IM-Magic Partition Resizer Professional – Review

good
key review info
application features
  • Resize any partition without data loss
  • (4 more, see all...)

Slicing a hard disk into partitions has turned into an easy task that no longer requires special computer skills to be carried out. Thanks to the tools on the market, even beginners can organize the disk into the necessary amount of drives.

There are plenty of utilities up to the task and some of the good ones are even free of charge. As long as no features apart from simply extending, shrinking, or moving a partition are required, you should not have too much trouble finding the right software.

IM-Magic Partition Resizer is specially designed to offer the means to modify the current structure of the hard disk in order to accommodate your needs.

The application is available in four editions, the poorest equipped one being free. The Professional version costs $29 / €25, the Server edition is $99 / €82, while IM-Magic Partition Resizer Unlimited comes for a whopping $299 / €244.

According to the comparison chart on the developer’s website, the major difference between them is operating system support.

The Professional variant (evaluated here) works only with Windows 8/7/Vista/XP/2000, while the other paid versions also come with support for Windows Server 2000/2003/2008/2012, both 32- and 64-bit.

The freebie appears to lack support for batch processing, which means that each task has to be carried out separately, amounting to more time spent on the overall task.

As far as the supported file systems are concerned, IM-Magic Partition Resizer can recognize NTFS, FAT16, and 32. GPT disks and SSDs are compatible with the application, too.

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Installing the program on the system is far from being a complicated job as you run through standard screens, with no attempt to push third-party software. No system restart is required, so you’ll have everything up and running in no time.

Looks are intuitive enough not to give grief even to an absolute beginner user. Available disks, visible in the upper part of the application window, are loaded automatically and you can easily see the partition structure.

Logical and primary partitions can be spotted at a glance because they are color-coded. For each of them, the application shows details such as type of the file system, total size, and amount of occupied space, expressed in percentage.

At the bottom of the interface lays the three-step scheme for completing the job and the list of pending operations. The processing is started by applying all the changes. If the system drive is involved, the application will ask for a system reboot to finish its work; otherwise, all modifications are applied on the spot.

On the downside, IM-Magic Partition Resizer is prepared only for resizing and moving the partitions. Some of the free programs of the same feather are equipped with far more functionality, which also includes creating new partitions from unallocated space along with not less significant capabilities, like deleting volumes or merging them.

Resizing drives can be done from a separate panel by simply dragging the edges of the graphical representation of the volume until a suitable size is reached. Alternatively, for higher accuracy, there is the possibility to type in the values manually. Furthermore, should there be any unallocated space before or after, it can also be adjusted.

As soon as you finish, a preview of the change is shown and the operation is listed in the “pending” section. If some action has been made in error, there is the possibility to undo everything until the mistake is reached; next you have to add the other operations again.

Processing should not take too long, but the procedure depends on the amount of data available on the targeted drives. A progress screen displays the state of the current task and the overall progress.

Committing changes that affect the system drive require restarting the system and processing starts offline. Progress is also displayed and, when everything is completed, the computer will boot normally.

During our testing, everything went smooth and no problems were encountered. Despite the utter simplicity and intuitiveness of the application, the developer also makes available brief tutorials on how to carry out the two supported tasks.

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The Good

Installing the application and working with it is a cinch. The interface is intuitive and provides a map of the hard disk with the partitions available and details about the free space.

Batch processing is supported, so multiple tasks can be applied and carried out one by one in a single session.

The Bad

The functionality of the program is limited to resizing and moving partitions. There is no possibility to create new drives from unallocated space, to format,or delete a drive, or to change its designation.

The Truth

IM-Magic Partition Resizer Professional is extremely easy to handle and did not pose problems during our tests, even when the system drive was involved.

However, it is far from being a complete disk partitioning utility for the average user. It lacks many of the functions that we’ve seen in freeware of this kind.

NOTE: For three days, we are running an "unlimited download" giveaway campaign for IM-Magic Partition Resizer Pro. The download opportunity closes on Monday, January 27, at 16:30 UTC (08:30 PT).

However, the activation code is valid until January 30, so make sure you activate the product by then.

GIVEAWAY OVER

user interface 5
features 2
ease of use 5
pricing / value 3


final rating 3
Editor's review
good
 
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