Paragon Backup Recovery - 15 Home User Manual

PARAGON Software GmbH

Heinrich-von-Stephan-Str. 5c  79100 Freiburg, Germany

Tel. +49 (0) 761 59018201  Fax +49 (0) 761 59018130

Internet www.paragon-software.com  Email sales@paragon-software.com

Backup & Recovery™ 15 Home

Use r M a n u a l

Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 6

What’s New in Backup & Recovery 15 ......................................................................................................... 6

Product Components ............................................................................................................. 6

Features Overview ................................................................................................................. 7

Features ..................................................................................................................................................... 7

User Friendly Fault Minimizing Interface ................................................................................................................................ 7

Backup Facilities ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Restore Facilities ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Copy Facilities ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Partition/Hard Disk Management Facilities ............................................................................................................................ 9

Automatization Facilities ........................................................................................................................................................ 9

Auxiliary Facilities ................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Supported Technologies ............................................................................................................................. 10

Supported File Systems .............................................................................................................................. 11

Supported Media ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Getting Started .................................................................................................................... 11

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................ 11

Installation ................................................................................................................................................ 12

First Start ................................................................................................................................................... 13

Building Recovery Media ............................................................................................................................ 14

Booting from the Linux/DOS Recovery Media ............................................................................................. 14

Startup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 14

Boot menu ............................................................................................................................................................................ 15

Booting from the WinPE Recovery Media ................................................................................................... 17

Startup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 17

Basic Concepts ..................................................................................................................... 18

System and Data Protection ....................................................................................................................... 18

File Backup versus Sector Backup ......................................................................................................................................... 18

Backup Types ........................................................................................................................................................................ 19

Backup Storage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Adaptive Restore .................................................................................................................................................................. 22

Paragon Hot Processing & Volume Shadow Copy Service ............................................................................ 24

Offline versus Online Data Processing .................................................................................................................................. 24

Paragon Hot Processing Technology .................................................................................................................................... 24

Volume Shadow Copy Service .............................................................................................................................................. 25

pVHD Support ............................................................................................................................................ 25

Dynamic Disks ............................................................................................................................................ 25

GPT versus MBR ......................................................................................................................................... 26

uEFI Boot Challenges .................................................................................................................................. 26

Apple Boot Camp ....................................................................................................................................... 27

64-bit Support ............................................................................................................................................ 27

Copy Operations ........................................................................................................................................ 28

Drive Partitioning ....................................................................................................................................... 28

Scheduling ................................................................................................................................................. 29

Windows BitLocker .................................................................................................................................... 29

Windows Components ........................................................................................................ 30

Interface Overview .................................................................................................................................... 30

General Layout ...................................................................................................................................................................... 30

Tool Button ........................................................................................................................................................................... 31

Ribbon Panel ......................................................................................................................................................................... 31

Set View Button .................................................................................................................................................................... 31

Virtual Operations Bar .......................................................................................................................................................... 32

Express Mode Button ........................................................................................................................................................... 32

Disk Map ............................................................................................................................................................................... 32

Disk and Partitions List .......................................................................................................................................................... 33

Context-sensitive Menu ........................................................................................................................................................ 34

Properties Panel .................................................................................................................................................................... 34

Status Bar .............................................................................................................................................................................. 35

Settings Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 35

Application Section ............................................................................................................................................................... 36

Backup Section ...................................................................................................................................................................... 38

Partitioning Section .............................................................................................................................................................. 43

Include/Exclude Section ........................................................................................................................................................ 44

E-mail Notifications and Logging Section ............................................................................................................................. 47

Viewing Disk Properties ............................................................................................................................. 49

Viewing Image Properties .......................................................................................................................... 49

Using the Restore Wizard ..................................................................................................................................................... 49

Using the Archive Database .................................................................................................................................................. 53

Data Backup and Rescue ............................................................................................................................ 54

Creating Backup Images ........................................................................................................................................................ 54

Restoring System and Data ................................................................................................................................................... 57

Copy Tasks ................................................................................................................................................. 62

Cloning Hard Disks ................................................................................................................................................................ 62

Cloning Partitions .................................................................................................................................................................. 65

Partition Management ............................................................................................................................... 66

Basic Partitioning Operations ............................................................................................................................................... 66

Advanced Partitioning Operations........................................................................................................................................ 75

Changing Partition Attributes ............................................................................................................................................... 77

Hard Disk Management ............................................................................................................................. 80

Converting Dynamic MBR to Basic ....................................................................................................................................... 80

Converting GPT to Basic MBR ............................................................................................................................................... 81

Converting Basic MBR to GPT ............................................................................................................................................... 81

Updating MBR ....................................................................................................................................................................... 82

Changing Primary Slot ........................................................................................................................................................... 82

Task Scheduling ......................................................................................................................................... 84

Setting a Timetable ............................................................................................................................................................... 84

Managing Tasks .................................................................................................................................................................... 85

Creating a Scheduled Task .................................................................................................................................................... 86

Scripting .................................................................................................................................................... 87

Extra Functionality ..................................................................................................................................... 89

View Partition/Hard Disk Properties ..................................................................................................................................... 89

Volume Explorer ................................................................................................................................................................... 90

File Transfer Wizard .............................................................................................................................................................. 91

Mount Partition .................................................................................................................................................................... 93

Mount Archive ...................................................................................................................................................................... 94

Test Surface .......................................................................................................................................................................... 95

Check File System Integrity ................................................................................................................................................... 96

Check Archive Integrity ......................................................................................................................................................... 96

Check Recovery Discs ............................................................................................................................................................ 99

Edit/View Sectors ................................................................................................................................................................ 100

Send Log Files ...................................................................................................................................................................... 101

View Logs ............................................................................................................................................................................ 101

Typical Scenarios ............................................................................................................... 102

Backup Scenarios ..................................................................................................................................... 102

Creating the Backup Capsule .............................................................................................................................................. 102

New Backup Format............................................................................................................................................................ 104

Legacy Backup Format ........................................................................................................................................................ 121

Recovery Scenarios .................................................................................................................................. 151

New Backup Format............................................................................................................................................................ 151

Legacy Backup Format ........................................................................................................................................................ 159

Fixing Boot Problems without Restore ............................................................................................................................... 182

Retrieving/Transferring Individual Files and Folders .......................................................................................................... 187

System Migration Scenarios ..................................................................................................................... 194

Migrating system to a new HDD (up to 2.2TB in size) ........................................................................................................ 194

Making system bootable on different hardware (P2P Adjust OS) ...................................................................................... 196

Migrating a Windows 7 vhd ................................................................................................................................................ 202

Extra Scenarios for WinPE ........................................................................................................................ 203

Adding specific drivers ........................................................................................................................................................ 203

Configuring network ........................................................................................................................................................... 204

Saving log files ..................................................................................................................................................................... 207

How to Work with Bitlocked Volumes ...................................................................................................... 208

In Windows ......................................................................................................................................................................... 208

In WinPE .............................................................................................................................................................................. 210

Troubleshooter .................................................................................................................. 212

Glossary ............................................................................................................................. 213

Our company is constantly releasing new versions and updates to its software, that's why images shown in this manual may be different from what you see on your screen.

Introduction

Paragon Backup & Recovery™ 15 Home is a complex disaster recovery solution. By including into this product the brandnew disk imaging technology that allows backing up directly to virtual containers (pVHD, VHD, VMDK), complete support of GPT/uEFI configurations, Windows BitLocker and the latest Windows 8.1, as well as the option to create an advanced WinPE or Linux based recovery environment on CD/DVD, flash, or in an ISO-file, the company has offered all the necessary facilities to build a bullet-proof shield against any disaster.

In this manual you will find the answers to many of the technical questions, which might arise while using the program.

What’s New in Backup & Recovery 15

 Embedded Recovery Media Builder (RMB) 3.0. Instead of two utilities downloaded from Paragon's website

(BMB and RMB), the new RMB 3.0 is now embedded into the product. Combining the best of the two utilities, it can boast more options, usability, and stability:

- Prepares Linux or WinPE-based bootable environment on a USB thumb drive or in an ISO image;

- Doesn’t obligatory require Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) or Automated Installation Kit

(WAIK) on Windows 7 and later platforms;

- Can build WinPE-based media on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003 if there’s WAIK installed in the system;

- Allows injecting additional drivers for storage devices, network controllers, USB controllers, or system

during setup;

- Enables to set up a network connection with a pre-mounted network share during setup;

- Prepares hybrid (both, uEFI and BIOS compatible) 64-bit recovery environment on flash or in an ISO image.

 File-level backup/restore for virtual containers (pVHD, VHD, VHDX, VMDK). As promised, Paragon's innovative

backup imaging technology has been further improved and now opens up the option of creating file-level virtual containers (full, incremental, as well as file complements), thus offering users rock-stable, high-performance technology to protect system and data not only on sector-level, but file-level as well. This means that the old PBF format will eventually leave the scene.

 Predefined views. The Windows 8 like streamlined, tile-oriented interface has been enhanced by predefined

views, which enable to adjust the working environment to particular customer needs.

Product Components

In order to cope with different tasks, the product contains several components:

 Windows based set of utilities is the crucial part of the product. With the help of an easy to use launcher you

may find and run tasks of any complexity in the field of data and system protection, hard disk partitioning and cloning, etc.

 Linux/DOS based recovery environment is a multi-platform bootable media that enables to run utilities under

Linux or PTS DOS, and that way to get access to your hard disk for maintenance or recovery purposes. Both

This feature is only available for the Windows installation of the program.

platforms have their strong sides, for instance Linux can boast support of FireWire (i.e. IEEE1394) or USB devices. It enables to burn CD/DVD discs. However there can be some difficulties with detecting new hardware. DOS in its turn has no problems of that kind but is limited in features. The Linux/DOS recovery environment requires no installation and can be of great help when the system fails to boot. Besides it offers a Windows XP like environment.

 WinPE based recovery environment. Especially for keen followers of Windows, our product offers the option to

prepare a WinPE based bootable media. Unlike the Linux/DOS recovery environment it can boast an excellent hardware support and the same interface as the Windows version can. However its system requirements are much tougher.

Features Overview

This chapter dwells upon key benefits and technical highlights of the product.

Features

Let us list some of the features:

User Friendly Fault Minimizing Interface

 Graphical representation of the data to gain a better understanding.  A handy Launcher to easily find and run the required tasks.  Comprehensive wizards to simplify even the most complex operations.  A context sensitive hint system for all functions of the program.  Previewing the resulting layout of hard disks before actually executing operations (so-called virtual

operations).

Backup Facilities

 Archive Database to help the user easily manage backup images (get properties, add, delete, mount, etc.).

 Available location for backup images:

- Backup to local mounted partitions.

- Backup to local unmounted (without drive letter assigned) partitions.

- Backup to an external mounted storage to provide for a higher level of data protection and system independence.

- Backup to a special secured place on the hard disk called the Backup Capsule that has an independent system layout (e.g. a separate partition) and will stay operable should the active file system be damaged. To avoid an accidental removing or unauthorized access of the backup data, this partition is hidden and thus cannot be mounted in the operating system.

- Backup to external media (CD/DVD) to guarantee a high level of data protection as long as the backup media is kept secure.

- Backup to a network drive to stand a better chance of success in case of a hard disk failure.

This feature is only available for the Windows installation of the program.

- Backup to an FTP/SFTP server to provide a new level of system and data protection.

 Bootable Backup Capsule to get the choice to launch the Linux or PTS DOS recovery environment every time

you start up the computer. With its help you will be able to run utilities under Linux or PTS DOS, and that way to get access to your hard disk for maintenance or recovery purposes.

For PBF images:

 Smart Backup Wizard to secure system and data with the minimal efforts possible. With a unique intelligent

work algorithm and a highly intuitive user interface, you can easily back up exactly what you need - the whole system, e-mail databases (MS Outlook, Express, Windows Mail) media files or office documents of the My Documents folder, or any other files and folders.

 Differential backup to a sector image to only archive changes since the last full sector-based image, thus

considerably saving the backup storage space. To restore this kind of backup you will require a full image and one of its differentials.

 Incremental backup to a sector image is a further way of optimizing the process of disk imaging. Unlike

differentials, it may not only contain data changed since the time of creating a full sector-based archive, but one of its increments as well, thus allowing to save more time and the backup storage. Introduction of a special index file that stores backup meta-information minimizes time and resources to create this type of archives.

 Incremental backup to a file image to only archive changes since the last full or incremental file-based image.

An incremental image is smaller and takes less time to create, but you will require the initial full image and all of its increments to restore the latest point of this kind of backup.

 File backup to a sector image. It is a unique technology on the market so far that bridges two principally

different approaches of the data backup: the file-based backup and the disk imaging backup. With its help you can now create a sector-based backup of your system to get it back on track in minutes in case of a virus attack or a hardware malfunction and then just make file-based incremental images to the previously created sectorbased backup to keep updated only information that is critical for you. Thus you will considerably save your system resources.

 Cyclic Backup Wizard to automate the backup of separate partitions. It is an ideal option if you want to establish

a self-acting data protection system.

 Synthetic backup to change any property (merge a given differential image with its full image, split/un-split,

compress/de-compress, etc.) of an existing backup image without carrying out a physical backup operation.

For virtual containers:

 Backup to VD Wizard to protect separate partitions or entire hard disks.  Incremental Backup to VD Wizard to create incremental backup chains based on the full image.  File Complement to VD Wizard to create a file-level incremental update to a sector-level virtual container.  Retention Wizard for VD to automate the backup of separate partitions or entire hard disks. It is an ideal option

if you want to establish a self-acting data protection system.

This feature is only available for the bootable recovery environment.

Copy functionality can also be used as an alternative way of data protection.

Scheduling is only available for the Windows installation of the program.

Restore Facilities

 Restore an entire disk, separate partitions or only files you need from the previously created backup image (for

PBF and virtual containers).

 Restore with Shrink to restore a backup image to a free block of smaller size taking into account only the

amount of actual data of the image.

 Adaptive Restore to successfully migrate a Windows physical system to a different hardware platform (P2P) by

allowing automatic injection of all required drivers and the other actions crucial for a migration of this kind.

Copy Facilities

 Partition/hard disk copy to successfully transfer all on-disk information including standard bootstrap code and

other system service structures, thus maintaining the operating system’s working capability.

Partition/Hard Disk Management Facilities

 Basic functions for initializing, partitioning and formatting hard disks (create, format, delete). Instead of the

standard Windows disk tools, the program supports all popular file systems.

 Mount a partition (assign a drive letter) of any file system type to make it available for your operating system.  Modify file system parameters (make active/inactive, hide/unhide, etc.).  Undelete Partitions Wizard to recover an accidentally deleted partition.

Automatization Facilities

 Task scheduling to automate routine operations. It can be particularly effective when you have to repeat a

sequence of actions on a regular basis.

 Scripting to make the program create a script of any set of operations you need. Besides support of all

operations available in the interactive mode, the unattended mode provides some additional features, such as conditional execution, subroutines, repeatable iterations, disk/partition properties analysis, errors management, etc.

Auxiliary Facilities

 Conversion of basic MBR disks to basic GPT to enjoy all benefits of the newest partitioning scheme with

minimal effort.

Boot Corrector is only available for the bootable recovery environment.

 File Transfer Wizard to make such operations as transferring of files/directories or burning of them to CD/DVD

as easy and convenient as possible. Providing access to Paragon backups as regular folders, it may also help to replace corrupted data from a previously created image in case of an operating system failure.

 Volume Explorer is a handy tool when you have different file systems on the disk, whether they contain an

operating system or just data. Volume Explorer will let you explore a file system of any type and provide access to the necessary files and directories regardless of their security attributes.

 Check Integrity Wizards to check integrity of created .pbf images and virtual containers. The function allows

distinguishing between valid and corrupted images before using them.

 Network Configuration Wizard to establish a network connection on a bootable recovery media either to save a

backup of a partition/hard disk or just several files on a network computer or retrieve a previously made backup from a network computer for recovery purposes.

 Boot Corrector to fix most of the system boot problems that can be a result of a human factor, program error or

a boot virus activity.

Supported Technologies

Along with using innovative technologies from outside, Paragon has developed a number of its own original technologies that make its products unique and attractive for customers:

 Paragon Hot Backup™ technology to back up locked partitions and hard disks under Windows NT+ family

operating systems providing both high operating efficiency as well as low hardware requirements.

 Paragon Hot Copy™ technology to copy locked partitions and hard disks under Windows NT+ family operating

systems providing both high operating efficiency as well as low hardware requirements.

 Paragon Adaptive Restore™ technology to successfully migrate a Windows physical system to a different

hardware platform (P2P).

 Paragon Power Shield™ technology to provide data consistency in case of a hardware malfunction, power

outages or an operating system failure.

 Paragon UFSD™ technology to browse partitions of any file system including hidden and unmounted, modify

and copy files and folders, etc.

 Paragon Restore with Shrink™ technology to restore a backup image to a free block of smaller size taking into

account only the amount of actual data of the image.

 Paragon BTE™ technology to set tasks for execution during the system restart, thus saving from the need to use

a bootable media when modifying system partitions.

 Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to provide the copy/backup infrastructure for the Microsoft

Windows XP/Vista/7/Server 2003/2008 operating systems. It offers a reliable mechanism to create consistent point-in-time copies of data known as shadow copies. Developed by Microsoft in close cooperation with the leading copy/backup solution vendors on the market, it is based on a snapshot technology concept.

 Microsoft Dynamic Disk (simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID-5) to offer more management flexibility

without the partition limitation of basic disks. Dynamic storage can be particularly beneficial for large-scale businesses when dealing with many physical hard disks involving complex setup.

Unfortunately, support of non-Roman characters for the HFS+ file system is unavailable at the moment. The company is about to implement it in the nearest future.

 GUID Partition Table (GPT). It is the next generation of a hard disk partitioning scheme developed to lift

restrictions of the old MBR. GPT disks are now supported by Windows Vista/7, Server 2008, Mac OS X and Linux.

Supported File Systems

 Full read/write access to FAT16/FAT32 partitions.  Full read/write access to NTFS (Basic Disks) under Windows, Linux and PTS DOS. Compressed NTFS files are also

supported.

 Full read/write access to Ext2FS/Ext3FS/Ext4FS partitions.  Full read/write access to reFS partitions.  Limited read/write access to Apple HFS+ partitions.

Supported Media

 Support of both MBR and GPT hard disks (2.2TB+ disks included)  IDE, SCSI and SATA hard disks  SSD (Solid State Drive)  AFD (Advanced Format Drive)  Non-512B sector size drives  CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD+R double layer and also Blu-ray discs  FireWire (i.e. IEEE1394), USB 1.0, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 hard disks  PC card storage devices (MBR and GPT flash memory, etc.)

Getting Started

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to get the product ready to use.

System Requirements

For the Windows installation package

 Windows XP SP3  Windows Vista  Windows 7  Windows 8  Windows 8.1

Additional requirements:

 To install and run the product the target OS should have Visual Studio C++ 2010 Runtime Library installed

(comes with the installation package – you will be prompted to install it, if it’s not been found in the system).

In case there is some previous version of the program installed on the computer, the program will offer the user to uninstall it first.

For the Linux bootable environment

 Intel Pentium CPU or its equivalent, with 300 MHz processor clock speed  256 MB of RAM  SVGA video adapter and monitor  Keyboard  Mouse

For the WinPE bootable environment

 Intel Pentium III CPU or its equivalent, with 1000 MHz processor clock speed  At least 1 GB of RAM  SVGA video adapter and monitor  Keyboard  Mouse

Additional requirements

 Network card to send/retrieve data to/from a network computer  Recordable CD/DVD drive to burn data to compact discs  External USB hard drive to store data.

Installation

Before the installation, please make sure the systems requirements are met. If everything is OK, please do the following to install the product:

1. Click on the supplied setup file to initiate the installation. First your system will be checked for the presence of

Visual Studio C++ 2010 Runtime Library and if not found, you will be prompted to install it (comes with the installation package). Click Install to continue.

2. The Welcome page will inform that the application is being installed. Click Next to continue.

Do not install the program on network drives. Do not use Terminal Server sessions to install and run the program. In both cases, the program functionality will be limited.

The program provides wide opportunities in the field of hard disk structure modification, so just to be on the safe side, please make a backup of your data before carrying out any operation.

3. Please Read Paragon License Agreement carefully and then select the appropriate option to accept. Otherwise

you won’t be able to proceed with the installation. By clicking the Print button, the license agreement may also be printed out.

4. Provide your product key and serial number.

5. On the Customer Information page you are to provide the standard customer information, i.e. a user name and

an organization. Besides you need to decide whether to make the program available for all users of this computer (if several) or only for the current one.

6. On the next page, click Change to install the utility to a different location (by default C:\Program Files\Paragon

Software\ Paragon Backup & Recovery 15 Home Edition\). Otherwise click Next to continue.

7. On the Ready to Install the Program page click Install to start the installation or Back to return to any of the

previous pages and modify the installation settings.

8. The Final page reports the end of the setup process. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

First Start

To start Paragon Backup & Recovery 15 under Windows, please click the Windows Start button and then select Programs > Paragon Backup & Recovery™ 15 > Paragon Backup & Recovery™.

The first component that will be displayed is called the Express Launcher. Thanks to a well thought-out categorization and hint system, it provides quick and easy access to wizards and utilities that we consider worth using on a regular basis. With its help you can also start up the traditional launcher, the help system or go to the program’s home page.

To know more on how to handle the product’s interface and accomplish typical operations,

please consult the Windows Components chapter.

Please use Recovery Media Builder to prepare Paragon's recovery environments on CD/DVD, flash, or in an ISO-image.

To automatically boot from the recovery media please make sure the on-board BIOS is set

Building Recovery Media

WinPE- and/or Linux-based recovery environments should be prepared on-site with Paragon’s Recovery Media Builder. To know more on the subject, please consult documentation that comes with this utility.

Booting from the Linux/DOS Recovery Media

The Linux/DOS recovery environment can be used to boot your computer into Linux or PTS DOS to get access to your hard disk for maintenance or recovery purposes. It also has the PTS DOS safe mode, which may help in a number of nonstandard situations such as interfering hardware settings or serious problems on the hardware level. In this case, only basic files and drivers (such as hard disk drivers, a monitor driver, and a keyboard driver) will be loaded.

Startup

To start working with the Linux/DOS recovery environment, please take the following steps:

1. Start up the computer from our Linux/DOS recovery media.

up to boot from CD/USB first.

By default the Normal Mode will be automatically initiated after a 10 second idle period.

2. Launch a boot mode you need (Normal, Safe, Low-Graphics Safe) in the Boot menu.

3. Click on the required operation to start. Hints on the selected at the moment item will help you make the right

choice.

4. Consult the help system by pressing ALT+F1 to know more on the subject.

Boot menu

32-bit environment

 Normal Mode. Boot into the Linux normal mode. This mode uses the full set of drivers (recommended);  Safe Mode. Boot into the PTS DOS mode. This mode can be used as an alternative of the Linux normal mode if it

fails to work properly;

 Low-Graphics Safe Mode. Boot into the PTS DOS safe mode. In this case, only the minimal set of drivers will be

included, like hard disk, monitor, and keyboard drivers. This mode has simple graphics and a simple menu;

 Floppy Disk. Reboot the computer from a system floppy disk;  Hard Disk 0. Boot from the primary hard disk;  Find OS(s) on your hard disks. The program will scan hard disks of your computer to find any bootable operating

system.

64-bit environment

While working with the recovery environment you might experience some inconvenience caused by possible video artifacts. It is just a result of changing video modes and in no way will affect the program functionality. If this is the case, please wait a bit and everything will be OK.

If you are going to use network resources, first launch the Network Configuration Wizard to establish a network connection.

fails to work properly;

 Reboot. Restart the computer.  Power off. Shut down the computer.

Normal Mode

When the Normal mode is selected, the Linux launch menu appears:

 Backup & Recovery (enables to run wizards and dialogs, to specify program settings, to visualize the operating

environment and the hard disk configuration);

 Backup to Virtual Disk Wizard (enables to back up hard disk and partitions to VD);  Restore from Virtual Disk Wizard (allows restoring hard disks and partitions from VD);  File Transfer Wizard (allows coping files/folders to another disk or a partition as well as recording them to

CD/DVD);

 Boot Corrector (helps to correct the Windows System Registry without Windows being loaded);  Network Configurator (enables to establish a network connection under Linux);

Please use Recovery Media Builder to prepare Paragon's recovery environments on CD/DVD, flash, or in an ISO-image.

To automatically boot from the recovery media please make sure the on-board BIOS is set up to boot from CD/USB first.

 Log Saver (helps to collect and send the necessary log files to the Technical Support);  Eject CD/DVD;  Command Line (allows experienced users to execute any operation);  Reboot the computer;  Power off the computer.

To move within the menu, please use the arrow keys of the computer keyboard.

Safe Mode

When the Safe mode is selected, the PTS DOS launch menu appears. It has nearly the same functionality as for the Normal mode except for the Network Configurator and Log Saver commands. Besides due to certain limitations of the PTS DOS environment, there is no possibility to burn CD/DVD discs.

Low Graphics Safe Mode

When the Low Graphics mode is selected, the PTS DOS launch menu appears. It has the same functionality and looks similar to the Safe mode but graphically simpler.

Booting from the WinPE Recovery Media

The WinPE recovery environment can be a real alternative to the Linux/DOS recovery environment. Providing nearly the same level of functionality it offers an excellent hardware support and the same interface as the Windows version does.

Startup

To start working with the WinPE recovery environment, please take the following steps:

1. Start up the computer from the WinPE recovery media.

2. Once it has been loaded, you will see the Universal Application Launcher. In general it enables to run

components of the product, load drivers for undefined hardware or establish a network connection.

The WinPE based recovery environment offers excellent hardware support. However in

case it doesn’t have a driver for your disk controller, your hard disks will be unavailable.

Please consult the Adding specific drivers scenario to know how to tackle this issue.

3. Click on the required operation to start. Hints on the selected at the moment item will help you make the right

choice.

4. Consult the help system by pressing ALT+F1 to know more on the subject.

Basic Concepts

This chapter explains terms and ideas that show how the program works. To understand these helps to obtain a general notion of the operation performance and makes it easier for the user to operate the program.

System and Data Protection

The data protection issue is a growing cause of worrying for more and more people today. Indeed, it is hardly to find a person who will be particularly happy when all precious information on the hard disk is irreversible lost as a result of its malfunction. So how this tragedy can be prevented?

File Backup versus Sector Backup

Since the advent of the computer age people were in the search of ways to guarantee data safety. As a result we’ve got

now two principal approaches: the file-based backup and the sector-based backup. The main difference between the two lies in the way data is treated.

A sector-based backup operates with an image (or a snapshot) of the whole disk system or its separate partitions. It not only includes the contents of all user-made files, but additionally contains the exact structure of directories, information

Sector-Based Backup

File-Based Backup

Merits

It does not dependent on a particular file system. Thus it can successfully process system or encrypted partitions of any file system type, no matter what kind of information they contain.

Functioning on a file/folder level, it is ideal for archiving separate files or folders.

It can create an exact image of a partition, including its service data. Thus it is ideal for a backup/restore of a system partition or a fast deployment to a bunch of identical computers.

It enables to automatically build up contents of the future backup image by using an advanced system of filters.

It allows archiving data of the same volume with different backup policies.

It is easy and efficient when creating backup chains.

Demerits

Resulted backup images may contain a lot of redundant data.

It depends on a file system structure, so you won’t be able to process unknown file systems.

It is ineffective when trying to maintain a backup chain, especially when little amount of data is being changed.

It cannot be used to back up a system partition. It is much slower when processing large amount of data.

about file allocation, file attributes and other related data. Thus it enables to successfully process system or encrypted partitions of any file system type, no matter what kind of information they contain.

In contrast, a file-based backup takes into account a file system structure and only functions on a file or folder level. So it is very efficient when archiving separate files or folders, but in no way will help you back up a system partition.

You should understand pretty well that each of the two approaches is only good when properly chosen. In the comparison table below you can see when this or that approach will suit you at most.

Backup Types

At the present moment the market is offering various types of backup imaging to meet the needs of any user. Besides supporting them all, our program offers a unique backup type, called File Increment to a Sector Backup.

Full, Differential, and Incremental Sector Backups

A full sector-based backup image includes all contents of a partition or a hard disk at the moment of its creation. If you roll back your system to the initial state on a regular basis, that’s exactly what you’re looking for. But if you want to have multiple backup archives of the same partition reflecting certain time stamps, unchanged data will inevitable be duplicated in all archives and take additional space on backup media. To tackle this issue there has been developed a supplementary technique called Differential Sector Backup.

This function is only available for single primary and logical partitions.

A differential archive only contains data changed since the time of creating a full archive, which forms a base (or a parental image) in this case, thus considerably saving your system resources. It is realized by the exact bit-wise comparison of the previous partition's data (saved in the parental image) with the current data (that is actually the partition itself). To restore this kind of backup you will require a full image and one of its differentials, what is very convenient.

Incremental archive is a further way of optimizing the process of disk imaging. Unlike differentials, it may not only contain data changed since the time of creating a full sector-based archive, but one of its increments as well, thus allowing to save more time and the backup storage. The main principal here is the shorter the interval between increments, the less data is backed up. In general this type of backup is great except for one thing – when you restore an incremental archive there will be processed the initial full image and all increments between, which depending on the size of your backup chain, may take plenty of time. Anyway unlike backups, the restore operation is an emergency, which might not happen at all.

Paragon’s incremental sector-based archive employs an innovative technology that significantly improves the backup performance. Its core is in introduction of a special index file (.pfi) that keeps meta-information on the corresponding

incremental image. It’s much smaller than the image itself and is used to calculate the difference between the current and previous state of a backup object. Thus, when you’re going to do an increment to a full archive of your system

partition stored on the network, only its index file is processed over the net (a couple of megabytes at most), not the entire image, which minimizes both, the network traffic and backup time. Another new thing is change of a backup format – all increments are saved in .vhd (Virtual Hard Drive) containers.

Please note that the current version of the product has a number of limitations regarding sector-based increments:

 Increments can only be created for full archives of the new type (with a .pfi index file). Any of our flagship

products since Backup & Recovery 12 supports this functionality;

 Increments can only be created for full archives stored on a local mounted drive or a network share;  Increments cannot be created for archives of entire GPT disks;  Increments can only be restored under Windows (if no restart is needed) or WinPE;  Increments cannot be processed with the Synthetic Backup Wizard;  Increments cannot be processed with the Check Archive Integrity Wizard;  Increments cannot be processed with the Create File Complement Wizard;  Increments cannot be browsed in Volume Explorer;  Increments can only be used with our software;  Increments cannot be compressed;  Increments cannot be encrypted;  Increments cannot be splitted.

Full and Incremental File Backups

A full file-based archive only contains files and folders. It is really efficient when backing up an e-mail database or particular documents, as no redundant data is processed. But if you care about maintaining a files history, you can benefit from one more supplementary technique called Incremental File Backup.

An incremental archive only contains data changed since the time of creating a full or incremental file-based archive. It is smaller and takes less time to create, but you will require the initial full image and all of its increments to restore the latest point of this kind of backup.

File Increment to a Sector Backup

File Increment to a Sector Backup is a unique technology on the market so far that bridges two principally different approaches of the data backup: the file-based backup and the sector-based backup. With its help you can now create a sector-based backup of your system to get it back on track in minutes in case of a virus attack or a hardware malfunction and then just make file-based incremental images to the previously created sector-based backup to keep updated only information that is critical for you. Thus you will considerably save your system resources.

Backup Storage

Our program supports several techniques of storing backup images. Let’s take a closer look at them all to understand what kind of storage is able to provide better security:

 You can place a backup image to a local partition. Despite the fact that it is the most convenient way, try not to

use it. You can delete your backup just by accident or lose it as a result of a hardware malfunction, or a virus attack;

 You can place a backup image to an external mounted storage to provide for a higher level of data protection

and system independence;

 You can place a backup image to a special secured place on the hard disk called the Backup Capsule that has an

independent system layout (e.g. a separate partition) and will stay operable should the active file system be damaged. To avoid an accidental removing or unauthorized access of the backup data, this partition is hidden and thus cannot be mounted in the operating system. However it won’t help you in case of a hardware malfunction;

 You can place a backup image to external media (CD/DVD) to guarantee a high level of data protection as long

as the backup media is kept secure;

 You can place a backup image to a network drive to stand a better chance of success in case of a hard disk

failure. Moreover, by storing it on a special-purpose server you may be pretty sure nothing will happen to it;

 Finally you can place a backup image to an FTP server to provide a new level of system and data protection.

Known Issues on FTP/SFTP

1. You need to check out yourself Windows Firewall or programs of this kind let our program work with the

required port (21 by default).

2. You cannot restore data selectively (with Restore Wizard) from an FTP/SFTP server.

3. You can browse an FTP server in the passive mode only.

4. Parallel access to several FTP/SFTP servers is limited - only one password for all servers is available.

Adaptive Restore

Technology Background

Windows family operating systems are notorious for their excessive sensibility to hardware, especially when it turns to replacement of such a crucial device as HDD controller or motherboard – actually Windows will most likely fail to boot as a result of this operation.

In 2008 our company came with an exclusive technology called Paragon Adaptive Restore™. Initially aimed at restore of Windows Vista or Server 2008 from a backup to a different hardware configuration, its current realization, available in the P2P Adjust OS Wizard, enables to make any Windows OS since XP bootable on dissimilar hardware by allowing automatic injection of all required drivers and the other actions crucial for this type of migration.

Technology Concept

Let’s take a closer look at how Paragon Adaptive Restore works.

Though all Windows systems have built-in driver repositories, please be prepared to have additional drivers when dealing with Windows XP/Server 2003, because for these systems they are very modest.

As you see, successful migration of a Windows system to a different hardware platform involves several actions:

1. Change of the Windows kernel settings according to the new configuration. The program detects the given

hardware profile and automatically installs the appropriate Windows HAL and kernel.

2. Installation of drivers for boot critical devices. The program detects those without drivers and automatically

tries to install lacking drivers from the built-in Windows repository. If there’s no driver in the repository, it prompts the user to set a path to an additional driver repository, strongly recommending not to proceed until all drivers for the found boot critical devices are installed. In case drivers for these devices are installed, but disabled, they will be enabled.

3. Installation of drivers for a PS/2 mouse and keyboard. This action will only be accomplished for Windows

XP/Server 2003.

4. Installation of drivers for network cards. The program detects those without drivers and automatically tries to

install lacking drivers from the built-in Windows repository. If there’s no driver in the repository, it prompts the user to set a path to an additional driver repository.

These actions guarantee a Windows system will start up on dissimilar hardware. After the startup, Windows will initiate

reconfiguration of all Plug'n'Play devices. It’s a standard procedure, so please don’t worry and prepare the latest drivers

at this step to get the most out of the system.

Technology Application

Let’s consider a number of situations when the Adaptive Restore technology can help you out:

 If you need to migrate to a different hardware platform with minimal effort  If you need to upgrade hardware while keeping all programs and settings intact  If you need to replace failed hardware and cannot find an exact match for original system specifications

It is not recommended to use Paragon Hot Processing with active SQL Server, Exchange or Oracle databases since the backup image contents may be corrupted.

Known Issues

1. After transferring Microsoft Vista and later versions to different hardware, you will need to re-activate license of

the system. It’s normal behavior as these systems keep tracking any change of hardware. Re-activation is legally justified in this case, as you transfer your system to another PC.

2. If you’ve installed several operating systems on one partition, we can only add drivers to the latest version of

OS. Microsoft highly recommends that you install an operating system on a separate partition.

3. Please note drivers are not cached during selection. That’s why if you select a driver to add to the system, but

it’s already unavailable during the operation, the program will end the operation with an error.

Paragon Hot Processing & Volume Shadow Copy Service

Offline versus Online Data Processing

In the course of time there have been developed various methods of data processing. Despite different work concept, all of them can be divided into two principal groups: offline (cold) and online (hot) data processing techniques.

As the name infers, offline data processing can only be accomplished when the data is in consistent state (the operating system and all the applications are completely shut down). Actually it is the most preferable way of image creation or data cloning, since software can obtain an exclusive right to process data that guaranties high level of operating efficiency. However, the offline data processing is absolutely out of question when dealing with 24/7 production environments.

In contrast, online data processing enables to create a consistent snapshot even as the data is currently modified. It is particularly useful for systems with high availability requirements, but it won’t be accomplished until all active transactions are complete. The point is to provide a coherent state of all open files and databases involved in a process, taking into account that applications may still keep writing to disks. As a result an online data processing cannot boast high operating speed.

Our program supports both offline and online methods of data processing. As far as online method is concerned it offers its own hot processing algorithm together with the possibility to use snapshot technologies provided by the Microsoft VSS framework.

Paragon Hot Processing Technology

Paragon Hot Processing is an online copy/backup technology for Windows NT+ family operating systems. Developed back in 2001, nowadays it is integrated with all copy/backup solutions offered by the company.

Paragon Hot Processing is not exactly a snapshot technology, though it has much in common with it. During an online copy/backup, the program uses the kernel mode driver HOTCORE.SYS to intercept and control disk write activity of applications and the operating system. The hotcore driver as an integral part of the program is installed during the setup

procedure (that’s why the system reboot is required to complete the setup procedure). For the most part the driver is in

the idle mode until it is activated with the program. While in this mode it bypasses any calls having no effect on the overall system performance, but a few kilobytes of the system memory.

Paragon Hot Processing technology offers copy/backup of locked partitions and hard disks under Windows NT+ family operating systems providing both high operating efficiency as well as low hardware requirements.

