Software & Apps Windows 58 58 people found this article helpful AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition v9.1 A Full Review of AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition by Tim Fisher General Manager, VP, Lifewire.com Tim Fisher has 30+ years' professional technology support experience. He writes troubleshooting content and is the General Manager of Lifewire. our editorial process Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tim Fisher Updated on December 28, 2020 Windows The Ultimate Laptop Buying Guide Tweet Share Email AOMEI Partition Assistant SE is a free disk partitioning software program with all the basic partitioning tools you'd expect, along with some advanced functions you won't find everywhere. Apart from the ability to copy, extend, resize, delete, and format partitions, one particularly interesting feature is the ability to create a bootable Windows PE OS that runs AOMEI Partition Assistant SE before Windows starts up. Download AOMEI Partition Assistant SE This review is of AOMEI Partition Assistant SE v9.1, which was released on December 24, 2020. Please let us know if there's a newer version we need to review. AOMEI Partition Assistant SE Pros & Cons There's much to like about Partition Assistant Standard Edition: Pros: Interface is easy to use and understandSupports most common partitioning tasksUses step-by-step wizards for quick task completionIs able to run before Windows startsAble to queue up lots of changes and then apply them at onceIncludes other useful drive tools Cons: Unable to convert dynamic disks to basic disksCan't convert between primary and logical partitionsAdditional features are included only in the Pro version More Information on AOMEI Partition Assistant SE Can be used in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XPA Windows PE bootable disc or USB device can be created with AOMEI Partition Assistant SE, and then used to manage partitions in the event that you can't start the operating system or if you want to avoid having to reboot after certain changesEverything you do in AOMEI Partition Assistant is queued and won't apply to the disks until you select Apply, after which all the operations will complete, one after the other in the order that you chose themCan extend the system partition without needing to reboot the computerResizing a partition is very easy because you can either enter the values in manually to define the partition size or slide a button left or right to make it smaller or largerTwo adjacent partitions can be merged into one with the easy using the Merge Partitions wizardA copy wizard lets you copy all the contents from one hard drive or partition, and put it on another; You're able to choose to copy just the data or to copy the whole drive/partition, sector by sector, including the free spaceYou can also migrate the operating system to a different hard drive, which is the same thing as the copy function but requires a rebootAll the partitions on a drive can be quickly removed with one clickNew partitions can have any of the following file systems set up: NTFS, FAT/FAT32, exFAT, EXT2/EXT3, or left unformattedA converter can change the file system to and from NTFS and FAT32 without erasing the dataIncludes a solid state drive (SSD) erase wizard so that you can set your SSD back to its factory default stateTwo partitions can be joined together as one without losing dataPartitions can be hidden as well as split into twoThe MBR can be rebuilt from scratchAn option lets AOMEI Partition Assistant SE shut down the computer when all editing has completedThe Partition Recovery Wizard can be used to attempt to restore lost or deleted partitionsSelect files and folders can be permanently removed with various data sanitization methods, including Write Zero, Random Data, DoD 5220.22-M, or GutmannA disk surface test can see if there are any damaged sectors on the diskYou're able to convert disks between MBR and GPTSupports changing the drive letter as well as the volume labelPartitions and hard drives can be wiped clean to remove all the dataChkdsk can be run against any partition to attempt to repair errors Thoughts on AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition We've used several free partitioning tools, and we have to say that we really like AOMEI Partition Assistant SE. Not only is the interface well thought-out and easy to use, but it also has all the basic, and advanced, features anyone would expect...all for free. One feature worth mentioning again is the Windows PE version of AOMEI Partition Assistant. With it, you set up partitions with ease even if you don't have an operating system installed. The program is the same as the one that runs in Windows but is instead launched from a disc or USB device, like a flash drive. You can build this Windows PE disc from the "Make Bootable Media" wizard, which lets you burn directly to a disc or USB device, as well as export the program to an ISO file, which you can then use in a virtual machine or burn to a disc or burn to a USB device yourself. Because there's also a professional version of AOMEI Partition Assistant, there are a handful of features that aren't available in this Standard Edition. Even so, there are still more useful tools in this free version than we've seen with other free disk partitioning programs. Download AOMEI Partition Assistant SE Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit