Hard disk maintenance and partitioning

To check whether our hard disks or floppy disks are functioning properly, the Operating system provides many tools. But they are not sufficient enough. When the hard disk or the floppy disks are giving problems that cannot be solved by the tools provided by the OS then we need third party software to resolve this. Then we start searching for such software or utilities. Here I have listed a few of them and where to find them.

1. Norton System Works:The system maintenance tools such as Norton System Works by Symantec can be used to test the hard disks. Its true that most of the tools required for maintaining the hard disks are found in this software. But it is not free.

But using some free tools that can be downloaded from internet and the tools provided by the OS itself, the hard disk maintenance and troubleshooting can be accomplished. Here I have listed these free tools.

1. Data Recovery Software:Sometimes if you format your hard disk unknowingly and you want to restore the data that you lost then you can use the 'Unformat' command provided by 'DOS' operating system. But since we do not use DOS anymore, there are free tools available that can do this.
   
   Bitmart Restorer 2000 Data Recovery.This tool can be downloaded freely from www.bitmart.net
   
   R-Studio Data Recovery Software.This tool can be downloaded free from www.data-recovery-software.net
2. Partition Table Doctor
   If you mistakenly partitioned the hard drive and you want to reverse back then you need a tool to unpartition. How nice it would be to have an opposite command for fdisk such asunfdisk. One such utility is the partition table doctor. You can download this tool fromwww.ptdd.com
3. Active Partition RecoveryYou can download this tool from www.partition-recovery.com . This tool can be used to partition or unpartition your hard disk drives.
4. Spin RigeThis software is developed by Steve Gibson and is available from http://grc.com . This software is used to research your hard disk deeply. This free utility is useful to see things like your rotation speed of hard disk etc.
5. Fdisk / DiskpartIf you are a Windows 9x user then you can use the fdisk command. If you are a windows 2000 / XP user then you can use the diskpart command provided by the OS itself.
6. BootltYou can download this utility Bootlt from www.terabyteunlimited.com . This works on all the operating systems. This single utility can be used to partition your hard disk into multiple drives and formatting them etc.
7. Scandisk / ChkdskTo scan the hard disk to find any errors and to repair the disk you can use the scandiskcommand in windows 9x versions. In Windows XP you can use the chkdsk command to repair your hard disk.
8. PC Inspector File RecoveryIf you delete the files from your hard disk, windows deletes the file from that folder and stores it in the 'Recycle bin'. If you had emptied the recycle bin and you need to get back the file then you can use this tool, PC Inspector File Recovery. You can download this free application from www.pcinspector.de
9. HDClone Free editionTo backup the hard disk or create an image of your harddisk, you need the backup/imaging software. You can use HDClone free edition for this. Download this tool from www.miray.dc