Analysis about Windows 8

 Since the release of Windows 7 on October 22, 2009, when Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer announced the release of newest Windows operating system – Windows 7, this operating system has won much popularity among computer users because of its distinguished performance, gorgeous interfaces, and higher security. It has become another master piece of Windows after Windows XP. When users are enjoying the brand new experience of Windows 7 and giving rather good reputation to it, Microsoft has given a piece of news to release the stronger Windows 8.

  

Speaking of Windows 8, many users who are enthusiastic about new products are familiar with it. Windows 8 has become the hottest topic at present because it is very likely to surpass the very popular Windows 7, and it is the symbol of Microsoft marching into operating system market of mobile devices like tablet PC. It is reported that Windows 8 is in testing phase, and in the middle of 2012, Microsoft will release this brand new operating system. At that time, the first tablet PC with Windows operating system will also be born. After reading this news, I think many royal fans of Windows operating systems will be rather excited. However, some sober users are worrying about the security of this new Windows operating system.

I have to admit it. With more and more frequent use of computers, the value of our data saved in computers keeps higher and higher. However, as Windows operating systems are always in the front line of defending computer viruses, many Windows users have encountered the situation of suffering from viruses. Sometimes Windows users win, but if they lose, terrible result will bring them down. That's why Windows has lost many users. I wonder if Windows 8 can change this situation.

  

It is said Windows 8 is improved very much in security. It has built-in anti-virus program, and data protection software running in Windows 7 is also perfectly compatible with Windows 8. Some experts predict that Windows 8 will become the most secure operating system at this age. We can see that Microsoft has prepared enough to fight against viruses. We can't predict which one of them will survive, but as common Windows users, we absolutely hope Windows will win. At the same time, we should do perfect virus defense work in computer.

  

How can we prepare for virus defense work as Windows 8 have not been released yet? In fact, we can prepare in advance before Windows 8 is released. Let me share my Windows 8 security solutions with you. Firstly, I prefer third-party anti-virus software instead of Windows 8 built-in anti-virus program.

  

Secondly, I will do well in backing up important data. As I can't realize backing up data anytime, I think it is better to employ a professional data recovery software in computer. Since software for Windows 7 is also compatible with Windows 8, I prefer the one I have always been using – MiniTool Power Data Recovery. It can help me recover lost data in time. With these methods, I think I can build a perfect data protection framework for Windows 8. Let's wait patiently for the coming of Windows 8.

  

These are my own opinions about preparation for Windows 8 data security protection. Welcome to discuss with me if you have any different views. We can share our ideas together so that we can avoid potential data disaster.

Is security of Windows really lower than MAC OS?

 A few days ago, I was browsing community sites in the office, and reading an article about security of Windows and MAC OS. It held the opinion that MAC computers had higher security than Windows so it was less likely to be attacked by virus. After reading, I felt it unfair for Windows operating systems. I tried to write something but I was on duty. So I continued reading the replies. I couldn't believe that most of them agreed about the opinion. But I knew they agreed because they didn’t know much about these two kinds of operating systems. I had to express myself as a senior user of both Windows and MAC OS.

  

Through some struggle, I decided to express my own opinions here. Firstly, I think the judgment that MAC OS is safer than Windows because MAC OS is less often attacked by virus is not fair for Windows. You should know that as Windows always occupies major part of operating system market and market share it holds is almost 90%, most computer viruses are aiming at Windows operating systems. The development of Windows viruses never stops. However, market share of MAC OS is much smaller than Windows, so MAC OS is not the main goal for hackers. This is also the main cause of MAC OS being seldom attacked by virus.

  

Some MAC user may say this isn't enough to prove Windows has better security than MAC OS. As a senior user of both these two operating systems, I want to say that it is hard to judge the security of them when they are newly developed. But as more and more attacks are aimed at Windows and more and more patches are added to Windows operating systems, leaks of Windows are getting less and less. On the contrary, MAC OS always stays away from virus attack so once it becomes the main goal of virus attack, leaks of it will be much more than Windows.

  

In addition, many computer users know that Windows has a very large third-party software market than any other operating systems have. When Windows operating systems are attacked by virus, there are many choices of anti-virus software to protect them. When important data is lost in Windows, there are various kinds of professional data recovery software like MiniTool Power Data Recovery for Windows users to recover lost data conveniently. It reduces the losses caused by virus as possible as it can. Nevertheless, MAC OS has no such rich choices. Not only choices of MAC anti-virus software are few, but finding a MAC data recovery software is also very difficult. Therefore, these factors all reduce the security of MAC data.

  

In conclusion, I think the view that MAC OS is safer than Windows only judged by the frequency of virus attack is very unfair. After using both of these two operating systems, I think Windows has stronger capability of solving problems than MAC OS. If I have to decide which one is better between them, I prefer Windows. These are only my own opinions. If you have any objections, welcome to discuss with me.

Why are so many people obsessed with Mac?

Macintosh, Apple computer sometimes, is also called Mac because Mac OS independently developed by Apple Inc. is installed. Since Mac is expensive and the Mac OS is incompatible with common PC hardware, Mac hasn't got poplar. But Mac still has a large number of fans. Why? Before answering the question, we should know something about Mac.

Mac OS X

Operating is the soul of a computer. Mac OS X based on Darwin kernel, the operating system in Mac, is enhanced in system stability, property and response speed. Through SMP, Mac OS X shows its advantages of Dual Processing and provides incomparable 2D, 3D and multimedia image properties and spread font support and integrated PDA function. in the aspect of processing graphs and images, Mac has much superiority unmatched by common PC. Seeing this point, you may have known why Mac is used in advertisement and printing industry. The Apple's minimalism is fully expressed in Mac OS. Compared with Windows operating system in PC, the interface of Mac is simple but magnificent and the operations are easy, highlighting the feature of man-machine interaction. But Mac OS is not compatible with Windows software, so users getting used to Windows operating system may be familiar with Mac after a long-time use.

Main hardware of Mac

Power Pc chip

Power PC chip adopted in Mac is RISC (Reduce Instruction Set Computing) chip while PC adopts CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) chip. Power PC operates via multiple pipeline control combining superscalar instruction set and CISC operates in the way of single thread.

CPU

Mac specialized CUP includes Power PC G3, Power PC G4 and Power PC G5, which are jointly designed and made for Apple computer by IBM, Motorola and other big enterprises. Power PC G4, in particular, is able to work with 128 bit operation. There is no CUP cooling fan in Power Mac G4, only a cooling fin equipped, so computer operating noisy is reduced. It suggests that Power PC has the advantages unmatched by Pentium and Thunderbird. Since 128 bit operation is adopted, the 64-bit CPU is too far behind to catch up with its speed. When graphics software is operated, Mac operating speed can be improved manyfold. Therefore, in people's mind, Mac is another name of specialized use of graphics and images and its floating point arithmetic ability is far higher than PC.

Mainboard

The mainboard adopted by Mac is fitted out with 64-bit PCI slot of 33MHz, two external IEEE 1394 400Mbps FireWire interfaces, built-in 10/100 Base-T network card, 56K Modern and 4 DIMM memory slots.

Hard disk

The file system used in Mac hard disk partition is HFS+ and it can only read NTFS partition.

Appearance

The appearance of Mac is translucent, which seems elegant. iMac G3 is epoch-making, integrating the main engine and displayer perfectly, with the polychrome semitransparent  colors, popularizing quickly all over the world. Mac of fashionable appearance is like work of art, which is the main reason for many young men being obsessional about Mac.

In conclusion, Mac has big difference from PC of Windows operating system no matter in software or hardware. Its entire property and the beautiful appearance are far better than PC, so we can take it for granted that Mac has been admired by many persons. Although Mac has strong practical utility, users will encounter many troubles when using Mac because Windows applications are incompatible. For example, if data loss occurs in Mac due to accidental operations or some other reasons, what should we do when data recovery software is not in support of Mac?  The professional Mac data recovery software MiniTool Mac Data Recovery is recommended, which runs under Mac perfectly. This free Mac data recovery software is equipped with four function modules and the module Digital Media Recovery is specially designed to recover photos, videos and audios. If you are using Mac, please download, just in case.

How to solve the problem of too many partitions

  

I wonder if you have ever experienced the same problem with me. After knowing about multiple partitions can realize saving different kinds of data by classifications, I have created many partitions in my computer disk. Too many partitions in the disk will bring troubles. We should change this situation so that we can avoid potential troubles.

  

With long time using, too many partitions will show its disadvantages. As there are too many partitions, single partition size will be very small. And with time passing by, some partitions will be short of space. What's more, even multiple partitions help us store data by classifications, but it is still troublesome to find a certain file among so many partitions. The situation of too many partitions is not good for computer using.

  

With this introduction, I believe you have already realized the problem in your own computer. How can we solve this problem? Repartitioning the disk might be a solution, but it needs to delete all partitions in the disk, and it means all data will be lost. Nobody wants to bear the serious data loss disaster. This solution is unpractical.

  

Can we rely on built-in disk management tool? Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 built-in disk management tools have Shrink Partition and Extend Partition functions. Can we use these functions to realize decreasing partition number? The answer is negative, because built-in disk management tool can only resize a single partition, but not decrease partition number.

  

Since deleting partition is not practical, and built-in disk management tool can't realize decreasing partition number, how can we solve the problem? Professional partition magic can be the best solution. With the constant development of software technology, most kinds of partition magic have the function of Merge Partition. This function is very useful to decrease partition number. As long as you own a professional partition management software like MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can solve the problem easily.

  

Maybe some users will worry that using partition magic to merge partitions will cause file damage or loss. In fact, it is true. But as long as you never download unprofessional software or software with low security, but try professional and famous MiniTool Partition Wizard, data damage or loss will never happen to you. Therefore, while choosing partition management software, you should be very careful.

At last, I hope my advices will help you when necessary.

MAC virus and its damage

 As the top level products of computer industry, MAC computers definitely have higher security than other kinds of computers. For MAC users, they don't worry about being attacked by virus or malicious programs, causing serious damage. But this situation has only kept for a short time when MAC computers are firstly released. With the constantly developing of MAC computers, more and more hackers are coveting MAC operating systems. Therefore, MAC security has been challenged. The fact has proved that MAC computers are likely to be attacked as well. Let's get to know about MAC viruses in recent years.

l         In 2004, a piece of worm virus named "Renepo" aiming at MAC OS X spread very widely. This virus tried to invalidate system security settings of MAC, and then download a remote control tool in order to let hackers perform damage. It is very dangerous.

l         In 2006, Leap-A virus (also named Oompa-A virus) emerged. It spread through iChat program. Once a MAC computer is infected with this virus, it will automatically search the contact list and send messages to contacts with a broken jpeg file.

  

l         In 2007, a new form of Trojan, OSX.RSPlug.A, broke through a big security defect of MAC OS. When users click on the images of an illegal website to watch the videos, there will be a message telling users that QuickTime Player needs updating. At this time, Trojan will download and install itself automatically according to users' computer configurations. This Trojan will install it with root permission (the highest level permission) so that it is not limited by account passwords. It changes DNS server settings of Mac system with scutil order to attract users to phishing sites.

l         In 2010, OSX/Pinhead, also named "HellRTS", pretended as a component of iPhoto to spread. It tried to open the back door so that hackers could remotely control and inject malicious code.

These are only a few examples of MAC virus in recent years. You can figure that MAC is not as secure as you imagine. MAC computers are not that strong against viruses and will be attacked by viruses as well. Data loss is the most common result of virus attack, and data loss brings users economic losses. You will never want to bear the losses.

  

In fact, facing data loss caused by virus attack, we still have many good solutions to reduce the loss. As long as we own MAC data recovery software, we can realize MAC data recovery easily. But choices of professional MAC data recovery software are really few. Some kinds of MAC data recovery software are so expensive that not many users are willing to choose them. However, with the constant development of software industry, professional MAC data recovery such as MiniTool Mac Data Recovery that is specially designed for MAC data recovery has been released. It provides users with free MAC data recovery service.

  

At last, I want to remind MAC users that we should do perfect virus defense work as well. In addition, keeping a professional MAC data recovery software in MAC is still rather necessary.

Ten Apple missteps in 2011

The IT website, eWeek has written an article listing the ten missteps of Apple in 2011 that surprised the mobile market in 2011. Battery problem of iPhone 4S and Siri function are on the list.

  

It writes that Apple has reached a great success, and its legions of fans believe Apple will never do wrong. Even though some critics cite important faults of Apple as evidences, Apple fans still brush those claims off. Actually, they understand that no matter how great an enterprise is, its growing process is always full of setbacks and missteps.

  

Since the beginning of this year, Apple has made several missteps. Even though they did not affect the financial position of Apple Inc., they should still be paid attention to. Apple fans should know that not every decision of Apple is perfect. The following ten points are the missteps of Apple in 2011.

  

1. The iPad 2's missing 4G: incompatibility of iPad 2 with 4G network is the big oversight of Apple. iPad 2 is a kind of mobile product. Users absolutely are willing to connect it to network on the road. If iPad 2 is added with 4G function, it can attract users who want faster mobile browsing.

2. Battery issue of iPhone 4S: endurance of iPhone 4S battery has always been a poignant issue, but this hasn't affected the popularity of iPhone 4S. Apple should have discovered and solved the problem before iPhone 4S is released.

3. Defects of Siri function: though the decision of adding Siri to iPhone 4S is smart, this function is not as perfect as Apple advertised. For instance, complex questions might lead to Siri system crash.

  

4. Display of iPhone is too small: it is reported that Apple will equip iPhone 5 with larger screen. This idea is great but only a little bit late. Looking around the whole mobile industry, most mobile manufacturers have released smart phones with large screen of 4 inch. But iPhone 4S only has a 3.5 inch screen.

5. Location tracking flub: a great effort has been made by Apple to let users forget iPhone location tracking flub at the beginning of this year. The effort also brings certain achievement, but it is still the big misstep of Apple.

  

6. No major update of iPhone: before announcing the release of iPhone 4S, everyone thinks Apple will release iPhone 5. What is disappointing is that Apple only released iPhone 4S which has no major update.

7. Patent lawsuits: Apple has been engaged in patent disputes with Samsung globally. Though Apple has won several cases, Samsung also hasn't lost much. In other words, they're at a deadlock. Maybe it is high time that Apple give up.

  

8. Limitations of iCloud: Apple iCloud has won a great opening, but this service still has many limitations; for example, it doesn't support transmitting video content or music from the cloud.

9. A boring Tim Cook presentation: on the news conference of iPhone 4S, Tim Cook should have shown himself with a great image of capable CEO, but he only spent little time on the stage. Such boring debut goes against to improve his impression to shareholders.

  

10. Continuing to ignore Apple TV: Family entertainment is an industry with potentially multi-billion dollar. But Apple has never sought too far in this filed. Though Apple has released Apple TV last year, Apple still has no intention to explore deeper into this industry. This is a big mistake.

  

After reading about these missteps, I believe most Apple fans will not take them as defects of Apple. As an old user of Apple products, I think Apple does have many missteps. Besides the above ten, I think Apple still has compatibility problem. Taking data recovery software as example, there are multiple choices for PC, but choices of Mac data recovery software are rather few. I have been employing MiniTool Mac Data Recovery, and I have never found other kinds of professional and comprehensive data recovery software for Mac data recovery anymore. I really hope Apple can do better in its compatibility so that we will have more choices of software.

Tragedy of using built-in disk management tool to extend partition

 When using computer, most users have encountered the situation of low partition free space. Besides changing disk, we can choose the only solution – extend partition. It is not an easy thing to extend partition without third-party partition magic. We can only delete the partition behind the target partition, and then use built-in command prompt tool to extend partition. The whole process is complex and is in high risk. I advise you to avoid using built-in tools to extend partition. Otherwise you will probably meet the same tragedy of mine, causing a large amount of data loss.

  

I was on a holiday and resting at home. I was to play the computer game I had been always playing after getting up. I found the game needed updating so I downloaded a patch on the official website. After downloading, I realized the free partition space was very low and even affected game running. At last, I decided to extend this partition.

  

As I had no third-party partition management software, so I tried to use built-in disk management tool to perform extending operation. I deleted a partition that had no important files, and then used command prompt tool to extend partition. At the beginning, everything seemed fine, but when I was ready to execute the operations, my computer suddenly crashed. After rebooting, I found the partition saving my game was lost. I was very worried and called my friend to ask for help. Fortunately, he was on a holiday, too. So he came to my home to help me.

I told him everything that had happened, and he started to help me recover the lost partition. He downloaded a software named MiniTool Partition Wizard, and then after a few minutes, my lost partition was recovered. I thought the software was so magical and asked him about it. He told me it was free partition magic and it could do perfect disk and partition management work in computer. For example, I could also use it to extend partition without damaging data. He taught me how to manage disk and partition well with MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Since my friend has helped me about the accident, I have learned about using this software to manage my disk and partition of my computer. The effect is very obvious. It has helped me solve all problems of disk management. As a beneficiary of this software, I strongly advise you to try it if you are also in trouble of disk management.

Trojan that can decrypt files

 If we have left our keys inside the house, we would ask professional craftsmen for help to open the door. With special tools, craftsmen can open the door easily. This magical technology is picked up by Trojan. There is a kind of Trojan stealing secret keys and it is widely spreading through the Internet. According to the analysis of security experts, this kind of Trojan is aimed at public keys ring and secret keys ring of PGP encryption software. You should know that PGP is the most common encryption software that many confidential institutions and business companies are employing, including United States Department of Defense.

  

Security experts have said that "Unlocking Trojan" spreads through mails. Once receiver opens the attachment, Trojan will inquire ten types of files in computer automatically: doc, docx, txt, xls, xlsx, pdf, ppt, pps, PKR, and SKR, and then send the file information to the appointed server of hackers. The first 8 kinds of files are common official documents. PKR and SKR files are Public Keys Ring and Secret Keys Ring. That means the keys of our doors.

  

If PKR and SKR files are acquired by "Unlock Trojan", it means all encrypted files by PGP in the computer will be accessed by hackers. "Unlock Trojan" even collects all IP addresses, MAC addresses, and computer names of infected computers, and spreads aiming at specific goals by mails. It carries obvious business spy characters and is very dangerous.

  

It is said that business Trojan programs like "Unlocking Trojan" are many. As common computer users, we should be very careful about business Trojan. There are some advices for you to avoid business Trojan:

  

1. Put the website addresses of spy software into the shielding list by yourself or by using software.

2. Update Windows operating systems in time, and download patches for leaks of Internet Explorer.

3. Do not receive mails from unknown sources, nor open the attachments.

4. Install a powerful anti-virus software, and switch on real time monitoring function.

5. Partition disk reasonably, and wipe data that are useless or transferred regularly.

Do you feel puzzled about the fifth point? You may think that partition management has nothing to do with defending business Trojan. Actually, it is not correct. Partition management can be efficient for defending Trojan. You should know that everyday there will emerge a large number of Trojan programs. When some computers have been attacked by new Trojan program, we should send the information to anti-virus software manufacturers, and then the manufacturers can add the information to virus database so that anti-virus software is able to find and kill this kind of Trojan.

  

It means that in a long period of time after new Trojan is born, anti-virus software is not able to find or kill it. At this time, reasonable partition shows its necessity. It is because even if your computer is attacked by Trojan, reasonable partition keeps Trojan from invading all disk spaces, leaving enough time for you to transfer data or scan and kill virus.

  

If you feel difficult to partition the disk reasonably because built-in disk management tool has many disadvantages about partition management, you should rely on professional third-party partition magic to help you manage disk and partition. It is strongly suggested to use MiniTool Partition Wizard. It has very powerful and comprehensive partition management functions. Its Wipe Data function allows users to wipe data thoroughly so that you can do the fifth suggested points as the above, avoiding many troubles.

Potential safety hazard of Windows 8

Recently, topics about Windows 8 on the Internet are emerging incessantly. And Microsoft seems to have non-stop topics about Windows 8. Not too long ago, Microsoft has shown that Windows 8 security is much better than any previous operating systems because of Windows Defender, IE, and improvement on operating system core. Security experts from all over the world have all shown their approval.

  

Is Windows 8 really more secure than Windows 7? Maybe it is, but no matter how secure the operating system is, it still has its potential safety hazards. Let's see what safety hazards Windows 8 has:

1. Applications: like Mac OS X Lion, Windows 8 will have its own application market. It is a good thing for users and application developers. But do not forget that history has shown that security problem is always from applications.

  

2. Adobe Flash: co-founder of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs has said that his decision of not adding Flash into iOS is correct. Adobe Flash is one of main causes of Mac OS X security problem. It is very likely that Adobe Flash will become the serious safety hazard of Windows 8.

3. Facebook: even Windows 8 is very safe, but it can't escape from the security problem from social network. Take Facebook which owns 8 million users for example, there are multibillion pieces of content shared everyday. It is inevitable that malicious programs take advantage of this opportunity to attack the computers. Moreover, users always hold very weak consciousness about defense. Few users will check if the source is safe before clicking the link. This is also a serious problem for Windows 8 users.

4. Email threat: Email is the breeding ground of malicious programs. Spam mails will send malicious websites. What is worse is that files from mail attachments may lead to system crash. Though Microsoft has shown that Windows 8 can defend malicious mails efficiently, but who knows if it is.

5. Attack aiming at tablet PC: the most important breakthrough of Windows 8 is its compatibility with tablet PC. But with the popularity of tablet PC, more and more hackers are turning their goals towards tablet PC. This means Windows 8 will become the main goal of many hackers. Let's see whether Windows 8 is able to defend these attacks.

6. IE browser: IE has always been the weakest point that is most likely to be attacked. When Windows 8 is released, Microsoft has shown that a series of defense methods are added to IE to protect its security. And Microsoft has made online test that shows IE is much safer than Chrome and Firefox. IE is able to defend outside attacks but we can't say it is absolutely safe from attacks.

  

These are only my own opinions about potential safety hazards about Windows 8. I have got a conclusion that when using Windows 8, we should always prepare anti-virus software as well as data recovery software. Why should we prepare data recovery software? Actually, it is very important for users who have important data saved in the computer disk. A professional and excellent data recovery software can not only help us recover lost data caused by virus attack, but also solve other data loss problems. For example, the one I have always been using – MiniTool Power Data Recovery, has helped me a lot to perform data recovery work when soft fault happens.

Mac is in danger!!

With the keeping increase of Apple product market share, hackers spying on Mac users become more and more. Although Apple had suggested that Mac users build security arrangement as far back as in 2002, many years of the publicity of Mac being absolute safe from Apple has made many users firmly believe that Mac is security, so they don't take any protecting measures before they are attacked by hackers.

Mac operating system is based on Unix, so the security of basic code has been proved by time. And Sandboxie is used to quarantine applications and process in order to limit file accessing and operations executed by programs. It is harder for malicious software to access other applications, create and use other data. but compared with Windows, the structure of Mac operating system is much easier to allow attackers to attach executable code to the currently trusted applications, so hackers can add malicious programs to the trusted applications. The application seems worth of trust, but if it operates, the malicious program will boot at the same time and Mac users are threatened.

Although applications are annoying, the main point taken advantage of by attacker is from Mac users themselves who have less safety awareness than Windows users. Malicious programs aimed at Mac are mostly from the third-party software and software based on Java. Mac Trojans, which are known to all, are often disguised as seed on BitTrrent or implanted to Website as a needed download link or plug-in for some attracting videos. For example, currently popular variation virus of OSX/Flashback.A has tried to install itself by using the two known Java defects. If the two defects can not be used, it will attempt the third method, deceiving users into confirming the installation. Its little program will prevent to be a self-signature certification released by Apple. Users may click "Continue" to install the Trojan without getting detailed information of the program owing to the trust to Apple. Now, our Mac is not safe any more.

However, in daily Mac use, we should pay much attention to Mac security, treating Mac like Windows. We are supposed to install excellent anti-virus software and set the Firewall. And enterprises ought to build hardware firewall and security system. If data are lost after malicious, the professional Mac data recovery software MiniTool Mac Data Recovery can be used to recover lost data, reducing loss caused by malicious as much as possible.

If you haven't paid enough attention to Mac, you can do nothing but regret after it is invaded. It is due to the same reason that the serious Worm.Blaster brought irreparable loss all over the world. If you are using Mac for work or entertainment, strict security arrangement is necessary. And if Mac data are lost, timely Mac data recovery is also needed.

How to change FAT 32 to NTFS without losing data?

With the development of computer technology, some file systems can not support large files because of their own defects. For instance, game programs are becoming larger and larger for the sake of more gorgeous operation interface, and they can not be stored in our computers, perhaps. Many users may consider that there is something wrong with hardware configuration. Actually it hardware configuration is not the only matter to blame. The file system of the partition where the software is installed may not support the files which are so large. At this time, we need to convert file system of the partition. File system is a system responsible for organizing and allocating file memory space, storing files and protecting and retrieving the stored files. File systems can be classified into FAT, NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, HFS, HFS+, etc and every file system has its own features. If the file system is FAT32, we need to convert FAT32 to NTFS in order to store files more than 4 GB, because the maximum file that FAT32 support is 4GB. But the maximum file supported by NTFS is 64GB. Therefore, we should convert FAT32 to NTFS to store files more than 4GB.

NTFS - the best choice
What's the difference between FAT32 and NTFS? Why should we convert FAT32 to NTFS? Is there any benefit? As a matter of fact, compared with FAT32, the significant feature of NTFS is security. NTFS guarantees the security of server or workstation. Meanwhile, NTFS is a restorable file system which possesses self-repairing function, so NTFS partition users hardly run disk repair program. When system failure occurs, NTFS will automatically recover file system consistency with log files and checkpoint information. Moreover, we can set permission authorities for sharing resources, files and folders. In addition, NTFS adopts smaller cluster, which improve disk space management efficiency. It also provides functions like disk compression, data encryption, disk quota, dynamic disk management and so on. Therefore, many users would like to convert FAT32 to NTFS. Then how to convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data? Complicated commands are needed if we convert FAT32 to NTFS with the function built in operating system. For users who are not familiar with command operations, it is difficult and bothering because partition data losses may be resulted from careless operations. However, there is an alternative solution. With the professional partition magic, MiniTool Partition Wizard, we can convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data.

Professional partition magic-MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is not only able to convert FAT32 to NTFS, but also copy partition, merge partition, create partition and resize partition, etc. Many users use this partition magic to manage partitions and successfully convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data because the partition magic operation is simple.

First, launch the partition magic and the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard will be shown. We can see some partition information including file system, partition size, partition use information, etc.



In this interface, take Partition F: for an example. If we want to convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data, select Partition F: and click "Convert FAT to NTFS" in "Operations" area to enter the conversion interface.



Click "Start" to convert FAT32 to NTFS. Wait for a while, and converting FAT 32 to NTFS without losing data will be finished.

In the demonstration, only that convert FAT32 to NTFS by employing the function "Convert FAT to NTFS" is introduced. The partition magic MiniTool Partition Wizard also has many other functions of partition management. It is the best tool for users to optimize disk partition. The partition magic and more related information can be got on the official website http://www.partitionwizard.com.

How to convert to dynamic disk and how to convert dynamic disk to basic disk?

The concept of dynamic disk was put forward when Windows 2000 was released and this style of disk is superior to basic disk. Dynamic disk is able to help users realize management of multiple disks. We can create different types of volumes and the single volume is not limited by the space of single disk. Besides, dynamic disk has relatively larger capacity, and it is beneficial to improving operation speed of computer and accessing speed of file. Furthermore, volumes in dynamic disk facilitate protecting data information. It is due to these advantages that dynamic disk style is used in most Servers. But for common users, dynamic disk is unfamiliar. As a matter of fact, converting basic disk to dynamic disk can be easily carried out with built-in disk management tool.



Firstly, right click "Computer" and select "Manage" in the popping up menu bar to enter management interface. Then in the interface of "Server Manager", find and unfold "Storage". Next, click "Disk Management" to get the interface of Disk Management.



From the picture, it can be seen there are several disks in the computer and they are all basic disks. At this time, right click any disk and select "Convert to Dynamic Disk" in the popping up menu bar to get the next interface.



In this interface, select the disk that will be converted to dynamic disk. We will select four disks and click "OK". Then click "Continue" according to the prompt information to finish converting basic disk to dynamic disk.



Returning to the disk management interface, we can see all disks have been converted to dynamic disk from basic disk, which is so simple.

Convert to Basic Disk
Seeing the above operations, many users can not help converting the only basic disk to dynamic disk, but after conversion, the merits mentioned above can not be experienced. However, those advantages only find expression in multiple disks. If there is only one disk and it is converted to dynamic disk, we can only create simple volume instead of creating other kinds of volumes like spanned volume, but simple volume has no big difference from partition in basic disk. And that kind of conversion is more inconvenient for users to manage disk, for we can hardly operate dynamic disk and most disk manager software doesn't support dynamic disk management, unless we use MiniTool Partition Wizard; but we only can create simple volume in such a situation. Therefore, it is reminded that if there are several disks in the computer, it is suggested to convert basic disk to dynamic disk for the sake of convenient use and management. But for single disk, basic disk style is recommended. Seeing this article, maybe some users have already converted the only disk to dynamic disk, but it is rather difficult to convert dynamic disk to basic disk with built-in disk management tool. We can right click the dynamic disk in the disk management interface and the following interface will be shown.



In the picture, although the built-in disk management tool has the function "Convert to Basic Disk", it is not operable. Why? This is the defect of the built-in disk management tool. We can not convert dynamic disk to basic disk with it unless there is no volume in the disk. Thus, to convert dynamic disk to basic disk with system built-in disk management tool, all volumes should be deleted. If there is only one disk in the computer, we can not delete the volume where the system is. At this time, we are facing a big dilemma. Is there any other method for conversion? Yes. We can use the dynamic disk manager MiniTool Partition Wizard to convert dynamic disk to basic disk.



