Paragon Hard Disk Manager - 12 Premium Instruction Manual

Download

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

Hard Disk Manager™ 12 Premium

User Manual

Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 8

What’s New in Hard Disk Manager 12 ......................................................................................................... 8

Product Components ............................................................................................................. 9

Features Overview ................................................................................................................. 9

Features ..................................................................................................................................................... 9

User Friendly Fault Minimizing Interface ................................................................................................................................ 9

Backup Facilities .................................................................................................................................................................... 10

Restore Facilities ................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Copy Facilities ....................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Virtualization Facilities .......................................................................................................................................................... 11

Boot Management Facilities ................................................................................................................................................. 12

Partition/Hard Disk Management Facilities .......................................................................................................................... 12

File System Optimization Facilities ....................................................................................................................................... 12

Wipe Facilities ....................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Automatization Facilities ...................................................................................................................................................... 12

Auxiliary Facilities ................................................................................................................................................................. 13

Supported Data Erasure Algorithms ........................................................................................................... 13

Supported Technologies ............................................................................................................................. 14

Supported Virtualization Software ............................................................................................................. 15

Supported virtual hard drive types ....................................................................................................................................... 15

Supported virtual machines for P2V scenarios ..................................................................................................................... 15

Supported File Systems .............................................................................................................................. 16

Supported Media ....................................................................................................................................... 16

Getting Started .................................................................................................................... 16

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................ 16

Installation ................................................................................................................................................ 17

First Start ................................................................................................................................................... 19

Building Recovery Media ............................................................................................................................ 20

Booting from the Linux/DOS Recovery Media ............................................................................................. 21

Startup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 21

Boot menu ............................................................................................................................................................................ 22

Booting from the WinPE Recovery Media ................................................................................................... 24

Startup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 24

Basic Concepts ..................................................................................................................... 25

System and Data Protection ....................................................................................................................... 25

File Backup versus Sector Backup ......................................................................................................................................... 25

Backup Types ........................................................................................................................................................................ 26

Backup Storage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29

Adaptive Restore .................................................................................................................................................................. 30

System Virtualization ................................................................................................................................. 31

Paragon Hot Processing & Volume Shadow Copy Service ............................................................................ 32

Offline versus Online Data Processing .................................................................................................................................. 32

Paragon Hot Processing Technology .................................................................................................................................... 32

Volume Shadow Copy Service .............................................................................................................................................. 33

Dynamic Disks ............................................................................................................................................ 33

GPT versus MBR ......................................................................................................................................... 34

uEFI Boot Challenges .................................................................................................................................. 34

Apple Boot Camp ....................................................................................................................................... 35

64-bit Support ............................................................................................................................................ 35

Copy Operations ........................................................................................................................................ 35

Drive Partitioning ....................................................................................................................................... 36

Data Sanitization........................................................................................................................................ 36

Data Security Standards ............................................................................................................................. 37

Scheduling ................................................................................................................................................. 38

Windows Components ........................................................................................................ 38

Interface Overview .................................................................................................................................... 38

General Layout ...................................................................................................................................................................... 38

Main Menu ........................................................................................................................................................................... 40

Tool Bar ................................................................................................................................................................................. 44

Virtual Operations Bar .......................................................................................................................................................... 44

Common Tasks Bar ............................................................................................................................................................... 45

Disk Map ............................................................................................................................................................................... 47

Explorer Bar .......................................................................................................................................................................... 48

Partition List .......................................................................................................................................................................... 49

Properties Bar ....................................................................................................................................................................... 50

Legend Bar ............................................................................................................................................................................ 51

Status Bar .............................................................................................................................................................................. 51

Settings Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 51

General Options .................................................................................................................................................................... 51

Backup Image Options .......................................................................................................................................................... 53

General Copy and Backup Options ....................................................................................................................................... 53

CD/DVD/BD Recording Options ............................................................................................................................................ 54

Hot Processing Options ......................................................................................................................................................... 55

Run during Backup Options .................................................................................................................................................. 56

Wipe Options ........................................................................................................................................................................ 57

Wipe Report Options ............................................................................................................................................................ 58

Partitioning Options .............................................................................................................................................................. 58

E-Mail Options ...................................................................................................................................................................... 59

Operation Dependency Options ........................................................................................................................................... 60

Virtual Mode Options ........................................................................................................................................................... 60

File System Conversion Options ........................................................................................................................................... 61

Copy/Backup Exclude Options .............................................................................................................................................. 62

File Backup Exclude Options ................................................................................................................................................. 63

File Backup Include Options.................................................................................................................................................. 64

Defragmentation Options ..................................................................................................................................................... 65

Log Files Options ................................................................................................................................................................... 65

FTP Sites Options .................................................................................................................................................................. 66

Application-level Exclude Options ........................................................................................................................................ 67

Viewing Disk Properties ............................................................................................................................. 68

Viewing Image Properties .......................................................................................................................... 69

Using the Restore Wizard ..................................................................................................................................................... 69

Using the Archive Database .................................................................................................................................................. 73

Data Backup and Rescue ............................................................................................................................ 74

Creating Backup Images ........................................................................................................................................................ 74

Restoring System and Data ................................................................................................................................................... 77

Copy Tasks ................................................................................................................................................. 81

Cloning Hard Disks ................................................................................................................................................................ 81

Cloning Partitions .................................................................................................................................................................. 84

Boot Management ..................................................................................................................................... 85

Partition Management ............................................................................................................................... 87

Basic Partitioning Operations ............................................................................................................................................... 87

Advanced Partitioning Operations........................................................................................................................................ 96

Changing Partition Attributes ............................................................................................................................................. 107

Hard Disk Management ........................................................................................................................... 110

Converting Dynamic MBR to Basic ..................................................................................................................................... 110

Converting GPT to Basic MBR ............................................................................................................................................. 111

Converting Basic MBR to GPT ............................................................................................................................................. 111

Updating MBR ..................................................................................................................................................................... 112

Changing Primary Slot ......................................................................................................................................................... 112

Wipe Tasks .............................................................................................................................................. 114

Task Scheduling ....................................................................................................................................... 117

Setting a Timetable ............................................................................................................................................................. 117

Managing Tasks .................................................................................................................................................................. 118

Creating a Scheduled Task .................................................................................................................................................. 120

Scripting .................................................................................................................................................. 120

Extra Functionality ................................................................................................................................... 122

View Partition/Hard Disk Properties ................................................................................................................................... 122

Volume Explorer ................................................................................................................................................................. 123

File Transfer Wizard ............................................................................................................................................................ 123

Mount Partition .................................................................................................................................................................. 125

Downgrade NTFS Version ................................................................................................................................................... 126

Mount Archive .................................................................................................................................................................... 127

Defragment MFT ................................................................................................................................................................. 128

Compact MFT ...................................................................................................................................................................... 128

Test Surface ........................................................................................................................................................................ 129

Check File System Integrity ................................................................................................................................................. 130

Check Archive Integrity ....................................................................................................................................................... 130

Check Recovery Discs .......................................................................................................................................................... 132

Edit/View Sectors ................................................................................................................................................................ 132

Send Log Files ...................................................................................................................................................................... 133

View Logs ............................................................................................................................................................................ 134

Typical Scenarios ............................................................................................................... 135

Backup Scenarios ..................................................................................................................................... 135

Creating the Backup Capsule .............................................................................................................................................. 135

Backing up a hard disk or partition to the Backup Capsule ................................................................................................ 137

Backing up a hard disk or partition to external media (CD/DVD) ....................................................................................... 139

Backing up a hard disk or partition to a network drive ...................................................................................................... 141

Backing up files to an FTP/SFTP server ............................................................................................................................... 143

Backing up a dual boot Mac to an external USB drive........................................................................................................ 146

Backing up files to a local mounted/unmounted (without drive letter assigned) partition .............................................. 148

Creating a differential to a full partition backup ................................................................................................................ 151

Creating a sector increment to a full partition backup ....................................................................................................... 154

Creating a file increment to a full partition backup ............................................................................................................ 156

Creating an increment to a full file backup ........................................................................................................................ 159

Creating a cyclic partition backup ....................................................................................................................................... 161

Merging a full partition backup with one of its differentials .............................................................................................. 163

Recovery Scenarios .................................................................................................................................. 165

Correcting EFI parameters .................................................................................................................................................. 165

Correcting BCD (Boot Configuration Data) ......................................................................................................................... 167

Fixing Windows startup ability ........................................................................................................................................... 167

Restoring a hard disk from the bootable Backup Capsule .................................................................................................. 170

Restoring a system partition from external media (CD/DVD) ............................................................................................ 173

Restoring a system partition from a network drive ............................................................................................................ 175

Restoring a system partition from a local drive .................................................................................................................. 178

Restoring a dual boot Mac from an external USB drive ..................................................................................................... 181

Restoring a file increment................................................................................................................................................... 184

Restoring a file increment to a partition backup ................................................................................................................ 186

Copying of data from the corrupted system disk to another hard disk ............................................................................. 188

Burning of data from the corrupted system disk to CD/DVD ............................................................................................. 191

Copying of data from a backup to the corrupted system partition .................................................................................... 193

Restoring separate files and folders from a backup ........................................................................................................... 196

Resize Scenarios ....................................................................................................................................... 200

Creating a new partition to detach operating system from the rest of data ..................................................................... 200

Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space of an adjacent partition ..................................................... 202

Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space from any other ................................................................... 204

Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space of an adjacent logical partition .......................................... 208

Separating OS from media data .......................................................................................................................................... 209

Merging a system partition with an adjacent logical partition........................................................................................... 211

Shrinking a system partition to increase size of a data partition ....................................................................................... 213

Resizing partitions of Apple Boot Camp ............................................................................................................................. 215

Creating Dual Boot Systems ..................................................................................................................... 217

For Windows computers ..................................................................................................................................................... 217

System Migration Scenarios ..................................................................................................................... 227

Migrating Windows OS to a solid state drive (Migrate OS to SSD) .................................................................................... 227

Migrating system to a new HDD (up to 2.2TB in size) ........................................................................................................ 230

Using 2.2TB+ HDD as internal data storage in Windows XP ............................................................................................... 232

Making system bootable on different hardware (P2P Adjust OS) ...................................................................................... 235

Virtualizing the current system (P2V Copy) ........................................................................................................................ 242

Virtualizing system from its backup image (P2V Restore) .................................................................................................. 246

Creating an empty virtual disk (Create VD) ........................................................................................................................ 250

Making Windows Vista/7 backup bootable on virtual hardware (P2V Adjust OS) ............................................................. 251

Connecting a virtual disk (Connect VD) .............................................................................................................................. 253

Repartitioning a virtual disk ................................................................................................................................................ 259

Exchanging data between physical and virtual environments ........................................................................................... 262

Copying data from a parent virtual disk to one of its snapshots ........................................................................................ 263

Migrating from one virtual environment to another (V2V) ................................................................................................ 263

Migrating from a virtual environment to physical (V2P) .................................................................................................... 264

Migrating a Windows 7 vhd ................................................................................................................................................ 264

Hard Disk Utilization ................................................................................................................................ 264

Extra Scenarios for WinPE ........................................................................................................................ 266

Adding specific drivers ........................................................................................................................................................ 266

Configuring network ........................................................................................................................................................... 267

Saving log files ..................................................................................................................................................................... 270

Troubleshooter .................................................................................................................. 272

Glossary ............................................................................................................................. 273

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 Hard Disk Manager™ 12 Premium is an integrated set of powerful tools that is specially designed to tackle most of the problems you might face while using PC. Its functionality covers all aspects of a computer life cycle beginning from carrying out all the necessary partitioning operations to install the system from scratch and providing its data reliable protection to secure utilization of an outdated hard disk.

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 Hard Disk Manager 12

 Support of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.  Support of GPT/uEFI configurations to successfully clone, migrate, or restore a 64-bit Windows configured to

the uEFI-based boot mode; to fix uEFI related boot problems.

 Split Partition Wizard helps you separate OS and data or different types of data by splitting one partition to two

different partitions of the same type and file system.

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

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

 Exclude filters for supported enterprise-level applications (MS Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, Hyper-V, VMware

Server) to provide for better backup performance of your Windows server, to minimize backup storage requirements, to eliminate any interference with special-purpose backup tools.

 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.

- Connect to ESX Server through vSphere interface to accomplish drive partitioning, data exchange, or OS

migration of Windows virtual environments hosted by ESX. You’ve got the option to do these operations from one of Windows OS guests or from outside.

- 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.

 Support of Oracle VirtualBox 4.0.  Better performance for backup operations by employing asynchronous data transfer.

 Automatic backup/restore of ACL (Access Control List) for file backups to inherit access permissions for backup

contents when restoring to a different location.

 Password protection for file backups to prevent unauthorized access to your personal data.  WinPE traceroute/ping utility to get detailed information on particular routes and measure transit delays of

packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

 Convert NTFS <> HFS file systems without reformatting.  Support of the restart-free installation.

Product Components

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

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

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

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

Linux or PTS DOS, and that way to get access to your hard disk for maintenance or recovery purposes. Both 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.  Resize partitions directly on the Disk Map with the drag-and-drop technique.  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).

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

Backup Facilities

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

 Available location for backup images:

- Backup to local mounted partitions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Cyclic backup to automate the backup of separate partitions. It is an ideal option if you want to establish a self-

acting data protection system.

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

This feature is only available for the bootable recovery environment.

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

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

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

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

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

Restore Facilities

 Restore an entire disk, separate partitions or only files you need from the previously created backup image.  Restore with Shrink to restore a backup image to a free block of smaller size taking into account only the

amount of actual data of the image.

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

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

Copy Facilities

 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 Restore to migrate a Windows physical system backed up with a Paragon disaster recovery tool to a virtual

environment.

 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.

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

Boot Management Facilities

 Boot Manager Setup Wizard to easily manage several operating systems on one computer.

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.

 Express Create Partition Wizard to create a new partition in the most appropriate place of a hard disk, format it

to NTFS and then make it available in the system by assigning a drive letter.

 Split Partition Wizard helps you separate OS and data or different types of data by splitting one partition to two

different partitions of the same type and file system.

 Merge Partitions Wizard to consolidate the disk space, which originally belongs to two adjacent partitions

(NTFS, FAT16/FAT32), into a single, larger partition.

 Redistribute Free Space Wizard to increase free space on one partition by up-taking the on-disk unallocated

space and the unused space of other partitions.

 Express Resize Partitions Wizard to increase free space on one partition by up-taking the unused space of an

adjacent partition of a hard disk (including partitions of Apple Boot Camp).

 NTFS hot resize upward to enlarge an NTFS partition (system, locked) without rebooting Windows and

interrupting its work.

 Convert a file system (FAT16/32, NTFS, Apple HFS) without reformatting.  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.).  Install New OS Wizard to make a system ready to install a new operating system.  Undelete Partitions Wizard to recover an accidentally deleted partition.

File System Optimization Facilities

 MFT defragmentation and shrinking to improve performance of NTFS.

Wipe Facilities

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

system service structures.

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

data.

Automatization Facilities

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

sequence of actions on a regular basis.

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

Boot Corrector is only available for the bootable recovery environment.

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

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

Auxiliary Facilities

 GPT Loader is a special system driver to allow use of all space of modern ultra high capacity drives (larger than

2.2TB) on systems that don't support it.

 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 Data Erasure Algorithms

 US DoD 5220.22-M  US Navy standards NAVSO P-5239-26  British HMG Infosec Standard No.5  German VSItR Standard  Australian ASCI 33  Russian GOST R 50739-95

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

 Peter Gutmann's algorithm  Bruce Schneier's algorithm  Paragon's algorithm  Custom algorithm

Supported Technologies

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

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

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

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

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

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

hardware platform (P2P).

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

outages or an operating system failure.

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

and copy files and folders, etc.

 Paragon Hot Resize™ technology to enlarge NTFS partitions (system, locked) without rebooting Windows and

interrupting its work.

 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 Smart Partition™ technology to securely perform hard disk partitioning operations of any complexity.  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.

 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 Virtualization Software

The maximum number of simultaneously connected virtual disks is limited:

For ESX 4.x – 9 direct connections or 27 through vCenter Server;

For ESXi 4.x – 11 direct connections or 23 through vCenter Server;

For ESXi 5.x – depends on the workload of the host’s hardware resources.

VMware products with prohibited vStorage API (Freeware ESXi, etc.) are not supported.

Snapshot disks of Oracle VirtualBox are not supported.

For remote connection to virtual hard drives

 VMware ESX 4.x and higher  VMware ESXi 4.x and higher  VMware ESXi 5.x and higher

For direct access to virtual hard drives

 Microsoft Virtual PC 2007

 Microsoft Windows Virtual PC  Microsoft Virtual Server  Microsoft Hyper-V R1/R2  Oracle Virtual Box 1.0-4.x  VMware Player  VMware Workstation  VMware Server  VMware Fusion

Supported virtual hard drive types

 VMware - Virtual Machine Disk Format (VMDK)  Microsoft - Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)  Oracle - Virtual Desktop Image (VDI)  Paragon’s backups (PBF)

Supported virtual machines for P2V scenarios

 Microsoft Virtual PC  Microsoft Virtual Server  Microsoft Hyper-V  VMware Workstation

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.

 VMware Fusion  VMware ESX Server  Oracle VirtualBox 4.0

Supported File Systems

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

supported.

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

Supported Media

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

Getting Started

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

System Requirements

For the Windows installation package

 Windows XP SP3  Windows Server 2003 SP2  Windows Vista  Windows Server 2008  Windows 7  Windows 8  Windows Server 2008 R2  Windows SBS 2011

You can download Microsoft .NET 4.0 from Microsoft’s website:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0a391abd-25c1-4fc0-919fb21f31ab88b7&displaylang=en

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

 Windows Server 2012

Additional requirements:

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

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

 To install and run the product the target OS should have Microsoft .NET 4.0 or later installed (you should

download and install it yourself).

 If you installing our product on Windows Server 2003 SP2, you additionally need to have Visual Studio C++ 2005

SP1 Runtime Library installed (you should download and install it yourself).

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

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

Installation

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

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

You can download Microsoft .NET 4.0 from Microsoft’s website:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0a391abd-25c1-4fc0-919fb21f31ab88b7&displaylang=en

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

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

2. Then your system will be checked for the presence of Microsoft .NET 4.0 or later. If not found, the installation

won’t continue with the corresponding warning:

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

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

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

5. Provide your product key and serial number.

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

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

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

Software\Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 Premium Edition\). Otherwise click Next to continue.

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

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

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

previous pages and modify the installation settings.

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

First Start

To start Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 under Windows, please click the Windows Start button and then select Programs > Paragon Hard Disk Manager™ 12 > Paragon Hard Disk Manager™.

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

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

please consult the Windows Components chapter.

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

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);

 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Boot menu

The Boot menu contains the following commands:

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

fails to work properly;

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

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

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

system.

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

Normal Mode

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

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.

 Hard Disk Manager (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);  Wipe Wizard (enables to destroy all on-disk information or only remnants of deleted files/directories);  Express Resize Wizard (enables to increase free space on one partition by up-taking the unused space of an

adjacent partition);

 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);

 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);

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.

 Reboot the computer;  Power off the computer.

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

Safe Mode

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

Low Graphics Safe Mode

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

Booting from the WinPE Recovery Media

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

Startup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

choice.

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

Basic Concepts

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

System and Data Protection

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

File Backup versus Sector Backup

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

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

Sector-Based Backup

File-Based Backup

Merits

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

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

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

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

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

It is easy and efficient when creating backup chains.

Demerits

Resulted backup images may contain a lot of redundant data.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Backup Types

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

Full, Differential, and Incremental Sector Backups

A full sector-based backup image includes all contents of a partition or a hard disk at the moment of its creation. If you roll back your system to the initial state on a regular basis, that’s exactly what you’re looking for. But if you want to have multiple backup archives of the same partition reflecting certain time stamps, unchanged data will inevitable be

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

duplicated in all archives and take additional space on backup media. To tackle this issue there has been developed a supplementary technique called Differential Sector Backup.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

products since Hard Disk Manager 12 supports this functionality;

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

Full and Incremental File Backups

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

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

File Increment to a Sector Backup

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

Backup Storage

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

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

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

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

and system independence;

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

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

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

as the backup media is kept secure;

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

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

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

Known Issues on FTP/SFTP

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

required port (21 by default).

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

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

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

Adaptive Restore

Technology Background

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

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

Technology Concept

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Technology Application

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

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

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.

Paragon Hot Processing & Volume Shadow Copy Service

Offline versus Online Data Processing

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

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

In contrast, online data processing enables to create a consistent snapshot even as the data is currently modified. It is

particularly useful for systems with high availability requirements, but it won’t be accomplished until all active

transactions are complete. The point is to provide a coherent state of all open files and databases involved in a process, taking into account that applications may still keep writing to disks. As a result an online data processing cannot boast high operating speed.

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

Paragon Hot Processing Technology

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

Paragon Hot Processing is not exactly a snapshot technology, though it has much in common with it. During an online copy/backup, the program uses the kernel mode driver HOTCORE.SYS to intercept and control disk write activity of applications and the operating system. The hotcore driver as an integral part of the program is installed during the setup procedure (that’s why the system reboot is required to complete the setup procedure). For the most part the driver is in the idle mode until it is activated with the program. While in this mode it bypasses any calls having no effect on the overall system performance, but a few kilobytes of the system memory.

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

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

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

Volume Shadow Copy Service

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

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

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

Dynamic Disks

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

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

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

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

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

Limitations:

 Dynamic disks are not supported on portable computers.

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

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

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

GPT versus MBR

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

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

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

uEFI Boot Challenges

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

2.2TB.

Despite all uEFI advantages however, it has one quite naughty issue: A pretty standard operation with a bootable device for instance involving its connection to another SATA port results in unbootable Windows. You’ll get the same result if trying to boot from a cloned system hard disk or form a restored hard disk. All these problems originate from the way uEFI+GPT bundle is organized.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apple Boot Camp

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

64-bit Support

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

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

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

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

Copy Operations

Hard drive duplication nowadays is becoming highly popular among PC users. That is due to some definite advantages it can offer. First of all, many people clone hard disks just to back up data for security reasons. The present day copy utilities enable to successfully transfer all on-disk information including standard bootstrap code and other system

service structures, thus maintaining the operating system’s working capability. In case of a system malfunction, the user

can get the system back on track in minutes. No additional configuration is required, what is very convenient.

The second possible application is the upgrade of a hard disk to a new one. The capacity of a modern hard drive doubles every two years, thus opening up new possibilities for software developers. As a result programs become more complicated and require considerable amount of free space. One day the user realizes that there is no more free space left on the hard disk and the only way out is to upgrade. Usually that means that besides purchasing a new hard disk,

the user is to face a large re-installation procedure spanning several days of tedious work. But all of this can be avoided just by copying the contents of the old hard disk to a new one proportionally resizing the partitions.

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

Drive Partitioning

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

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

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

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

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

Data Sanitization

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

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

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

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

Military and government standards always require 100 percent residual data verification. It is necessary to make sure that the operation has been properly accomplished. Besides

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

Data Security Standards

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator);

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

first pass, and new for each sector;

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

corrupted sectors discovered during the operation are to be logged to keep the user informed, since these sectors may contain classified information.

The list of supported military and government standards may vary for your product. Anyway you’ve always got the possibility to create a customized algorithm, defining up to 4 wiping patterns, number of passes for each wiping pattern and for the group of patterns, thus providing the maximum possible security level.

Scheduling

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

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

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

Windows Components

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

Interface Overview

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

General Layout

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

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

1. Main Menu

2. Tool Bar

3. Virtual Operations Bar

4. Common Tasks Bar

5. Explorer Bar

6. Disk Map

7. Partition List

8. Properties Bar

9. Legend Bar

10. Status Bar

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.

MENU ITEM

FUNCTIONALITY

Tools

View Log Files

View logs on the carried out operations

Send Log Files

Compress and send the log to the Paragon Support Team

Log Saver

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

Setup Boot Manager…

Manage several operating systems on one computer

Recovery Media Builder…

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

Check Recovery Discs…

Verify the recovery media for integrity and ability to boot from

File Transfer Wizard…

Transfer data from any media

Settings...

Edit the general settings of the program

Exit

Exit the program

Changes

Generate Script…

Generate a script for the task

Save to Scheduler…

Schedule pending operations

Undo `the last virtual operation`

Cancel the last virtual operation on the List of Pending Operations

Redo `the last virtual operation`

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

View Changes…

Display the List of Pending Operations

Apply Changes

Launch the real execution of virtual operations

Discard All Changes

Cancel all virtual operations on the List of Pending Operations

Reload Disk Info

Refresh the current information about disks

Wizards

Express Create Partition…

Create an NTFS partition and make it ready for work

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

Main Menu

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

Wipe Hard Disk or Partition...

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

Express Resize Partitions…

Increase free space on one partition by up-taking the unused space of an adjacent partition

Undelete Partitions…

Recover an accidentally deleted partition

Merge Partitions…

Merge adjacent partitions of NTFS, FAT or FAT32 file systems

Split Partition Wizard…

Separate OS and data or different types of data by splitting one partition to two different partitions of the same type and file system

Redistribute Free Space…

Redistribute available disk space of existed partitions

Install New OS…

Make your system ready to install a new operating system

Smart Backup…

Back up exactly what you need - the whole system, e-mail databases (MS Outlook, Express, Windows Mail) media files or office documents of the My Documents folder, or any other files and folders

Differential Backup…

Create a differential to a partition backup

Incremental Backup…

Create an increment to a full or incremental backup of a partition or hard disk

Create a File Complement…

Create a file increment to a full partition backup

Create a File Increment…

Create an increment to a file backup

Restore…

Restore an entire hard disk, separate partitions, or files from the backup image

Manage Backup Capsule…

Create and manage the backup capsule

Check Archive Integrity…

Perform integrity check for the required backup image

Cyclic Backup…

Automate a partition backup

Synthetic Backup…

Change any property of an existing archive (splitting, password protection, compression level, etc.) without accomplishing the backup operation

Create Virtual Disk…

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

P2V Copy…

Migrate a live Windows physical system to a virtual environment

P2V Restore…

Migrate a Windows physical system backed up with a Paragon disaster recovery tool 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

Back Up Hard Disk…

Create a backup archive of the selected hard disk

Burn Hard Disk to CD or DVD…

Back up the selected hard disk and burn the resulted image to CD/DVD

Restore Hard Disk…

Restore the selected hard disk from a backup image

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

Change Primary Slots…

Modify the primary partitions enumeration for the selected hard disk

Wipe Hard Disk…

Irreversibly destroy all on-disk information

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

Back Up Partition…

Create a backup archive of the selected partition

Burn Partition to CD or DVD…

Back up the selected partition and burn the resulted image to CD/DVD

Restore Partition…

Restore the selected partition from a backup image

Move/Resize…

Move/Resize the selected partition

Convert File System…

Convert file system of the selected 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

Change Cluster Size…

Change cluster size of the selected partition

Change Serial Number…

Change serial number of the selected partition

Downgrade NTFS version…

Decrease version of the selected NTFS partition

Change Partition ID…

Change identifier of the selected partition

Make Partition Primary…

Make the selected partition Primary

Make Partition Logical…

Make the selected partition Logical

Defragment MFT…

Defragment MFT (Master File Table) of the selected NTFS partition

Compact MFT…

Shrink MFT (Master File Table) of the selected NTFS partition

Wipe Partition…

Irreversibly destroy all on-partition information

Clear Free Space…

Destroy any remnants of deleted files/directories left on disk

Test Surface…

Test surface of the selected partition/block of free space

Check File System

Integrity…

Check the selected partition for possible file system errors

Edit/View Sectors…

View/edit sectors of the selected partition

Properties…

Get in-depth information on the properties of selected partition

View

Layouts

Manage the Launcher layout with several predefined profiles

Toolbar

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

Status Bar

Display the Status Bar

Common Tasks Bar

Display the Common Tasks Bar

Disk Map Legend

Display the Disk Map legend

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

Back up exactly what you need with Smart Backup Wizard

Increase free space on one partition by up-taking the unused space of an adjacent partition

Copy a hard disk

Migrate OS to SSD

Collect and send logs to Support

Switch to Express launcher

Open the Help system

BUTTON

FUNCTIONALITY

Cancel the last virtual operation on the List of Pending Operations

Tool Bar

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

Virtual Operations Bar

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

The Virtual Operations Bar enables to manage pending operations.

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 Express Create Partition Wizard to create an NTFS partition and make it ready for work.

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.

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

Advanced Partitioning Tasks

Starting the Express Resize Partitions Wizard to redistribute free space between two adjacent partitions.

Starting the Undelete Partitions Wizard to recover accidentally deleted partitions.

Starting the Merge Partitions Wizard to merge adjacent partitions of NTFS, FAT, FAT32 file systems.

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.

Starting the Split Partition Wizard to separate OS and data or different types of data by splitting one partition to two different partitions of the same type and file system.

Starting the Redistribute Free Space Wizard to redistribute available disk space of existing 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.

Backup Tasks

Starting the Smart Backup Wizard to back up exactly what you need - the whole system, e-mail databases (MS Outlook, Express, Windows Mail) media files or office documents of the My Documents folder, or any other files and folders.

Starting the Manage Backup Capsule Wizard to create, resize or delete the backup capsule.

Starting the Restore Wizard to restore a hard disk, separate partition, or files from the backup image.

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 Boot Manager Setup Wizard to easily manage several operating systems on one computer.

Starting the Install New OS Wizard to install a new operating system.

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.

Opening a brief review on the Data Sanitization issue.

Disk Map

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

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

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

 Manufacturer,  Model.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Explorer Bar

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

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

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

 Scheduled Tasks, which gives the user the possibility of browsing and editing scheduled operations and the

program scripts.

 Archives, which enables to manage the Archive Database.  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:

Open the next browsed page

Stop loading the current page

Refresh the contents of the current page

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

- 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),  Type of the logical disk,  File system (represented by the color of the graph and the selected bar),



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.

 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

- Linux ReiserFS

- Apple HFS

Status Bar

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

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

Settings Overview

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

General Options

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

change cluster size, etc.) is potential with data loss. To minimize this risk, it’s recommended to check integrity of your file system before this type of operations, despite the fact that it’s quite time consuming. We offer you several options to let you choose, which is best for you:

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

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

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

volume only once just before accomplishing data-sensitive operations.

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

not use this option.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

General Copy and Backup Options

By clicking the link at the bottom of the window you can jump to the Copy/Backup Exclude

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.

 Skip archive files stored in archive library. Mark the checkbox to skip backup images registered in the archive

database, 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:

 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.

 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.

 Switch between hot processing technologies. Mark the checkbox to automatically switch between Paragon Hot

Processing and Microsoft VSS if one of them is unavailable at the moment.

By clicking the link at the bottom of the window you can jump to the Run during Backup

Options.

By clicking the link at the bottom of the window you can jump to the Hot Processing

Options.

Run during Backup Options

In this section you can specify external applications to execute at various phases of the backup process. It can be particularly useful when imaging systems with high availability requirements (MS SQL, MS Exchange, etc.), since it enables to create a consistent snapshot even as the data is currently modified. The point is to provide a coherent state of all open files and databases involved in a backup, taking into account that applications may still keep writing to disks.

Actually the backup process consists of two phases: the preparation phase (snapshot) and the data-copying phase. There are three points of the backup when external commands/programs can be launched:

 Execute at the beginning of the backup process before taking a snapshot. Here you can specify an executable

file that will help you to prepare running applications for taking a snapshot. It may contain specific commands/programs to delete unnecessary files, suspend services, flush transactions or caches, etc. Everything depends on the used applications.

 Execute after taking a snapshot. Here you can specify an executable file that will run just after taking a

snapshot. It may contain specific commands/programs, e.g. to resume the previously suspended services, etc. Everything depends on the used applications.

 Execute after finishing the backup process. Here you can specify an executable file that will run after the

backup process has been accomplished. It may include commands/ programs that will move the backup image to a particular location, etc.

By clicking the Browse button you can get into the browser-like window to choose an executable file.

This function is only available when the Hot Processing mode is enabled.

The program enables to set parameters for an executable file directly from the line. However, if the file path contains word gaps it is necessary to enclose it in quotes in order to make the program distinguish between the path and the used parameters.

By clicking the link at the bottom of the window you can jump to the Hot Processing

Options.

The program provides the ability to work with three types of executable files (.exe, .bat, .cmd). It is up to the user to write batch files to safely prepare applications for backup. There are some certain general requirements for that:

 All programs and commands must execute sequentially and finish before the .bat file completes its work.  It is recommended to use external commands/programs in the following format - Start/wait program.exe. The

wait option will help to start an application and wait until it completes its work. This will guarantee that all included commands/programs complete their execution before the batch file does.

Wipe Options

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

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

Wipe Report Options

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

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

USB adapters, etc.

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

data sanitization procedures in your company.

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

Partitioning Options

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

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

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

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

confirmation before converting FAT16 to FAT32. There are a number of situations when this kind of conversion

is the only way out to accomplish the operation. For instance, you are going to migrate your system to a larger hard disk with the proportional resize of existing partitions, what is very convenient. As a result you can get original FAT16 partitions go beyond the 4GB limit. Thus without conversion to FAT32, this operation will in no way be possible to accomplish. The same goes for any copy hard disk/partition or restore hard disk/partition operation involving an extra upsizing.

E-Mail Options

This section contains a set of options that will be taken into account during the Send log files and Send e-mail notification operations:

 Outgoing mail server (SMTP). To send messages by using the built-in mail client, it is necessary to have access to

a computer running an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server. All outgoing messages are first sent to the SMTP server, which in its turn delivers them to the required recipients. The address may be represented as a traditional Internet host name (e.g.: mail.com) or as an IP numeric address (e.g. xxx.xxx.xxx.xx).

 User e-mail address. Specify an e-mail address that has been assigned by the Internet Service Provider or

organization's e-mail administrator.

 My outgoing server requires authentication. Activate the option to allow the program to make authentication

on the server before sending messages.

- User name. Enter the name that will be used to log in to the e-mail account.

- Password. Enter the password that will be used to access the mail server.

When you’re ready with the settings, click on the Send test e-mail button to check if everything is OK.  Send e-mail notification on apply. Specify an e-mail to send notifications on the carried out operations.

- Send mail in HTML format. Activate the option to create messages in the HTML format instead of plain text.

- Send complete report after applying operations. Activate the option to create an in-depth report on the carried out operations and send it after performing the last operation.

- Send graphical view of the disk sub-system before and after apply. Activate the option to allow the program

By clicking the link at the bottom of the window you can jump to the Operation

Dependency Options.

You won't be notified if an operation requires the system restart.

to attach two pictures of the disk layout made before and after the operation is completed.

Operation Dependency Options

This section contains a set of options that will be taken into account when the Send e-mail notification on apply function is enabled. By marking/unmarking a checkbox opposite the required operation you can choose whether to receive an email notification on its completion or not.

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.

We strongly recommend you to enable this mode.

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.

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

accomplishing operations.

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.

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.

File Backup Exclude Options

In this section you can find a lot of ready-made exclude filters to effectively control contents of your file-based backup images. Please note, by selecting certain filters you specify what data will be ignored during file-based backup operations, thus you specify the data you’d like not to be added to the resulted archives.

Anyway you’ve got the option to create your own filter by clicking the Add category… button.

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

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.

File Backup Include Options

In this section you can find a lot of ready-made include filters to effectively control contents of your file-based backup images. Please note, by selecting certain filters you specify what data will be processed during file-based backup operations, thus you automatically ignore files that do not match, so they won’t be added to the resulted archives.

Anyway you’ve got the option to create your own filter by clicking the Add category… button.

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

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.

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.

Defragmentation Options

In this section you may set the preferable defragmentation mode:

 Fast mode. Partitions will be defragmented rather fast (a 10-30% gain depending on the fragmentation level),

but a power outage, hardware malfunction or a system failure during the operation might lead to the data loss.

 Safe mode. To guarantee protection of your data during the operation, the program will allocate some free

space (not less than the on-disk largest file) on the defragmented at the moment partition to make a duplicate of every processed file. Thus we strongly recommend you to use this very mode.

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.

FTP Sites Options

You need to check out yourself Windows Firewall or programs of this kind let our program work with the required port (21 for FTP and 22 for SFTP by default).

In this section you can manage online backup storages located on FTP or SFTP servers. By clicking on available buttons, you can create, modify, delete an FTP/SFTP location, etc.

To create an FTP/SFTP location, you’ve got to specify a number of options:

 Use SFTP connection. Mark the option to connect to the desired SFTP server if necessary;  Address. Type in an address to the desired server;  Port. Specify the required port (21 for FPT and 22 for SFTP by default);  Anonymous login. Mark the option to set up anonymous connection. Typical username for this type of login is

“anonymous”;

 Use Active Mode (only for FTP). Mark the option if your provider requires this type of authentication;  Allow Open SSH key-based authentication (only for SFTP). If your provider requires this type of authentication,

mark the option to specify public and private keys and a passphrase;

 Login. Enter a login;  Password. Enter a password. Click Remember password to save it next time you back up to this location;  Name. By default, the program uses the provided address as the connection name, which can be modified

however.

By manually selecting a writer, you exclude the corresponding file or application from all disk imaging tasks (system writers included). Thus careless use of this functionality may cause corruption of your Windows OS after restore.

By clicking the Connect button the provided location will be checked. If ok, you’ll get a new item on the list named after this location. By clicking the + icon you can browse it to specify a more exact location for your backups.

Application-level Exclude Options

In this section you can see all found enterprise-level applications supported by our program (if any installed). Please select those, which are protected with specially designed tools, thus excluding them from backup operations. It will help you to significantly improve backup performance of your Windows server, minimize backup storage, and eliminate any interference.

Supported enterprise-level applications:

 MS Exchange 2003  MS Exchange 2007  MS Exchange 2010  MS SQL 2005  MS SQL 2008  MS SQL 2008 R2  MS SharePoint 2007  MS SharePoint 2010  MS Hyper-V  VMware Server 2.x

Additionally the program displays all other VSS writers running in the system at the moment for you to decide those you

don’t need to back up.

Viewing Disk Properties

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

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

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

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

Below there is a list of available wizards. If you click a corresponding record the appropriate wizard will be started. All

default values for the operation parameters will correspond to the disk’s settings. The list of wizards contains a detailed

description of tasks that can be performed by the wizard. This nullifies the possibility of selecting the wrong wizard.

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

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

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

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

Viewing Image Properties

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

Using the Restore Wizard

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Restore…

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. By clicking the Switch to Archive List View link, you can see a list of images contained in the Archive Database (if any).

FLAG

FUNCTIONALITY

Disk archive

Partition archive

File archive

MBR archive

System archive

Encrypted archive

Compressed archive

Complex archive

Filtered archive

To get a clear-cut picture on properties of the required image, just click on it and the section below will (i.e. Archive File Details) display a short description, 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.

In addition, there are some special graphical flags to indicate crucial properties:

Differential archive

Incremental archive

File increment to a partition archive

BUTTON

FUNCTIONALITY

Refresh the contents of the database

Show only existing archives

Add the selected archive to the database

Delete the selected archive from the database

To easily manage images in the Archive Database, the program provides the following functionality:

Besides you may filter backup archives to decide whether to show only file, partition or hard disk archives. To do that, please select the required filter in the left top corner of the page.

By clicking the Switch to File View link, you can find the required image in the browser-like window.

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

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.

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

Using the Archive Database

To open the Archive Database, click the appropriate tab in the Explorer Bar. The database window can be conditionally subdivided into several sections that differ in their purpose and functionality:

1. Explorer Bar that displays properties of the selected image.

2. Volume Explorer that enables to access the selected image as a regular folder to explorer its contents or to retrieve certain files.

3. Archive List that displays a list of images contained in the Archive Database (if any). Besides the program provides all the necessary functionality to manage backup images in the database (add, delete, mount, refresh, etc.)

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

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.

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

If selecting Disk or Partitions or Other Files and Folders you will need to specify more exactly the object of operation. To know more on the subject, please consult the Backup

Scenarios chapter.

Smart Backup Wizard Startup

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Smart Backup

Smart Backup Wizard Setup

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

 The object to back up. Click on a section you find answering to your task.

- Disk or Partitions to create a sector-based backup of the whole disk system, or only separate partitions;

- E-mail to create a file-based backup of e-mail databases, accounts and address books of MS Outlook, MS Express, and Windows Mail;

- Media Files to create a file-based backup of all media files (photo, video, music, etc) stored in the My Documents folder;

- Documents to create a file-based backup of all office documents stored in the My Documents folder;

- Other Files and Folders to create a file-based backup of any files and folders.

 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.

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

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

from the others.

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 the Backup Capsule  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 files to an FTP/SFTP server  Backing up a dual boot Mac to an external USB drive  Backing up files to a local mounted/unmounted (without drive letter assigned) partition  Creating a differential to a full partition backup  Creating a sector increment to a full partition backup  Creating a file increment to a full partition backup  Creating an increment to a full file backup  Creating a cyclic partition backup

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

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

 Merging a full partition backup with one of its differentials

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

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Restore…

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.

By clicking the Switch to Archive List View link, you can see a list of images contained in the Archive Database (if any).

To get a clear-cut picture on properties of the required image, just click on it and the section below will (i.e. Archive File Details) display a short description.

By clicking the Switch to File View link, you can find the required image in the browser-like window. The section below (i.e. Archive File Details) will also display a short description of the selected image.

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

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.

 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.

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.

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.

 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.



The ‘Switch EFI to boot from destination drive’ option becomes available, only if the following conditions are met:

 The operation is accomplished through the 64-bit WinPE media;  As a result of the operation the target disk becomes Bootable GPT.

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

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

with the restored partition.

 Switch EFI to boot from destination drive. If you’ve got to do with a 64-bit Windows configured to the uEFI boot

mode, the following option will become available for you to define what instance of Windows OS you’d like to boot from once the operation is over. Anyway you can specify a bootable device at any time through Boot

Corrector.

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.  Switch EFI to boot from destination drive. If you’ve got to do with a 64-bit Windows configured to the uEFI boot

mode, the following option will become available for you to define what instance of Windows OS you’d like to



The ‘Switch EFI to boot from destination drive’ option becomes available, only if the following conditions are met:

 The operation is accomplished through the 64-bit WinPE media;  As a result of the operation the target disk becomes Bootable GPT.

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

Adjust OS Wizard.

boot from once the operation is over. Anyway you can specify a bootable device at any time through Boot

Corrector.

Result

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

Available operation scenarios:

 Restoring a hard disk from the bootable Backup Capsule  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 a file increment  Restoring a file increment to a partition backup  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.

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.

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.

- 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:



The ‘Switch EFI to boot from destination drive’ option becomes available, only if the following conditions are met:

 The operation is accomplished through the 64-bit WinPE media;  As a result of the operation the target disk becomes Bootable GPT.

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

Adjust OS Wizard.

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.

- 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.

- Switch EFI to boot from destination drive. If you’ve got to do with a 64-bit Windows configured to the uEFI boot mode, the following option will become available for you to define what instance of Windows OS you’d like to boot from once the operation is over. Anyway you can specify a bootable device at any time through Boot

Corrector.

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.

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

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.

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.

 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 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 ‘Switch EFI to boot from destination drive’ option becomes available, only if the following conditions are met:

 The operation is accomplished through the 64-bit WinPE media;  As a result of the operation the target disk becomes Bootable GPT.

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

Adjust OS Wizard.

- 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.

Corrector.

Result

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

Boot Management

Our program enables to easily manage several operating systems on one computer with the help of the Boot Manager Setup Wizard. Among the key features of the wizard the following should be mentioned:

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

 Up to 16 operating systems on one PC;  Secure adding/removing of the Boot Manager startup record to/from the MBR;  Auto Boot option to automatically start up the previously chosen OS after a certain time period;  Hiding of any primary partition except selected at the moment.

Startup

 In the Main menu: select Tools > Setup Boot Manager…

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 Boot menu options. In this section you can switch between the following modes:

- Normal mode. Choose this mode to display the boot menu every time the computer starts up and define a timeout on the expiry of which the program will automatically select the previously chosen item of the menu.

- Hidden mode. Choose this mode not to display the boot menu until pressing a hot key. For this mode you should define a hot key used to enable the Boot Manager and a time period in seconds the startup message will be displayed.

 Deactivating/Configuring the Boot Manager. These two options will only be available once the wizard has been

completed and launched again. Select the Deactivate option to remove the Boot Manager from the MBR (Master Boot Record) or Configure to modify the previously set parameters of the startup process.

Result

After the Boot Manager Setup Wizard is completed the program updates the original record in the MBR to get control of the booting process and to be able to display the boot menu.

Available operation scenarios:

 Creating Dual Boot Systems

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.

Express Create Partition Wizard Startup

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

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.

Express Create Partition Wizard Setup

Thanks to a highly intelligent work algorithm, the wizard requires minimal involvement in the operation, thus you only need to choose a method you find the most suitable to create the partition (if several available), which actually differ in



The number of available methods depends on your disk layout.

To learn more on the way the wizard works, please click the corresponding link on the first page of the wizard.



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.

the amount of space to allocate. For easy perception, you can see the resulted disk layout on the disk map by selecting this or that mode.

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.

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

hard disk.



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.)

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.

 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.



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

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

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

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

space.

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

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

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

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

used for drive identification.

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

formatted partition.

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



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.

 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.

Available operation scenarios:

 Creating a new partition to detach operating system from the rest of data

Formatting Partitions

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

Supported File Systems

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

- FAT12 & FAT16

- FAT32

- HFS+

- NTFS

- Ext2

- Ext3

- Ext4

- Linux Swap v. 2

Wizard Startup

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

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



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

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.

 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.



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

- 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.

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

used for drive identification.

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



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.

 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 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.

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.



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

 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.

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.

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



If a system partition is the right one of the selected pair, Windows OS will become unbootable after the merge operation is over.

Advanced Partitioning Operations

Here you can learn how to accomplish advanced partitioning operations.

Merging Partitions

The Merge Partitions Wizard enables to consolidate the disk space, which originally belongs to two adjacent partitions (or additionally separated by free blocks), into a single, larger partition. The order, in which two partitions have been chosen, is important since all contents of the second selected partition will be placed in a folder on the resulted joined partition.

The program provides the ability to merge only NTFS, FAT16 or FAT32 partitions.

Startup

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Merge Partitions…

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 Adjacent partitions to merge. Click on the left partition of the pair of partitions you need to merge, as the right

one will be selected automatically. During the operation all contents of the right partition will be placed in a folder on the resulted joined partition. By default, the program offers an easy-to-understand folder name, which can be customized however.

Result

After the operation is completed the disk space of the two adjacent partitions will be consolidated.

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

Redistributing Unused Space between Partitions

Express Resize Partitions Wizard

The Express Resize Partitions Wizard enables to easily increase free space on one partition by up-taking the unused space of an adjacent partition of your hard disk.

Startup

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Express Resize Partitions…

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 Adjacent partitions to resize. Click on the left partition of the pair of partitions you need to redistribute the

unused space between, as the right one will be selected automatically.

 Resulted size of partitions. Redistribute the unused space between the partitions with the slider or manually by

entering the required value.

Result

After the operation is completed the unused space between the specified partitions will be redistributed according to your needs.

Available operation scenarios:

 Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space of an adjacent logical partition  Resizing partitions of Apple Boot Camp

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

Redistribute Free Space Wizard

The Redistribute Free Space Wizard helps to increase free space on one partition by up-taking the on-disk unallocated space and the unused space of other partitions. By default, the wizard adds to the target partition all existing blocks of the free space. Besides you can specify partitions to act as a space donor. The wizard will automatically recalculate positions of the partitions and move their contents to new locations.

Startup

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Redistribute Free Space…

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 Partition to enlarge. Select a partition, the size of which will be increased at the expense of other partitions.

Blocks of the free space (if any) will be automatically added to the target partition.

 Partition to donate. Choose any partition(s) (not only adjacent) to donate free space.

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

 Partition size. By default, the program leaves 50% of the unused space on a partition and removes another 50%

to add it to the target partition. However, the size to take can be customized by moving the slider or by manually entering the exact value.

Result

After the operation is completed free space of the specified partition will be increased by up-taking the on-disk unallocated space and the unused space of other partitions.

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.

100

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

 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.

 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.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager - 12 Premium Instruction Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual