ALSoft’s MultiDisk is the newest program for partitioning Macintosh disks. Software partitioning fools the Mac into thinking that a hard disk contains several smaller disks, called volumes, each of which can be mounted on the desktop independently from the others. MultiDisk will compete directly with FWB Software’s Hard Disk Partition and with Symantec’s HD Partition, which is part of Symantec Utilities for Macintosh (SUM).
MultiDisk works well and has features not available from its competitors. For example, you can resize a partition without losing its contents. This means that when you create a partition, you don't have to allocate extra space initially just to allow for future growth. Resizable partitions can be shrunk as well as enlarged.
Typically, the free space on a disk is not in one contiguous area. As files are created, modified, and deleted, both files and free space become divided into separate pieces, resulting in fragmentation . MultiDisk has the unique ability to create partitions using all the available free space on a disk, even if that space is fragmented. If you want to make sure that all of your partitions and your other files as well are unfragmented, you can always use ALSoft's excellent DiskExpress utility (see January ’89 Quick Clicks). MultiDisk also permits partitions themselves to be partitioned, although this ability seems to me to he treading dangerously into the dark waters of featuring As a final enticement, MultiDisk will convert existing FWB and SUM partitions into its own format, although the results are not resizable,
MultiDisk supports all the features made standard by its competition. Partitions can be password protected and even encrypted. You can select partitions that you want mounted automatically at startup time. If you set a password-protected partition to be mounted automatically, you will still be prompted to enter the password when your Mac boots. The newest verion of MultiDisk fixes a bug that caused crashes when using encryption on a Mac SE or Plus. Encryption now seems speedy and reliable on all Macs.
MultiDisk consists of two files: an INIT that you put in your System folder and a desk accessory. Choosing the desk accessory displays a dialog box that is the interface to all of MultiDisk’s functions. Power users will appreciate the numerous shortcuts available; for example, each button in the dialog box can be selected from the keyboard. Surprisingly, however, there is no way to select partition names using the keyboard.
MultiDisk does have a few limitations. You cannot erase a partition from the Finder. You have to use the desk accessory, and the arrangement is awkward. You must first unmount the partition, then click the Modify button; the resulting dialog box has an Erase button. Unfortunately, the Modify dialog box also displays the partition’s password if it exists, since Modify is also used to change passwords. So, if you want to initialize a password-protected partition, you need to be sure no one is watching. Resizable partitions are to blame for the initialization anomaly; they are created with large directories that would be destroyed by the normal initialization process.
MultiDisk can create only HFS partitions, whereas FWB’s Hard Disk Partition can create both HFS and MFS volumes. I found that MultiDisk crashes a Mac Plus running PowerStation 2.5. This turns out to be PowerStation’s fault. Steve Brecher, author of PowerStation, identified and fixed the problem almost instantaneously. For those of you disk hackers who are handy with a file editor (translation: Don’t do this unless you know what you are doing), here is the patch: Search for 42A74EBA4A524A9F66000092 and change it to 4A8066GOQGC42FOD2A7S0904 then search for A90B4E5E4E75 and change it to A9QB2A5F6028.
I appreciate having resizable partitions that I can create without having to unfragment my hard disk first. ALSoft’s literature describes MultiDisk as "sensational” and “the ultimate.” While I regard this as hyperbole, MultiDisk is nonetheless a step forward in the world of partitioning software and has found a home in my Apple menu,
Finn, James. (May 1989). MultiDisk. MacUser. (pg. 68).
ALSoft, Inc.
Applications
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2020-09-15 / 
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multidisk_v111_v129.zip
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Mini vMac