In the main interface, select any dynamic disk and the option "Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic" will appear in the left "Operations" area. Click the option and then click "Apply". Now the dynamic disk manager prompts us to restart the computer. In the restarting process, this dynamic disk management software will perform all operations automatically and after the computer is restarted, dynamic disk is converted to basic disk successfully. In the entire process, data files will not be damaged or lost, neither will the disk where system volume. This is the powerful function "Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic" of the dynamic disk manager, MiniTool Partition Wizard. For more other information, please visit the website http://www.partitionwizard.com.

What is Partition Magic 9?

Partition Magic is a software in the partition management with a long history. Partition Magic 9.0 is its most recent release.

About Partition Magic

Partition Magic is a computer program for hard disk drive partitioning originally made by the Power Quest Corporation but now owned by Symantec. The program runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems (only 2000 and XP, not Vista) or from a bootable CD-ROM and enables creation and modification of partitions. Existing partitions can be resized without loss of data.

We can clearly see that Partition Magic has some limitations in terms of the operating systems that it supports. What's more, it is not a free software. You would probably spend about $60 for the Partition Magic if you were to purchase it.

So, Partition Magic is not the best partition management solution out there.

Here is the industry-leading Partition Manager developed by MT Solution.

Partition Wizard

As the industry leading partition manager, Partition Wizard provides users with safe, easy and fast solutions to partition management.

With MiniTool Partition Manager, you can Move/Resize Partition, Merge Partition, Change Cluster Size, Copy Partition, Create Partition, Delete Partition, Format Partition, Convert File System, Hide/Unhide Partition, Explore Partition, Partition Recovery, Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk and much more.

Partition Wizard is a Windows based FREE Partition Manager. It supports Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 server and Windows 7.

By using MiniTool Partition Manager, home users, Professional users, system administrators can easily perform partition operations safely and quickly. The Enhanced Data Protecting technology keeps your data safe even in case of power outages or hardware failure. Even better, Partition Wizard is FREE for home and Professional.

It is amazing. So do not hesitate to go to the website for more information. http://www.partitionwizard.com.

How to resize a partition on Windows XP?

In daily computer use, we often encounter the situation that partition is oversized or undersized. Disk partition is completed with the installation of operating system and we have no idea about future specific data storage, so we have to partition disk according to experience and judgment. However, as time goes on, the previous partitions can not satisfy our data storage demands. We usually resize partition to meet our requirements under this condition. As many computer users like me are not very familiar with computer, only knowing that disk partition is realized in the process of installing operating system, we have acquired the misconception that only by reinstalling operating system can we repartition disk.

When first using computer, I always turned to the professional serviceman of the maintenance point because I could not install operating system. And he partitioned disk incidentally when installing operating system. Knowing noting about computer, I had that misconception mentioned above. And after a long time, the running speed of my computer became slower and slower. I did not know what the matter was, only thinking about reinstalling operating system. Therefore, I asked the serviceman for help again. He told me that this problem had nothing to do with system. I had installed too much software in system partition C;, which led to lack of space in Partition C:. This would cause slow operation of the system or computer down. When I asked whether we could only solve this problem by reinstalling operating system, he corrected my mistake. The third-party partition magic such as MiniTool Partition Wizard can help us manage partitions at any time.

After back home, I searched the software name on the internet, finding this partition magic which is from Canada. I downloaded the free home edition on the official website. After installing it, I began to resize Partition C:. According to the demonstrations on the official website and the software prompts in the operation, I shrunk Partition F: and extended the unallocated space to Partition C:. Having expanding Partition C:, I rebooted computer and its run speed became normal. This software is humanized. When resizing partition, we can not only input accurate value, but also drag the control bar, which is very useful for us who know little about computer. 

In the process of learning computer knowledge, I find some difficult problems become simple after we know the principle. Therefore, I suggest that all computer users acquire some knowledge of computer and related software so as to apply and manage our computers better.

How to recover lost partition?

It is reported that some users had encountered a strange situation. After installing Windows 7 Beta, some users complain that the original system partition is lost and users of dual guidance system or multiple operating systems also have the same plaint. The specific phenomenon is that partitions in Windows XP or Windows Vista disappear under Windows 7 Beta. And disk management tool is displayed as blank space without letter or properties.

This report was paid high attention and many users of multiple operating systems began to worry. It is a horrible matter if partition is lost. Because the consequence brought by partition loss is more serious than that caused data loss. We may not only be bothered with data loss in the whole partition, but we may also suffer serious financial losses caused by data loss. Therefore, how to retrieve the lost partition without data loss is an emergency for all users.

If installing windows 7 Beta lead to partition loss, most users will firstly think disk management tool built in operating system when encountering the above situation. But the disk management tool can't recover lost partition. So we have to choose the third-party software to restore data. There are so much data recovery software in the market, It is difficult for us to select one for much software can't really recover partition. Even though some can, they can not retrieve all data in the lost partition.

Restoring lost partition is an urgent thing. How to restore partition without data loss? Which software should we use? Many users are lost when facing so many questions. In order to settle this confusion, the specialist recommends MiniTool Partition Wizard for us.

The ordinary partition management software may not give the result which we look forward to. Nowadays, information is money. No matter partition loss or data loss in partition, we can not afford it. It is very difficult to recover partition perfectly if there is no good data recovery software. Fortunately, we have got MiniTool Partition Wizard. Now recovering data is a simple task. You just need several operations according to the software instructions. When you unfold “ Computer”, you will find that the lost partition has been restored without any data loss.

When users of multiple operating systems install Windows 7 Beta, you'd better not install it in the same partition with Windows Vista or Windows XP. So you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard to create new partitions to store several operating systems, which can guarantee smooth installation and normal run of every system.

How to deleted data thoroughly?

What measure do you often take to delete the unnecessary data in your computer? Can you ensure that deleted data can not be restored by data recovery software? If you can’t, I will introduce the most powerful method for data wipe.

The most powerful method? You may have doubt about it. Data wipe, in most people’s mind, is to delete the undesired data directly. And we do this operation everyday. Positively, deleting data is a simple task, but how to make data in computer disappear forever? Few people can make it. With the development of data recovery technology, the ways we take to delete data are not strong enough for us to prevent data leak. As far as I know, the software MiniTool Power Data Recovery can retrieve all deleted data in you daily operations. If you think formatting partition can eliminate data thoroughly, you are totally wrong; if you think deleting partition can make it, you are wrong, either. Not a data recovery professional, just you, if you are familiar with computer operation, and MiniTool Power Data Recovery can restore all your deleted data. Why? Because the way by which you delete the data is not the most powerful. No matter deleting data through recycle bin, formatting data or deleting partition, these ways are small cases for MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

Users who know the principle of data recovery may know the reason why MiniTool Power Data Recovery can regain the deleted data. When deleting data, we operate on file allocation table recording data information instead of operating on data directly. The operating system only marks the corresponding index file with a “deleted” sign, so we and the operating system are misled and think that the data has been deleted from the computer. And MiniTool Power Data Recovery makes full use of this principle to restore data. Similarly, it uses the same way to retrieve formatted data and deleted partition data. We can’t wipe data thoroughly unless we operate on data area directly. Otherwise, MiniTool Power Data Recovery may restore all deleted data except data that is overwritten.

Therefore, I sum up several ways to wipe data thoroughly. Since we can completely eliminate data by covering it, we just need to write new data into the partition after we delete some important files. So I often copy plenty of junk files to the partition until it was full filled. This method proves effective by repeating tests. Even MiniTool Power Data Recovery can not retrieve the data. If you are not ensured yet, you can perform this operation repeatedly.

I used to take this method to delete important data in computer. Later on I found this way had been taken by others and it was simpler. A few years ago, MiniTool Partition Wizard had possessed the function for wiping partition and disk and the working principle is similar to my operation. Both eliminate data by repeating wipe and write. However, MiniTool Partition Wizard is more superior to me. It provides five ways to wipe data. It is worthy of the name” the most powerful specialist for data wipe”

How to hide a partition and its advantages and disadvantages

I have ever done some tests on the hidden partition in Windows 7. And the test reveals that the hidden partition format is NTFS without volume label and letter. Its disk statuses are system, active, primary partition. It can not be seen because it has no letter. But this hidden partition of 100MB (200MB in Bata Edition) is very important to Windows 7 as it stores information of system boot files and disk boot sectors. If it is lost, the consequence will be disastrous for Windows 7. Therefore, storing the boot file of Windows 7 in the hidden partition improves Windows 7 security beyond any doubt and prevents artificial damage or damage caused by virus, for the hidden can only be modified or deleted in DOS interface. So many users are concerned about how to hide partition with important files or privacy.

To hide partition, we only need some partition magic. MiniTool Partition Wizard, released by the professional software development company MiniTool Solution Ltd., is some professional disk management software. It can hide partition to improve partition security. And the hidden partition is not displayed in the explorer. When need files in hidden, we can explore it with MiniTool Partition Wizard. Although the operation is a little complicated, it is necessary for users who want to hide partition to avoid data leak. We can apply MiniTool Partition Wizard to create a new partition to store the important data and then hide the new partition though the “Hide Partition” function. This operation is not only in favor of anti-virus, but also can guarantee data security.

However, hidden partition also has some disadvantages. Some brand computers use hidden partition to store hardware drivers and these drivers always occupy a lot of space. If disk space is not enough, we can back up them in the optical disk and delete them to release hidden partition space. However, many manufactures also store some operating system back up in the hidden partition. When recover system, we need to download much installation software and update software, so the system backup is useless and wasteful. So we can delete the hidden partition and merge it into Partition C: before deleting the hidden partition in Windows 7, we have to set C: as active partition and copy all data of the hidden partition to Partition C: otherwise, we can not boot operating system after the deletion.

We can hide partition according to our demands. If we attach importance to security, we can put all important in one partition and hide. If we pay much attention to disk space, we can delete the unessential hidden partition to release space.