Paragon Disk Wiper - 11 Personal Instruction Manual

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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

Disk Wiper™ 11 Personal

User Manu al

Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 5

What’s New in Disk Wiper 11 ...................................................................................................................... 5

Product Components ............................................................................................................. 5

Features Overview ................................................................................................................. 6

Features ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

User Friendly Fault Minimizing Interface ................................................................................................................................ 6

Partition/Hard Disk Management Facilities ............................................................................................................................ 6

Wipe Facilities ......................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Automatization Facilities ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

Auxiliary Facilities ................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Supported Data Erasure Algorithms ............................................................................................................ 7

Supported Technologies .............................................................................................................................. 7

Supported File Systems ............................................................................................................................... 7

Supported Media ........................................................................................................................................ 7

Getting Started ...................................................................................................................... 8

Distribution ................................................................................................................................................ 8

Distributive CD ........................................................................................................................................................................ 8

Online Distribution.................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Registration ............................................................................................................................................................................. 8

How to Download Updates/Upgrades .................................................................................................................................... 9

Contacting Paragon Software GmbH ........................................................................................................... 9

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................. 9

Installation ................................................................................................................................................ 10

First Start ................................................................................................................................................... 11

Building wiping media ................................................................................................................................ 12

Booting from the Linux/DOS wiping media ................................................................................................. 12

Startup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 12

Boot menu ............................................................................................................................................................................ 13

Basic Concepts ..................................................................................................................... 15

Data Sanitization........................................................................................................................................ 15

Data Security Standards ............................................................................................................................. 15

GPT versus MBR ......................................................................................................................................... 16

64-bit Support ............................................................................................................................................ 16

Scheduling ................................................................................................................................................. 17

Windows Components ........................................................................................................ 17

Interface Overview .................................................................................................................................... 17

General Layout ...................................................................................................................................................................... 17

Main Menu ........................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Tool Bar ................................................................................................................................................................................. 20

Virtual Operations Bar .......................................................................................................................................................... 20

Common Tasks Bar ............................................................................................................................................................... 21

Disk Map ............................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Explorer Bar .......................................................................................................................................................................... 23

Legend Bar ............................................................................................................................................................................ 23

Status Bar .............................................................................................................................................................................. 24

Settings Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 24

General Options .................................................................................................................................................................... 24

Wipe Options ........................................................................................................................................................................ 25

Wipe Report Options ............................................................................................................................................................ 26

Partitioning Options .............................................................................................................................................................. 26

Virtual Mode Options ........................................................................................................................................................... 27

Log Files Options ................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Viewing Disk Properties ............................................................................................................................. 28

Partition Management ............................................................................................................................... 29

Basic Partitioning Operations ............................................................................................................................................... 29

Hard Disk Management ............................................................................................................................. 34

Updating MBR ....................................................................................................................................................................... 34

Wipe Tasks ................................................................................................................................................ 34

Task Scheduling ......................................................................................................................................... 38

Setting a Timetable ............................................................................................................................................................... 38

Managing Tasks .................................................................................................................................................................... 39

Creating a Scheduled Task .................................................................................................................................................... 40

Extra Functionality ..................................................................................................................................... 41

View Partition/Hard Disk Properties ..................................................................................................................................... 41

File Transfer Wizard .............................................................................................................................................................. 42

Mount Partition .................................................................................................................................................................... 44

Test Surface .......................................................................................................................................................................... 45

Check File System Integrity ................................................................................................................................................... 45

Check Recovery Discs ............................................................................................................................................................ 46

Edit/View Sectors .................................................................................................................................................................. 46

Typical Scenarios ................................................................................................................. 47

Recovery Scenarios .................................................................................................................................... 47

Copying of data from the corrupted system disk to another hard disk ............................................................................... 47

Burning of data from the corrupted system disk to CD/DVD ............................................................................................... 49

Hard Disk Utilization .................................................................................................................................. 51

Troubleshooter .................................................................................................................... 53

Glossary ............................................................................................................................... 55

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

Data security nowadays is the burning issue not only for companies and government agencies, but rank and file people as well. Our personality is now fully embedded in computer technology. It is computer you apply to when at work, it is also computer you use at home for entertainment or as a reservoir for containing some valuable data such as personal correspondence, banking account information, credit card numbers, financial records, whatever… It is obvious that this kind of data should in no way be available to others. That is why, when disposing of a storage device (a hard disk or a flash memory drive), the crucial thing is to make sure it does not contain any information, because simple deletion, or even reformatting do not guarantee data security at all. To do that, you need a specially designed tool.

Paragon Disk Wiper™ 11 Personal is a fast, convenient and reliable solution providing irreversible destruction of data on separate partitions or entire hard disks (IDE, SCSI, SATA, USB, etc.) as well as any type of flash memory devices.

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 Disk Wiper 11

 Check FS Integrity and Data Loss Policies to let you specify the acceptable balance between the operation

performance and the risk of data loss.

 Better support for 64-bit platforms to reboot your computer to one of the three special modes (Windows

native, Linux, or DOS) to automatically complete operations, which cannot be accomplished under 64-bit Windows.

 Support of the restart-free installation.  AFD (Advanced Format Drive) ready.  Support of 2TB+ and non-512B sector size drives.  USB 3.0 ready.

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 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 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 environment requires no installation and can be of great help when the system fails to boot. Besides it offers a Windows XP like environment.

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

File Transfer Wizard is only available for the bootable environment.

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).

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.

Wipe Facilities

 Data wiping to successfully destroy all on-disk information including the standard bootstrap code and other

system service structures.

 Free space clearing to destroy any remnants of deleted files/directories left on disk without affecting the used

data.

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.

Auxiliary Facilities

 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.

 Wiping Media Builder to create a bootable media on a CD, DVD disc, or flash memory, which can later be used

to boot and irreversibly destroy the on-disk data. Moreover, with its help you can save data from partitions of

To know more on the subject, please consult the Data Security Standards section.

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.

your hard disk directly to compact discs or burn ISO-images. The utility supports various formats of laser discs: CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R, DVD+R double layer, Blu-ray and can handle multi-session burning.

Supported Data Erasure Algorithms

 Paragon's algorithm  Custom algorithm

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

and copy files and folders, etc.

 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.

 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.  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.)

It is recommended to use Internet Explorer 5+ or any compatible browser.

Getting Started

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

Distribution

Paragon Disk Wiper 11 is distributed in two ways:

 Boxed package from Paragon Software GmbH and resellers  Downloadable package over the Internet at the company’s web-site

Distributive CD

The boxed package includes a distributive CD that is in fact a bootable environment with auto-run of the Windows installation, thus it can be used as a ready-made solution. But if you’re going to run the Windows components, you need to install them first (see Installation).

If you want to download an update/upgrade of the product, it will be in form of the downloadable installation package as described in Online Distribution).

Online Distribution

Disk Wiper 11 purchased over the Internet will be in form of an MSI package. After installing the product you can launch the Wiping Media Builder to prepare a wiping media.

Registration

Paragon Software GmbH provides a wide range of online services through its web-portal - www.paragon-

software.com/support/:

 Registration of new users;  Registration of purchased products for registered users;  Available around-the-clock downloading center, where registered users can get product updates/upgrades as

well as all the necessary documentation;

 Downloadable free demo versions and open documentation for all users.

To register as a new user

To register as a new user, please do the following:

1. Run an Internet browser and visit the page: www.paragon-software.com/my-account/;

2. Click Create of the Create a Paragon Account section;

3. Fill out a registration form;

4. Click Register.

The most important field in the form is an E-mail address, as it serves as a login to enter the system. Besides your access password will be sent to this address as well.

Service

Contact

Visit Paragon Software web site

www.paragon-software.com

Registration & updates web-service

www.paragon-software.com/support

Knowledge Base & Technical Support

kb.paragon-software.com

Pre-sale information

sales@paragon-software.com

To register a new product

If you are a registered user and would like to register Disk Wiper 11, please do the following:

1. Run an Internet browser and visit the page: www.paragon-software.com/my-account/;

2. In the Email field of the Authorization section, enter an E-mail used for registration;

3. In the Password field enter a password received after registration;

4. Click Sign in;

5. If the user name and password are valid, you will get to your account;

6. Click Register new product of the Products section;

7. Enter your product serial number in the Serial Number field. You can find it in the product box or obtain from

your reseller. Click Next;

8. On the next page you will be asked to provide some additional data. Also you will need to decide whether you

want to get confirmation on registering the product by E-mail or not. Click Next, and then click Finish.

That is all. The product is now registered.

How to Download Updates/Upgrades

Downloading of updates/upgrades can be fulfilled in the following way:

1. Run an Internet browser and visit the page: www.paragon-software.com/my-account/;

2. In the Email field of the Authorization section, enter an E-mail used for registration;

3. In the Password field enter a password received after registration;

4. Click Sign in;

5. If the user name and password are valid, you will get to your account;

6. Select My Downloads of the Products section to see what updates are available for you;

7. Select the desired update and click Download.

Contacting Paragon Software GmbH

If you have any questions about the company products, please do not hesitate to contact Paragon Software GmbH.

System Requirements

For the Windows installation package

 Operating systems:

- Windows 2000 (32 bit)

During the installation additional free space (up to 1GB) will be required.

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

- Windows XP (32 and 64 bit)

- Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit)

- Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit)

 Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher  Intel Pentium CPU or its equivalent, with 300 MHz processor clock speed  128 MB of RAM (256+ recommended)  Hard disk drive with 250 MB of available space  SVGA video adapter and monitor  Keyboard  Mouse

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

Additional requirements

 Recordable CD/DVD drive to burn data to compact discs  External USB hard drive to store data.

Installation

To install Paragon Disk Wiper 11, please do the following:

1. Run Setup Application. Click on the *.MSI file. This application will guide you through the process of the

program installation. The setup utility is compiled with the InstallShield SDK, hence it contains the standard user interface and set of installation steps.

2. Starting Setup. The Welcome page informs that the application is being installed. Click the Next button to

continue.

3. Confirm License Agreement. The License Agreement page displays the Paragon License Agreement. Read the

agreement and then select the appropriate option to accept. If you do not agree with any conditions stated

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.

To accomplish online operation on locked partitions/hard disks the program uses a kernel mode hotcore driver, thus the system reboot is required to complete the installation procedure.

there, the installation process will be interrupted. By clicking the Print button, the License Agreement may also be printed out.

4. Provide Registration Information. On the Registration page you are to provide your product key and serial

number.

5. Provide Customer Information. On the Customer Information page you are to provide the standard

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. Select an Installation Folder. The Destination Folder page allows you to choose a folder where the program will

be installed. By default, the installation folder will be created as:

C:\Program Files\Paragon\Paragon Disk Wiper 11. To select another folder, click the Change… button.

After you have selected the required folder, click the Next button to continue.

7. Confirm Installation. On the Ready to Install the Program page click the Install button to start the installation or

the Back button to return to any of the previous pages and modify the installation settings.

8. Copying Files. The Copying Files page shows the overall progress of the installation. Click the Cancel button to

abort the setup.

9. Finishing the Installation. The Final page reports the end of the setup process. Click the Finish button to

complete the wizard.

First Start

To start Paragon Disk Wiper 11 under Windows, please click the Windows Start button and then select Programs > Paragon Disk Wiper™ 11 > Paragon Disk Wiper™.

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.

Building wiping media

Wiping Media Builder can help you accomplish the following operations:

 Prepare the Linux/DOS environment (included in the installation package) on external media (CD, DVD, or flash

memory) to boot and run utilities under Linux or PTS DOS (strongly recommended);

 Prepare a custom Linux/DOS environment by adding any data you like to the standard image;  Create from the master CD the Linux/DOS environment on a CD/DVD disc, or flash memory.

Booting from the Linux/DOS wiping media

The Linux/DOS 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 non-standard 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 environment, please take the following steps:

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

Wiping Media Builder can help you prepare our environment either on a CD/DVD disc or a

thumb drive.

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

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

While working with the 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.

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

The Boot menu contains the following commands:

 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.

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

Normal Mode

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

 Wipe Wizard (enables to destroy all on-disk information or only remnants of deleted files/directories);  File Transfer Wizard (allows coping files/folders to another disk or a partition as well as recording them to

CD/DVD);

 Log Saver (helps to collect and send the necessary log files to the Technical Support);  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.

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.

Data Sanitization

Data security is a two-sided problem. It is to be made clear, that providing confidentiality implies not only information to be stored properly, but also be destroyed according to certain rules. The first step to protecting yourself is to know exactly which security precautions work and which do not.

Many people believe the misconception that repartitioning a disk will result in complete destruction of its contents. Actually that is not quite so. Repartitioning the drive only alters references to partitions in the Partition Table, leaving all file data intact. In fact, there are a number of programs available to successfully recover previously deleted partitions.

Formatting a drive also does not guarantee data destruction. Formatting procedure implies modification of the Master File Table (MFT) that keeps track of where file contents are stored on the disk and verification of each sector for consistency. Even a low-level format does not actually erase the file contents for good, since they can still be resurrected from their deleted state with minimal effort by using the popular today Magnetic Force Microscopy technology.

The only way to make sure that all the data has been erased from a hard drive is to overwrite all on-disk sectors with random patterns of ones and zeros. Although this sounds complex, there is an easy way to do this.

The process of deliberately, irreversibly removing or destroying the data stored on a memory device (magnetic disks, flash memory drives, etc.) is generally known as Data Sanitization. A device that has been sanitized has no usable residual data and even advanced forensic tools should not ever be able to recover it, thus providing maximum level of security.

Data Security Standards

To irreversibly destroy all on-disk information there have been developed a number of disk sanitizing standards. They are distinguished by wiping patterns and number of passes:

1. US DoD 5220.22-M. US Department of Defense recommends to overwrite all addressable locations with a

character, its complement and then a random character. Finally, the target data area is to be verified;

2. US Navy standards NAVSO P-5239-26.  NAVSO P-5239-26 for RLL encoded drives. At first to write the fixed value (0xffffffff) to the target data area,

then the fixed value (0x27ffffff), and then random values. Finally, the target data area is to be verified;

 NAVSO P-5239-26 for MFM encoded drives. At first to write the fixed value (0xffffffff) to the target data

area, then the fixed value (0xbfffffff), and then random values. Finally, the target data area is to be verified;

3. British HMG Infosec Standard No.5. At first to write a single character pattern, then its complement and then a random character. Finally, the target data area is to be verified;

4. German VSItR Standard. Overwrite the deleted information 7 times, consistently filling it with the following patterns: 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0xFF, 0xAA. Finally, the target data area is to be verified;

5. Australian ASCI 33. Overwrite with a character (C), then verify. Overwrite with –C (the first pass character’s inverse), then verify again. Overwrite everything with both C and –C once again but without verification. Fill everything with random characters;

Military and government standards always require 100 percent residual data verification. It is necessary to make sure that the operation has been properly accomplished. Besides corrupted sectors discovered during the operation are to be logged to keep the user informed, since these sectors may contain classified information.

The list of supported military and government standards may vary for your product.

Anyway you’ve always got the possibility to create a customized algorithm, defining up to 4

wiping patterns, number of passes for each wiping pattern and for the group of patterns, thus providing the maximum possible security level.

6. Russian GOST R 50739-95. Destroy information by a single pass with writing random characters into each sector byte;

7. Peter Gutmann's algorithm. A whopping 35 passes, with 27 random-order passes using specific patterns combined with eight passes using random patterns;

8. Bruce Schneier's algorithm. Two passes of specific patterns followed by five passes using a cryptographically secure pseudo-random sequence;

9. Paragon's algorithm.  Overwrite each sector with a forcefully randomized 512-byte string, new for each sector, using CSPRNG

(cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator);

 Overwrite each erased sector with its complement;  Overwrite each sector with a 512-byte string (CSPRNG), again forcefully randomized and different from the

first pass, and new for each sector;

 Fill each erased sector with 0xAA value. Finally, the target data area is to be verified.

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)

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.

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 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:

1. Main Menu

2. Tool Bar

3. Virtual Operations Bar

4. Common Tasks Bar

5. Explorer Bar

6. Disk Map

7. Legend Bar

8. Status Bar

MENU ITEM

FUNCTIONALITY

Tools

Wiping Media Builder…

Start up your computer for maintenance or recovery purposes

A number of panels offer similar functionality with a synchronized layout. The program enables to conceal some of them to simplify the interface management.

All panels are separated by vertical and horizontal expandable sliders, allowing the user to customize the screen layout.

Main Menu

The Main Menu provides access to the entire functionality of the program. The available functions are as listed below:

Check Recovery Discs…

Verify the wiping media for integrity and ability to boot from

Settings...

Edit the general settings of the program

Exit

Exit the program

Changes

Save to Scheduler…

Schedule pending operations

Undo `the last virtual operation`

Cancel the last virtual operation on the List of Pending Operations

Redo `the last virtual operation`

Cancel the last undo virtual operation on the List of Pending Operations

View Changes…

Display the List of Pending Operations

Apply Changes

Launch the real execution of virtual operations

Discard All Changes

Cancel all virtual operations on the List of Pending Operations

Reload Disk Info

Refresh the current information about disks

Wizards

Wipe Hard Disk or Partition...

Destroy all on-disk information or only remnants of deleted files/directories

Hard Disk

Update MBR

Update MBR (Master Boot Record) of the selected hard disk

Wipe Hard Disk…

Irreversibly destroy all on-disk information

Edit/View Sectors…

View/edit sectors of the selected hard disk

Properties…

Get in-depth information on the properties of selected hard disk

Partition

Create Partition…

Create a partition

Format Partition…

Format a partition

Delete Partition…

Delete a partition

Assign Drive Letter…

Assign drive letter to the selected partition

Remove Drive Letter…

Remove drive letter for the selected partition

Wipe Partition…

Irreversibly destroy all on-partition information

Clear Free Space…

Destroy any remnants of deleted files/directories left on disk

Test Surface…

Test surface of the selected partition/block of free space

Check File System

Integrity…

Check the selected partition for possible file system errors

Edit/View Sectors…

View/edit sectors of the selected partition

Properties…

Get in-depth information on the properties of selected partition

View

Layouts

Manage the Launcher layout with several predefined profiles

Toolbar

Manage the Tool Bar representation: show / hide standard and navigation buttons, text labels and large icons

Status Bar

Display the Status Bar

Common Tasks Bar

Display the Common Tasks Bar

Disk Map Legend

Display the Disk Map legend

Disk Map Location

Select whether the Disk Map will be located on the top of the main window or at the bottom

Help

Open the Help system (you can also do it by pressing F1)

About

Open the dialog with information about the program

The Main Menu contents available at the moment may vary depending on the selected object.

BUTTON

FUNCTIONALITY

Irreversibly destroy all on-partition information

Switch to Express launcher

Open the Help system

Tool Bar

The Toolbar provides fast access to the most frequently used operations:

Virtual Operations Bar

The program supports previewing the resulting layout of hard disks before actually executing operations (so-called virtual mode of execution). In fact, when the virtual mode is enabled, the program does not accomplish operations immediately, but places them on the List of Pending Operations for later execution.

The Virtual Operations Bar enables to manage pending operations.

BUTTON

FUNCTIONALITY

Cancel the last virtual operation on the List of Pending Operations

Cancel the last undo virtual operation on the List of Pending Operations

Display the List of Pending Operations

Launch the real execution of virtual operations

Cancel all virtual operations on the List of Pending Operations

Virtual mode is an effective way of protection from any troubles, since no operations will be executed until clicking the Apply button for confirmation, thus giving a second chance to weigh all pros and cons of this or that particular operation. The program politely reminds the user that there are unsaved changes by showing the following window:

Wiping Tools

Starting the Wipe Wizard to help destroy all on-disk information or only remnants of deleted files/directories.

Starting the Wiping Media Wizard to create a bootable media which can be used to get access to your hard disk for maintenance or recovery purposes.

Help and Documentation

Launching the help system (you can also do it by pressing F1).

Opening the page which contains information about the program. This page will be displayed in the Explorer Bar.

Opening a brief review on the Data Sanitization issue.

Common Tasks Bar

The Common Tasks Bar is located on the left side of the main window. It is intended for easy access to the program's wizards.

The bar contains several tabs. Each tab includes a separate button bar which can be folded by clicking it.

The drag-and-drop functionality is not available when the logarithmic type of the disk layout is selected.

Disk Map

The Disk Map is displayed in the Explorer Bar when the Disk View tab is selected. It is located either at the top or at the bottom of the window, depending on the state of the Disk Map Location option (Main Menu: View > Disk Map Location).

As the name infers, the Disk Map displays the layout of physical and logical disks. Physical disks are represented with rectangle bars that contain small-sized bars. These small-sized bars represent logical disks. Their color depends on the file system of the appropriate partition.

Large-sized bars display the following information about physical disks:

 Manufacturer,  Model.

Small-sized bars display the following information about logical disks:

 Serial number,  Drive letter,  Total size,  File system.

Furthermore, it is possible to estimate the used disk space by looking at the size of the bar’s shaded area. The program offers to choose from several types of the disk layout scaling. It’s done especially to increase the program usability. For instance, if you’ve got a high capacity hard drive containing both very large (more than 100 GB) and rather small (less

than 10 GB) partitions, you can select the logarithmic type to make all partitions readable, otherwise (selecting the

linear type) you won’t be able to see small partitions at all, but thing strips. On the other hand, if the proportional disk

layout is critical for you, the linear type is exactly what you need.

Nevertheless there’s a compromise solution – linear scaling with the minimal limit to small partitions. So if a partition is too small it will remain readable.

Just click on the arrow icon on the top right side of the Disk Map to select the desired scaling type.

Disk Map is synchronized with the Explorer Bar. Thus by selecting a disk on the Disk Map, the Explorer Bar will automatically display detailed information on it.

You can switch between these components by clicking tabs on the left side of the Explorer Bar.

BUTTON

FUNCTIONALITY

Return to the previously browsed page

Open the next browsed page

Stop loading the current page

Refresh the contents of the current page

Explorer Bar

The Explorer Bar is located in the center of the main window which emphasizes its importance. The bar displays reference information including:

 The help system  General information on the product including its name, version and a list of helpful links  Detailed information about disks selected on the Disk Map  List of scheduled operations  Disk Editor utility

According to these categories the Explorer Bar has several tabs:

 Disk View, which offers the user the following options:

- Disk Editor to view/edit sectors of the selected partition/hard disk

- Properties to view detailed information on the selected partition/hard disk in the bright graphical form

 Scheduled Tasks, which gives the user the possibility of browsing and editing scheduled operations.  Help, which contains the program help and general information on the product.

You can access the desired information by clicking on the appropriate tab.

The Explorer Bar is a fully-functional embedded HTML browser, which offers the possibility to address, for example, the company's website to look through important technical notes or download the latest updates without having to close the program.

The program help is also HTML-oriented. You can read it and follow external links from to get additional information.

To easily navigate through browsed pages, the program provides the following functionality:

Legend Bar

The Legend Bar explains the color scheme used for disk and partition presentation. You can hide (or show) the bar with the appropriate Main Menu item: View > Disk Map Legend. When it is activated it can be found at the bottom of the

Explorer Bar.

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To get a detailed description to any setting, control, or field of the program just click the hint button and then the object you need.

The program distinguishes between the following types of known file systems:

- FAT16/32

- NTFS

- Linux Ext2/3/4

- Linux ReiserFS

- Apple HFS

Status Bar

This is the bottom part of the main window. The Status Bar displays menu hints, for each item the cursor points to.

The user can hide (or show) the bar with the appropriate Main Menu item: View > Status Bar.

Settings Overview

The Settings dialog is available from the Main Menu: Tools > Settings. All the settings are grouped into several sections, which functions are described in the following paragraphs. The list of sections is placed on the left side of the dialog. By selecting a section from the list, you can open a set of options.

General Options

This section contains a set of general options that will be taken into account during any operation carried out with the program:

 Partition Alignment mode. There are three options you can choose from:

- Legacy. DOS and Windows OSes before Vista required that partitions had to be aligned to the “disk cylinder”

or 63 sectors to address and access sectors correctly. It was OK, until 4K hard drives came into scene. When partitions are aligned this way on this type of disk, each logical cluster is linked to two physical 4K clusters, thus resulting in a double read-write operation.

The list of supported military and government standards may vary for your product.

- Vista. Since Windows Vista, operating systems do not use the archaic CHS (cylinder/head/sector) addressing

scheme, but the Logical Block Addressing (LBA), where sectors are addressed continuously over the whole disk drive. It is optimal for both, 512B and new 4K disk drivers.

- Inheritance. Select the option to disable automatic alignment of partitions.

 Check FS integrity policy. Accomplishment of any data-sensitive operation (resize, move, merge, redistribute,

change cluster size, etc.) is potential with data loss. To minimize this risk, it’s recommended to check integrity of

your file system before this type of operations, despite the fact that it’s quite time consuming. We offer you

several options to let you choose, which is best for you:

- Always. Maximum protection, but minimal performance. The file system integrity will be checked each time

it’s necessary to guarantee the maximum protection for the on-disk data.

- Once. Standard protection with acceptable performance. The file system integrity will be checked for each

volume only once just before accomplishing data-sensitive operations.

- Never. No protection, but maximum performance. If you’re not 100% sure your disk is rock solid, please do

not use this option.

 Data Loss Protection mode. To guarantee safety for your information when a data-sensitive operation has been

abruptly interrupted as a result of a computer reset, or a power outage, there are several techniques, that correspond to the options below:

- Do not protect. No protection, but maximum performance. If you’re not 100% sure you’re completely safe

from a power outage, or an accidental reset of your computer, please do not use this option.

- Reset. Standard protection with acceptable performance. Maintaining a special journal, our program

enables to automatically complete a data-sensitive operation interrupted by an accidental reset of your computer from our bootable wiping media, thus reviving the corrupted partition.

- Power loss. Maximum protection, but minimal performance. Besides journaling, our program will also

disable cache of your disk when accomplishing data-sensitive operations to avoid data loss even in case of a power outage.

Wipe Options

Here you can set a specific data erasure algorithm that will be used by default during wipe operations.

Wipe Report Options

In this section you can specify contents and properties of generated wipe reports:

 System information. Mark the option to include a computer name, BIOS version and the used operating system.  Hardware Information. Mark the option to include information on the used processor, disk drivers, network and

USB adapters, etc.

 Bad blocks information. Mark the option to include information on the found bad blocks.  Supervisor Approval. Mark the option to add a signature field for an executive or supervisor responsible for

data sanitization procedures in your company.

 Font size… Select the most suitable font size from the list (12 pts by default).

Partitioning Options

This section contains a set of options that will be taken into account during partitioning operations:

 Request confirmation before partition deletion. Mark the checkbox to activate an additional security

mechanism. Thus when going to delete a partition you will be automatically requested to enter its label.

 Request confirmation when converting FAT16 to FAT32. Mark the checkbox to automatically request

confirmation before converting FAT16 to FAT32. There are a number of situations when this kind of conversion is the only way out to accomplish the operation. For instance, you are going to migrate your system to a larger hard disk with the proportional resize of existing partitions, what is very convenient. As a result you can get original FAT16 partitions go beyond the 4GB limit. Thus without conversion to FAT32, this operation will in no

We strongly recommend you to enable this mode.

We strongly recommend you not to choose the Minimal option, as in case of having problems with the program, our Support Team won’t be able to study operation logs, thus help you out.

way be possible to accomplish. The same goes for any copy hard disk/partition or restore hard disk/partition operation involving an extra upsizing.

Virtual Mode Options

In this section you may configure the virtual mode:

 Allow virtual mode. Mark the checkbox to enable the virtual mode. It is an effective way of protection from any

troubles, since no operation will be executed until confirmation, thus giving you a second chance to weigh all pros and cons of this or that particular operation.

 Close progress dialog automatically. Mark the checkbox to automatically close the progress dialog after

accomplishing operations.

Log Files Options

In this section you can specify a storage life span for the stubact.log file:

 Infinite not to empty the file ever;  Minimal to have the file emptied all the time;  Custom to set a certain storage life span for the file. Please note, once the defined period has been expired, the

file will be emptied.

Viewing Disk Properties

The main tool to view in-depth information on the properties of hard disks is the Disk Map. It represents the actual state of the computer’s hard disks.

Generally the hard disks are represented on the map by rectangular bars, which also contain small-sized bars. The smallsized bars represent logical disks (partitions). When you select a large-sized bar, the Explorer Bar displays information about the disk in a bright, graphical form.

The model and serial number of the disk serve as the title of the browsed page. The disk layout is shown in form of a circular graph, where the color of a sector corresponds to a file system of an appropriate partition. On the right you may see a table, which contains the following information:

 Type of hard disk (basic or dynamic),  Total size (in GB),  Information on geometry of the disk (amount of sectors per track, heads and cylinders).

Below there is a list of available wizards. If you click a corresponding record the appropriate wizard will be started. All default values for the operation parameters will correspond to the disk’s settings. The list of wizards contains a detailed description of tasks that can be performed by the wizard. This nullifies the possibility of selecting the wrong wizard.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

When you select a small-sized bar (i.e. corresponding to a logical disk) the Explorer Bar will display information on it as well. The page title will contain a drive letter, which is assigned to the disk. The disk layout graph will be colored in accordance with the volume ratio of the used space to the free space (the light colored sector). The table on the right will contain the following information:

 Volume label (if available),  Type of the logical disk,  File system (represented by the color of the graph and the selected bar),  Total size, used space and free space (in GB or MB).

Below there is a list of wizards, which may be called for this disk. All default values of parameters will correspond to the disk settings.

Partition Management

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to carry out partitioning operations supported by the program.

Basic Partitioning Operations

Here you can learn how to accomplish basic partitioning operations (create, format, delete).

Creating Partitions

The program provides the ability to create a new partition within a block of un-partitioned space.

Restrictions

1. Do not use the Create Partition function in order to undelete the last deleted partition.

2. The program allows creating new partitions only within blocks of un-partitioned space. It cannot convert a free space on an existing partition to a new partition.

3. The program cannot create new partitions on Dynamic Disks.

Dialog Startup

1. Select a block of free space on the Disk Map;

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Create Partition.

Dialog Setup

Initially the program suggests some consistent values for all parameters. In most cases, you can just press the Yes button to confirm the operation.

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Partition size and position may also be defined by using the drag-and-drop technique. To do that, just carry out the required operation on the Disk Map. The virtual operations are to be available.

 Define whether the partition will be Primary, Extended or Logical. You can choose the desired partition type

from the pull-down list. As a matter of fact, the available alternatives fundamentally depend on the selected block of free space - within the Logical free space, only Logical partitions can be created; Within the Primary free space, both Primary partitions or the Extended Partition can be created.

 Partition Size. Define the size (in Mb) of the new partition.  Free space before. Define the position (in Mb) of the new partition relative to the beginning of the block of free

space.

 Free space after. Define the amount of trailing free space (in Mb) at the end of the new partition.

 File system for new partition. From the pull-down list select a file system the newly created partition will be

formatted to, otherwise the partition will remain unformatted (so that it will not be ready to use).

 Volume label. Enter a label for the selected partition in this textual field. It is an irrelevant parameter usually

used for drive identification.

 Drive letter assignment. The pull-down list contains vacant drive letters that can be associated with the newly

formatted partition.

In addition, there is the possibility to make further detailed settings (although the default values will do in most cases). To activate the advance mode, you need to click the More options button at the foot of the dialog page. Depending on the chosen file system, the following options become available:

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Number of available options depends on the selected file system type.

 Use OS built-in routine. Mark the option to restrict the available values according to the used OS.  Whether the surface test will be performed. Define the level of the surface check to make the program find bad

and unstable sectors and mark them unusable in the file system metadata.

 The amount of sectors per boot. This parameter is available exclusively for FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. Set

the number of sectors to be reserved for the boot area on the partition with this spinner control.

 The amount of root entries. This parameter is available exclusively for FAT16 file system. Set the maximum

amount of files/directories to be placed in the Root Directory on the FAT16 partition.

 The amount of sectors per cluster. Define the Cluster Size for the formatted partition with this spinner control.

Result

After the operation is completed you receive a fully functional partition.

Formatting Partitions

Any partition should contain some file system to be used for keeping data. The process of installing a file system is commonly known as formatting. A huge variety of file systems have been developed these days.

Supported File Systems

The program provides the ability to format partitions of the following file systems:

- FAT12 & FAT16

- FAT32

- HFS+

- NTFS

- Ext2

- Ext3

- Ext4

- Linux Swap v. 2

Dialog Startup

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map;

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Format Partition.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

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Number of available options depends on the selected file system type.

Dialog Setup

Initially the program suggests some consistent values for all parameters. In most cases, you can just press the Format button to confirm the operation.

 File system. From the pull-down list select the desired file system type. In fact, the program displays only those

file systems that can correctly be placed to the selected partition, taking its capacity into account.

 Volume label. Enter a label for the selected partition in this textual field. It is an irrelevant parameter usually

used for drive identification.

 Use OS built-in routine. Mark the checkbox to restrict the available values according to the used OS.  Whether the surface test will be performed. Define the level of the surface check to make the program find bad

and unstable sectors and mark them unusable in the file system metadata.

 The amount of sectors per boot. This parameter is available exclusively for FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. Set

the number of sectors to be reserved for the boot area on the partition with this spinner control.

 The amount of root entries. This parameter is available exclusively for FAT16 file system. Set the maximum

amount of files/directories to be placed in the Root Directory on the FAT16 partition.

 The amount of sectors per cluster. Define the Cluster Size for the formatted partition with this spinner control.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

Result

After the operation is completed you receive a fully functional partition formatted to the specified file system.

Deleting Partitions

Dialog Startup

In order to start the operation you should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map;

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Delete Partition.

Dialog Setup

Initially the program suggests you just to remove references to the selected partition from the Partition Table.

 Enter the volume label to confirm deleting. To confirm deletion of the selected partition, enter its Volume

Label. The current volume label is displayed above.

 Do not ask volume label next time. Mark the option to inhibit confirmation next time you start the dialog.

To additionally destroy the on-partition data, click the More options button at the foot of the dialog page, so you will be able to define:

 Select the byte mask…. The HEX value spinner control enables to set a two-figure hexadecimal character value

("00" by default). The available range is from "00" to "FF". It is synchronized with the ASCII value.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

 Specify the number of wiping passes. You can choose a number of passes for the wiping pattern.  Verify wipe results. You can also choose whether to carry out residual data verification or not specifying the

percentage of sectors to check.

Result

By default, the operation takes only a fraction of a second. However, the program waits until Windows completes the modification of the disk layout.

Hard Disk Management

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to carry hard disk operations supported by the program.

Updating MBR

The program enables to overwrite the current bootable code in the MBR (Master Boot Record) by the standard bootstrap code. This can help to repair a corrupted bootable code of a hard disk resulted from a boot virus attack or a malfunction of boot management software.

In order to update MBR of a hard disk you should take the following steps:

1. Select a hard disk on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Hard Disk > Update MBR.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Wipe Tasks

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to wipe a hard disk/partition of any file system or only destroy any remnants of deleted files/directories left on disk without affecting the used data, thus providing high level of security.

The operation can be accomplished with the Wipe Wizard or corresponding dialogs.

Wizard Startup

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Wipe Hard Disk or Partition…

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The Clear Free Space operation is available only for Logical and Primary partitions of known file systems.

Wizard Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 The hard disk/partition to wipe. Select a hard disk/partition the data of which you want to destroy.

 Wipe mode. This section enables to switch between two options:

- Wipe out all data. Select the option to irreversibly destroy all on-disk data of the selected object.

- Clear (wipe) free space. Select the option to destroy any remnants of deleted files/directories left on disk without affecting the used data.

 Wipe method. Here you can select a specific data erasure algorithm or create a customized method by marking

the appropriate option.

- In case you preferred to use a specific algorithm, the next page of the wizard enables to get detailed information on the selected algorithm, choose whether to carry out residual data verification or not specifying the percentage of sectors to check and estimate the time required to accomplish the operation.

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The list of supported military and government standards may vary for your product.

- In case you preferred to create a customized algorithm, the next page of the wizard enables to define up to 4 wiping patterns, number of passes for each wiping pattern and for the group of patterns. The Mask spinner control allows you to set a two-figure hexadecimal character value ("00" by default). The available range is from "00" to "FF". You can also choose whether to carry out residual data verification or not specifying the percentage of sectors to check.

 Revise your changes. This page informs on all the actions to be made in the wizard in a bright, graphical form.

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The Summary page will be available only when the Virtual operations are disabled.

Wizard Result

After the operation is completed you can see a well informative summary page, providing structurally divided in-depth information on all the actions made in the wizard.

The program also enables to store the resulted report. To do that, just press the Save button and choose the exact location in the opened dialog.

To make sure that all on-disk data is irreversibly destroyed call the Disk Viewer dialog by clicking the appropriate tab and see it for yourself.

To run the task in the log-off mode, please specify administering login info by following the appropriate link in the left lower corner of the page.

Available operation scenarios:

 Hard Disk Utilization

Task Scheduling

Automation of operations can really help you out when you’ve got to accomplish certain routine operations on a regular basis as it enables to execute them without your involvement while optimizing your computer’s work-load.

Setting a Timetable

Thanks to the embedded Scheduler, you can set a timetable for execution of any operation. It has two categories for time settings (these correspond to appropriate items in the Schedule type menu):

 Initiating the operation by an event:

- One time only (i.e. the Once item)

- When the system starts (i.e. the At System Startup item)

- When the user logs on (i.e. the At Logon item).

 Initiating the operation periodically (i.e. Daily, Weekly, Monthly).

You need to select one of the variants. Depending on your choice, the scheduler displays a form that enables to set a timetable.

The Shutdown System on Complete option enables to automatically switch off the computer on the successful accomplishment of the operation.

This feature can be particularly beneficial when the Scheduled Tasks list contains too many items.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

Managing Tasks

All scheduled tasks are placed in a separate list, which can be retrieved by clicking the Scheduled Tasks tab in the Explorer Bar:

On every task you can get in-depth information, including:

 The task name  The full path to the generated script of the task  Scheduled time of launch  Statistics on the last launch  Scheduled time of the next launch  Used account information  Comments to the task

To easily manage tasks, the program enables to arrange them according to a certain characteristic just by clicking on the required property.

You can also enable/disable, rename, delete, refresh or modify properties of the selected task.

Task Editor

With the Task Editor you can easily modify properties of scheduled tasks. To do that, you should take the following steps:

1. Select a task on the Scheduled Tasks list.

2. Click the Properties button on the Scheduled Tasks list.

3. In the opened dialog window you can see two tabs - General and Schedule. Click the General tab to modify:

 Full path to the macro-command program-interpreter, which describes the scheduled task;  Command line for starting the interpreter (i.e. the task described in macro-language)  Comments referring to the task  The option of enabling/disabling the task.

By clicking the Schedule tab you can modify the task timetable.

In order to apply the changes, you need to click the Apply button at the foot of the dialog.

Creating a Scheduled Task

You can set a timetable for execution of any operation. For backup and copy operations the program offers handy wizards, while all the others can be scheduled with the Save to Scheduler dialog.

To create a scheduled task you should take the following steps:

1. Make sure the virtual mode of execution is enabled;

2. Carry out with the program all operations you need to schedule;

3. Call the Save to Scheduler dialog in the Main Menu: Tools > Save to Scheduler…;

This command is unavailable if there are no operations on the List of Pending Operations.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

4. In the opened dialog enter the required task name and specify the task timetable;

5. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Extra Functionality

This chapter describes the supplementary functionality available in the program.

View Partition/Hard Disk Properties

The program enables to obtain in-depth information on the properties of hard disks and partitions. Besides the general information, such as capacity, used space or file system type it provides the possibility to get info on hard disk geometry, cluster size, exact partition location, etc.

To get properties on a partition/hard disk, please do the following:

1. Choose a partition/hard disk on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition/Hard Disk > Properties…

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

In the opened dialog information will be grouped according to its properties, thus by clicking tabs you can get information you need.

File Transfer Wizard

File Transfer Wizard is designed to make such operations as copying of separate files/directories or burning of them to CD/DVD as easy and convenient as possible. It may be of particular use in case of a system malfunction, caused either by a virus attack or files corruption, in order to get the system back on track again. Besides it provides access to Paragon backups as regular folders to browse through their contents or copy required files.

Startup

 Select in the Main Menu: Tools > File Transfer Wizard.

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the transfer operation:

 Place to look for files/directories. Select a source disk from the pull-down list in the left pane of the page. The

program enables to process both mounted and unmounted (without drive letter assigned) partitions. Besides it is possible to map a network drive.

Files/directories deleted from the Clipboard remain intact on source disks.

 Object(s) of operation. Choose files/directories you want to copy and place them to Clipboard by pressing the

Add button. To delete a file/directory from the Clipboard, select it in the Clipboard pane and press the Remove button. You can also create a new folder, rename or irreversibly delete existing files/directories of the left pane by pressing the appropriate buttons.

 Destination to store the object(s). The File Transfer Wizard allows copying data to local or network drives, to

physical partitions (without drive letters assigned), or burning them to CD/DVDs. Choose the way the data will be stored.

 Revision of changes. The Transfer Summary page provides structurally divided information on all the actions

made in the wizard. Check the changes and come back to any step of the wizard (if necessary) by following the required hyperlink.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

Result

After the operation is completed the required data will be placed into the specified destination.

Available operation scenarios:

 Copying of data from the corrupted system disk to another hard disk  Burning of data from the corrupted system disk to CD/DVD

Mount Partition

The program enables to assign or remove drive letters of existing formatted partitions.

Assign Drive Letter

In order to mount a partition you should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Assign Drive Letter…

3. Specify a drive letter for the selected partition. Initially the program suggests some consistent value for this parameter. So you may just press the Yes button to confirm the operation.

However you can manually define the required letter by selecting it from the pull-down list of available drive letters.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Remove Drive Letter

In order to un-mount a partition you should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Remove Drive Letter.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

Modifying drive letter of the system partition will result in inability to boot the operating system.

After having processed partitions with installed software, some programs may not run properly.

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Test Surface

The program enables to test surface of existing partitions and blocks of free space for bad or unstable sectors. If found any it automatically marks them unusable in the file system metadata, thus minimizing the risk of data loss.

In order to start the surface test you should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition or a block of free space on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Test Surface…

3. From the pull-down list choose the level of the surface check.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Check File System Integrity

The program allows you to check integrity of a file system. It can be used to detect possible file system errors before performing any operation on a partition.

To start the system integrity check you should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Check File System Integrity

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Check Recovery Discs

You’ve got the ability to check whether bootable media created with the program is 100 percent error-free and ready to use. The Check Recovery Disc Wizard will help you do that.

Startup

 In the Main Menu: select Tools > Check Recovery Discs…

Startup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 CD/DVD drive. Select from the pull-down list of available CD/DVD devices the required drive to use during the

operation.

 Set whether to eject the disk after the operation is completed or not.

Result

After the operation is completed you can see results of the check.

Edit/View Sectors

With the built-in Edit/View Sectors tool the program enables to view/edit sectors on existing partitions/hard disks providing the possibility to directly access and modify sectors, save and restore sectors from specified files, navigate through the system metadata, etc.

In order to edit/view sectors of a hard disk/partition you should take the following steps:

1. Select a hard disk/partition on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition/Hard Disk > Edit/View Sectors.

Careless use of the Edit Sectors function may result in the irreversible data corruption.

Typical Scenarios

This chapter lists a number of the most frequently used scenarios that may be accomplished with the program. You can find here useful recommendations and descriptions of operations.

Recovery Scenarios

Copying of data from the corrupted system disk to another hard disk

To retrieve valuable information from your hard disk and copy it to another hard disk when the system fails to boot, please do the following:

1. Connect the second hard disk to the computer.

2. Start up the computer from our Linux/DOS wiping media.

Wiping Media Builder can help you prepare our environment either on a CD/DVD disc or a

thumb drive.

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

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

3. In the boot menu select Normal Mode to use the Linux environment (more preferable) or Safe Mode to use the PTS DOS environment (in case you’ve got problems with Linux). Moreover you’ve got the option to boot into the Low-Graphics Safe Mode (PTS DOS safe mode) to cope with a serious hardware incompatibility. 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.

4. In the Linux launch menu select the File Transfer Wizard. You can find the same wizard in PTS DOS as well.

5. On the Wizard's Welcome page, click the Next button.

6. Select a disk where the files you need are stored from the pull-down list in the right pane of the page.

7. Select files you want to copy and place them to Clipboard by pressing the left arrow-button.

Click the Calc button to estimate the resulted data size.

This operation can also be accomplished with our wiping media.

8. On the Select Destination Type, choose the way the data will be stored. Select the Save data to any local drive or a network share item.

9. On the Select Destination Path page, select a hard disk to copy the data to by pressing the standard browse button [...].

10. On the Transfer Summary page check all parameters of the operation. Click the Next button to accomplish the operation.

11. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out by the program.

12. After the operation is completed, close the wizard by pressing the appropriate button.

13. Turn off the computer.

Burning of data from the corrupted system disk to CD/DVD

To retrieve valuable information from your hard disk and burn it to CD/DVD when the system fails to boot, please do the following:

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

Wiping Media Builder can help you prepare our environment either on a CD/DVD disc or a

thumb drive.

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

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

2. In the boot menu select Normal Mode to use the Linux environment, since it’s the only mode that enables to burn CD/DVD discs.

3. In the Linux launch menu select the File Transfer Wizard. You can find the same wizard in PTS DOS as well.

4. On the Wizard's Welcome page, click the Next button.

5. Select a disk where the files you need are stored from the pull-down list in the right pane of the page.

6. Select files you want to copy and place them to Clipboard by pressing the left arrow-button.

Click the Calc button to estimate the resulted data size.

7. On the Select Destination Type, choose the way the data will be stored. Select the Burn data to CD/DVD item.

This operation can also be accomplished with our wiping media.

8. On the Choose a Recorder page, select a recorder from the list of available devices and then set a volume label by entering it in the appropriate field.

9. On the Transfer Summary page check all parameters of the operation. Click the Next button to accomplish the operation.

10. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out by the program.

11. After the operation is completed, close the wizard by pressing the appropriate button.

12. Turn off the computer.

Hard Disk Utilization

To irreversibly destroy all on-disk information without any possibility to recover and that way providing the maximum level of security, please do the following:

1. In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Wipe Hard Disk or Partition…

There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

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The list of supported military and government standards may vary for your product.

2. On the Wizard's Welcome page, click the Next button.

3. Select a hard disk, the data of which you want to wipe out.

4. On the Wipe Mode page, select the wipe out all the data to irreversible destroy all on-disk information.

5. On the Wipe Method page select a specific data erasure algorithm or choose to create a customized one (in our case we prefer to use a certified military standard).

6. The next page of the wizard enables to get detailed information on the selected algorithm, choose whether to carry out residual data verification or not specifying the percentage of sectors to check and estimate the time required to accomplish the operation.

7. Review all parameters of the operation and modify them if necessary.

8. Complete the wizard and then apply the pending changes.

Troubleshooter

Here you can find answers to the most frequently asked questions that might arise while using the program.

1. I try to run an operation, but the program claims my partition is in use and suggests restarting the computer.

There are a number of operations that cannot be performed while your partition is in use (or locked in other words). Please agree to reboot your machine to make the program accomplish the operation in a special bootup mode.

2. I run an operation and restart the machine as required, but it just boots back into Windows without accomplishing the operation.

Please run 'chkdsk /f' for the partition in question.

3. I cannot create a new partition on the disk.

There can be a number of reasons for that:

 The program cannot create a new partition on a dynamic disk.  The program allows creating new partitions only within blocks of un-partitioned space. It cannot convert

a free space on an existing partition to a new partition.

4. I cannot copy a partition.

There can be a number of reasons for that:

- The source or target disk you select is a dynamic disk;

- 4 primary partitions (or three primary partitions and an extended one) already exist on the target disk.

5. I need to copy a partition. But when selecting a place where to make a copy, I always get a crossed circle sign no matter which partition is selected.

The program enables to copy a partition only to a block of un-partitioned space. If you don’t have a block of free space on your hard disk, please delete or reduce an existing partition to accomplish the operation.

6. I cannot do anything with my USB flash drive. I get a crossed circle sign when trying to select any area on it.

Some USB flash drives don't have the MBR (Master Boot Record), that’s the cause of your problem. To fix the

issue please use the Update MBR function of our program or 'fixmbr' of the Windows installation disc to write a standard code to your flash drive.

7. When trying to back up my system the program asks to restart the computer.

Most likely the Hot Processing mode is disabled. Please make it active in the program settings.

8. When backing up a partition with the VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) mode, the program throws "VSS could not be started for processed volume".

Most likely you try to back up a FAT32 partition, which is not supported by VSS. Please use the Paragon Hot Processing mode instead.

9. I cannot back up my hard disk to an external hard drive. Once started, the operation is aborted with the following error: Hard Disk management, Error Code 0x1100a. What is wrong here?

The problem is that the Microsoft VSS service is set as the default Hot Processing mode in the program. But this service has not been started in your WindowsXP/Windows2003/Vista. Please start this service (right click on My Computer > Manage > Services > find Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service and make it active. Set also to start it automatically).

10. When running a backup operation with the Paragon Hot Processing mode enabled, I get an error: error code 0x1200e "Internal error during Hot Backup"

Most likely your hard disk contains bad blocks. Please fix the issue with your HDD manufacturer's tool.

You can find a name of the tool you need here: http://kb.paragon-software.com

11. When running a backup operation with the Microsoft VSS mode enabled, I get the following error: error code 0x12016 "VSS: can't read volume data”

Most likely your hard disk contains bad blocks. Please fix the issue with your HDD manufacturer's tool.

You can find a name of the tool you need here: http://kb.paragon-software.com

12. When trying to back up to a network share, I get the following error: "i/o error" or "can't open/create file"

Please check whether you’ve got a permission to write to the selected destination or not.

13. When trying to restore a backup archive, I get the following error: "Can't restore to current selection" or "Archive does not fit"

Most likely you’re trying to restore a backup of the whole hard disk to a partition or vice versa.

14. I set up a timetable for a task, but it fails to execute.

There can be a number of reasons for that:

- Windows Task Scheduler does not work properly. Check whether it is so or not by scheduling a simple task (call Notepad through scheduling);

- You don’t have permission to write to the selected backup destination.

Glossary

Active Partition is a partition from which an x86-based computer starts up. The active partition must be a primary partition on a basic disk. If you use Windows exclusively, the active partition can be the same as the system volume.

In the DOS partitioning scheme, only primary partitions can be active due to limitations of the standard bootstrap.

The term backup originates from the time when the best way to protect valuable information was to store it in form of archives on external media. It’s become now a general notion to mean making duplications of data for protection purposes.

Bootable Archive is created by adding a special bootable section when backing up the data to CD/DVDs. Thus you will be able to restore the data from these archives without having to run the program, but by simply booting from these CD/DVDs.

Cluster is the smallest amount of disk space that can be allocated to hold a file. All file systems used by Windows organize hard disks based on clusters, which consist of one or more contiguous sectors. The smaller the cluster size, the more efficiently a disk stores information. If no cluster size is specified during formatting, Windows picks defaults based on the size of the volume. These defaults are selected to reduce the amount of space that is lost and the amount of fragmentation on the volume. A cluster is also called an allocation unit.

Extended Partition is a partition type you create only on a basic MBR (Master Boot Record) disk. Extended partition is used if you want to create more than four volumes on a disk, since it may contain multiple logical drives.

File System Metadata. The servicing structures of a file system, which contain information about allocating files and directories, security information etc, are named the file system metadata. It is invisible for users and regular applications because its accidental modification usually makes a partition unusable.

Hard Disk Geometry. Traditionally, the usable space of a hard disk is logically divided into cylinders, cylinders are divided into tracks (or heads), and tracks are divided into sectors.

The triad of values {[Sectors-per-Track], [Tracks-per-Cylinder], [Amount-of-Cylinders]} is usually named the Hard Disk Geometry or C/H/S geometry.

Tracks and cylinders are enumerated from "0", while sectors are enumerated from "1". These disk parameters play an essential role in the DOS Partitioning scheme.

Modern hardware uses an advanced scheme for the linear addressing of sectors, which assumes that all on-disk sectors are continuously enumerated from “0”. To allow backward compatibility with older standards, modern hard disks can additionally emulate the C/H/S geometry.

Hidden Partition. The concept of a "hidden" partition was introduced in the IBM OS/2 Boot Manager. By default, an operating system does not mount a hidden partition, thus preventing access to its contents.

A method of hiding a partition consists in changing the partition ID value saved in the Partition Table. This is achieved by XOR-ing the partition ID with a 0x10 hexadecimal value.

Master File Table (MFT) is a relational database that consists of rows of file records and columns of file attributes. It contains at least one entry for every file on an NTFS volume, including the MFT itself. MFT is similar to a FAT table in a FAT file system.

MBR & 1st track of the hard disk is the 0th sector of the disk. MBR (Master Boot Record) contains important information about the disk layout:

- The used partitioning scheme;

- The starting records of the Partition Table;

- The standard bootstrap code (or the initial code of boot managers, disk overlay software or boot viruses).

Generally, the 0th sector is used for similar purposes in all existing partitioning schemes.

The MBR capacity is not sufficient to contain sophisticated boot programs. That’s why the on-boot software is allowed to use the entire 0th track of the disk. For example, boot managing utilities such as LILO, GRUB and Paragon Boot Manager are located in the 0th track.

Partition ID (or File system ID) is a file system identifier that is placed in the partition. It is used to quickly detect partitions of supported types. A number of operating systems completely rely on it to distinguish supported partitions.

Partition ID is saved in appropriate entries of the Partition Table and takes only 1 byte of space.

Partition Label (or Volume Label) is a small textual field (up to 11 characters) that is located in the partition's boot sector. This value is used for notification purposes only. It is detectable by any partitioning tool including the DOS FDISK utility.

Modern operating systems save it within a file system, e.g. as a special hidden file. Thus it is able to contain a relatively large amount of text in multiple languages.

Partitioning Scheme is a set of rules, constraints and format of the on-disk structures to keep information on partitions located on a hard disk.

There are known several partitioning schemes. The most popular of them is the so-called DOS partitioning scheme. It was introduced by IBM and Microsoft to use multiple partitions in the disk subsystems on IBM PC compatible computers.

Another popular partitioning scheme is the so-called Logical Disks Model (LDM) that originates from the UNIX mainframe systems. Veritas Executive accommodates a simplified version of LDM to the Windows 2000 operating system.

Windows 2000 and XP support two quite different partitioning schemes: the old DOS partitioning scheme and the new Dynamic Disk Management (DDM). The problem is that earlier versions of Windows do not support DDM. In addition, most hard disk utilities do not support it as well.

Recovery Media is a CD/DVD disc, a USB flash card or even a floppy disk from which you can boot for maintenance or recovery purposes.

Root Directory is the top-level directory of a formatted logical drive to include other files and directories. In modern file systems (Ext2/Ext3, NTFS and even FAT32) it does not differ from other directories. This is not the case for old FAT12 and FAT16 file systems.

Serial Number. In the DOS partitioning scheme, every hard disk and every partition has a 32-bit serial number represented by an 8-figure hexadecimal value. It is stored in the MBR and its value is assigned when the MBR sector is initialized by Microsoft standard disk managing tools, such as Windows Disk Administrator and the FDISK utility.

In fact, a hard disk's serial number is not important for most operating systems and software. It is known that Windows NT, 2000 and XP store its value in the database of assigned drive letters.

A partition's serial number is stored in its boot sector (in FAT16, FAT32 and NFTS file systems). Its value is assigned when the partition is formatted. It does not play an important role for most operating systems and software as well.

Paragon Disk Wiper - 11 Personal Instruction Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual