And all this in the presence of a Russified shell.

Some may find the defragmentation function superfluous, but absolutely everyone will like protection against system failures and detection of bad sectors.

Rice. 1 – Paragon Partition Manager window fragment

EASEUS Partition Master

This program for formatting a hard drive has the advantage of having several versions with different functionality. Some of them are free, but special attention ordinary users deserve the Home Edition and Master Free versions.

The program has excellent functionality, accessible through the Russian-language software shell. It can work under family control Windows operating systems, in particular, versions 7, 8 and 10, both 32-bit and 64-bit, and some versions allow you to run through Linux.

The software product provides work with a wide range of heterogeneous drives, the most important of which are:

• HDDs;
• solid state drives SSD;
• USB flash drives;
• memory cards in various designs.

You can not only format them, but also create or change sections, for example, merging, deleting, copying and resizing.

The program has access to work with RAID arrays and provides user interaction with MBR and GPT. Some operations can be performed using built-in wizards, which greatly facilitates the user’s work.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that each version of the product has its own restrictions, in particular, on the maximum storage size. For example, in the Home Edition it is 8 TB, and in Master Free it is only 4 TB. The user is also recommended to pay attention to the installation process, since unnecessary utilities can be installed along the way.

Rice. 2 – EASEUS Partition Master window fragment

Aomei Partition Assistant

Hard drive formatting program called Aomei Partition Assistant refers to products that are distributed free of charge, but have decent functionality. It provides a number of functions that are not available to others. free products and therefore belongs to a completely different class.

This software package, like the previous product, has a Russian-language shell and supports modern operating systems of the Windows and Linux families and, accordingly, file systems running under their control: FAT 12/16/32, NTFS, Ext2/3/4, exFAT/ReFS.

In parallel with work on physical media, the program also performs operations on virtual disks.

As for the special functionality, it is implemented in the form of access to disks invisible to other software. The program allows you to check them, test them and a number of other useful operations. All this against the backdrop of minimal system requirements, ranging from the processor version to the amount of available disk memory.

This software product is able to work even under such conditions when the device has 128 disks installed and the volume size is 16 TB. It is also one of the few products that can work with SSHD, flash drives and flash cards. Is it worth mentioning that it supports UEFI Boot, and all operations performed are performed without damaging user information, according to the creators?

Rice. 3 – Aomei Partition Assistant Window

MiniTool Partition Wizard

This program for formatting a hard drive is more modest, but much more popular, not only in the domestic space, but throughout the world. It is free and provides interaction under Windows operating systems, including the most latest versions of various bit sizes, and also processes EXT disk partitions, as well as Linux Swap.

The software interface has a Russified shell and provides work with partitions with a capacity of more than 2 TB. It is quite simple and will be understandable even for a novice user. The functionality of the interface is quite wide and even includes the new-fangled migration from HDD to SSD.

The software product also performs a number of basic operations with disks and their partitions, including their cloning, creation and modification. An additional operation can be considered the conversion of FAT/FAT32 file systems to NTFS while maintaining the integrity of user data, which is complemented by the functionality of backing up stored information and a data recovery utility after failures. If desired, the user can test their disks by testing their performance.

Like some of the programs described above, this one can convert disks from MBR to GPT, and this is important when a frequently used system partition is worn out. In parallel with this, it is possible to assign active partitions and interact with them.

Rice. 4 – MiniTool Partition Wizard Window

HDD Low Level Format Tool

This program for formatting a hard drive belongs to a different category than those discussed above software. Therefore, it deserves special attention. This is not a large software package with wide functionality, but a small program that only has the ability to low-level formatting in its set of functions.

This option provides, with the given settings, the ability to restore the functionality of storage media. Moreover, this functionality applies to both hard drives and flash drives. The only problem for the user in this case is the complete destruction of the data on the media without the possibility of further recovery.

Unfortunately, there are no other operations that this product can perform with media.

Rice. 5 – HDD Low Level Format Tool window

Acronis Disk Director

This program for formatting a hard drive is also quite interesting. Its peculiarity is that it can be launched from any media. So, you can install it on a boot disk or flash drive and even without a full-fledged operating system be able to work with disk partitions.

This functionality is especially important in emergency situations, when it is more important for the user to restore the system's functionality, and not just create an additional partition for more convenient storage data or installation of any game. The program's functionality is suitable for working with disks and under Windows control, and running Linux. However, this product has one significant drawback, which is noticeable when compared with the above programs - its cost.

In fact, this application belongs to the category of shareware products. After the specified trial period has expired, the user is offered two options - purchase a license or remove the software product. Therefore, it can be safely used and compared with other programs on free of charge, but for a limited time.

Otherwise, this is a full-fledged tool for working with disks and their partitions with wide functionality. It includes everything basic operations for working with partitions, including formatting, and also allows the PC owner to view general view information stored on these partitions.

Rice. 6 – Acronis Disk Director window

Standard Windows OS Tools

When describing programs for formatting disks, one cannot fail to mention standard means operating systems available to users without downloading third-party software products. This can be done using the example of operating systems of the Windows family. A special feature of these systems is that they have several tools for working with hard drives and their partitions.

The first tool is quite simple and this utility is available to the user from the Explorer program. In order to use it, for the logical partition of the hard drive you can call context menu, and in it select the “Format” item. After this, a form will become available in which you can specify the desired parameters of the formatting operation.

This functionality will be available for all logical disk partitions, with the exception of the active system disk. In this case, you need to use a slightly different tool, accessible exclusively from the command line. Working with it requires special skills that are only available to experienced users.

Important! To access them you must have boot disk, as well as exhibited in BIOS settings, forcing the PC to boot from removable media, and not from the hard drive, in order to provide the functionality necessary for the system. This is provided by a small utility called diskpart. But its main problem is that the user does not receive high-quality visualization of the actions being performed, and any error in their execution can cost the functionality of the system.

This state of affairs forces users to resort to using third-party software products.

Rice. 7 – Formatting utility window

Formatting your hard drive before installing Windows

In the video I will show you how to format a hard drive. This may come in handy when you reinstall the Windows operating system.

Good day.

Questions regarding work hard disk ( or as they say HDD) - always a lot (probably one of the most numerous directions). Quite often, in order to solve this or that issue, the hard drive needs to be formatted. And here, some questions are superimposed on others: “And how? With what? This program does not see the disk, which one should I replace it with?” etc.

In this article I will present the best (in my opinion) programs that help cope with this task.

Important! Before formatting the HDD with one of the presented programs, save all important information from the hard drive to other media. During the formatting process, all data from the media will be deleted and it is sometimes extremely difficult to restore something (and sometimes even impossible!).

"Tools" for working with hard drives

Acronis Disk Director

In my opinion, this is one of the best programs for working with hard drive. Firstly, there is support for the Russian language (for many users this is fundamental), secondly, it supports all Windows operating systems: XP, 7, 8, 10, thirdly, the program has excellent compatibility and “sees” all disks (unlike from other utilities of this kind).

Judge for yourself, you can do “anything” with hard disk partitions:

• format (in fact, for this reason the program was included in the article);
• change the file system without data loss (for example, from Fat 32 to Ntfs);
• resize partition: very convenient if Windows installation, you, say, have allocated too little space for system disk, and now it needs to be increased from 50 GB to 100 GB. You can format the disk again - but you will lose all the information, and with the help of this function you can change the size and save all the data;
• combining hard disk partitions: for example, we divided the hard drive into 3 partitions, and then thought, why? It’s better to have two: one system one for Windows, and the other for files - they took it and combined it and didn’t lose anything;
• Disk Defragmenter: useful if you have a Fat 32 file system (with Ntfs - there's not much point, at least you won't gain in performance);
• change drive letter;
• deleting partitions;
• viewing files on disk: useful when you have a file on your disk that is not deleted;
• ability to create bootable media: flash drives (the tool will simply save you if Windows refuses to boot).

In general, it is probably unrealistic to describe all the functions in one article. The only drawback of the program is that it is paid, although there is time for a test...

Paragon partition manager

This program is quite well known, I think that experienced users have been familiar with it for a long time. Includes all the most necessary tools for working with media. By the way, the program supports not only real physical disks, but also virtual ones.

Main features:

• Using disks larger than 2 TB in Windows XP (with this software you can use larger capacity disks in the old OS);
• Ability to control boot of multiple operating systems Windows (very important when you want to install another Windows OS in addition to your first one. For example, to test a new OS before finally switching to it);
• Easy and intuitive work with sections: You can easily split or merge the required partition without losing data. In this sense, the program works without any complaints at all ( By the way, it is possible to convert a basic MBR to a GPT disk. Regarding this task, there have been a lot of questions lately. );
• Support large number file systems- this means that you can view and work with partitions of almost any hard drive;
• Work with virtual disks : easily connects a disk to itself and allows you to work with it as with a real disk;
• Huge number of functions backup and restoration (also very important), etc.

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition

An excellent free (by the way, there is also a paid version - it has several additional functions) tool for working with hard drives. Supported OS Windows: 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits), there is support for the Russian language.

The number of functions is simply amazing, I will list some of them:

• support different types storage media: HDD, SSD, USB flash drives, memory cards, etc.;
• changing hard disk partitions: formatting, resizing, merging, deleting, etc.;
• support for MBR and GPT disks, support for RAID arrays;
• support for disks up to 8 TB;
• the ability to migrate from HDD to SSD (however, not all versions of the program support);
• the ability to create bootable media, etc.

Generally, good alternative paid products presented above. Even functions free version enough for most users.

Aomei Partition Assistant

Another worthy alternative to paid products. The standard version (and it is free) has a bunch of functions for working with hard drives, supports Windows 7, 8, 10, and has the Russian language (although it is not installed by default). By the way, according to the developers, they use special algorithms to work with “problem” disks - so there is a chance that your “invisible” disk in any software will suddenly be seen by Aomei Partition Assistant...

Key Features:

• One of the lowest system requirements (among software of this type): processor with a clock frequency of 500 MHz, 400 MB of hard disk space;
• Support for traditional hard drives HDDs, as well as newfangled solid state SSD and SSHD;
• Full support for RAID arrays;
• Full support for working with HDD partitions: merging, splitting, formatting, changing the file system, etc.;
• Support for MBR and GPT disks up to 16 TB in size;
• Supports up to 128 disks in the system;
• Support for flash drives, memory cards, etc.;
• Support for virtual disks (for example, from programs such as VMware, Virtual Box etc.);
• Full support for all the most popular file systems: NTFS, FAT32/FAT16/FAT12, exFAT/ReFS, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4.

MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is free software for working with hard drives. By the way, it’s not at all bad, which only indicates that over 16 million users use this utility in the world!

Peculiarities:

• Full support for the following OS: Windows 10, Windows 8.1/7/Vista/XP 32-bit and 64-bit;
• Ability to resize partitions, create new partitions, format them, clone, etc.;
• Convert between MBR and GPT disks (without data loss);
• Supports conversion from one file system to another: we are talking about FAT/FAT32 and NTFS (without data loss);
• Backup and recovery of information on disk;
• Optimizing Windows for optimal performance and migration to SSD drive(relevant for those who are changing their old HDD drive on the newfangled and fast SSD) etc.;

HDD Low Level Format Tool

This utility does not do much of what the programs listed above can do. In general, it can only do one thing - format the media (disk or flash drive). But it was impossible not to include it in this review...

The fact is that the utility performs low-level formatting of the disk. In some cases, restoring the functionality of a hard drive without this operation is almost impossible! Therefore, if no program sees your disk, try HDD Low Level Format Tool. It also helps to delete ALL information from the disk without the possibility of recovery (for example, you do not want someone to be able to restore your files on a sold computer).

In general, I have a separate article about this utility on my blog (which describes all these “subtleties”):

PS

About 10 years ago, by the way, one program was very popular - Partition Magic (it allowed you to format the HDD, split the disk into partitions, etc.). In principle, you can still use it today - only the developers have stopped supporting it and it is not suitable for Windows XP, Vista and higher. On the one hand, it’s a pity when they stop supporting such convenient software...

That's all, good choice!

Format HDD partitions or the entire hard drive is needed extremely rarely, mainly when installing or reinstalling an operating system, adding new disks or creating RAID arrays from existing ones. This operation may also become necessary if a virus file is nested in some partition, and the antivirus is not able to cope with it. We have to destroy all information in such a department.

Using the Disk Management console in Windows, you can only work with other partitions. If you need to format a partition, even with installed system, but not with the one in which you are currently working, then this tool to the average user quite enough for full-fledged operations.

Another thing is a department with working Windows. It is clear that to format it you need to log out of the system, and either log into another (if any), or format it using third party program for formatting hard drives, which performs this operation when you restart the computer or in the BIOS.

5 best programs for formatting hard drives

1. In my opinion, the best program for formatting a hard drive is Disk Director from the recognized leader in the development of such utilities, Acronis. The company has other versions of this application: it is simpler, has a smaller volume, works in both BIOS and Windows, and is equipped with a Russian interface that is understandable to any ordinary user. In addition, it is a multifunctional utility designed for large quantity various operations with HDD, the implementation of which does not require special skills, thanks to built-in tips and instructions.
You may not believe it, but this tool has no disadvantages, except for the conditional freeness - at the end of the demo period you must pay for activation, otherwise the utility will be blocked. However, 500 rubles is not that large sum for this unique package.

Download Disk Director— http://soft.oszone.net/download/408/Acronis_Disk_Director_Suite.html

2. Next on the list should be free utility"Partition Wizard Free" from the company "MiniTool". In terms of its versatility, it is not inferior to paid analogues. Like the previous program for formatting a hard drive, this utility performs many other operations with the HDD and external media, while consuming a minimum of system resources. It has a simple and intuitive operating window, supports devices of huge volumes measured in terabytes, and also works with RAID arrays. It can also recover lost partitions.
There are no disadvantages, there is a small inconvenience: it does not work in the BIOS, therefore, in order to carry out operations with the system partition, the computer must be rebooted: they will be performed before the system boots.

Download Partition program Wizard Free— https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

3. The “Partition Magic” application is also popular. It has good performance characteristics and a wide range of functions that differ little from those listed above, although they are slightly inferior in number.
Among the disadvantages: it does not support RAID and large devices, it is distributed on a shareware basis (like Acronis).

Download Partition Magic— http://relizua.com/raznie-programi/301-skachat-partition-magic-rus.html

4. We can recommend “EaseUS Partition Master Free”. This program has one advantage - you don’t have to pay for it.
The disadvantages include less functionality compared to the leaders of the list and too large (for such a number of options) volume.

Download EaseUS Partition Master Free— http://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/epm-free.html

5. And of course, it is necessary to note the special utilities produced by hard drive manufacturers. In this case, a different utility is recommended for each user. You can find out the model and manufacturer of your HDD in Device Manager. Next, go to the website and download what you need.

Final advice. If, for any reason, the purchase paid application impossible, feel free to use free analogues. Some of them are much better than other professional programs.