Paragon Hard Disk Manager - 12 Premium Instruction Manual

PARAGON Software GmbH

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

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

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

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.

+ 245 hidden pages

Paragon Hard Disk Manager - 12 Premium Instruction Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual