Paragon Drive Copy - 12 Professional 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

Drive Copy™ 12 Professional

Use r Manual

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Contents

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

What’s New in Drive Copy 12 ...................................................................................................................... 6

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

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

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

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

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

Restore Facilities ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Copy Facilities ......................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Virtualization Facilities ............................................................................................................................................................ 8

Partition/Hard Disk Management Facilities ............................................................................................................................ 8

Automatization Facilities ........................................................................................................................................................ 8

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

Supported Technologies .............................................................................................................................. 9

Supported Virtual Machines ....................................................................................................................... 10

Supported File Systems .............................................................................................................................. 10

Supported Media ....................................................................................................................................... 10

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

Distribution ............................................................................................................................................... 11

Distributive CD ...................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Online Distribution................................................................................................................................................................ 11

Registration ........................................................................................................................................................................... 11

How to Download Updates/Upgrades .................................................................................................................................. 12

Contacting Paragon Software GmbH .......................................................................................................... 12

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................ 13

Installation ................................................................................................................................................ 14

First Start ................................................................................................................................................... 15

Building Recovery Media ............................................................................................................................ 15

Booting from the Linux/DOS Recovery Media ............................................................................................. 17

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

Boot menu ............................................................................................................................................................................ 17

Booting from the WinPE Recovery Media ................................................................................................... 19

Startup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 19

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Basic Concepts ..................................................................................................................... 20

System and Data Protection ....................................................................................................................... 21

Sector Backup ....................................................................................................................................................................... 21

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

Adaptive Restore .................................................................................................................................................................. 21

System Virtualization ................................................................................................................................. 23

Dynamic Disks ............................................................................................................................................ 24

GPT versus MBR ......................................................................................................................................... 24

Apple Boot Camp ....................................................................................................................................... 25

64-bit Support ............................................................................................................................................ 25

Copy Operations ........................................................................................................................................ 25

Drive Partitioning ....................................................................................................................................... 26

Scheduling ................................................................................................................................................. 26

Windows Components ........................................................................................................ 26

Interface Overview .................................................................................................................................... 26

General Layout ...................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Main Menu ........................................................................................................................................................................... 28

Tool Bar ................................................................................................................................................................................. 30

Virtual Operations Bar .......................................................................................................................................................... 31

Common Tasks Bar ............................................................................................................................................................... 31

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

Explorer Bar .......................................................................................................................................................................... 33

Partition List .......................................................................................................................................................................... 34

Properties Bar ....................................................................................................................................................................... 35

Legend Bar ............................................................................................................................................................................ 36

Status Bar .............................................................................................................................................................................. 36

Settings Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 36

General Options .................................................................................................................................................................... 36

Backup Image Options .......................................................................................................................................................... 37

General Copy and Backup Options ....................................................................................................................................... 38

CD/DVD/BD Recording Options ............................................................................................................................................ 38

Hot Processing Options ......................................................................................................................................................... 39

Partitioning Options .............................................................................................................................................................. 40

Virtual Mode Options ........................................................................................................................................................... 40

File System Conversion Options ........................................................................................................................................... 41

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Copy/Backup Exclude Options .............................................................................................................................................. 42

Log Files Options ................................................................................................................................................................... 43

Viewing Disk Properties ............................................................................................................................. 43

Viewing Image Properties .......................................................................................................................... 44

Using the Restore Wizard ..................................................................................................................................................... 44

Data Backup and Rescue ............................................................................................................................ 46

Creating Backup Images ........................................................................................................................................................ 46

Restoring System and Data ................................................................................................................................................... 49

Copy Tasks ................................................................................................................................................. 52

Cloning Hard Disks ................................................................................................................................................................ 52

Cloning Partitions .................................................................................................................................................................. 54

Partition Management ............................................................................................................................... 56

Basic Partitioning Operations ............................................................................................................................................... 56

Advanced Partitioning Operations........................................................................................................................................ 64

Changing Partition Attributes ............................................................................................................................................... 65

Hard Disk Management ............................................................................................................................. 67

Converting Dynamic MBR to Basic ....................................................................................................................................... 67

Converting GPT to Basic MBR ............................................................................................................................................... 68

Converting Basic MBR to GPT ............................................................................................................................................... 69

Updating MBR ....................................................................................................................................................................... 69

Changing Primary Slot ........................................................................................................................................................... 70

Task Scheduling ......................................................................................................................................... 71

Setting a Timetable ............................................................................................................................................................... 71

Managing Tasks .................................................................................................................................................................... 72

Creating a Scheduled Task .................................................................................................................................................... 74

Scripting .................................................................................................................................................... 75

Extra Functionality ..................................................................................................................................... 76

View Partition/Hard Disk Properties ..................................................................................................................................... 76

Volume Explorer ................................................................................................................................................................... 77

File Transfer Wizard .............................................................................................................................................................. 78

Mount Partition .................................................................................................................................................................... 80

Check File System Integrity ................................................................................................................................................... 81

Edit/View Sectors .................................................................................................................................................................. 81

View Logs .............................................................................................................................................................................. 82

Typical Scenarios ................................................................................................................. 83

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Backup Scenarios ....................................................................................................................................... 83

Backing up a hard disk or partition to external media (CD/DVD) ......................................................................................... 83

Backing up a hard disk or partition to a network drive ........................................................................................................ 85

Backing up a dual boot Mac to an external USB drive.......................................................................................................... 87

Recovery Scenarios .................................................................................................................................... 89

Correcting BCD (Boot Configuration Data) ........................................................................................................................... 89

Fixing Windows startup ability ............................................................................................................................................. 89

Restoring a system partition from external media (CD/DVD) .............................................................................................. 93

Restoring a system partition from a network drive .............................................................................................................. 95

Restoring a system partition from a local drive .................................................................................................................... 98

Restoring a dual boot Mac from an external USB drive ..................................................................................................... 100

Copying of data from the corrupted system disk to another hard disk ............................................................................. 103

Burning of data from the corrupted system disk to CD/DVD ............................................................................................. 105

Copying of data from a backup to the corrupted system partition .................................................................................... 107

Restoring separate files and folders from a backup ........................................................................................................... 110

System Migration Scenarios ..................................................................................................................... 114

Migrating Windows OS to a solid state drive (Migrate OS to SSD) .................................................................................... 114

Migrating system to a new HDD (up to 2.2TB in size) ........................................................................................................ 117

Making system bootable on different hardware (P2P Adjust OS) ...................................................................................... 119

Virtualizing the current system (P2V Copy) ........................................................................................................................ 126

Creating an empty virtual disk (Create VD) ........................................................................................................................ 130

Making Windows Vista/7 backup bootable on virtual hardware (P2V Adjust OS) ............................................................. 131

Connecting a virtual disk (Connect VD) .............................................................................................................................. 133

Exchanging data between physical and virtual environments ........................................................................................... 135

Copying data from a parent virtual disk to one of its snapshots ........................................................................................ 137

Migrating from one virtual environment to another (V2V) ................................................................................................ 137

Migrating from a virtual environment to physical (V2P) .................................................................................................... 137

Migrating a Windows 7 vhd ................................................................................................................................................ 138

Extra Scenarios for WinPE ........................................................................................................................ 138

Adding specific drivers ........................................................................................................................................................ 138

Configuring network ........................................................................................................................................................... 139

Saving log files ..................................................................................................................................................................... 142

Troubleshooter .................................................................................................................. 144

Glossary ............................................................................................................................. 146

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

Introduction

Paragon Drive Copy™ 12 Professional includes latest innovations in migration of Windows OS and data to different environments. With its help you can:

 Move your Windows (any version since XP) from a regular hard disk to a fast SSD (Solid State Drive) even of a

smaller capacity, thanks to advanced data exclusion capabilities. Speedy, yet completely indifferent to mechanical impact SSD enables to get the most out of your system with minimal risk.

 Migrate your Windows (any version since XP) to a different hardware platform. When upgrading to newer or

just replacing failed hardware use our unique P2P technology to guarantee startup of your system on a dissimilar hardware configuration.

 Transfer your Windows (any version since XP) to a virtual environment of Microsoft Virtual PC, VMware

Workstation/Fusion, or Oracle VirtualBox (P2V).

Most functionality of the product is offered through handy intuitive wizards, that’s why not only IT pros, but also inexperienced users can find it easy and efficient.

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 Drive Copy 12

 Improved Connect VD to connect a virtual disk as if it’s an ordinary physical disk, thus opening up all

functionality available for physical disks to virtual. You’ve now got the option to:

- Mount Paragon’s backups (.pbf images).

- Mount a virtual disk in the non-destructive mode. It’s a special read/write mode, when all changes on the

connected disk are being saved to a snapshot, thus providing complete safety for the original disk’s

contents. If needed, this snapshot can later be merged with its parental disk by using standard tools of virtualization software vendor.

- Mount a virtual disk in the read-only mode to make sure no data will be changed on the virtual disk during

copy or any other operation on it.

 WinPE traceroute/ping utility to get detailed information on particular routes and measure transit delays of

packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

 Support of Windows 8.  Support of the restart-free installation.

Product Components

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Features Overview

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

Features

Let us list some of the features:

User Friendly Fault Minimizing Interface

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

operations).

Backup Facilities

 Available location for backup images:

- Backup to local mounted partitions.

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

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

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

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

 Back up separate partitions or entire disks.

Restore Facilities

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

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

Virtualization is the latest trend in the system migration, protection, and evaluation.

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

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

amount of actual data of the image.

Copy Facilities

 Migrate OS to SSD to move any Windows OS since XP from a regular hard disk to a fast SSD (Solid State Drive)

even of a smaller capacity, thanks to advanced data exclusion capabilities.

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

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

Virtualization Facilities

 Connect VD to connect a virtual disk as if it’s an ordinary physical disk, thus opening up all functionality available

for physical disks to virtual.

 P2V Copy to migrate a Windows physical system to a virtual environment in the online mode.  P2V Adjust to recover the startup ability after unsuccessful virtualization with a 3rd party tool.  Create VD to create an empty virtual disk or with specific data of one of the supported virtualization vendors.

Partition/Hard Disk Management Facilities

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

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

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

Automatization Facilities

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

sequence of actions on a regular basis.

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

operations available in the interactive mode, the unattended mode provides some additional features, such as

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Boot Corrector is only available for the bootable recovery environment.

conditional execution, subroutines, repeatable iterations, disk/partition properties analysis, errors management, etc.

Auxiliary Facilities

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

minimal effort.

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

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

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

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

 Recovery Media Builder to create a bootable recovery media on a CD, DVD disc, or flash memory, which can

later be used to boot and recover your computer in case of an operating system failure. Moreover, with its help you can save data from partitions of 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.

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

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

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

a boot virus activity.

Supported Technologies

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

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

hardware platform (P2P).

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

outages or an operating system failure.

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

and copy files and folders, etc.

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

account only the amount of actual data of the image.

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

a bootable media when modifying system partitions.

 Paragon VIM™ (Virtual Image Management) technology that enables Paragon products work with virtual disks

as though they are physical hard disks.

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Snapshot disks of Oracle VirtualBox are not supported.

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.

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

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

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

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

 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 Virtual Machines

 Microsoft Virtual PC  VMware Workstation  VMware Fusion  Oracle VirtualBox 4.0

Additionally for Connect VD and P2V Adjust OS only

 MS Windows backups (.vhd images)

Additionally for Connect VD only

 Paragon’s backups (.pbf images)  Parallels Workstation  XenServer (.vhd only)

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)

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

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

Getting Started

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

Distribution

Paragon Drive Copy 12 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 recovery 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

Drive Copy 12 purchased over the Internet will be in form of an MSI package. After installing the product you can launch the Recovery Media Builder to prepare a recovery 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.

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Service

Contact

Visit Paragon Software web site

www.paragon-software.com

Registration & updates web-service

www.paragon-software.com/support

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.

To register a new product

If you are a registered user and would like to register Drive Copy 12, 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.

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Knowledge Base & Technical Support

kb.paragon-software.com

Pre-sale information

sales@paragon-software.com

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

System Requirements

For the Windows installation package

 Operating systems:

- Windows XP (32 and 64 bit)

- Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit)

- Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit)

- Windows 8 (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

For the WinPE bootable environment

 Intel Pentium III CPU or its equivalent, with 1000 MHz processor clock speed  At least 512 MB of RAM  SVGA video adapter and monitor  Keyboard  Mouse

Additional requirements

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

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.

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

Installation

To install Paragon Drive Copy 12, 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 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 Drive Copy 12. 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.

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

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

please consult the Windows Components chapter.

First Start

To start Paragon Drive Copy 12 under Windows, please click the Windows Start button and then select Programs > Paragon Drive Copy™ 12 > Paragon Drive Copy™.

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.

Building Recovery Media

Recovery Media Builder can help you accomplish the following operations:

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

or flash memory) to boot and run utilities under Linux or PTS DOS, and that way to get access to your hard disk for maintenance or recovery purposes (strongly recommended);

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

Please use Boot Media Builder to prepare the WinPE recovery environment, which you can get here: www.paragon-software.com/my-account/.

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

Below you can find how to build our Linux/DOS based recovery environment on a thumb drive:

1. Plug in a thumb drive of at least 250 MBs in size. Please note all data on that drive will be deleted.

2. In the Main Menu: select Tools > Recovery Media Builder…

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

4. Select the Flash Memory option.

5. Select the Typical option.

6. Select the required thumb drive from the list of flash memory devices available in the system at the moment (if

several).

7. You will have to confirm the operation.

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Recovery Media Builder can help you prepare our recovery environment either on a

CD/DVD disc or a thumb drive.

To automatically boot from the recovery 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.

Booting from the Linux/DOS Recovery Media

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

Startup

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

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

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;

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

 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:

 Drive Copy (enables to run wizards and dialogs, to specify program settings, to visualize the operating

environment and the hard disk configuration);

 Simple Restore Wizard (allows restoring hard disks and partitions);  Disk Copy Wizard (helps to clone a hard disk);  Undelete Partition (allows recovery of accidentally deleted partitions);  File Transfer Wizard (allows coping files/folders to another disk or a partition as well as recording them to

CD/DVD);

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

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

The Linux/DOS recovery environment assigns drive letters to partitions the way it is done in DOS, i.e. one after another, primary partitions at first. Thus mounted partitions may have different drive letters from Windows.

 Log Saver (helps to collect and send the necessary log files to the Technical Support);  View the mounted partitions (the list of all mounted partitions will be displayed);

 Eject CD/DVD;  Command Line (allows experienced users to execute any operation);  Reboot the computer;  Power off the computer.

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

Safe Mode

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

Low Graphics Safe Mode

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

Booting from the WinPE Recovery Media

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

Startup

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

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

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Please use Boot Media Builder to prepare the WinPE recovery environment, which you can get here: www.paragon-software.com/my-account/.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

choice.

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

Basic Concepts

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

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System and Data Protection

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

Sector Backup

A sector-based backup operates with an image (or a snapshot) of the whole disk system or its separate partitions. It not only includes the contents of all user-made files, but additionally contains the exact structure of directories, information about file allocation, file attributes and other related data. Thus it enables to successfully process system or encrypted partitions of any file system type, no matter what kind of information they contain.

Backup Storage

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

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

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

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

and system independence;

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

as the backup media is kept secure;

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

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

Adaptive Restore

Technology Background

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

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

Technology Concept

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

XP/Server 2003.

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

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

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

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

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

Technology Application

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

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

Known Issues

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

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

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

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

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

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

System Virtualization

With new powerful x86 computers, system virtualization has become extremely popular. It’s a software technology that

enables to run several virtual machines on one physical machine, providing resources of that single computer are shared across several environments. As a result one and the same physical computer can have multiple OSs and applications operating simultaneously, thus opening up enormous opportunities for both, business and home users, exactly:

 Avoid underutilization of up-to-date powerful computers;  Increase flexibility of a physical infrastructure;  Provide for increased availability of hardware and applications;  Cut expenses on hardware and energy;  Guarantee smooth and cost saving system migration;  Enjoy working with old applications you can’t launch on your current PC;  Take advantage of having multiple operating systems on one Windows PC, including Linux, Mac OS X, etc.;  Forget about hunting for replacement of the failed hardware, and many more…

Known Issues

1. You should install integration services (e.g. VMware Tools) on the virtual system yourself. We only guarantee its

smooth startup.

2. After transferring Microsoft Vista and later versions to a virtual disk, you will need to re-activate license of the

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

3. If your system hosts several Windows OSes, our program will find them all and automatically patch to run in a

virtual environment. However we cannot guarantee smooth startup of all found Windows systems, but the guest OS, for its configuration parameters may be incompatible with the others.

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Dynamic Disks

As you probably know, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/Server 2003/2008 support four primary partitions per physical hard disk, one of which can be extended. Certainly there is the possibility to create logical drives within the extended partition. Such types of disks are called basic. Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003/2008 follow the same strategy: You can have a maximum of four primary partitions, one of which can be an extended partition with logical drives. However, these operating systems also introduce a new disk configuration type - dynamic disk - which must be understood to effectively configure and manage hard disks.

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

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

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

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

Limitations:

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

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

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

GPT versus MBR

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

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

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

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

Apple Boot Camp

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

64-bit Support

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

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

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

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

Copy Operations

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

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

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

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Drive Partitioning

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

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

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

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

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

Scheduling

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

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

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

Windows 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

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1. Main Menu

2. Tool Bar

3. Virtual Operations Bar

4. Common Tasks Bar

5. Explorer Bar

6. Disk Map

7. Partition List

8. Properties Bar

9. Legend Bar

accompanied by easy understandable icons. Nevertheless, any problems that might occur while managing the program can be tackled by reading this very chapter.

General Layout

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

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

functionality:

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10. Status Bar

MENU ITEM

FUNCTIONALITY

Tools

View Log Files

View logs on the carried out operations

Log Saver

A wizard will help you collect and send logs to the Paragon Support Team

Recovery Media Builder…

Restore the system even when the current operating system cannot boot anymore

File Transfer Wizard…

Transfer data from any media

Settings...

Edit the general settings of the program

Exit

Exit the program

Changes

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

Create Partition…

Create a partition of any file system

Format Partition…

Format a partition of any file system

Delete Partition…

Delete a partition of any file system

Undelete Partitions…

Recover an accidentally deleted partition

Create Virtual Disk…

Create an empty virtual disk or with specific data of one of the supported virtualization vendors

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:

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P2V Copy…

Migrate a live Windows physical system to a virtual environment

P2V Adjust OS…

Make Windows Vista/7 backups bootable on virtual hardware; recover the startup ability after unsuccessful virtualization with a 3rd party tool

Migrate OS…

Move any Windows OS since XP from a regular hard disk to a fast SSD

Copy Hard Disk…

Create a hard disk copy

Schedule Hard Disk Copy…

Set a timetable for a hard disk copy

Copy Partition…

Create a partition copy

Schedule Partition Copy…

Set a timetable for a partition copy

Hard Disk

Convert to Basic…

Convert a dynamic MBR disk containing simple volume(s) into a basic MBR disk

Convert to Basic MBR hard

disk…

Convert a basic or a dynamic GPT disk containing simple volume(s) into a basic MBR disk

Convert to GPT hard disk

Convert a basic MBR disk into a basic GPT disk

Update MBR

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

Edit/View Sectors…

View/edit sectors of the selected hard disk

Connect a Virtual Disk

Connect a virtual disk to work with it as if it’s a physical disk

Disconnect a Virtual Disk

Disconnect a virtual 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

Hide Partition…

Make the selected partition unavailable for the operating system

Unhide Partition…

Make the selected partition available for the operating system

Mark Partition as Active

Make the selected partition bootable by default

Mark Partition as Inactive

Make the selected partition non-bootable by default

Change Volume Label…

Change volume label of the selected partition

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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

Properties and Commands

Display the Explorer Bar

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

Copy a hard disk

Migrate OS to SSD

Collect and send logs to Support

Switch to Express launcher

Tool Bar

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

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Open the Help system

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:

Basic Partitioning Tasks

Starting the Create Partition Wizard to create a partition of any file system.

Starting the Format Partition Wizard to format an existing partition to one of the file systems supported by the program.

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.

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.

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Starting the Delete Partition Wizard to delete a partition of any file system.

Advanced Partitioning Tasks

Starting the Undelete Partitions Wizard to recover accidentally deleted partitions.

Copying Tasks

Starting the Migrate OS to SSD Wizard to migrate Windows OS to a fast SSD.

Starting the Copy Hard Disk Wizard to copy a hard disk.

Starting the Copy Partition Wizard to copy a partition.

Tools

Starting the File Transfer Wizard to transfer data from any media. Besides it provides access to Paragon backups as regular folders to browse through their contents or copy required files.

Starting the Log Saver Wizard to collect and send logs to Support.

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 Paragon Scripting Language.

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,

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

 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.

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  Volume Explorer utility  Disk Editor utility

According to these categories the Explorer Bar has several tabs:

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

- Partition List to get a clear-cut picture of the current state of the system hard disks/partitions

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

- Volume Explorer to browse and export contents of the selected partition/hard disk

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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

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

 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:

Partition List

The Partition List is another helpful tool that enables you to get a clear-cut picture of the current state of the system hard disks/partitions. Partitions are sorted according to their starting position. For every item of the list there is the possibility to call the context-sensitive popup menu with available operations. Besides, the program provides detailed information on all hard disks/partitions found in the system including the following properties:

- Name,

- Volume label (if exists),

- Partition type (Primary/Extended /Logical),

- File system type,

- Size,

- Amount of used and unused (free) space,

- Start/End cylinder,

- Start/End head,

- Start/End sector

- Free size in sectors/bytes

- Active/Inactive attribute

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- Hidden/Unhidden attribute

You may customize outlook of the Partition List by clicking on the arrow icon on the top right side of the panel.

By marking a checkbox opposite the required item you can choose whether to display it or not. Besides, you can change its order by pressing the Move up or Move down buttons.

If you don’t need the Disk Map, please click the shown below icon to disable it:

Properties Bar

The Properties Bar provides information on the selected at the moment partition/hard disk:

For a hard disk

 Model,  Serial number,  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).

For a partition

 Drive letter assigned to the disk,  Volume label (if available),

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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.

 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).

Besides you can modify practically any partition property by clicking on the required value.

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.

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

- FAT16/32

- NTFS

- Linux Ext2/3/4

- 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

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It is strongly recommended to enable this option.

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.

- 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.

 Enable data loss protection. Mark the checkbox to make the program work in the fail-safe mode (also referred

to as the data-loss protection mode), which ensures reliability for operations by maintaining a special journal. In case of a hardware malfunction, power outage or an OS failure happened in the middle of a data-sensitive operation (resize, move, merge, redistribute, change cluster size, etc.), the program will ask to insert the bootable recovery media and automatically complete the interrupted operation, thus reviving the corrupted partition.

Backup Image Options

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

 Control archive integrity. Mark the checkbox to guarantee that all backup images created with the program are

100 percent flawless. If you decided not to control the archive integrity, the backup operation would take about 3-5% less time.

 Set image file names automatically. Mark the checkbox to make the program automatically set a file name for

every volume of a complex backup image. Otherwise you will need to do it manually during the backup operation.

 Compression level. From the pull-down list you can select the desired compression level for backup images that

will be used by default.

 Enable image splitting. Mark the checkbox to automatically split every backup image to volumes of a particular

size.

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Splitting images enables to tackle problems caused by a maximum file size limitation of some file systems.

 Maximum split size. With the spinner control you can specify a maximum size for backup volumes.

General Copy and Backup Options

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

 HDD raw processing. Mark the checkbox to copy/back up a hard disk in the sector-by-sector mode, thus

ignoring its information structure (e.g. unallocated space or unused sectors of existing partitions will be processed as well). This can help to avoid problems with hidden data created by certain applications or the system administrator. However, it will take more time to accomplish the operation.

 Partition raw processing. Mark the checkbox to copy a partition in the sector-by-sector mode to successfully

process unknown file systems. However it is not recommended to enable this option when working with supported file systems as it takes more time to accomplish the operation.

 Skip OS auxiliary files. Mark the checkbox to skip OS auxiliary files (like pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys, etc.), thus

reducing the operation time and the resulted size of the backup image.

 Automatic BCD Update. Unmark the checkbox to suppress automatic update of BCD (Boot Configuration Data)

after copy/restore operations.

CD/DVD/BD Recording Options

This section contains a set of options that will be taken into account during CD/DVD/BD burn operations:

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 Burn every CD/DVD/BD to the end. By default, the program does not create ISO 9660 compliant burning

sessions, as it processes data on-the-fly and can only estimate the resulted session size. That’s why no third party tool will get access to the recorded data. To tackle the issue, mark the checkbox to make the program create a standard Disk-at-Once session. It may slow down the burning process, as every CD/DVD/BD will be recorded up to the end, no matter how much actual information to contain.

 Recording speed. The user may define how fast a CD/DVD/BD will be recorded (minimum, normal and

maximum). Besides there is an automatic mode when the program will set the most appropriate speed for every CD/DVD/BD.

 Bootable ISO image. That’s the image to be placed together with the backup data. By default, the program

offers its own bootable ISO image, which contains a Linux/DOS recovery environment. However, the user is free to use any bootable ISO image.

 CD/DVD/BD boot capability. The program enables to choose whether any recorded CD/DVD/BD will be

bootable, or only the first one for a session, or without that function at all.

 Folder where the ISO image is to be placed. When the user decides not to physically burn a CD/DVD/BD, but

create an ISO image file, this very folder will be used to contain these images.

Hot Processing Options

In this section you may configure the hot processing mode:

 Enable hot processing. Mark the checkbox to enable the so called hot data processing mode that is specially

designed to process data without restarting your operating system.

 Hot processing technology. From the pull-down list you can select the required hot processing technology.  Always use hot processing. Select the option to process partitions without making them locked. Thus you will

be able to keep working with them as usual.

 Use hot processing only when partition is locked. Select the option to use the hot processing only when

partitions are locked and cannot be processed without restarting the computer. Please keep in mind, that once you start any operation on a partition in this mode, it will automatically be locked by the program, thus you won't be able to keep working with it as usual.

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We strongly recommend you to enable this mode.

 Hot processing temporary drive. Here you can select a disk drive that will be used to store the temporary hot

backup data (by default – C:).

 Attempts to start VSS. Here you can set how many attempts to start Microsoft VSS the program is to do before

automatically rebooting the system and accomplishing the operation in a special boot-up mode.

 Timeout between attempts (in seconds). Here you can set a time period between different attempts to start

Microsoft VSS.

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 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.

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An incorrectly chosen time zone might lead to inability to launch certain software.

An incorrectly chosen codepage will certainly result in corruption of non-English file names.

File System Conversion Options

This section contains a set of options that will be taken into account when converting FAT and NTFS file systems. By default, the program takes locale (regional) settings from the system. Problems might occur however because of different standards for file names and file time stamps (Created, Modified and Last Access Time) of NTFS and FATxx file systems.

To tackle problems of that kind you can manually set:

 Time zone to use during the convert operation. NTFS keeps file timestamps in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)

while FAT uses a fixed local date and time. The program takes proper account of these differences and enables to adjust timestamp values.

 Language for file names to use during the convert operation. NTFS stores file names in Unicode while

FAT/FAT32 uses ANSI to save short file names (also called the DOS aliases). The codepage information is required for the correct conversion of non-English file names from Unicode to ANSI and vice versa.

 Request confirmation of settings before NTFS < - > FAT/FAT32 conversion. Mark the checkbox to automatically

display the local settings dialog to check and modify (if necessary) the default parameters before launching the convert file system operation.

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Copy/Backup Exclude Options

By clicking the link at the bottom of the window you can jump to the General Copy and

Backup Options.

In this section the program enables to specify what data should be automatically ignored during copy and sector-based backup operations. You can filter certain files or folders either by the manual selection or by creating masks, what is more preferable. Thus you will be able to effectively manage contents of your backup images or partition/hard disk copies.

By default, there are no available filters. To create a filter, please click the Add Category… button.

In the opened dialog the program allows the user to define the following parameters:

 Name. Give to the filter any name you like, but try to use an informative one;  Filter. Press the Browse button to select files or folders you would like to be excluded or specify a filter mask by

using * or ? wildcards;

 Description. Add a short description to the filter not to miss it up later.

Click the OK button and you will get a new item on the list of filters. By marking/unmarking a checkbox opposite its name you can choose whether to use it or not.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

Viewing Image Properties

General information on backup archives can be obtained with the following tools:

Using the Restore Wizard

 Click Backup & Restore and then select Restore in the Express Launcher.

At first, the wizard displays the Welcome page – simply click the Next button at the foot of the dialog window.

The next page refers to Browse for Archive. Here you can find the required image in the browser-like window.

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The section below (i.e. Archive File Details) displays a short description of the selected image, including:

 Information on a type of the archive contents (whether it is sector-based or file-based),  Whether the archive is compressed or not,  Whether the archive is password protected or not,  The date, when the archive was created.

Moreover, on this page you’ve got the possibility to create new folders, delete existing files/folders or map network

drives by clicking the appropriate buttons.

The next page (i.e. What to restore) displays detailed information about the contents of the archive.

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If you want to restore the image contents, click the Next button. In order to cancel, click the Cancel button.

Data Backup and Rescue

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to establish a reliable data protection system.

Creating Backup Images

Depending on a type of information you need to protect and the way this information should be processed, the program offers a number of handy backup wizards. To make your job with the program as easy and convenient as possible, all backup wizards share similar work algorithm. By going through steps of the wizard, you configure all the necessary settings to launch the backup operation. To minimize the possibility of making any mistake, the wizard provides auxiliary information on every single option. Moreover you can get an in-depth description to any setting, control, or field of the wizard just by clicking the hint button and then the object you need.

Backup Wizard Startup

 Click Backup & Restore and then select Backup in the Express Launcher.

Backup Wizard Setup

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

 The object to back up. You can back up either an entire disk or separate partitions of the disk (primary,

extended or logical). In case of backing up an entire disk, you’ve got the possibility to include into the image

such disk elements as the Master Boot Record (MBR) and the first track of the hard disk. This can be very helpful for serious disk recovery procedures.

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The program automatically calculates size of the future archive and informs the user about space available on the selected destination.

 Backup destination. The wizard allows saving backup archives to local or network drives, to physical partitions

(without drive letters assigned), or burning them to CD/DVDs. You need to select a destination, taking the estimated archive size and available space on the backup destination into account.

 Name and location of the resulted image. Provide a file name for the new image and its exact location. The

program automatically offers an easy to understand name containing the date and the time of the archive creation, which can anyway be modified.

 Archive Comment. You can add some additional description to the archive that will later help to distinguish it

from the others.

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Checking archive integrity enables to guarantee that all backup images created with the program are 100 percent flawless. Nevertheless if you decided not to control the archive integrity, the backup operation would take about 3-5% less time.

Splitting images enables to tackle issues caused by a file size limitation of some file systems.

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 mark the appropriate option on the second page of the wizard. When it is marked, the next page enables to define:

 Whether the archive integrity will be controlled.

 Whether image file names will be set automatically in complex archives.  Compression level for the backup image (including the No compression variant).  Whether the archive will be split (if yes, you can set the maximum size for the archive files).

 Whether the archive will be protected by password.  Whether the selected disk (or the selected partition) will be copied in the sector-to-sector mode (including

unused sectors as well).

 Whether the OS auxiliary files (pagefile.sys, hyberfil.sys) will be included in the backup image.  Recording speed when the user wants to burn the backup image onto CD/DVDs.  ISO image folder where the archive that is to be recorded on a disc, is placed.  Whether the operation will be performed without rebooting the system. The program needs to reboot the

system in order to have exclusive access to processing data. In a Windows environment this is difficult to achieve because even when all the other applications are closed, the system service programs are still running. However, there is a way to avoid rebooting. The mode of processing the backup operation without rebooting is named Hot Processing. You can also define specific parameters for the Hot Processing mode.

Result

After the backup operation is completed you receive an image of the selected object. This image is placed into the specified destination, its features defined by the wizard.

Available operation scenarios:

 Backing up a hard disk or partition to external media (CD/DVD)  Backing up a hard disk or partition to a network drive  Backing up a dual boot Mac to an external USB drive

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To know more on the subject, please consult the Viewing Image Properties chapter.

Restoring System and Data

The program includes a convenient and reliable restore wizard. With its help you can restore all types of backup images created with the program. It provides easy to understand instructions to configure and perform all the necessary settings. Moreover you can get an in-depth description to any setting, control, or field of the wizard just by clicking the hint button and then the object you need.

Startup

 Click Backup & Restore and then select Restore in the Express Launcher.

Setup

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

 A backup image to be restored. The Browse for Archive page enables to find a backup image you need. The

section below (i.e. Archive File Details) will also display a short description of the selected image.

Moreover, on this page you’ve got the possibility to create new folders, delete existing files/folders or map network drives by clicking the appropriate buttons.

File Backup Restore

 Data to restore. You’ve got the option to restore not only the entire archive, but separate items of it (the so

called selective restore functionality) by marking checkboxes next to the data items you need.

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If you select separate files or folders to restore, the wizard will continue working as though you’ve got to do with a file backup.

 A place to restore. From the pull-down list you can choose whether to restore contents of the backup image to

its original location or specify some other one.

Besides if you select the Original location option, you can additionally define whether to replace already existing files during the restore operation (good for recovering presumably corrupted files) or leave them intact (good for recovering accidentally deleted files).

Sector Backup Restore

 Data to restore. You’ve got the option to restore not only the entire archive, but separate items of it (the so

called selective restore functionality) by marking checkboxes next to the data items you need.

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All contents on the disk selected for restoring purposes will be deleted during the operation.

 A place to restore. Selecting the destination, please note - all contents on the disk selected for restoring

purposes will be deleted during the operation.

To help you get a clear-cut picture of the operation outcome, the program allows inspecting the resulted disk layout.

Restoring Partition:

 Size of the restored volume and free space before and after it on the disk.

 Drive letter assignment after restore. The pull-down list contains vacant drive letters that can be associated

with the restored partition.

Restoring Hard Disk:

 Copy data and resize partitions proportionally. If this option is activated, the program proportionally changes

the size of partitions keeping their relative order intact. The option can be useful when restoring to a larger hard disk.

 Perform surface test. Define whether the surface test will be accomplished during the operation or not.

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You need at least two hard disks to carry out this operation.

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

Result

The wizard will restore the archived data, and make it available to use in the operating system.

Available operation scenarios:

 Restoring a system partition from external media (CD/DVD)  Restoring a system partition from a network drive  Restoring a system partition from a local drive  Restoring a dual boot Mac from an external USB drive  Restoring separate files and folders from a backup 

Copy Tasks

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to make a copy of a hard disk or a separate partition.

Cloning Hard Disks

You can clone a hard disk of any file system. During the hard disk copying process, the program moves controlling records of used partitioning scheme, the bootstrap code and on-disk partitions. That’s why this operation cannot be substituted by simply copying all on-disk partitions.

Copy Hard Disk Wizard

The Copy Hard Disk Wizard is a traditional-like wizard. By going through its steps, you configure all the necessary settings to launch the copy operation. To minimize the possibility of making any mistake, the wizard provides auxiliary information on every single option. Moreover you can get an in-depth description to any setting, control, or field of the wizard just by clicking the hint button and then the object you need.

Startup

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Copy Hard Disk…

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the copy hard disk operation:

 The hard disk to copy. Select a hard disk you want to copy.

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- Use exclude masks. By default the program doesn’t take into account exclude filters set in the Settings

dialog. If you need to use them, please mark the checkbox and see existing/specify additional filters on the next page of the wizard.

- Don’t estimate size after excludes. You can save time by suppressing calculation of the resulted amount of

data to copy after using excludes. Please note however, if you use this option, drives that smaller in size than the source disk will be unavailable to use as destination.

 The target hard disk. Select a hard disk (if several) where all data of the source disk will be copied to.

 Copy parameters. The wizard enables to specify the following options:

Copy options

- HDD raw copy to copy the hard disk in the sector-by-sector mode, thus ignoring its information structure (e.g. unallocated space or unused sectors of existing partitions will be processed as well). This can help to avoid problems with hidden data created by certain applications or the system administrator. However, it will take more time to accomplish the operation.

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To make Windows bootable on different hardware, please additionally complete the P2P

Adjust OS Wizard.

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

- Partition raw copy to copy the on-disk partitions in the sector-by-sector mode to successfully process unknown file systems. However it is not recommended to enable this option when working with supported file systems as it takes more time to accomplish the operation.

Resize options

- Remove free blocks between partitions not to keep blocks of free space between partitions on the targeted hard disk.

- Copy data and resize partitions proportionally to make the program proportionally change the size of partitions keeping their relative order intact. The option can be useful when upgrading the hard disk to a larger one.

Result

After the operation is completed, you receive a fully functional duplicate of the existing hard disk.

Available operation scenarios:

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

Cloning Partitions

You can duplicate partitions to protect oneself from downtime in case of a system malfunction or for cloning sample partitions. The program enables to duplicate all partition data including files, the exact structure of directories and file system metadata (location of files, security information, access quotas, etc.).

The Copy Partition Wizard will help you copy a partition of any file system. To minimize the possibility of making any mistake, the wizard provides auxiliary information on every single option. Moreover you can get an in-depth description to any setting, control, or field of the wizard just by clicking the hint button and then the object you need.

Startup

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Copy Partition…

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the copy partition operation:

 The partition to copy. Select a partition you want to copy.

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The program enables to copy a partition to a block of free space, which is smaller than the partition itself, taking into account only actual amount of data.

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.

 Destination disk. Select a hard disk with enough unallocated space to perform the operation.

 Copy parameters. The wizard enables to specify the following options:

- Partition size. Define the size (in Mb) of the copied partition.

- Free space before. Define the position (in Mb) of the copied partition relative to the beginning of the available range of disk space.

- Free space after. Define the amount of trailing free space (in Mb) at the end of the available range of disk space.

Result

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

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To make Windows bootable on different hardware, please additionally complete the P2P

Adjust OS Wizard.

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

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.

Create Partition Wizard Startup

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Create Partition…

Dialog Startup

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

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

Create Partition Wizard Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 Partition destination. Select a hard disk (if the computer has several hard disks) and then choose position for

the future partition on the disk: at the end (preferable), at the beginning or somewhere in the middle between other partitions.

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By default, the program allows you to create a new partition only as the last primary or as the last logical drive within the extended partition. However, by activating the advance mode on the first page of the wizard you can remove this restriction that in its turn might result in some boot problems.

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If a partition to resize is locked and cannot be processed, the wizard makes the system reboot to create the partition and then automatically boots the system again. (The rebooting mechanism is different for different versions of Windows.)

 Partition size. There is no restriction on size of the future partition, merely depending on space available on the

hard disk.

If there is not enough free space in one block, the wizard enables to redistribute free space, joining all free space blocks together into one united block and moving partitions when necessary. If the total amount of free space is still not enough, it is possible to split a fragment of space from one of the existing partitions, thus resizing it.

You can also choose whether the future partition will be primary or logical by marking the appropriate checkbox.

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 Partition properties. On the next page of the wizard you can set a number of additional parameters:

- Partition type. 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.

- Surface test level. 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.

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.

 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.

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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.

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

 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:

 Use OS built-in routine. Mark the option to restrict the available values according to the used OS.  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+

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- NTFS

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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As a result of this operation contents of the selected partition will be lost.

- Ext2

- Ext3

- Ext4

- Linux Swap v. 2

Wizard Startup

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Format Partition…

Dialog Startup

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map;

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

Wizard Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 Partition to format. Select a hard disk (if the computer has several hard disks) and then the required partition to

format.

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

 Partition properties. On the next page of the wizard you can set the following partition parameters:

- Partition type. 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.

- 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 mark the appropriate option at the foot of the page. When it is marked, the next page enables to define:

 Use OS built-in routine. Mark the checkbox to restrict the available values according to the used OS.  The amount of sectors per cluster. Define the Cluster Size for the formatted partition with this spinner control.

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.

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

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

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

used for drive identification.

Result

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

Deleting Partitions

Wizard Startup

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Delete Partition…

Dialog Startup

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

Launcher

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map;

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

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

As a result of this operation contents of the selected partition will be lost.

Wizard Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 Partition to delete. Select a hard disk (if the computer has several hard disks) and then the required partition to

delete.

 Merge free blocks. As a result of the operation you may get several blocks of the unallocated space on the hard

disk. So choose whether to merge them all and place at the beginning of the disk or at the end by selecting the required operation from the pull-down list.

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.

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

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.

Advanced Partitioning Operations

Here you can learn how to accomplish advanced partitioning operations.

Undeleting Partitions

When simply deleting a partition (without additional wiping) disk management software only removes references to it in the Partition Table, thus leaving the possibility to recover it later.

The program enables to find and recover these partitions. A restored partition will be fully functional, as long as other partitions were not created, moved or exceeded the disk space occupied by that partition. That is why the program offers this function only for blocks of free space.

The operation can be accomplished with the Undelete Partition Wizard.

Startup

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Undelete Partitions…

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the undelete partition operation:

 Free blocks to scan for lost partitions. Choose a free block from a tree-like list of available hard disks.

 Search method. By default, the wizard selects the fastest search method for your operating system. In most

cases that will do to find any accidentally deleted partition. However if you're under Windows XP for instance (the Conventional Search option is selected), but the deleted partition you're looking for has been created with the Disk Management utility under Vista, the wizard won't be able to find this partition, unless you manually select the appropriate option (Quick Search for Partitions Created by Vista or Later OS). Moreover if the wizard still fails to find the partition you need, you can select the Thorough Search option to scan every single sector in the specified search area to get the most accurate results.

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To know more on the available search methods, please use the context sensitive hint system.

 File system filter. By default, the wizard will search for all known file systems. However, by clicking on the

appropriate option on the second page of the wizard, you can specify only those file systems you need.

 A partition to undelete (if several). By default, the program searches records of any deleted partition ever

existed on the selected block of free space. So you can get several partitions to choose from.

Most likely the required partition will be found first. If so, you may abort the search operation by pressing the Stop search button.

Result

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

Changing Partition Attributes

This chapter explains how you can change partition attributes (Active flag, Hidden flag, Volume Label, etc.).

Mark Partition Active/Inactive

The program enables to set an active/inactive flag for primary partitions of a hard disk. By default, an operating system will boot only if its partition is active or bootable.

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

There can only be one active partition on a hard disk, otherwise your operating system will fail to boot.

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

It is strongly recommended not to hide the system partition. Otherwise your operating system will fail to boot.

In order to mark a partition active/inactive you should take the following steps:

1. Select a primary partition on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Mark Partition as Active/Inactive.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Hide/Unhide Partition

The program allows you to hide/unhide primary and logical partitions. By default, an operating system does not mount hidden partitions, thus preventing access to their contents.

In order to hide/unhide a partition you should take the following steps:

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Hide/Unhide Partition.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Set Label of a Partition

The Partition Label is a small textual field (up to 11 characters) that is located in the partition's boot sector. It is detectable by any partitioning tool and is used for notification purposes only.

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

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

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Modify > Change Volume Label.

3. Enter a label for the selected partition.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Hard Disk Management

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

Converting Dynamic MBR to Basic

The program allows you to convert a dynamic MBR disk containing simple volumes into a basic one while keeping its contents intact.

In order to convert a dynamic MBR disk into basic you should take the following steps:

1. Select a dynamic MBR disk containing simple volumes on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Hard Disk > Convert to Basic…

3. Set the required number of primary partitions if necessary. According to the DOS partitioning scheme a hard

disk can have up to four Primary partitions. If there is an Extended partition on the disk, only three primary partitions are allowed. That is why if a dynamic disk contains several simple volumes the program enables to choose the number of primary partitions. The rest of them if any will automatically be converted to logical disks within the Extended partition.

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The program can only process dynamic disks containing solid simple volumes (without extension).

Converting GPT to Basic MBR

The program allows you to convert a basic or a dynamic GPT disk containing simple volumes into a basic MBR disk while keeping its contents intact.

In order to convert a basic or a dynamic GPT disk into a basic MBR disk you should take the following steps:

1. Select a basic or a dynamic GPT disk containing simple volumes on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Hard Disk > Convert to Basic MBR Hard Disk…

3. Set the required number of primary partitions if necessary. According to the DOS partitioning scheme a hard

disk can have up to four Primary partitions. If there is an Extended partition on the disk, only three primary partitions are allowed. That is why if a GPT disk contains several volumes the program enables to choose the number of primary partitions. The rest of them if any will automatically be converted to logical disks within the Extended partition.

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The program can only process dynamic GPT disks containing solid simple volumes (without extension).

The program can only convert basic MBR disks.

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

Converting Basic MBR to GPT

The program allows you to easily convert a basic MBR disk into a basic GPT disk while keeping its contents intact. The operation is quite safe for the on-disk data, but you should know that only 64-bit Windows OSes since Vista are able to

boot from this type of disks. So if you’ve got a 32-bit Windows OS accommodated on a disk you’d like to convert to GPT, it won’t start up after the operation is over.

In order to convert a basic MBR disk to a basic GPT you should take the following steps:

1. Select a basic MBR hard disk on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Hard Disk > Convert to GPT hard disk.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

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.

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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.

Changing Primary Slot

Different operating systems apply different approaches to enumeration of the primary partitions.

In Linux:

In Linux, every partition has a special symbolic name that encodes a hard disk containing a partition, and a partition itself. Partitions are addressed and accessed by using their symbolic names. Symbolic names are automatically generated by Linux in accordance with the order of hard disks in BIOS and the order of partition records in the Partition Table. Thus changing enumeration of the primary partitions can lead to changing of paths to some important resources.

In DOS:

The last versions of MS-DOS use a rather sophisticated algorithm for a drive letter assignment. A drive letter, which is assigned to a partition, depends on the order of records in the Partition Table. Thus changing enumeration of the primary partitions affects the drive letters assignment. In early versions of MS-DOS, it could even lead to the unavailability of a partition.

The program provides the ability to change enumeration of the primary partitions. This feature will allow you to fix problems concerning an inappropriate order of partitions.

In order to modify enumeration of the primary partitions you should take the following steps:

1. Select a hard disk on the Disk Map.

2. Select in the Main Menu: Hard Disk > Change Primary Slot.

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3. In the opened dialog you can see the current enumeration of the primary partitions of the selected hard disk in

the Partition Table. To help you distinguish partitions from one another, the program provides the following parameters for every partition:

- Slot

- Volume

- Partition type

- File system

- Partition size

- Volume label

There are two buttons on the right to move the selected partition up and down within the primary part of the Partition Table.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

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).

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

 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)

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

 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…;

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

5. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

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Scripting

The program actions can also be represented in form of a script. The script describes the appropriate operation with macro-language commands. There is an interpreter utility - SCRIPTS.exe, which is included in the program installation package. This utility works in the unattended mode, which enables to automate operations.

Startup

You have no need to write a script since the program has a convenient interface for such a task. In order to generate a script on the base of the entered parameters of the required operation, 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 be scripted;

3. Call the Generate Script dialog in the Main Menu: Tools > Generate Script….

Setup

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

 Script file name and location. By default, the program offers to add the script to the Task List with a name

containing its creation date and time. Unmark the Add to Task List checkbox to define an exact location and a filename for the script file. The default file extension that is reserved for scripting files is .psl, which however can be modified.

 Interaction with the user. Mark the option to pause the script interpreter during the execution to prompt the

user’s confirmation or other input. Otherwise the program will not stop using default values for parameters if needed.

 Commit after each operation. Mark the option to commit changes after each operation.

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

To learn more about scripts please consult the Paragon Scripting Language manual.

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

 Check for errors after each operation. Mark the option to insert a special code in script, which checks the status

of the last executed operation and stops the script processing if there are errors of any kind.

 Discard all operations on close. Mark the option to empty the List of Pending Operations after generating the

script.

Result

After the operation is completed you receive a new script file. It is placed into the specified destination, its features defined in the dialog.

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…

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

Volume Explorer

Volume Explorer is a special tool to browse and export contents of the local mounted/unmounted volumes formatted to FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2FS, Ext3FS, Ext4FS file systems. Besides it enables to access Paragon backups as regular folders to explorer their contents or to retrieve certain files.

To launch the Volume Explorer you should click Disk View tab in the Explorer Bar and then choose Volume Explorer:

Call the popup menu for the selected file/folder (right click of the mouse button) to export it to some other location (local or network drive, etc.).

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Available operation scenarios:

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

 Restoring separate files and folders from a backup

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.

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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.

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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  Copying of data from a backup to the corrupted system partition  Restoring separate files and folders from a backup

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:

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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.

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

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

3. 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

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

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.

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

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

View Logs

With a handy dialog you can study logs on any operation carried by the program. To make this job as easy as possible, all the information is structurally divided, besides there is the possibility to see the disk layout before and after an operation, what is very convenient.

In order to view logs on carried out operations select in the Main Menu: Tools > View Log Files

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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.

Backup Scenarios

Backing up a hard disk or partition to external media (CD/DVD)

To back up an entire hard disk or a separate partition and then burn the resulted image to CD/DVD, please do the following:

1. Click Backup & Restore and then select Backup in the Express Launcher.

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

3. On the next page, mark the appropriate option opposite a hard disk’s name or a partition’s name depending on

the chosen task.

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You’ve got the option to modify the default backup settings by marking the appropriate

checkbox on this page.

Please take into account the Estimated archive size value. It can give you a hint about the number of CD/DVD discs required for the operation.

4. On the Backup Destination page, select the Burn the data to CD or DVD option.

5. Select a recordable device on the list of available CD/DVD devices and edit the archive name, if necessary.

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This operation can also be accomplished with our recovery media.

You’ve got the option to modify the default backup settings by marking the appropriate

checkbox on this page.

6. Add comments to your backup describing its contents.

7. On the Backup Summary page review all parameters of the operation and modify them if necessary. Click the

Next button to start the backup process.

Backing up a hard disk or partition to a network drive

To back up an entire hard disk or a separate partition and then place the resulted image to a network share, please do the following:

1. Click Backup & Restore and then select Backup in the Express Launcher.

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

3. On the next page, mark the appropriate option opposite a hard disk’s name or a partition’s name depending on

the chosen task.

4. On the Backup Destination page, select the Save data to local/network drives option.

5. Map a network disk to place your backup image to:

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Please take into account values of the parameters Estimated archive size and Space available on backup destination - if the archive size exceeds the available space, another network drive needs to be selected.

This operation can also be accomplished with our recovery media.

- Call the Map Network Drive dialog by clicking the appropriate button;

- Click the standard browse button [...] to browse for the required network share or manually enter a path to

it;

- Define a letter from the pull-down list of available drive letters;

- Mark the checkbox to make this connection permanent. Otherwise it will only be available for the current

Windows session;

- Click the Connect as user button at the foot of the dialog page to specify a user name and password to

access the selected network share if necessary.

6. Edit the archive name if necessary.

7. Add comments to your backup describing its contents.

8. On the Backup Summary page review all parameters of the operation and modify them if necessary. Click the

Next button to start the backup process.

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Recovery Media Builder can help you prepare our recovery environment either on a

CD/DVD disc or a thumb drive.

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

Backing up a dual boot Mac to an external USB drive

To back up a dual boot Mac (Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista/7) and then place the resulted image to an external USB drive, please do the following:

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

2. Connect an external USB drive to the computer.

3. Restart the computer. It will be automatically started up into the Linux recovery environment (Normal Mode),

since it’s the only mode that provides support for Mac computers.

4. In the Linux launch menu select Drive Copy.

5. Launch the Backup Wizard by selecting in the Main Menu of the program: Wizards > Backup Wizard.

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

7. On the What to back up page, select your Mac hard disk.

8. On the Backup Destination page, select the Save data to any local drive or a network share option.

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Please take into account values of the parameters Estimated archive size and Space available on backup destination - if the archive size exceeds the available space, another drive needs to be selected.

9. Select an external USB drive as a backup destination.

10. Edit the archive name if necessary.

11. Add comments to your backup describing its contents.

12. On the Backup Summary page review all parameters of the operation and modify them if necessary. Click the

Next button to start the backup process.

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This operation can also be accomplished under Windows.

Please use Boot Media Builder to prepare the WinPE recovery environment, which you can get here: www.paragon-software.com/my-account/.

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

Recovery Scenarios

Correcting BCD (Boot Configuration Data)

To automatically correct Windows BCD, please do the following:

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

2. Launch Boot Corrector.

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

4. Select Correct boot parameters… to let the wizard fix BCD in all found Windows installations.

5. The wizard will ask you to confirm the operation. Apply the changes to complete.

After completing the operation close the wizard, and then reboot the computer.

Fixing Windows startup ability

Let’s assume that due to an unknown reason your Windows fails to complete the startup procedure. At first everything

seems quite OK, you can see the standard startup messages on the screen, but at some moment it hangs up.

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Recovery Media Builder can help you prepare our recovery environment either on a

CD/DVD disc or a thumb drive.

To automatically boot from the recovery 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.

To fix your Windows startup ability, please do the following:

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

2. In the boot menu select Normal Mode to use the Linux recovery environment (more preferable) or Safe Mode

to use the PTS DOS recovery 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.

3. In the Linux launch menu select Boot Corrector. You can find it in PTS DOS as well.

4. On the Wizard's Welcome page, select the Search for Windows installations to correct option.

5. On the next page choose the required Windows installation from the list of found installations (if several), then

select the Edit the Boot.ini file option. If you’re not sure which installation you need, please use the Properties button to get more info on the selected item.

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6. Examine the file – maybe that’s where the problem is. If it contains a mistake, correct it by using the appropriate

buttons.

7. If the Boot.ini file does not contain any mistake, please return to the Correct Windows Installations page to

correct drive letters in the Windows System Registry.

8. On the next page choose a hard disk from the pull-down list (if several), then the required partition. If you’re not

sure which installation you need, please use the Properties button to get more info on the selected item.

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9. Click the Edit Letters button to correct an existing drive letter or assign a new one in the Windows System

Registry.

10. Once you’ve assigned the appropriate drive letter, close the dialog, then click the Apply button.

11. Confirm the operation.

12. After the operation is completed click the Report button to see a well informative summary page. 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.

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This scenario implies that you have got a bootable archive on your CD/DVD.

In case the backup image is stored on several CD/DVD disks, please insert the first one.

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

13. Click the Finish button to close Boot Corrector.

Restoring a system partition from external media (CD/DVD)

Let’s assume that your computer fails to boot because of a virus attack or corruption of some system critical files. But you’ve got a backup of your system partition on a bootable DVD disc. That’s just enough to easily get your system back

on track again.

To restore your system partition from a backup image located on CD/DVD when the current OS is down, please do the following:

1. Insert a CD/DVD disc containing the previously prepared backup image into a CD/DVD drive (the BIOS must be

enabled to boot the system from the CD/DVD device).

2. Restart the computer.

3. In the boot menu select Normal Mode to use the Linux recovery environment (more preferable) or Safe Mode

to use the PTS DOS recovery environment (in case you’ve got problems with Linux). Moreover you’ve got the

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

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

6. On the What to Restore page, you can see a list of available images (if several). Most likely the required archive

will be there too. If not, click the standard browse button [...] to find it. When you find your image, double click on it to proceed.

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All contents on the partition selected for restoring purposes will be deleted during the operation.

7. On the Image Properties page, make sure that you select the correct image by viewing the provided information

about the archive.

8. On the next page specify a hard disk, then one of its partitions to restore the image to (if several in your

computer). By default, the program offers to restore the archive exactly where it belongs. That’s what we actually need.

9. On the Partition Start and Size page you can change size of the partition and its location if necessary.

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Please use Boot Media Builder to prepare the WinPE recovery environment, which you can get here: www.paragon-software.com/my-account/.

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

10. On the Restore Summary page you can see your hard disk layout before and after the operation. Click the Next

button to initiate the restore process.

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

12. After completing the operation close the wizard, and then reboot the computer.

Restoring a system partition from a network drive

Let’s assume that your computer fails to boot because of a virus attack or corruption of some system critical files. But you’ve got a backup of your hard disk on a remote backup server. That’s just enough to easily get your system back on

track again.

To restore your system partition from a backup image located on a network drive, please do the following:

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

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up to boot from CD/USB first.

You can also map a network disk with Network Configurator.

2. Launch the Restore Wizard.

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

4. On the Browse for Archive page you need to specify the required backup image. So you should take the

following steps to do that:

 Select Network as a backup destination;

 Map a network disk where your archives are placed:

- Call the Map Network Drive dialog by clicking the appropriate button;

- Click the standard browse button [...] to browse for the required network share or manually enter a path to it;

- Define a letter from the pull-down list of available drive letters;

- Click the Connect as user button at the foot of the dialog page to specify a user name and password to access the selected network share if necessary.

 Choose the required archive in the browser-like window. The Archive File Details section displays a short

description of the selected image.

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All contents on the partition selected for restoring purposes will be deleted during the operation.

5. The What to Restore page displays detailed information about the contents of the archive. Select the required

item to restore. In our case it is the first partition of the disk.

6. On the Where to Restore page specify a hard disk, then one of its partitions to restore the image to (if several in

your computer). By default, the program offers to restore the archive exactly where it belongs. That’s what we

actually need.

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7. On the Restore Results page you can see the resulted disk layout. Besides there’s the possibility to change size

of the partition and its location if necessary as well as assign a particular drive letter.

8. On the next page of the wizard confirm the operation by selecting the appropriate option.

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

Mark the checkbox at the bottom of the window to automatically switch off the computer on the successful accomplishment of the restore operation.

10. After completing the operation close the wizard, and then reboot the computer.

Restoring a system partition from a local drive

Let’s assume that your operating system gives trouble after having installed brand new software. But you’ve got a

backup of the system partition on a local disk. That’s just enough to easily roll it back to the point when run smoothly.

To restore your system partition from a backup image located on a local disk, please do the following:

1. Click Backup & Restore and then select Restore in the Express Launcher.

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

3. On the Browse for Archive page, specify the required archive. The section below (i.e. Archive File Details) will

also display a short description of the selected image.

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To know more on the subject, please consult the Viewing Image Properties chapter.

All contents on the partition selected for restoring purposes will be deleted during the operation.

4. On the Where to Restore page specify a hard disk, then one of its partitions to restore the image to (if several in

your computer). By default, the program offers to restore the archive exactly where it belongs. That’s what we

actually need.

5. On the Restore Results page you can see the resulted disk layout. Besides there’s the possibility to change size

of the partition and its location if necessary as well as assign a particular drive letter.

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This operation can also be accomplished with our recovery media.

Recovery Media Builder can help you prepare our recovery environment either on a

CD/DVD disc or a thumb drive.

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

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

7. The program will require the system restart to accomplish the operation in a special boot-up mode. Click the

appropriate button to agree.

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

After completing the operation the program will automatically reboot the computer.

Restoring a dual boot Mac from an external USB drive

Let’s assume that your Mac fails to boot because of a hard disk malfunction. But you’ve got a backup of your hard disk

on an external USB drive. Just replace the failed disk with a new one and carry out a bare metal restore.

To restore a dual boot Mac from a backup image located on an external USB drive, please do the following:

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

2. Connect an external USB drive to the computer.

Paragon Drive Copy - 12 Professional Instruction Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual