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Parted Magic 4.4

By Ian Urie

I know, I mentioned this distro a couple of issues ago.
However, it is so good, I thought it wouldn't go amiss to mention it again.
Clicking on the title of this article will take you to the main site.

The aim of Parted Magic is to make it as easy as possible to partition disks.
It delivers this in spades.

I've used this on a number of occasions when I couldn't copy files from a Windows installation giving problems.
This is the latest update from the fourth series of disks and it now has Clonezilla on it.

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The default screen for Parted Magic 4.4.
As you can see from the screenshot, it is using XFCE for a window manager.
I ran this from the laptop.
Taking the default option to run from RAM,
last thing on bootup is to eject the CD.
The entire distro runs in 256mb of RAM, or 128mb , if you keep the CD in the drive and run in live mode.
I slipped in an ethernet cable and clicked "start network" before heading into Firefox.

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No screengrabber required to be installed, there's already one in the distro.
For the network, I simply selected DHCP, which then told me when it started and the IP it used.
There are network options available and network programs, but I thought I'd keep to the minimum for this article.
For instance, the author has added sound drivers, just in case, you want to download a music player and listen while you are working.
Sorry, I'll skip that.
I usually boot this when I'm having major problems.

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The heart and reason for the disk, partitioning drives.
One of the main programs is GParted.
This is one of the easiest partition programs around, and very seldom fails in its task.
I have failed with other programs (I won't mention them) and used this disk to rectify the mess.

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Of course the disk also has some other utilities you might want to explore.
I ran a system report on the laptop , just to see what it might come up with.
The report can be saved as an html file anywhere.
I used a memory stick for this.

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When you are going to work on a partition, especially if it's one that you might find troublesome,
it always helps if you keep a backup.
Clonezilla helps by making an image (that you can also restore) anywhere you like.
This can be sent via Samba, or by saving to another partition, if you have the room.
There isn't any proprietary software on the disk, and it's completely legal.
When was the last time you could say that about something that is indispensable?

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Heh, I can even find deleted pictures on the disks.
On second thoughts, maybe they're better deleted.
However, I know one guy that was extremely pleased to discover this after a hard drive crash.
Saved him hours of trouble by recovering his family photos and saving them to another disk.
He only lost the ones that were affected by the damaged disk.

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I haven't used this program , but it shows that Parted Magic has more than one way to make hard disk images.
Again, another no nonsense GUI with the options shown.

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If your drive had a Truecrypt volume on it, this will enable you to access it.
TrueCrypt was reviewed in a previous issue.
Suffice to say, this program has loads of options to keep files safe, and also hidden.

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Of course, the disk is useless if you don't know how to work the various programs on the disk.
Luckily, Parted Magic comes with a comprehensive documentation about the disk and how to get the best from it.
I really have only scratched the surface of this disk.
I'd much prefer everyone downloaded it (and hopefully after using it, donating), and ran it for themselves.
This is one of the easiest ways to recover from a hard disk disaster.
You don't need to be a computer guru to use it, and it can help make life so much easier when the brown stuff hits the fan.