Partedmagic

Parted Magic is a Linux distribution used to partitioning, data recovery as well as other data related forensics operations. It is mainly packaged as an ISO tool which can be burned to a CD/DVD or USB flash drive and booted live without need for installation. It is mainly based on GNU Gparted and PartitionMagic packages. Although Parted Magic is a commercial Software, it is very essential for recovery and every geek should be familiar with it.

In this tutorial, I will take you through the entire parted Magic operations from creating bootable media, booting up, partitioning, data recovery etc.

Creating a Bootable Media.

1. Let us start by getting a copy of the PartedMagic ISO by navigating to the official Website. https://partedmagic.com/store/
2. Next, we need to burn the partedMagic ISO to a CD or USB. For this tutorial, I will illustrate using a USB drive. You can use tools such as PowerISO (on Windows) or K3B (For Linux).
3. Download a USB bootable media creation tool. Open the following to download balenaEtcher. https://sourceforge.net/projects/etcher.mirror/
4. Install the application - Works for Both Mac, Windows and Linux systems and launch it.
5. Ensure your USB drive is connected and visible under Devices* Tab in balenaEtcher.
6. Select the PartedMagic iso to burn. If you have multiple USB drives connected, select the correct one and click Flash
7. ALL THE DATA STORED IN THE DRIVE WILL BE ERASED - BACKUP IMPORTANT CONTENT
8. Wait until the Flash process is completed and we can boot into PartedMagic.

Booting Up PartedMagic

1. To use PartedMagic, we need to boot into it like a Normal OS.
2. Reboot your Machine and Press the Boot Key - Check this site for your bootup key: https://www.disk-image.com/faq-bootmenu.htm
3. This will push you the PartedMagic Boot up Menu. There are various options and operations that can be performed. However, we want to but up into PartedMagic Interface.
4. Select the Live with Default Settings 64
5. This will bootup the OS and you will get to the PartedMagic Desktop Environment.

6. Once in the desktop, you can perform tasks such as partitioning disks, cloning, erasing and also surfing the web.

Using GParted

One of the common tools available in the PartedMagic Toolset is GParted. It allows us to perform changes to disks and partitions. For example, we can use it to create a partition for a Linux system installation. In this section, we will cover how to use GParted to partition a disk.

DISCLAIMER: For Learning Purposes, DO NOT try this on a Drive with Sensitive data incase of DATA LOSS. We take no responsibility to any data loss that may occur due to instructions given on this tutorial. Ensure to BACK UP YOUR DATA

We will partition an existing disk and create a new partition which we can use to install a Linux distribution. We will not be formatting the partition. Unless you are an advanced Linux user, stick to Resizing a Partition and not moving the begging on a Windows installation.

After performing disk changes with GParted, it is recommended to preform a disk check to fix any errors that may prevent your installation to bootup.

1. Once the desired disk has been selected, this will reload the disk displaying all the information about the disk such as Partitions, Filesystem, Partition Tables etc.
2. This will launch the Resive/Move /dev/sd_ dialog box.
3. At this point, you can specify the free space which the resized partition should be. For ease of use Use the colored indicator to resize. the partition. Ensure to leave adequate free space on the existing partition.
4. . Resizing partition creates an unallocated disk space which we can use to perform tasks install a new Linux OS. You can perform the partitioning while installing the OS or create them using GParted. For the sake of this tutorial, we will not create the Filesystem.

. To view the log of the recently performed operations, select View Details options.

GParted will apply all the pending operations. It will display the progress as it occurs and display the Applying Pending Operations complete dialog window.

Complete the specified operation to the disks by selecting the Apply option on the main menu. If you are performing tasks a disk with data. Ensure you are comfortable with the changes before applying.

Once you are satisfied with the size allocated to the partition, Click on Resize and this will close the dialog box and back to the GParted main window. Gparted will display changes that have been performed to the disk but not applied.

Now, select the partition you wish to resize and right click. Select Resize/Move option. If you have multiple partitions, select the partition which is at the end making it easy to reattach the partition if desired.

This will automatically launch GParted and list all the available disks. Select the target disk from the main menu. By default, GParted select the first disk from the list of the connected devices. Choose the desired disk from the drop down menu.

Start by booting up PartedMagic. Once in the desktop Launch GParted by selecting Partition Editor in the desktop.

Formatting the Partition

1. Once we have created a partition, we can format it using GParted.
2. Select the Label the Filesystem such as DOS, EXT4, ETX3 etc.
3. Finally select ADD and apply all the changes.

You can either create a Primary or Extended Partition. For those using MBR, you cannot have more than 3 primary partitions and you will have to stick to Extended partition

Right click on the unallocated partition we created and select NEW

You can perform other tasks with PartedMagic such as copying files using the file manager, cloning a disk, erasing a disk, encryption, erase traces etc.

CAREFUL WHILE WITH PARTED MAGIC TO AVOID LOSING DATA