WKGB: Free Disk Utilities

In this section, TheFreeSite.com offers a roundup of freeware programs that can help you manage, maintain and optimize your computer's hard drive. We also take a look at freeware hard drive analyzer programs, as well as free programs that can help you encrypt your hard drive to secure it from prying eyes.

• SafeHouse Personal Privacy 
  Click the "free download" link to access a free, non-expiring trial version of this popular program that lets you protect and hide your personal files and folders by making them "invisible" and encrypted. Note: the free version of this program lets you encrypt content up to 1 meg in size. (For Windows).

• ScramDisk 
  Here's a freeware hard drive encryption program that's a must if you have data on your PC that must be kept secure. ScramDisk creates an envelope on your hard drive that can be mounted as a virtual disk when you enter the correct password. All data written to this disk is encrypted and can't be accessed without the password. ScramDisk supports several encryption algorithms, including Blowfish, IDEA and Triple-DES. (For Windows).

• Note: ScramDisk has been succeeded by a new program, DriveCrypt, (which is not freeware). However, ScramDisk is still free and available at this site, although it's no longer in development.

• Since it was developed in Britain, ScramDisk is not subject to U.S. export law.

• DiscoMania 
  Here's a handy, free, file cataloging utility for hard drives, removable drives and CD-ROMs. Using it, you can create, search, and organize catalogs. Many options available to help give you full control over your files. (For Windows).

• Partition Manager 
  A fine freeware disk partitioning utility. Partition Manager allows you to create and delete partitions, lets you view your hard disks' IDE information and lets you format and resize FAT-16 and FAT-32 files systems. Also offers support for extended DOS partition. Available in English, German, Swedish, Spanish and Russian.

• PrimaSoft Disk Analyzer 
  Take a look under the hood of your computer with this excellent free Windows program that lets you analyze your hard drive. You can easily take a detailed look at a selected hard drive or directory. It offers a summary by files, directories, type, size and date, displays graphs and lets you print reports.