A bootable disk utility · since 2004
Disk Management Software: Erase, Partition, Clone
Parted Magic is bootable disk management software that runs from a USB stick. As a result, you can boot any PC and, within minutes, run a NIST 800-88 compliant secure erase, manage partitions with VisParted, and clone entire disks with Parted Magic Clonezilla. In addition, because Parted Magic runs entirely in memory, the host operating system is never touched.
Compliance
NIST SP 800-88 r2
Boot
UEFI Secure Boot
Interfaces
SATA · NVMe · eMMC · USB
Licensing
Unlimited drives
What Parted Magic Does
A disk utility built around three jobs
Secure Erase
Irreversibly sanitize hard drives, SSDs, NVMe, and eMMC storage to NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 Purge standards. In addition, every erase operation generates a signed PDF certificate of destruction and a cryptographically signed evidence pack your customer can verify offline — no account, no network, no vendor.
Methods
- ATA Secure Erase & Enhanced Secure Erase
- ATA Sanitize (Crypto / Block / Overwrite)
- NVMe Format with Cryptographic Erase
- eMMC Secure Erase & Sanitize
- TCG Opal PSID Revert
- Multi-pass overwrite (configurable patterns)
Partition Manager
Resize, move, create, and copy partitions across both MBR and GPT layouts. VisParted, our own partition editor, reads and writes the partition tables itself rather than driving somebody else’s library — and then re-reads the disk to prove the result matched the plan. In addition, moves are journaled, so an interrupted one resumes instead of leaving you guessing.
Filesystems
- ext2/3/4, NTFS, FAT16/32, exFAT
- Btrfs, XFS, linux-swap
- MBR ↔ GPT conversion in place
- LVM2 volume group management
- LUKS encrypted volumes
- 4Kn and 512-byte sector drives
Disk Cloning
Back up and deploy entire systems with Parted Magic Clonezilla and ddrescue. Whether you need compressed images stored locally, sent to a network target, or pushed to many machines at once over multicast, Parted Magic handles it. As a result, disaster recovery and fleet deployment run from the same bootable stick.
Targets & modes
- Local disk, USB, SSH, Samba, NFS
- Encrypted images (gocryptfs, ecryptfs)
- Multicast deployment (udpcast)
- Partclone, partimage, dd engines
- Forensic recovery with ddrescue
- TestDisk / PhotoRec for data rescue
A disk utility built for people who do the work
Parted Magic is the disk management software of choice for IT professionals who need reliable, repeatable results on real hardware — not just the latest consumer laptop.
Disk sanitization for IT asset disposal
Sanitize drives to compliance standards before resale, recycling, or destruction. In addition, Parted Magic generates a certificate of destruction for every drive, so each erased disk carries an audit trail.
Disk management for system administrators
Resize partitions without rebuilding, clone workstations for rollout, or recover a broken boot loader. Because Parted Magic runs from a live environment, the target machine does not even need a working OS.
Disk recovery and forensics
Image failing drives with ddrescue, then recover deleted partitions with TestDisk, and afterward carve lost files with PhotoRec — all from the same bootable stick.
Disk tools for home users
Migrate to a bigger SSD, shrink a Windows partition, or wipe a drive before selling the old laptop. Furthermore, because nothing is installed on the host PC, the existing setup stays untouched.
Disk utility technical specifications
Disk utility system requirements
A 64-bit x86 processor with at least 2 GB of RAM. In addition, Parted Magic is fully compatible with UEFI Secure Boot and with Intel-based Mac hardware.
Disk and storage device support
Parted Magic handles SATA, NVMe, SAS/SCSI, IDE, USB, and eMMC storage. Furthermore, it reads sector sizes from 512 bytes through 4096 bytes (4Kn) and above correctly — for example, enterprise drives that report 4K sectors through the sysfs layer.
Partition Tables
Parted Magic works with both MBR (msdos) and GPT partition tables, including extended and logical partitions, and converts between the two in place without moving your data. In addition, VisParted aligns what it creates to the 1 MiB grid while preserving the real geometry of everything it carries forward — therefore a disk partitioned on the old 63-sector convention stays workable instead of being declared broken.
Disk filesystem support
VisParted creates, checks, labels and re-identifies ext2/3/4, NTFS, FAT16/32, exFAT, Btrfs, XFS, linux-swap and LVM2 physical volumes, and it resizes ext2/3/4, NTFS, FAT16/32 and linux-swap. In addition, it moves and copies any partition at the block level, whatever the filesystem inside it. Furthermore, GParted 1.8 also ships for the older formats — HFS, HFS+, ReiserFS, Reiser4, JFS, NILFS2, F2FS and UFS — and the full command-line toolset is there when a script is the better answer.
Disk encryption
You can unlock LUKS and BitLocker volumes directly from the desktop. In addition, Parted Magic includes gocryptfs and ecryptfs for encrypted image storage, and it supports TCG Opal PSID revert for self-encrypting drives.
How the disk utility boots
Parted Magic boots from a USB flash drive, optical disc, or PXE network server. Since it runs fully self-contained, it never modifies the host system and needs no installation.
Network and remote disk access
NetworkManager handles wired and wireless connectivity. In addition, Parted Magic supports SSH, Samba, NFS, FTP/SFTP, and CIFS for remote storage, and ships Firefox for quick access to documentation.
Disk utility desktop environment
XFCE runs on X11 as root, because disk tools need full hardware access. In addition, Parted Magic still works on legacy hardware back to pre-2010 Intel integrated graphics, and inside VirtualBox for testing.
Included Tools
Complete disk management software in one boot
Partition & Filesystem
VisParted
GParted
parted (libparted 3.7)
gdisk / sgdisk
fdisk / cfdisk
e2fsprogs
xfsprogs · btrfs-progs
ntfs-3g · exfatprogs
f2fs-tools · jfsutils
hfsprogs · reiserfsprogs
LVM2 · mdadm
cryptsetup
Erase & Security
Parted Magic Erase
hdparm
nvme-cli
mmc-utils
sedutil (TCG Opal)
cryptsetup / LUKS
dislocker (BitLocker)
chntpw
gocryptfs · ecryptfs
nwipe · shred
wipefreespace
Clone & Recovery
Parted Magic Clonezilla
Partclone · Partimage
ddrescue · ddrescueview
TestDisk · PhotoRec
HFSPrescue · fsarchiver
udpcast (multicast)
extundelete · Sleuth Kit
rsync · wimlib
dc3dd · safecopy
dd · cat · pv
Disk diagnostics & benchmark
smartmontools · GSmartControl
WHDD (surface scan)
fio · ioping
f3 (flash capacity)
stress-ng · stressapptest
memtester
iperf3
Hardinfo2 · inxi
lshw · lspci · lsblk
nvme-cli · sdparm · sg3_utils
Parted Magic also includes Firefox, a file manager, text editors, calculators, and archive tools. See the full program list →
Ready to start using the disk utility?
One Parted Magic license covers unlimited drives, with no per-seat or per-drive fees. In other words, affordable disk management software that scales with your workload. To get started, download the ISO, then write it to a USB stick with Rufus or Etcher, and boot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Disk utility compliance & security
Is Parted Magic NIST 800-88 compliant?
Yes. The current release implements the NIST SP 800-88 Revision 2 methods, including Purge-class operations such as ATA Sanitize, ATA Secure Erase, NVMe Cryptographic Erase, eMMC Secure Erase, and TCG Opal PSID Revert. In addition, every erase operation produces a PDF certificate with the Appendix C fields required for audit and compliance reporting.
What is ATA Secure Erase, and how does it differ from overwriting?
ATA Secure Erase is a firmware-level command that instructs the drive’s own controller to reset every storage cell. In contrast to a software overwrite, this also clears reserved and reallocated sectors that the operating system cannot address. Because of this, Secure Erase is the only reliable method for SSDs with wear-leveled flash. Furthermore, Parted Magic supports ATA Sanitize (Crypto, Block, and Overwrite variants) along with the equivalent commands for NVMe and eMMC media.
Will it boot on UEFI Secure Boot systems?
Yes. Parted Magic boots on UEFI systems with Secure Boot enabled. In addition, it supports legacy BIOS boot and PXE network boot for technicians imaging many machines at once.
Using the Disk Utility
Does the license limit how many drives I can erase or clone?
No. A Parted Magic license is unlimited for drives, disks, and machines. As a result, there are no per-drive, per-seat, or per-erasure charges. In other words, Parted Magic is disk management software priced very differently from enterprise sanitization products that charge per endpoint.
Do I have to install anything on my computer?
No. Parted Magic is a self-contained bootable environment that runs entirely from a USB stick, optical disc, or PXE server. Because nothing is written to the host machine, the operating system and drives are untouched unless you choose to act on them. Furthermore, this also makes Parted Magic safe to run on machines that refuse to boot, have corrupt filesystems, or have been locked out.
How long has Parted Magic been around?
Parted Magic has been actively developed since 2004. Since then, the project has also originated GUI tools for ATA Secure Erase. As a result, Parted Magic LLC continues to ship regular releases that track new storage standards, kernels, and compliance requirements.