Active Partition Manager 23.0.1.0 Freeware

Active Partition Manager gives you complete control over your storage devices and partitions. You can create, delete, format, and name partitions without shutting down your system. Changes take effect instantly, no reboot is required.

Active Partition Manager is included in the Active Boot Disk suite, a Windows-based LiveCD that lets you manage hard drives even when Windows is not running. Expanding a primary partition into adjacent unallocated space creates more room for files and applications.

Primary partitions must use the NTFS file system for expansion. Logical drives within extended partitions can be expanded into contiguous free space within the same extended partition, regardless of the file system. This offers greater flexibility in managing disk space allocation.

If you attempt to extend a logical drive beyond the currently available free space within its containing extended partition, the extended partition itself will expand to encompass the increased size of the logical drive. However, this expansion is only possible if the extended partition is immediately followed by contiguous unallocated space on the hard drive. This enables flexible disk management and allows you to adapt to changing storage needs.

Active Partition Manager includes the following features:

• Recognize volumes (partitions) with file systems: FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, UFS, HFS+, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4
• Create a partition or logical drive (volume)
• Format a logical drive or partition (FAT, exFAT, NTFS)
• Resize logical drive (volume)
• Edit and synchronize boot sectors of FAT, exFAT, NTFS, UFS, HFS+, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, and Partition Table.
• Initialize the new disk as MBR or GPT or repair MBR (GPT) on the broken disk.
• Convert MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR
• Rollback partition layout modifications, equivalent to creating a delete format partition and disk initialization
• Assign or change partition attributes, drive letters, etc.
• Format a Flash memory as NTFS
• Delete a partition or logical drive
• Create FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB in size (as much as 1Tb)
• Mark partition as active
• Create several partitions on a USB flash memory device
• View advanced properties and attributes of a partition, logical drive, or hard drive (disk)

The number of partitions you can create on a hard disk or USB device depends on the device partition style, which determines how the disk’s storage space is divided. In Windows systems, the MBR (Master Boot Record) defines the disk’s partitioning scheme, identifies the active partition containing the boot sector, and specifies the boot sector’s location. Modern systems often use the GPT (GUID Partition Table) scheme, offering greater flexibility and support for larger-capacity disks.

On MBR disks, you can create up to four primary partitions or up to three primary partitions and a single extended partition. A disk can have only one extended partition, which can be further subdivided into multiple logical drives. This allows you to organize your storage space for different purposes, such as storing specific files or applications.