[SOLVED] Partition software to create dual boot Win10 and Linux laptop

modeonoff

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Jul 16, 2017
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Hi, in the past I used Partition Magic to partition the drive in a laptop to allow dual boot of Windows and Linux. The software worked all the time. I could also adjust the size of the partition by moving a slider. The software showed the picture. After making several adjustment commands, the software gave me a visual look on how the drive would be like and I just pressed one button to have the commands executed. If I did not like the partitions, I could remove them easily and the drive returned to original state. Unfortunately, this software is not longer available. Any good ones that have the features I mentioned, simple and reliable to use?
 
Solution
Windows 10 own disk manager has all the tools you need it's just not as pretty...

If windows isn't installed yet then the windows installation will give you basic partitioning as will most linux installations.
Here is a example for windows.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...and-OneKey-Recovery-Feature/td-p/8036/page/38
You can delete everything and create two new partitions,afterwards you can restore your windows installation to the new partition if you have a backup.
If you are more advanced you can use windows recovery to get to the command line and use diskpart to shrink a volume so you won't have to backup/restore your windows partition...
Windows 10 own disk manager has all the tools you need it's just not as pretty...

If windows isn't installed yet then the windows installation will give you basic partitioning as will most linux installations.
Here is a example for windows.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...and-OneKey-Recovery-Feature/td-p/8036/page/38
You can delete everything and create two new partitions,afterwards you can restore your windows installation to the new partition if you have a backup.
If you are more advanced you can use windows recovery to get to the command line and use diskpart to shrink a volume so you won't have to backup/restore your windows partition.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/shrink-a-basic-volume
 
Solution
I like the free Easeus Partition Master, but you need to understand that Linux uses the Grub loader and a different file management system. This means that once you partition and install Linux it becomes a whole lot more difficult to resize partitions without losing everything on the hard drive. That's what happened to me. Also be aware that Windows 10 has the ability to run Linux under Windows.
Personally I don't use Linux that often so I've opted to put it on a flash drive and boot from that when I need it. That way I can manipulate all the Windows partitions whenever the spirit moves me without problems.