To use VSS it is necessary to have a mounted 300 MB+ NTFS partition.

Volume Shadow Copy Service

Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is designed to provide the copy/backup infrastructure for the Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/Server 2003/2008 operating systems. It offers a reliable mechanism to create consistent point-intime copies of data known as shadow copies. Developed by Microsoft in close cooperation with the leading copy/backup solution vendors on the market, it is based on a snapshot technology concept.

Initiated by a VSS aware copy/backup utility, VSS creates snapshots for the selected volumes and represents them as virtual read-only devices, called volume shadow copies. Once the shadow copies are created, the copy/backup utility starts processing the data while applications keep writing to original volumes.

Unlike Paragon Hot Processing the VSS technology provides a unique possibility to make a synchronous snapshot of multiple volumes. This very feature can be particularly beneficial when backing up active SQL Server 2003, Exchange 2003 or Oracle databases located on multiple volumes the way it is recommended by Microsoft to improve the level of database performance and reliability, thus providing 100-percent data consistency.

pVHD Support

Paragon introduces a pVHD (Paragon Virtual Hard Drive) format – a special VHD, optimized for storing backups of virtual and physical machines. It’s very efficient in handling incremental chains, data de-duplication and synchronization. pVHD

allows obtaining backups that are up to four times smaller than original backup objects.

In the current version of the product backup images can be made either in the old PBF or the new pVHD. Please note that the pVHD support has a promotional goal. In future releases pVHD will gradually take the primary role.

Below is the list of wizards that allow working with pVHD:

 Backup to VD Wizard (Linux, Windows, WinPE);  Incremental Backup to VD Wizard (Linux, Windows, WinPE);  File Complement to VD Wizard (Linux, Windows, WinPE);  Restore from VD Wizard (Linux, Windows, WinPE);  Check VD Integrity Wizard (Windows, WinPE);  Retention Wizard for VD (Windows).

What you get by using pVHD:

 Incremental imaging works much faster and rock-stable in comparison with the old PBF;  Only pVHD images can be used to do immediate virtualization;  With the new backup technology, available for customers as a new backup image format pVHD, Paragon has

also achieved easy support of any virtual containers (VMDK, VHD, VHDX).

Dynamic Disks

As you probably know, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/Server 2003/2008 support four primary partitions per physical hard disk, one of which can be extended. Certainly there is the possibility to create logical drives within the extended partition. Such types of disks are called basic. Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003/2008 follow the same strategy: You can have a maximum of four

primary partitions, one of which can be an extended partition with logical drives. However, these operating systems also introduce a new disk configuration type - dynamic disk - which must be understood to effectively configure and manage hard disks.

Dynamic disk is a physical disk that doesn't use partitions or logical drives. Instead, it contains only dynamic volumes. Regardless of what format you use for the file system, only Win2K computers can access dynamic volumes directly. However, computers that aren't running Win2K can access the dynamic volumes remotely when connected to the shared folders over the network.

Dynamic disks can co-exist on a system with basic disks. The only limitation is that you cannot mix Basic and Dynamic disks on the same hard drive.

There are five types of dynamic volumes: simple (uses free space from a single disk), spanned (created from free disk space that is linked together from multiple disks), striped (a volume the data of which is interleaved across two or more physical disks), mirrored (a fault-tolerant volume the data of which is duplicated on two physical disks, and RAID-5 volumes (a fault-tolerant volume the data of which is striped across an array of three or more disks).

With dynamic storage, you can perform disk and volume management without the need to restart Windows.

Limitations:

 Dynamic disks are not supported on portable computers.  Dynamic disks are not supported on Windows XP Home Edition-based computers.  You cannot create mirrored volumes or RAID-5 volumes on Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP

Professional, or Windows XP 64-Bit Edition-based computers.

Thus, the dynamic disk is a new way of looking at hard disk configuration. Dynamic disks offer you more management flexibility without the partition limitation of basic disks. Dynamic disks can contain an unlimited number of volumes, but they cannot contain partitions or logical drives. Dynamic storage can be particularly beneficial for large-scale businesses when dealing with many physical hard disks involving complex setup.

GPT versus MBR

GUID Partition Table (GPT) is the next generation of a hard disk partitioning scheme developed to lift restrictions of the old MBR. Being a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) standard proposed by Intel to replace the outdated PC BIOS, it offers a number of crucial benefits:

 Up to 128 primary partitions for the Windows implementation (only 4 in MBR);  The maximum allowed partition size is 18 exabytes (only 2 terabytes in MBR);  More reliable thanks to replication and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) protection of the partition table;  A well defined and fully self-identifying partition format (data critical to the platform operation is located in

partitions, but not in un-partitioned or hidden sectors as this is the case with MBR)

uEFI Boot Challenges

Introduced back in 2005 by Intel to lift restrictions of the old MBR (Master Boot Record) and PC BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), uEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is now a recommended platform for new 64-bit Windows 8 computers. And the reason is easy to catch – besides other unique features impossible for the traditional tandem of BIOS+MBR, only a uEFI-based platform enables to accommodate Windows OS on a partition larger than

2.2TB.

Despite all uEFI advantages however, it has one quite naughty issue: a pretty standard operation with a bootable device

for instance involving its connection to another SATA port results in unbootable Windows. You’ll get the same result if

The uEFI switch boot device option is only available through the 64-bit WinPE media at the moment.

It is strongly recommended not to modify the hard disk configuration with Windows Disk Manager. Otherwise it may lead to unexpected consequences, right up to BSOD and inability to boot in Windows XP/Vista. Please use our program to correctly update both MBR and GPT.

trying to boot from a cloned system hard disk or from a restored hard disk. All these problems originate from the way uEFI+GPT bundle is organized.

Microsoft provides how-to guides to tackle this type of problems, but they demand a great deal of experience from the user, involving the use of the cmd, diskpart and bcdedit tools.

Paragon has a better way! Introducing an elegant technology, realized at the user side as one simple option, you can define a system GPT volume you’re willing to boot from.

Below is a list of wizards where the uEFI switch boot device option can be found:

 Copy Hard Disk Wizard;  Copy Partition Wizard;  Restore Wizard;  Migrate OS to SSD Wizard;  Boot Corrector.

Apple Boot Camp

Boot Camp is a special utility to help you set up a dual boot system (Mac OS X and 32-bit Windows XP/Vista) on Intelbased Macs. It enables to securely re-partition your hard disk (resize an existing HFS+ partition to create a separate partition for Windows) and then launch the installation process. With Boot Camp all the necessary drivers will be at your disposal. Moreover after Windows has been installed it will serve as a boot manager to choose what operating system to start up.

64-bit Support

The bulk of software today is written for a 32-bit processor. It can meet the requirements of almost any end user. However that is not the case when dealing with servers processing large amounts of data with complex calculations of very large numbers. That is where 64-bit architecture comes into play.

It can boast improved scalability for business applications that enables to support more customer databases and more simultaneous users on each server. Besides a 64-bit kernel can access more system resources, such as memory allocation per user. A 64-bit processor can handle over 4 billion times more memory addresses than a 32-bit processor. With these resources, even a very large database can be cached in memory.

Although many business applications run without problems on 32-bit systems, others have grown so complex that they use up the 4 GB memory limitation of a 32-bit address space. With this large amount of data, fewer memory resources are available to meet memory needs. On a 64-bit server, most queries are able to perform in the buffers available to the database.

Some 32-bit applications make the transition to the 64-bit environment seamlessly others do not. For instance, systemlevel utilities and programs that provide direct hardware access are likely to fail. Our program offers a full-fledged support of the 64-bit architecture providing fault-tolerant work for such system dependent modules as Hot Processing.

Copy Operations

Hard drive duplication nowadays is becoming highly popular among PC users. That is due to some definite advantages it can offer. First of all, many people clone hard disks just to back up data for security reasons. The present day copy utilities enable to successfully transfer all on-disk information including standard bootstrap code and other system service structures, thus maintaining the operating system’s working capability. In case of a system malfunction, the user can get the system back on track in minutes. No additional configuration is required, what is very convenient.

The second possible application is the upgrade of a hard disk to a new one. The capacity of a modern hard drive doubles every two years, thus opening up new possibilities for software developers. As a result programs become more complicated and require considerable amount of free space. One day the user realizes that there is no more free space left on the hard disk and the only way out is to upgrade. Usually that means that besides purchasing a new hard disk, the user is to face a large re-installation procedure spanning several days of tedious work. But all of this can be avoided just by copying the contents of the old hard disk to a new one proportionally resizing the partitions.

And the last but not least is the copying of hard disks for cloning purposes. It may be of great use when setting up similar computers. There is no need for a system administrator to install an operating system from scratch on every one of them. It is enough just to configure one and then clone it to the others.

Drive Partitioning

As you probably know a hard drive is to be split into one or more partitions, since it cannot hold data until it is carved up and space is set aside for an operating system. Until recently most PCs used to have just one partition, which filled the entire hard disk and contained an OS. The situation has changed however, thanks to new cost-effective high capacity hard drives, thus opening up numerous possibilities for PC users, such as editing video, archiving music, backing up CD images, etc. Huge increase in space is great, but it poses a number of problems, most important of which are effective data organization and speed.

Large drives are always going to take longer to search than smaller volumes, and an operating system is going to have its work cut out both finding and organizing files. It is for this reason that many people decide to invest in multiple hard drives, but there is an easy solution – drive partitioning. Partitioning lets you divide a single physical drive into a number of logical drives, each of which servers as a container with its own drive letter and volume label, thus enabling the operating system to process data more efficiently. Besides partitioning makes it possible to organize data so that it is easy to find and manage. You can set aside, for instance, 40 GB of a 160 GB hard drive for the OS, 70 GB for storing video and another 50 GB for your favorite music collections to provide transparent data storage.

It is also worth mentioning to that with a hard drive properly partitioned, such routine operations as files defragmentation or consistency check will not be that annoying and time-consuming any more.

By detaching the OS from the rest of the data you can tackle one more crucial issue – in case of a system malfunction, you can get the system back on track in minutes by recovering it from a backup image located on the other partition of the hard drive.

But that is not all drive partitioning may be used for. If you are willing to play games in Windows while browsing the Internet in Linux, 100-percent sure that no virus will attack your PC, drive partitioning is a necessity. In order to run several OSs on a single hard drive you are to create a corresponding number of partitions to effectively delineate the boundaries of each OS.

Scheduling

The automation of operations is particularly effective when you have to repeat a sequence of actions on a regular basis. For example, developing a specific project on a day-to-day basis and having to make a backup every evening so as not to lose the valuable data, you will really appreciate, when this kind of routine operations will be carried out automatically without your participation.

Another aspect of any automation process is that it allows an optimization of your computer’s work-load. This is especially important when operations require a considerable amount of computer resources – processor time, memory and more. A number of tasks, which can decrease the performance, can be run during the night or whenever the computer has the least work-load to perform.

The program has a special tool for scheduling. You can set out a timetable for any operation and it will start at a specified time without interrupting your current activity.

Windows BitLocker

BitLocker is a security feature that enables to protect data of your volumes with 128/256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption. It has first appeared in Windows Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate to protect contents of hard disks from offline attacks for instance, when your hard disk is stolen and connected to another computer to retrieve data it contains.

Our product enables to work with volumes encrypted by BitLocker, but only when they are unlocked. Until that locked

volumes will be recognized in the program’s interface as ‘Not formatted’. You can unlock this type of volumes only

through Windows-native facilities:

 Graphical user interface for Windows,  manage-bde command line tool for Windows and the WinPE recovery media.

To know more on the subject, please consult the How to Work with Bitlocked Volumes chapter.

In the current version of our product the following operations are allowed to accomplish on volumes encrypted by BitLocker:

 Backup Partition;  Restore Partition;  Copy Partition;  Delete Partition;  Change Volume Label;  Add/Remove Drive Letter;  Hide/Unhide Partition;  Mark Partition as Active/Inactive;  Change Serial Number;  Change Partition ID;  Test Surface;  Check File System Integrity;  Properties.

Windows Components

In the given section you can find all the information necessary to successfully work with the Windows version of the product.

Interface Overview

This chapter introduces the graphical interface of the program. The design of the interface precludes any mistake being made on the part of the user. Most operations are performed through the system of wizards. Buttons and menus are accompanied by easy understandable icons. Nevertheless, any problems that might occur while managing the program can be tackled by reading this very chapter.

General Layout

When you start the program, the first component that is displayed is called the Launcher. It enables to run wizards and dialogs, to specify program settings, to visualize the operating environment and the hard disk configuration.

The Launcher’s window can be conditionally subdivided into several sections that differ in their purpose and

functionality:

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Paragon Backup Recovery - 15 Home User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual