Free Disk Tools Тестирование жёсткого диска

Утилита представляет собой набор из пяти инструментов предназначенных для тестирования жестких дисков. Программа Free Disk Tools включает в себя: генератор файлов, надёжное и безвозвратное удаление данных, тестирование hdd на скорость, информационный модуль, отражающий свободное место на установленных в системе накопителях и модуль слияния файлов. С этим приложением можно генерировать до 2,1 миллиардов файлов для проверки работы системы или файлового менеджера с большим количеством файлов создав условия стресса для диска; создавать файлы с большим размером для тестирования текстовых процессоров; испытывать скорость прожига CD/DVD; сравнивать скорости чтения/записи двух дисков; объединять файлы и уничтожать информацию с диска без возможности последующего восстановления.

Генератор файлов это модуль для создания необходимого количества файлов с заданным размером, содержимым (текст, байт, случайные байты) и структурой. С ним можно тестировать производительность сети, сервера, жёсткого диска, использовать при разработке программного обеспечения и т.д.

Модуль Drive speed предназначен для тестирования жёсткого диска на скорость обмена информацией, измеряет  скорость записи и чтения данных на накопителе. Перед измерением скорости рекомендуется выполнить дефрагментацию диска .

Как известно, стандартный механизм удаления файлов оставляет большую вероятность их последующего восстановления, потому как на самом деле информация не удаляется из-за специфики устройства файловой системы Windows. Если удалить файл, на самом деле он всё ещё остаётся на диске, хотя и не виден в Проводнике. Модуль Data Wipe заполняет свободное пространство жёсткого диска мусором, сжигая мосты для восстановления ранее удалённых файлов.

Disk tools

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DAEMON Tools Ultra is a new perspective for operating with image files. Clearly balanced functions list and new GUI are created to help you working with disc images in the most convenient way.

Created for the faster and easier work with virtual devices, DAEMON Tools Ultra represents Quick Mount option that enables you to work with Image Catalog at once. With this solution you are getting main DAEMON Tools Pro functions wrapped in easy-to-use interface.

Information:

Get help at:

Other DAEMON Tools versions are distributed by: www.disc-soft.com

Create bootable USB devices

If your laptop has no drive and you need to install the operating system, bootable USB device is the perfect solution. DAEMON Tools Ultra offers you this durable, smaller and quicker than the physical disc solution. Create a bootable USB device in a few clicks!

Access remote devices via iSCSI protocol

DAEMON Tools Ultra includes the iSCSI Initiator and so allows you to access the remote CD, DVD or HDD devices via iSCSI protocol. Working with this feature is pretty easy — you just need to choose the target and work with the remote image like with the one that is stored on your PC. That's why DAEMON Tools Ultra is a perfect enterprise solution for those, who need to work with images via the network.

Work with VHD

New file format is available for mounting via DAEMON Tools Ultra — virtual hard drives (VHD). Using the program, you can create, mount and work with VHD just like with an ordinary disc.

Mount images in a few clicks

Working with images has never been so simple! Just click Quick Mount button and choose the image you need. No more manual virtual devices creating — only fast and convenient work.

RAM drives

The disk with the fastest performance of data — a RAM disk — the one that is completely stored in the random-access memory. DAEMON Tools Ultra allows you to create different RAM disks (persistent or volatile) and mount them like ordinary images.

Writable virtual drive

DAEMON Tools Ultra allows creating Writable Virtual Drives, which can be used in other programs and utilities. Instead of burning optical discs, you can test your custom CDs &DVDs using Writable Virtual Device or create an image before actual physical burning.

Note: Disc-Soft.com is the only authorized distributor of DAEMON Tools software. Any unauthorized distribution of our software is strictly prohibited. If you would like to distribute DAEMON Tools products, please fill in Publisher application form with your full name, specific website URL(s), and point of contact. We will respond as soon as possible.

Hitachi Disk Tools

This tool allows you to change the settings and/or options for your advanced technology attachment (ATA) hard disk drives, and it runs when your computer is starting up. To use this program, you must download the software and then create a bootable CD. It is compatible with the Windows and Linux operating systems, and it supports 48-bit addressing, which allows you to add more memory to your integrated development environment (IDE) hard disk drive. Another feature allows you to adjust the power modes and the ultra direct memory access (UDMA) protocol settings, which then allows you transfer data from your hard disk drive to your random access memory (RAM). You can also reconfigure the serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface. The Feature Tool is designed specifically for the Hitachi Travelstar and Deskstar ATA hard disk drives.

The Drive Fitness Test (DFT) is a tool for checking the health of your hard disk drives, including your IDE, SATA, Parallel ATA and small computer system interface (SCSI) drives. It will run tests on your system without compromising or writing over data to determine why your disk drive will not start up or keeps crashing. It will also create data logs of any drive parameters. There are three scan levels: a full scan, a quick scan and a customizable scan, where you determine what drive or area of a drive to scan. This tool is compatible only with x86 processors.

The Hitachi Align Tool helps you determine whether or not your disk drive is partitioned properly (disk partitioning involves breaking up a hard disk drive in different virtual drives, allowing you to create independent drives on your computer). This tool will help ensure all your data sectors are aligned correctly, and it will also help you determine whether or not data is being correctly written on and read from the drive. This tool is compatible only with Windows operating systems.

The OGT Diagnostic Tool allows you to run tests on your disk drive to determine whether or not it is working properly, and it also lets you know why a particular disk drive has failed. This tool is compatible with the Windows operating system, and it is also compatible with the Ultrastar 15K73, DK32xx and 10K300.

PC Disk Tools

• Cloning or Imaging Windows 7, 8, Vista, xp and server 2008.
• Restore System to dissimilar hardware.
• Backup Windows while running on Windows.
• Continue to work while backup is in progress.
• Back up to external USB, Firewire Drives faster.
• Copy Hard Drive at high speed of up to 7GB/min.
• Automatic Downsizing and Upsizing Disk & Partition Capacity.
• PC Recovery CD/DVD USB maker - PC Win Boot included FOR FREE!

• Windows XP, 2003 Server, Vista, 2008, 7, 8, Server 2008, PE, Windows-X64
• Administrative rights to execute PC Disk Clone
• 1+ GB disk space, 50MB+ RAM

PC Disk Clone X is a Windows Backup program that allows cloning of computer hard drives to backup data or migrating system to another PC. It copies all data on physical level with a full support of IDE, SATA, SCSI, USB, Firewire Interfaces. Besides these compatabilities, PC Disk Clone X copies at a high speed of 7GB per miniute.

Freeware Guide - Native 64-bit freeware - Utilities - Disk Tools

CorzSpaZio (pronounced: Cor-zSpaT'chio) displays important information about all Windows fixed disks, removable, optical and network disks, as well as RAM Disks, even unknown disks. Everything is configurable. Just like Disk Space Pro, it doesn't continuously prod your disks for details, but always has them on-demand, when you need them.

Download CorzSpaZio

ntfscopy is a prototype tool that can copy any file (or alternate data stream) from a NTFS file system. This can be from either from a live system or from an imaged NTFS volume or drive. The term copy as it is used here, means it can be done in one of two modes: 'raw' or 'normal', where the latter is the default. In 'raw' mode, ntfscopy will copy all the data clusters allocated to the file in question. The default mode is to copy only the clusters or portions of clusters used to store valid data.

Download ntfscopy

NTFS Permissions Tools

NTFS Permissions Tools is a file permissions management tool for NTFS file system. You can use it to easily to modify, backup and restore the security settings of FILEs and FOLDERs! NTFS Permissions Tools is a handy tool for users who either need to change permissions on a regular basis, or users who need to change a lot of permissions and security changes once. The main advantage over Window's built-in permission and security tool is accessibility and ease of use. It takes less time to change permissions and security settings.

Download NTFS Permissions Tools

ImDisk is a virtual disk driver for Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 or Windows Server 2003/2008/2012. It can create virtual hard disk, floppy or CD/DVD drives using image files or system memory. The install package installs a console-mode control program called imdisk.exe and a Control Panel applet. After install is finished, type imdisk without parameters for syntax help or double click the ImDisk icon in the Control Panel. It also adds a menu item in Windows Explorer so that you can right-click on a file to mount it as a virtual disk drive.

Download ImDisk

CheckDisk is a powerful tool for searching and repairing disk errors. It is quite similar to the ScanDisk tool or chkdsk.exe, supplied with the Windows operating systems. You can select either standard or full tests. The full test additionally performs a sector check. It is capable of finding bad sectors on your disk and marking them as such. The program works both with hard disks (including SCSI and RAID) and removable media.

Download CheckDisk

GParted is a free partition editor for graphically managing your disk partitions.

With GParted you can resize, copy, and move partitions without data loss, enabling you to:

- Grow or shrink your C: drive

- Create space for new operating systems

- Attempt data rescue from lost partitions.

Download GParted

CrystalDiskInfo

CrystalDiskInfo is a simple and efficient application that was designed to help you view the health status and other details about your hard disk drive.

Supported Disks (HDD/SSD):

- CrystalDiskInfo supports only IDE (Parallel ATA) and Serial ATA disks connected internal ATA controller.

- CrystalDiskInfo supports a part of USB-HDD.

CrystalDiskInfo does not support RAID disks and IDE (Parallel ATA) and Serial ATA disks connected external ATA controller.

Download CrystalDiskInfo

IsMyHdOK is a small program but effective solution to easily check the Prefomance of a Windows Volume eg. Partition!

- Very small program

- Suitable for SSD and HD and other drives

- Benchmark

30 sec), Long test (

60 sec), Very long test (

- Drive Compare Charts.

Download IsMyHdOK

DiskImager

DiskImager is designed to write a raw disk image to a removable device or backup a removable device to a raw image file. It is very useful for USB drives, SD Memory cards, etc. It can be used to backup the information stored on the device in order to restore it later.

Download DiskImager

Measures both sustained and burst data transfer rates of your hard disks, cd/dvd-roms, flash cards/sticks, floppys, etc. Realtime graphical display.

Download HD_Speed

WBFS Manager

This application basically provides a GUI for working with hard disk drives that have been formatted to the WBFS file system.

- Listing of games with titles, sizes and codes.

- Drag-and-drop support for adding multiple files at once to the WBFS drive.

- Easy to use interface which also reports available, total and used disk space at a glance.

- Batch processing of multiple ISOs.

- Rename discs on the WBFS drive.

- Homebrew Channel entry creation

- Indirect Drive-To-Drive transferring and cloning

- Automatic RAR archive extraction

- Batch extraction and deletion

- Exporting list of games on drive to a .CSV

- Ability to use more than one cover directory

- Channel Creation.

Download WBFS Manager

DirSize will scan your hard drive(s) and display them in a simplified tree with the disk usage for that tree. This allows you to quickly and easily see what folders on your disk contain large amounts of data. Run DirSize and it will begin to scan all local drives. You can browse the returned tree, or change the scale of the data size at the bottom.

Download DirSize

OSFMount allows you to mount local disk image files (bit-for-bit copies of a disk partition) in Windows with a drive letter. You can then analyze the disk image file with PassMark OSForensics™ by using the mounted volume's drive letter. By default, the image files are mounted as read only so that the original image files are not altered.

OSFMount also supports the creation of RAM disks, basically a disk mounted into RAM. This generally has a large speed benefit over using a hard disk. As such this is useful with applications requiring high speed disk access, such a database applications, games (such as game cache files) and browsers (cache files). A second benefit is security, as the disk contents are not stored on a physical hard disk (but rather in RAM) and on system shutdown the disk contents are not persistent.

Download OSFMount

Puran Wipe Disk

Puran Wipe Disk is a free utility that can completely delete everything on your disk including the file system so that no data can be recovered or it can just wipe the free space so that already deleted files cannot be recovered. Main Features: Delete everything on a disk including file system; Wipe all the free space of a disk; Multiple disks can be erased in one click; 1 pass, 3 pass and 7 pass deletion is supported; 1 pass is quick and secure enough and recommended; 3 pass and 7 pass is slow and extremely secure; By secure, it means the ability to recover the data.

Download Puran Wipe Disk

Disk Files

Disk Files is a free utility that can help you take a deeper look into the distribution of different types of files on your computer. It is highly customizable. Main Features: Scan one or more drives at once for file details; Top 500 files can be listed after scan; Type of files to be scanned is fully customizable; By default, audio, video, documents and compressed file types are scanned.

Download Disk Files

Disk Check

Disk Check is a free utility that can help you scan your disk drives for errors and fix them. It can also scan entire disk for bad sectors and try to recover them. Main Features: Scan and Fix multiple drives with one click; Schedule Disk Check on next boot if a drive cannot be locked; Boot Time Disk check can be performed on multiple drives in a click; Use of chkdsk makes it highly safe to use;.

Download Disk Check

DiskFresh is a simple yet powerful tool that can refresh your hard disk signal by reading and writing each sector and hence making your disk more reliable for storage. It also informs you if there are any damaged/bad sectors so you know the right time to replace your disk. The best part is, unlike other tools it does all this when Windows is running and it does not interfere with the speed of your work at all.

Download DiskFresh

CrystalDiskMark

This application was developed to help you get to know your HDD, so it has the power to measure sequential and random read/write speeds while displaying all details to the user with the help of a simple interface. The whole look is designed to make the app very user friendly, so all the information you'll get after conducting the tests will be displayed in the main window.

Download CrystalDiskMark

SHJunction

SHJunction is a small freeware application to manage NTFS virtual folders. A virtual folder is sometimes called a junction point or (pseudo) symbolic link. It is a folder that is actually a link to another folder. For example, a person could create a virtual folder called 'C:\AFOLDER' that is a link to 'E:\ACTUALLY\THIS\FOLDER'. In this way, a virtual folder is an alias for another folder. Note: Use with caution .

Download SHJunction

MeinPlatz (My-Place) offers an easy and fast way to scan the hard disk for lost disk space. Of course the results can be exported to XLS, HTM, CSV and TXT. MeinPlatz (My-Place) also has a print function with integrated print preview and variable aspect ratio, and also a small screen magnifier.

Download MeinPlatz

DiskMark is a small utility that allows you to benchmark your disks and hard drives performance. It allows you to specify many advanced options to determine how your drives perform best and to determine the typical operating performance.

Download DiskMark

MOBZHunt, the successor of DXHogHunt, helps you figure out where all the free space on your hard disk went. Hard disks never seem big enough. Even that huge new disk fills up in no-time. You need some space - but where do you start? With MOBZHunt, hunting down disk hogs is a snap! It's extremely simple to use: select a folder at the top, press the Open button and wait for MOBZHunt to do its thing. You can also quickly sort the files as needed in order to find and delete disk hogs.

Download MOBZHunt

DiskBoss is an automated, rule-based file and disk management solution allowing one to perform disk space utilization analysis, file classification and categorization, duplicate files detection and removal, high-speed file synchronization and data migration, disk change monitoring, rule-based file organizing, data wiping and much more.

Download DiskBoss

DiskSorter

DiskSorter is a free, fast and easy-to-use file classification utility allowing one to classify and categorize files in one or more disks or directories.

Download DiskSorter

DiskPulse is a free and easy-to-use disk change monitoring utility allowing one to monitor one or more disks or directories and detect file system changes in real-time.

Download DiskPulse

DiskSavvy is a free, fast and easy-to-use disk space analyzer utility allowing one to analyze disk usage in one or more disks, directories, network shares and/or NAS storage devices.

Download DiskSavvy

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition

Disk imaging software.

Download Macrium Reflect FREE Edition

Top 20 Free Disk Tools for SysAdmins

This article lists 20 of the best free tools for partitioning, cloning, diagnostics, repair, recovery, encryption, wiping or drive information and is intended to supplement the list provided on 101 Free SysAdmin Tools. Even if you may have heard of some of these tools before, I’m confident that you’ll find a gem or two among this list.

TestDisk allows you to repair boot sectors, recover deleted partitions, fix damaged partition tables, and recover deleted data, as well as copy files from deleted/inaccessible partitions. It works on a number of different file systems including FAT/NTFS/exFAT/ext2.

Note: Bundled with TestDisk is a companion application called PhotoRec. PhotoRec recovers photos, videos and documents from different storage media by going beyond the file system and looking for specific data blocks (i.e. clusters) belonging to the missing file(s).

When you first run TestDisk you are asked to choose whether you want a log file to be created. You are then given a list of partition table types to choose from (this will allow the application to use the correct signature when reading the partitions on all available disks), before being presented with a list of available hard drive partitions to perform a selected action on. The choice of actions you can perform on each partition include:

(1)    analysing the partition for the correct structure (and repairing it accordingly if a problem is found)

(2)    changing the disk geometry

(3)    deleting all data in the partition table

(4)    recovering the boot sector

(5)    listing and copying files

(6)    recovering deleted files

(7)    creating an image of the partition

EaseUS Partition Master Free is a partition manager that allows you to resize, move, merge or split paritions, convert disks, recover deleted or lost partitions, check the partition for errors, migrate the OS to another HDD/SSD, perform disk defragmentation, and more.

When you launch EaseUS Partition Master Free, use the operations listed on the left hand pane or the top menu to perform an action against the selected partition(s).

WinDirStat is a disk usage and clean-up utility that allows you to visualize how data is distributed across a disk and what types of data or which locations are hogging up most space.

Once you’ve loaded WinDirStat and chosen which drives you’d like to analyse, you are presented with a tree view of the files and folders contained on each drive as well as a graphical representation showing which files are taking up most space. Clicking on a box within the graphic will display the file in question within the tree view on the left hand pane of the window.

CloneZilla is a disk imaging and cloning tool that is also packaged with Parted Magic but originally available as a standalone tool in two versions; CloneZilla Live and CloneZilla SE (Server Edition). CloneZilla Live is a bootable Linux distribution that allows you to clone individual machines and CloneZilla SE is a package that you install and configure on a Linux distribution that allows you to push images to multiple clients simultaneously over the network.

Using this utility you can mount image files as drive letters and then browse the data directly. OSFMount supports image files such as DD, ISO, BIN, as well as VMWare Images (*.VMDK) and Nero Burning ROM Images (*.NRG). A neat additional feature of OSFMount is its ability to create RAM disks, useful if you want additional security (since everything within RAM will be flushed when the machine is shutdown) or need to store data that requires fast access times (such as browser cache, database files, etc.).

After you run OSFMount, go to File > Mount new virtual disk… to get started. Remember to leave “Read-only drive” checked, otherwise you risk overwriting data within the image you’ve just mounted.

Defraggler is a lightweight yet powerful defragmentation tool that allows you to defrag whole drives or selected files/folders. It has an intuitive interface that helps you to quickly visualize how much of the drive is fragmented and which files are causing most fragmentation.

Once you’ve performed an Analysis of the drive, you can use the Drive map to see which files are fragmented. Hover your mouse over a particular square on the map and click on it to display the files associated with that particular colour (e.g. fragmented, not fragmented, etc.).

SSDLife displays information about your SSD drive, its health status and estimated lifetime – all useful for helping you to plan ahead and take action accordingly.

SSDLife automatically detects the model of your SSD drive and displays information about it instantly upon loading the application.

Tip: Each SSD manufacturer should have their own SSD drive management software which gives information similar to SSDLife Free. For example, the “Intel SSD Toolbox” can be used with the SSD shown in the screenshot above to display health status, detailed device information, and estimated life remaining.

DBAN is a bootable application that forensically wipes hard drives to prevent identity theft. This tool is useful when you are recycling or decommissioning a server/workstation.

The two main options in DBAN are Interactive mode and Automatic mode. Interactive mode allows you to select which drives to wipe and which options to use when wiping them. Automatic mode will automatically wipe all discovered drives – no questions asked!

HD Tune can measure the read/write performance of your HDD/SSD, scan for errors, check the health status and display drive information.

Once you start the application, select the drive from the drop down list and navigate to the appropriate tab to view the information you need or start a scan accordingly.

VeraCrypt is an open-source encryption application that can encrypt entire drives/partitions. It can also create an encrypted volume that appears as a normal file but is only accessible when mounted via VeraCrypt using the provided password. VeraCrypt is built upon the now defunct TrueCrypt but fixes many of the vulnerabilities and security concerns that plagued TrueCrypt.

When you launch VeraCrypt, start by selecting a drive letter and clicking the “Create Volume” button. This will launch the Volume Creation Wizard which walks you through the process of encrypting a partition or creating an encrypted container file.

CrystalDiskInfo is a hard drive health monitoring tool that displays drive information, disk temperature and monitors S.M.A.R.T attributes. CrystalDiskInfo can be configured to trigger an alert (i.e. write to the event log, send an e-mail or make a sound) when a certain threshold is reached, so it can be left to actively monitor the HDD and notify you automatically.

The bar at the top displays all active hard drives. Clicking on each one will display the information for that drive. The Health Status and Temperature icons change colour depending on their value.

In a few simple clicks, Recuva allows you to recover files from your computer that were accidentally deleted or that have become damaged or corrupt. The Quick-Start Wizard walks you through the recovery process by asking a couple of simple questions about what you want to recover and where you want to recover it from and then initiating a quick scan. You can skip the wizard and go straight to the application if you wish.

From the Recuva interface, select the drive to scan from the drop down box on the left hand side, choose a pre-defined file type filter from the drop down box on the right hand side and then click “Scan” to get started. The filters can be edited to add or remove file types by extension. The Options button allows you to modify options such as enabling a Deep Scan (instead of a Quick Scan), changing the viewing mode, as well as increasing the secure overwriting method (how many times to overwrite a block of data).

An alternative to WinDirStat is a lightweight application called TreeSize. TreeSize quickly scans drives or folders and displays the folder sizes in descending order (by default) to help you pinpoint which folders are taking up most space. The NTFS Compression flag can be enabled directly from within the application.

Once installed, TreeSize can also be started from the context menu by right clicking on a drive or folder and selecting “TreeSize Free” which will automatically open an instance of the application and display the details for that drive or folder.

Note: When you have Defraggler, Recuva and TreeSize installed at the same time, you can initiate the Defraggler and Recuva features directly from within TreeSize for a given folder – all three applications integrate seamlessly.

Using the menu bar or the icons across the taskbar you can select options such as sorting by size or name, showing values in GB/MB/KB, displaying the percentage/file size/file count of the listed folders, and choosing which drives you wish to display details for.

HDDScan is a hard drive diagnostic utility used to test for disk errors, show S.M.A.R.T attributes, monitor disk temperature and perform a read/write benchmark.

When you launch HDDScan, select the drive you wish to perform an action on from the drop down box on the left. Once selected, click the icon in the middle to get started.

Disk2vhd allows you to create a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) of a live machine for use with Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V. This is a great tool for simulating your live environment within a virtual environment for testing purposes or if you wish to have a virtualized backup of your live environment for redundancy purposes.

Use of this tool is simple. Choose a name and location for the VHD file to be stored, select which volumes to include and click “Create”. Disk2vhd also has some command line options, allowing you to script the creation of VHD files.

NTFSWalker allows you to perform a low-level analysis of all records (included deleted data) within the MFT table of an NTFS drive. You can examine the properties of each record and extract its contents out to a file.

When you load NTFSWalker, you are first asked to select a disk to scan. Once you select the disk and confirm which partition you wish to view, the MFT records are displayed on the left hand pane and the details are displayed on the right hand pane. From the right hand pane, you can view the record properties, preview the file or review the contents in raw format (Hex Data).

GParted is an open-source application for managing partitions. Using GParted you can manipulate partitions (i.e. create, delete, resize, move, copy) and attempt to recover data from lost partitions on a vast amount of file systems.

GParted comes as a bootable CD which loads a Linux distribution containing the GParted application. When you download the ISO file you will need to burn the image onto a CD or follow the instructions to install it onto a bootable USB drive. When you launch GParted, you are presented with a list of partitions to choose from. Select the desired partition and choose an option to perform by right clicking on it, pressing an icon on the taskbar or navigating to an option on the menu bar.

SpeedFan is a useful diagnostic utility that allows you to view details about the health of your machine, including hard disk temperatures and S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) attributes.

When you launch SpeedFan, the main tabs you will use for hard drive information are the Readings tab and the S.M.A.R.T tab. The Clocks tab can be used to compare temperature, voltage or fan speeds between two or more objects.

MyDefrag is a disk defragmentation and optimization utility that offers fast performance with little overhead and a number of actions tailored towards different disk uses (e.g. an action specifically for defragging the system disk, an action specifically for defragging flash memory drives, or the ability to only analyse the disk). MyDefrag also allows you to create or customize your own scripts and has a command line version so you can schedule the running of the application at given times.

When you launch MyDefrag, you are presented with a series of scripts to choose from. Each script performs a given action against the disk(s) chosen from the bottom pane. Once you’ve selected a script and checked the desired disk(s), hit “Run” to initiate the action.

An alternative to TrueCrypt is DiskCryptor. DiskCryptor is an easy-to-use open-source application that allows you to encrypt whole partitions using the TwoFish / AES / Serpent algorithms, or a combination of any of the three. DiskCryptor supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and exFAT file systems, allowing encryption of internal or external drives.

When you launch DiskCryptor, select a partition and click “Encrypt” to get started. You will then need to select which encryption algorithm to use and will be asked to enter a password. The encryption process will begin as soon as you press “OK”.

Any free tools you know of that are missing from this list? Leave us a comment!

And there’s more! If you’re a sysadmin that’s been faced with malware infection, cracked passwords, defaced website, compromised DNS, licensing violations, stolen hardware and other issues which can cause cardiac arrest? We have what you need! Download this free e-book: First Aid Kit for Admins today! 

The Best Free Disk & File Software for PC

The Best Free Disk and File Software for PC category is one of the largest on the site, as it combines two very busy areas: disk management tools and file utilities for Windows.

Disk tools are utilities that, among other tasks, help to maintain your hard drive in good working order or allow you to perform operations that are impossible within the operating system. Many of these disk tools are designed to do jobs that the OS does, but more efficiently. In general, 3rd-party applications like this can often be more efficient as they specialize in one area instead of trying to cover everything, as the OS has to do. For example a defragmentation utility, or defragger, can homogenise data blocks on the disk and help the computer run faster; and a disk imaging utility, or cloner, can grab the entire contents of the disk for a one-shot backup and reinstall: OS, apps, and data all in one hit.

File utilities allow you to perform useful tasks such as encryption, file comparison, and Search & Replace.

Our freeware reviews should help you identify the free software that will be of most use to you. If you would like to comment in the forums, we welcome your input!

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