GParted

Overview

GParted (GNOME Partition Editor) is a free and open source (GPL v2+) disk partition management tool launched in 2004. It is built on libparted, supports ext4, NTFS, FAT32 and MBR/GPT partition tables, and can be run on Linux or on Windows/macOS via GParted Live.

History and Development

Founded: Founded by Bart Hakvoort and Curtis Gedak in 2004.

Important Milestones:

• 2006: Version 0.3 added NTFS partition resizing capabilities.
• 2011: Version 0.8 supports GPT.
• 2020: Version 1.1 improves BTRFS.
• 2024: Version 1.6 enhances NVMe and GPT compatibility.
• 2025: Planned transition to GTK4.

Status: Community driven, hosted on SourceForge.

Main Features

• Partition Management: Create, resize, move, copy and delete partitions.
• File Systems: ext2/3/4, NTFS, FAT32, BTRFS, F2FS, XFS.
• Graphical User Interface: GTK-based visual disk layout, queue operation support.
• GParted Live: Debian-based bootable ISO with TestDisk and fsck.
• Data Recovery: Recover lost partitions with TestDisk.
• Security: Irrevocable operations with warnings.
• CLI Integration: Use parted and mkfs.
• Cross-Platform: Linux native, Windows/macOS Live versions.

Advantages and Limitations

Advantages

• Free and open source (GPL v2+).
• User-friendly GUI.
• Supports a wide range of file systems.
• GParted Live can be used standalone.
• Safe operation queue.
• Active community.

Limitations

• No support for live resizing.
• Limited RAID/LVM support.
• Risk of data loss on interruption.
• Slow for large partitions.
• GParted Live is required for non-Linux systems.
• High learning curve for partition concepts.

Summary

GParted is a versatile partition editor for managing disks in Linux environments. Its open source nature and GUI simplify operations, but the requirement to uninstall and data risk are its disadvantages.