Paragon Hard Disk Manager - 2011 Suite User Guide

Download

PARAGON Software GmbH, Systemprogrammierung

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™ 2011 Suite

User Manual

Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 9

What’s New in Hard Disk Manager 2011 ...................................................................................................... 9

Product Components ........................................................................................................... 10

Features Overview ............................................................................................................... 10

Features .................................................................................................................................................... 10

User Friendly Fault Minimizing Interface .............................................................................................................................. 10

Backup Facilities .................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Restore Facilities ................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Copy Facilities ....................................................................................................................................................................... 12

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

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

File System Optimization Facilities ....................................................................................................................................... 13

Wipe Facilities ....................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Automatization Facilities ...................................................................................................................................................... 13

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

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

Supported File Systems .............................................................................................................................. 15

Supported Media ....................................................................................................................................... 15

Getting Started .................................................................................................................... 15

Distribution ............................................................................................................................................... 15

Distributive CD ...................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Online Distribution................................................................................................................................................................ 16

Registration ........................................................................................................................................................................... 16

How to Download Updates/Upgrades .................................................................................................................................. 17

Contacting Paragon Software GmbH .......................................................................................................... 17

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................ 17

Installation ................................................................................................................................................ 18

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

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

Booting from the Linux/DOS Recovery Media ............................................................................................. 22

Startup .................................................................................................................................................................................. 22

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

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

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

Basic Concepts ..................................................................................................................... 26

System and Data Protection ....................................................................................................................... 26

File Backup versus Sector Backup ......................................................................................................................................... 26

Backup Types ........................................................................................................................................................................ 27

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

Adaptive Restore .................................................................................................................................................................. 29

Paragon Hot Processing & Volume Shadow Copy Service ............................................................................ 31

Offline versus Online Data Processing .................................................................................................................................. 31

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

Volume Shadow Copy Service .............................................................................................................................................. 32

GPT versus MBR ......................................................................................................................................... 32

Apple Boot Camp ....................................................................................................................................... 33

64-bit Support ............................................................................................................................................ 33

Copy Operations ........................................................................................................................................ 33

Drive Partitioning ....................................................................................................................................... 34

Data Sanitization........................................................................................................................................ 34

Scheduling ................................................................................................................................................. 35

Windows Components ........................................................................................................ 35

Interface Overview .................................................................................................................................... 35

General Layout ...................................................................................................................................................................... 35

Main Menu ........................................................................................................................................................................... 37

Tool Bar ................................................................................................................................................................................. 40

Virtual Operations Bar .......................................................................................................................................................... 40

Common Tasks Bar ............................................................................................................................................................... 41

Disk Map ............................................................................................................................................................................... 43

Explorer Bar .......................................................................................................................................................................... 44

Partition List .......................................................................................................................................................................... 45

Properties Bar ....................................................................................................................................................................... 46

Legend Bar ............................................................................................................................................................................ 47

Status Bar .............................................................................................................................................................................. 47

Settings Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 47

General Options .................................................................................................................................................................... 48

Backup Image Options .......................................................................................................................................................... 49

General Copy and Backup Options ....................................................................................................................................... 50

CD/DVD/BD Recording Options ............................................................................................................................................ 51

Hot Processing Options ......................................................................................................................................................... 52

Wipe Options ........................................................................................................................................................................ 53

Partitioning Options .............................................................................................................................................................. 54

E-Mail Options ...................................................................................................................................................................... 55

Virtual Mode Options ........................................................................................................................................................... 56

File System Conversion Options ........................................................................................................................................... 57

Copy/Backup Exclude Options .............................................................................................................................................. 58

File Backup Exclude Options ................................................................................................................................................. 59

File Backup Include Options.................................................................................................................................................. 60

Defragmentation Options ..................................................................................................................................................... 61

Log Files Options ................................................................................................................................................................... 62

Getting Information on Disks and Backup Images ....................................................................................... 62

Viewing Disk Properties ........................................................................................................................................................ 62

Viewing Image Properties ..................................................................................................................................................... 64

Data Backup and Rescue ............................................................................................................................ 68

Creating Backup Images ........................................................................................................................................................ 68

Restoring System and Data ................................................................................................................................................... 69

Copy Tasks ................................................................................................................................................. 73

Cloning Hard Disks ................................................................................................................................................................ 73

Cloning Partitions .................................................................................................................................................................. 75

Boot Management ..................................................................................................................................... 77

Partition Management ............................................................................................................................... 78

Basic Partitioning Operations ............................................................................................................................................... 78

Advanced Partitioning Operations........................................................................................................................................ 88

Changing Partition Attributes ............................................................................................................................................. 100

Hard Disk Management ........................................................................................................................... 103

Converting GPT to Basic MBR ............................................................................................................................................. 103

Converting Basic MBR to GPT ............................................................................................................................................. 104

Updating MBR ..................................................................................................................................................................... 104

Changing Primary Slot ......................................................................................................................................................... 105

Wipe Tasks .............................................................................................................................................. 106

Task Scheduling ....................................................................................................................................... 110

Setting a Timetable ............................................................................................................................................................. 110

Managing Tasks .................................................................................................................................................................. 111

Creating a Scheduled Task .................................................................................................................................................. 112

Extra Functionality ................................................................................................................................... 113

View Partition/Hard Disk Properties ................................................................................................................................... 113

Volume Explorer ................................................................................................................................................................. 114

File Transfer Wizard ............................................................................................................................................................ 115

Mount Partition .................................................................................................................................................................. 117

Mount Archive .................................................................................................................................................................... 118

Test Surface ........................................................................................................................................................................ 119

Check File System Integrity ................................................................................................................................................. 120

Check Archive Integrity ....................................................................................................................................................... 121

Check Recovery Discs .......................................................................................................................................................... 122

Edit/View Sectors ................................................................................................................................................................ 123

Send Log Files ...................................................................................................................................................................... 124

View Logs ............................................................................................................................................................................ 125

Typical Scenarios ............................................................................................................... 126

Backup Scenarios ..................................................................................................................................... 126

Creating the Backup Capsule .............................................................................................................................................. 126

Backing up a hard disk or partition to the Backup Capsule ................................................................................................ 127

Backing up a hard disk or partition to external media (CD/DVD) ....................................................................................... 129

Backing up a hard disk or partition to a network drive ...................................................................................................... 131

Backing up a hard disk or partition to an FTP server .......................................................................................................... 134

Backing up a dual boot Mac to an external USB drive........................................................................................................ 136

Backing up files to a local mounted/unmounted (without drive letter assigned) partition .............................................. 138

Creating a differential to a full partition backup ................................................................................................................ 141

Creating an increment to a full partition backup ............................................................................................................... 144

Creating an increment to a full file backup ........................................................................................................................ 147

Recovery Scenarios .................................................................................................................................. 149

Fixing MBR after a boot virus attack ................................................................................................................................... 149

Correcting BCD (Boot Configuration Data) ......................................................................................................................... 151

Fixing Windows startup ability ........................................................................................................................................... 152

Restoring a hard disk from the bootable Backup Capsule .................................................................................................. 156

Restoring a system partition from external media (CD/DVD) ............................................................................................ 158

Restoring a system partition from a network drive ............................................................................................................ 161

Restoring a system partition from a local drive .................................................................................................................. 165

Restoring a dual boot Mac from an external USB drive ..................................................................................................... 168

Restoring a file increment................................................................................................................................................... 171

Restoring a file increment to a partition backup ................................................................................................................ 173

Copying of data from the corrupted system disk to another hard disk ............................................................................. 177

Burning of data from the corrupted system disk to CD/DVD ............................................................................................. 180

Copying of data from a backup to the corrupted system partition .................................................................................... 183

Restoring separate files and folders from a backup ........................................................................................................... 186

Resize Scenarios ....................................................................................................................................... 191

Creating a new partition to detach operating system from the rest of data ..................................................................... 191

Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space of an adjacent partition ..................................................... 193

Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space from any other ................................................................... 195

Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space of an adjacent logical partition .......................................... 199

Merging a system partition with an adjacent logical partition........................................................................................... 200

Shrinking a system partition to increase size of a data partition ....................................................................................... 202

Resizing partitions of Apple Boot Camp ............................................................................................................................. 206

Creating Dual Boot Systems ..................................................................................................................... 208

For Windows computers ..................................................................................................................................................... 208

System Migration Scenarios ..................................................................................................................... 217

Migrating Windows OS to a solid state drive (Migrate OS to SSD) .................................................................................... 217

Migrating system to another hard disk (Clone HDD) .......................................................................................................... 220

Making system bootable on different hardware (P2P Adjust OS) ...................................................................................... 222

Hard Disk Optimization ............................................................................................................................ 229

Hard Disk Utilization ................................................................................................................................ 231

Extra Scenarios for WinPE ........................................................................................................................ 232

Adding specific drivers ........................................................................................................................................................ 232

Configuring network ........................................................................................................................................................... 233

Saving log files ..................................................................................................................................................................... 235

Troubleshooter .................................................................................................................. 235

Glossary ............................................................................................................................. 237

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™ 2011 Suite 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 2011

 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.

 The updated P2P Adjust OS Wizard to successfully start up a Win2K+ physical system on a different hardware

platform (P2P) by allowing injection of all required drivers and the other actions crucial for this type of migration. Including the third generation of Paragon’s Adaptive Restore™ technology, it now can:

- Analyze all installed drivers inside a target system to report on devices without drivers.

- Search for and install lacking drivers from the built-in Windows repository.

- Notify the user about boot critical devices without drivers (HDD/RAID controllers, etc.), automatically

prompting to provide a path to a driver repository.

- Name all devices according to their model description, not some alphanumeric code, which requires

additional deciphering.

- Determine and install drivers not only for boot critical devices, but for physically connected NICs as well.

 Automatic partition alignment during partitioning/copy operations to optimize performance of your hard disk.  Check FS Integrity and Data Loss Policies to let you specify the acceptable balance between the operation

performance and the risk of data loss.

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

minimal effort.

 WinPE 3.0 based bootable environment to enjoy support of a wider range of hardware configurations with the

option to add drivers for specific hardware on-the-fly.

 The updated Boot Corrector for WinPE that now equals the functionality of the Linux/DOS counterpart.  Support for exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) file system (format, backup, restore) developed by

Microsoft Corporation particularly for flash storages. It supports drives up to 16 exbibytes, files much larger than 4GB, larger cluster sizes, etc.

 Better support for HFS+ that now includes not only resize capabilities, but create, format, and read only access

through our program as well.

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

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

 The latest Linux kernel to enjoy support of a wider range of hardware configurations, including the brand new

Intel ICH9 chipset.

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

Product Components

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

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

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

 Linux/DOS based 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 disks. 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 also offers a WinPE

3.0 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.

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

 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).

Backup Facilities

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

 Support of all present day techniques to store backup images:

- Backup to local mounted/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 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 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.

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

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

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

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

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 Win2K+ 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.

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.

 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, Ext2/Ext3) without reformatting.

Defragmentation is accomplished with a separate component called Paragon Total Defrag. To know more on the subject, please consult its help.

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

 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, change serial number, partition ID, volume

label, 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

 27 defragmentation strategies available to defragment FAT and NTFS file systems.  MFT defragmentation and shrinking to improve performance of NTFS.  Safe Defragmentation Mode to guarantee data loss free defragmentation of any version of NTFS and FAT.  Low free space defragmentation (less than 1% of the free space required) to successfully defragment almost full

disks.

Wipe Facilities

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

system service structures.

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

data.

Automatization Facilities

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

sequence of actions on a regular basis.

Auxiliary Facilities

 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 based on Linux/DOS or WinPE 3.0 on a CD, DVD

disc, or flash memory, which can later be used to boot and recover your computer in case of an operating

Boot Corrector is only available for the WinPE 3.0 or Linux/DOS bootable recovery environment.

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 under Linux or WinPE either to save a backup

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

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

a boot virus activity.

Supported Technologies

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

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

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

 Paragon Adaptive Restore™ technology to successfully migrate a Win2K+ 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 in the Windows blue screen mode, thus saving from the

need to use a bootable media when modifying system partitions.

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

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

 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.

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.

The WinPE recovery environment can only be obtained through the company’s web service. You will get the required download link after the product has been purchased.

Supported File Systems

 Full read/write access to FAT16/FAT32/exFAT partitions.  Full read/write access to NTFS (Basic Disks) under Windows 95/98/ME, Linux and PTS DOS. Compressed NTFS

files are also supported.

 Full read/write access to Ext2FS/Ext3FS/Ext4FS partitions under all versions of Windows, DOS 5.0 and later.  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)  CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD+R double layer and also Blu-ray discs  FireWire (i.e. IEEE1394), USB 1.0, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 hard disks  PC card storage devices (MBR and GPT flash memory, etc.)

Getting Started

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

Distribution

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2011 is distributed in two ways:

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

Distributive CD

The boxed package includes a distributive CD that is in fact a bootable Linux/DOS recovery environment with auto-run of the Windows installation, thus it can be used as a ready-made solution (see Booting from the Linux/DOS Recovery

Media). But if you’re going to run the Windows components, you need to install them first (see Installation).

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

The WinPE recovery environment can only be obtained through the company’s web service. You will get the required download link after the product has been purchased.

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

Online Distribution

Hard Disk Manager 2011 purchased over the Internet will be in form of an MSI package. After installing the product you can launch the Recovery Media Builder to build the Linux/DOS or WinPE recovery media.

Registration

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

software.com/support/:

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

well as all the necessary documentation;

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

To register as a new user

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

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

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

3. Fill out a registration form;

4. Click Register.

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

To register a new product

If you are a registered user and would like to register Hard Disk Manager 2011, please do the following:

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

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

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

4. Click Sign in;

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

6. Click Register new product of the Products section;

Service

Contact

Visit Paragon GmbH web site

www.paragon-software.com

Registration & updates web-service

www.paragon-software.com/support

Knowledge Base & Technical Support

kb.paragon-software.com

Pre-sale information

sales@paragon-software.com

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

your reseller. Click Next;

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

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

That is all. The product is now registered.

How to Download Updates/Upgrades

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

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

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

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

4. Click Sign in;

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

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

7. Select the desired update and click Download.

Contacting Paragon Software GmbH

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

System Requirements

For the Windows installation package

 Operating systems: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and XP SP2/Vista/7 64-bit  Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher  Intel Pentium CPU or its equivalent, with 300 MHz processor clock speed  128 MB of RAM (256+ recommended)  Hard disk drive with 100 MB of available space  SVGA video adapter and monitor

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

 Mouse

For the Linux bootable environment

 IBM AT compatible computer with i486 or higher CPU  256 MB of RAM  SVGA-compatible monitor  Mouse (recommended)

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-compatible monitor  Mouse (recommended)

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 backup data.

Installation

To install Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2011, please do the following:

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

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

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

continue.

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

agreement and then select the appropriate option to accept. If you do not agree with any conditions stated there, the installation process will be interrupted. By clicking the Print button, the License Agreement may also be printed out.

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

number.

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

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

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.

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

information, i.e. a user name and an organization. Besides you need to decide whether to make the program available for all users of this computer (if several) or only for the current one.

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

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

C:\Program Files\Paragon Software\Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2011. To select another folder, click the Change… button.

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

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

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

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

abort the setup.

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

complete the wizard.

First Start

To start Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2011 under Windows, please click the Windows Start button and then select Programs > Paragon Hard Disk Manager™ 2011 > 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 start up the traditional Launcher, please click on Switch to Full Scale Launcher.

To know more on how to handle the product’s interface and accomplish typical operations, please consult the Windows Components chapter.

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, including our WinPE 3.0 image (strongly

recommended);

 Create from the master CD the Linux/DOS or WinPE recovery environment on a CD/DVD disc, or flash memory.

Below you can find how to build our WinPE 3.0 based recovery environment on a thumb drive:

You can get an ISO image of our WinPE 3.0 recovery environment through the company’s web service.

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

2. Launch the Recovery Media Builder. There are several ways to do it:

 In the Main Menu: select Tools > Recovery Media Builder…  On the Common Tasks Bar: click the Recovery Media Builder item of the Wizards menu.

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

4. Select the Flash Memory option.

5. Select the User specified CD/DVD image (.iso file) option, then browse for an ISO image of our WinPE 3.0

recovery environment or manually type in a full path to it. By selecting the Typical option you can build our Linux/DOS recovery environment, which we highly recommend you to do as well.

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.

Recovery Media Builder can help you prepare the Linux/DOS or WinPE recovery

environment either on a CD/DVD disc or a thumb drive.

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

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

Booting from the Linux/DOS Recovery Media

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

Startup

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

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

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

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

choice.

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

Boot menu

The Boot menu contains the following commands:

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

fails to work properly;

 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;

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

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

 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:

 Hard Disk Manager (enables to copy and back up separate partitions or entire hard disks, carry out partitioning

operations, etc.);

 Simple Restore Wizard (allows restoring hard disks and 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);

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.

Recovery Media Builder can help you prepare the Linux/DOS or WinPE 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

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

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

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

Safe Mode

When the Safe mode is selected, the PTS DOS launch menu appears. It has nearly the same functionality as for the Normal mode except 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 our WinPE recovery media.

up to boot from CD/USB first.

2. Once it has been loaded, you will see the License Agreement. Read the agreement and then mark the

appropriate checkbox to accept. If you do not agree with any conditions stated there, you won’t be able to use the program.

3. Once you accept the agreement, 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.

Our WinPE 3.0 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.

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

choice.

5. 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 and Differential 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.

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 all present day 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 mounted or unmounted (without drive letter assigned) 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

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. File backup and restore to/from FTP, including the selective restore functionality are not available.

3. SSL login/password encryption is not supported.

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

5. Parallel access to several FTP 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 Win2K system (Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003 and Vista/7/Server 2008) 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 Win2K 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

2000/XP/Server 2003.

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

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

Though all Win2K systems have built-in driver repositories, please be prepared to have additional drivers when dealing with Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003, because for these systems they are very modest.

These actions guarantee a Win2K 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.

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

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

Paragon Hot Processing & Volume Shadow Copy Service

Offline versus Online Data Processing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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

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

Setup Boot Manager…

Recovery Media Builder…

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

Check Recovery Disks…

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

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

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

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

Main Menu

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

Delete Partition…

Delete a partition of any file system

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

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

Create a File Complement…

Create an 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

P2P Adjust OS…

Make your system bootable on different hardware

Manage Backup Capsule…

Create and manage the backup capsule

Check Archive Integrity…

Perform integrity check for the required backup image

Copy Hard Disk…

Create a hard disk copy

Copy Partition…

Create a partition copy

Hard 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

Edit/View Sectors…

View/edit sectors of the selected hard disk

Properties…

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

Partition

Create Partition…

Create a partition

Format Partition…

Format a partition

Delete Partition…

Delete a partition

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 Serial Number…

Change serial number of the selected 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

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

Restore a disk, partition, or files

Create an NTFS partition and make it ready for work

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

Copy a hard disk

Irreversibly destroy all on-partition information

Open the Help system

Tool Bar

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

Virtual Operations Bar

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

BUTTON

FUNCTIONALITY

Cancel the last virtual operation on the List of Pending Operations

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

Display the List of Pending Operations

Launch the real execution of virtual operations

Cancel all virtual operations on the List of Pending Operations

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

Basic Partitioning Tasks

Starting the 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.

The Virtual Operations Bar enables to manage pending operations.

Common Tasks Bar

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

The bar contains several tabs named Basic Partitioning Tasks, Advanced Partitioning Tasks, Copying Tasks, Backup Tasks, Tools, and Help and Documentation. Each of these contains a separate button bar which can be folded by clicking it.

Advanced Partitioning Tasks

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

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

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

Starting the Undelete Partitions Wizard to recover accidentally deleted partitions.

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

Copying Tasks

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.

Starting the P2P Adjust OS Wizard to make your system bootable on different hardware

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Explorer Bar

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

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

BUTTON

FUNCTIONALITY

Return to the previously browsed page

Open the next browsed page

Stop loading the current page

Refresh the contents of the current page

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

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

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

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

Partition List

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

- Name,

- Volume label (if exists),

- Partition type (Primary/Extended /Logical),

- File system type,

- Size,

- Amount of used and unused (free) space,

- Start/End cylinder,

- Start/End head,

- Start/End sector

- Free size in sectors/bytes

- Active/Inactive attribute

- 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



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.

 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),  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.

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.

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

 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

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.

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

Options.

 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.

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.

The current version of the program provides support of one military standard, i.e. US DoD

5220.22-M.

 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.

Wipe Options

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

Partitioning Options

Due to the maximum cluster size of 32KB for Windows 95/98/ME or MS DOS, FAT16 partitions larger than 2GB are not reliably accessible under these operating systems.

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

 Enable 64 KB cluster size for FAT16. Mark the checkbox to enable 64KB clusters for FAT16 partitions. Thus you

will be able to create FAT16 partitions up to 4GB in size

 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.

Virtual Mode Options

We strongly recommend you to enable this mode.

In this section you may configure the virtual mode:

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

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

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

accomplishing operations.

File System Conversion Options

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.

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

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.

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

Backup Options.

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:

 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 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.

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

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.

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.

Getting Information on Disks and Backup Images

The program provides some helpful tools to get information on the properties of disks and peculiarities of existing backup images.

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.

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 either with the help of the Restore Wizard or the Archive

Database:

Using the Restore Wizard

There are several ways to launch the Restore Wizard:

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Restore…  In Common Tasks bar: click the Restore item of the Wizards menu  Select a hard disk/partition and then click the Restore an image of the entire disk/Restore the logical disk from

an image link on the Explorer Bar page.

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

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 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:

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

We have already mentioned that the most prevalent way to protect valuable data is to create backup copies (backup images in terms of the program) of it. 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.

Wizard Work Algorithm

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 a 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. To know more on the subject, please consult the Typical Scenarios chapter.

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 a hard disk or partition to an FTP 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 an increment to a full partition backup  Creating an increment to a full file backup

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

There are several ways to start the Restore Wizard:

Express Launcher

 Click the Backup and Recovery button and then select Restore.

Launcher

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Restore…  On the Common Tasks Bar: click the Restore item of the Wizards menu.  In the Toolbar: click the Restore Wizard button.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

purposes will be deleted during the operation.

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

Restoring Partition:

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

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

with the restored partition.

Restoring Hard Disk:

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

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

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

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

To make a Win2K+ operating system bootable on different hardware, please additionally complete the P2P Adjust OS Wizard.

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

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  Copying of data from the corrupted system disk to another hard disk  Burning of data from the corrupted system disk to CD/DVD  Copying of data from a backup to the corrupted system partition  Restoring separate files and folders from a backup

Copy Tasks

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

Cloning Hard Disks

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

Copy Hard Disk Wizard

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

Startup

There are several ways to start the Copy Hard Disk Wizard:

Express Launcher

 Click the Copying and Migration button and then select Hard Disk Migration.

Launcher

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Copy Hard Disk…  On the Common Tasks Bar: click the Copy Hard Disk item of the Wizards menu.  In the Toolbar: click the Copy Hard Disk button.

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.

 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:

To make a Win2K+ operating system 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.

- Change masks for files to exclude from copy to manage contents of the resulted duplicate. By default the program will take into account exclude filters set in the Settings dialog. If you need to change them, please mark the checkbox and specify additional filters on the next page of the wizard.

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.

Verification options

This section allows you to define whether the Surface and/or the Writing verification tests will be accomplished during the operation.

Result

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

Available operation scenarios:

 Migrating system to another hard disk (Clone HDD)

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

There are several ways to start the Copy Partition Wizard:

Express Launcher

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.

 Click the Copying and Migration button and then select Copy Partition.

Launcher

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Copy Partition…  On the Common Tasks Bar: click the Copy Partition item of the Wizards menu.  In the Toolbar: click the Copy Partition button.

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

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.

To make a Win2K+ operating system bootable on different hardware, please additionally complete the P2P Adjust OS Wizard.

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

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

Result

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

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:

 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

Express Launcher

 Click the Boot Management button and then select Boot Manager.

Launcher

 In the Main menu: select Tools > Setup Boot Manager…  On the Common Tasks Bar: click the Boot Manager Wizard item of the Wizards menu.

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

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 by using the DOS partitioning scheme. This operation can be accomplished either with the Create Partition Wizard or the Create Partition Dialog.

Besides there's the Express Create Partition Wizard that will analyze your disk subsystem to help you create an NTFS partition in the most appropriate place of your hard disk by up-taking all the unallocated disk space (if any) and/or an innocuous slice of the unused space of an adjacent partition, and then make it available in the system by assigning a drive letter.

Restrictions

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

2. The program cannot create new partitions on Dynamic Disks. The current version of the program supports only

hard disks that use the DOS partitioning scheme (in Windows 2000 and XP these disks are named Basic Disks).

3. According to the rules of the DOS partitioning scheme, the following combinations of partitions cannot be

created:

- Two Extended Partitions on one hard disk

- Five or more Primary partitions on one hard disk

- If there is an Extended Partition on the disk, only three Primary partitions are allowed

4. 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.

Express Create Partition Wizard Startup

There are several ways to start the Express Create Partition Wizard:

Launcher

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Express Create Partition…  On the Common Tasks bar: click the Express Create item of the Wizards menu.

Create Partition Wizard Startup

There are several ways to start the Create Partition Wizard:

Express Launcher

 Click the Partitioning button and then select Create Partition.

Launcher

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Create Partition…  On the Common Tasks bar: click the Create Partition item of the Wizards menu.

Dialog Startup

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

Launcher

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

2. Call the Create Partition Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

 Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Create Partition.  Call the popup menu for the block of free space (right click of the mouse button) then select the menu item:

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 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.



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.

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 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.



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.)

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Result

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

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

- exFAT

- HFS+

- NTFS

- Ext2

- Ext3

- Ext4



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

- Linux Swap v. 2

This operation can be accomplished either with the Format Partition Wizard or the Format Partition Dialog.

Wizard Startup

There are several ways to start the Format Partition Wizard:

Express Launcher

- Click the Partitioning button and then select Format Partition.

Launcher

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Format Partition…  On the Common Tasks bar: click the Format Partition item of the Wizards menu.

Dialog Startup

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

Launcher

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map;

2. Call the Format Partition Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

 Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Format Partition.  Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) then select the menu item:

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.



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

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

- Partition type. From the pull-down list select the desired file system type. In fact, the program displays only those file systems that can correctly be placed to the selected partition, taking its capacity into account.

- Volume label. Enter a label for the selected partition in this textual field. It is an irrelevant parameter usually used for drive identification.

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

In addition, there is the possibility to make further detailed settings (although the default values will do in most cases). To activate the advance mode, you need to mark the appropriate option at the foot of the page. When it is marked, the next page enables to define:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.



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

 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Result

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

Deleting Partitions

With the Delete Partition Wizard or the Delete Partition Dialog you can delete a partition on a hard disk partitioned with the DOS partitioning scheme. Unlike the majority of other utilities (Windows Disk Manager included), the program can not only remove references to the deleted partition from the Partition Table, thus making it unavailable for the

operating system, but also enables to irreversibly destroy its data. This feature will guarantee security of your personal information.

Wizard Startup

There are several ways to start the Delete Partition Wizard:

Express Launcher

 Click the Partitioning button and then select Delete Partition.

Launcher

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Delete Partition…  On the Common Tasks bar: click the Delete Partition item of the Wizards menu.

Dialog Startup

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

Launcher

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map;

2. Call the Delete Partition Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

 Select in the Main Menu: Partition > Delete Partition.  Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) then select the menu item:

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.

Advanced Partitioning Operations

Here you can learn how to accomplish advanced partitioning operations (merge, redistribute free space, undelete, etc.).

Merging Partitions

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

There are several ways to start the Merge Partitions Wizard:

Express Launcher

 Click the Partitioning button and then select Merge Partitions.

Launcher



Be particularly careful when selecting system partitions to process, since the incorrect order, in which two partitions have been chosen, will result in inability to boot the operating system.

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Merge Partitions…  On the Common Tasks bar: click the Merge Partitions item of the Wizards menu.

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 The partition to expand. Select a partition, the size of which you need to increase by up-taking contents of an

adjacent partition.

 The partition to merge with. Choose the second partition for the merge operation, the contents of which will be

placed in a folder on the resulted joined partition. By default, the program offers an easy-to-understand folder name to store files of the second partition, which however can be customized.

Result

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

Redistributing Unused Space between Partitions

This operation can be accomplished either with the Express Resize Partitions Wizard or the Redistribute Free Space

Wizard.

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

There are several ways to start the Express Resize Partitions Wizard:

Express Launcher

 Click the Partitioning button and then select Resize Partitions.

Launcher

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Express Resize Partitions…  On the Common Tasks Bar: click the Express Resize item of the Wizards menu.

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

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

There are several ways to start the Redistribute Free Space Wizard:

Launcher

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Redistribute Free Space…  On the Common Tasks bar: click the Redistribute Free Space item of the Wizards menu.

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.

 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

There are several ways to start the Undelete Partition Wizard:

 In the Main Menu: select Wizards > Undelete Partitions…  On the Common Tasks Bar: click the Undelete Partition item of the Wizards menu.  Select a block of free space on the Disk Map and click the Recover Lost Partitions item on the page that appears

in the Explorer Bar.

 Call the popup menu for the block of free space (right click of the mouse button) then select the menu item:

Recover Lost 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.

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.

Result

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

Installing a New Operating System

Getting your computer ready to install a new operating system, especially when it is going to be an additional OS in the system, is a rather complicated task that implies quite a number of operations, from allocating space to create a new partition (resize, redistribution of free space) to formatting of the newly created partition to a particular file system and checking its surface for bad sectors to avoid possible data loss. Operating systems today are being supplied with basic tools of partitioning that only enable to create a partition (in case there is enough unallocated space on the disk) and then format it to the specified file system type. Our program offers a handy Install New OS Wizard to easily carry out all the necessary operations to install a new operating system.

Startup

There are several ways to start the Install New OS Wizard:

Express Launcher

 Click the Boot Management button and then select Install New OS.

Launcher

 In the Main menu: select Wizards > Install New OS…  On the Common Tasks bar: click the Install New OS item of the Wizards menu.

Setup

The wizard offers the following steps to accomplish the operation:

 Partition to install a new operating system. The program offers two ways of installing a new OS, i.e. to create a

new primary partition for it or use an existing one.



Only primary partitions can be used to install an operating system. 

To avoid any possible problems, the new partition will in no way be created as the first partition of the disk which already contains at least one partition.

- In case the first option has been marked, the wizard enables to specify:

A hard disk (if several) where a new partition will be created. Thanks to an advanced program engine it is possible to use unallocated space of the disk (if any) and unused space of existing partitions to create a new partition;

And its size. If there are blocks of the free space on the disk, the wizard will merge them all and allocate the resulted space for a new partition in the first place. If not, it will take 50% of the unused space of an adjacent partition. However, the size to take can be customized by moving the slider.

- In case the second option has been marked, the wizard enables to choose an existing primary partition to install a new operating system.



Your computer may fail if any other OS has already been installed on the selected partition.

 Partition properties.



The program will update your MBR, so most likely you won’t be able to start up any of the

previously installed operating systems. Please launch the Boot Manager Setup Wizard after the installation has been completed to fix this issue.

- Partition type. From the pull-down list select the desired file system type. In fact, the program displays only file systems that can be correctly placed to the selected partition, taking its capacity into account.

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

- 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.

 OS Label. Enter a label for the selected partition in the textual field. It will later be used for the drive

identification.

Result

As the final step the wizard will offer you to insert a distributive CD/DVD of the new operating system and restart the computer to launch the installation procedure.

Available operation scenarios:

 Creating Dual Boot Systems

Moving/Resizing Partition

The Move/Resize Partition function allows you to resize or change location of any partition without destroying its data.



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

When resizing a FAT16 partition beyond the 2GB limit (maximum file system size), the

In order to move/resize a partition you should take the following steps:

Launcher

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Move/Resize Partition dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

 Select in the Main menu: Partition > Move/Resize Partition…  On the Explorer bar: click on the current total size value.  Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the

Partition List, then select the menu item: Move/Resize Partition…

3. Define parameters of the operation.

 Volume size. Define size (in Mb) of the modified partition.  Free space before. Define the partition position (in Mb) 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.

 Sector to sector move. Mark the checkbox to move the partition in the sector-by-sector mode to process its

unused space 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 will automatically be converted to FAT32.

The program enables to enlarge NTFS partitions (system, locked) without rebooting Windows and interrupting its work, providing 100 percent guarantee that your data is kept intact.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Available operation scenarios:

 Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space from any other  Shrinking a system partition to increase size of a data partition

Converting File System

With our program you can change type of the used file system without destroying its data. While performing the operation, it first checks the current file system for consistency and then verifies whether the on-partition data meet the requirements of the desired file system or not. After having passed the testing, the program re-organizes the file system metadata and user files.

The program enables to convert the following file system types:

- FAT16 > NTFS, FAT32

- FAT32 > NTFS, FAT16

- NTFS > FAT16, FAT32

- Ext2 > Ext3

In order to convert a file system you should take the following steps:

Launcher

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Convert File System of Partition dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

 Select in the Main menu: Partition > Convert file system…  On the Explorer bar: click on the current file system type.  Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map or on the

Partition List, then select the menu item: Convert File System…

3. Initially the program suggests some consistent values for all parameters. In most cases, you can just press the

Convert button to confirm the operation.



The cluster size value is expressed in sectors per cluster. To get it in Kbytes, please divide it into half.

You may only decrease the current cluster size.

 New file system. From the pull-down list choose a file system you would like to convert to. Actually the

program only displays variants available for the operation, taking into account the current parameters of the selected partition and limitations of the used file system.

 New cluster size. Define the cluster size for the partition. This parameter can have a profound effect on the

overall performance. In a nutshell, larger clusters waste more space, but generally provide for slightly better performance, because of less fragmentation. So be particularly careful with it.

 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.

4. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Making Logical/Primary

The program allows you to include a primary partition in the extended partition, or exclude a logical partition from the extended partition, without partition duplication.

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

Launcher

1. Select a primary or logical partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Make Partition Logical/Primary dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

 Select in the Main menu: Partition > Modify > Make Partition Logical/Primary.  On the Explorer bar: click on the current partition type.

100



The Make Primary > Logical option is only available when the selected partition is adjacent to the extended partition and vice versa.

The Make Primary > Logical option of the system partition will result in inability to boot the operating system.

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

The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Changing Partition Attributes

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

Mark Partition Active/Inactive

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

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

Launcher

1. Select a primary partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Mark Partition Active/Inactive Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

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

- Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map, then select

the menu item: Mark Partition as Active/Inactive.

3. The operation will be performed immediately after confirmation.

Hide/Unhide Partition

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

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

Launcher

1. Select a partition on the Disk Map.

2. Call the Hide/Unhide Partition Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

Paragon Hard Disk Manager - 2011 Suite User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual