New Features in Hard Disk Manager 15 Premium

Supports Windows 10

Operates at the virtualization layer, employing MS VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) to backup/restore any guest machine of Hyper-V. An agent is not required to be on a target virtual machine to create its point-in-time copy, including its configuration, operating system, and apps

File-level backup/restore for virtual containers (pVHD, VHD, VHDX, VMDK)

Export VD container wizard helps to burn a VD container to a removable media such as a CD, DVD or Blu-ray disk. This option makes copies of your backup images portable and easily acceptable on other computers

Available only for VD containers, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric block algorithm that protects your personal data

System state data backup will help you automatically back up all critical system settings alongside with some important applications data while ignoring other data stored on the system partition. This lets you create an optimal backup image of system state to get the system and Microsoft applications quickly back on track

Refactored P2V restore wizard utilizes virtual containers (pVHD, VHD, VHDX, VMDK) to improve the performance and usability for P2V migration operations

Paragon Recovery Media Builder 3.0 is the combination of two utilities and is embedded into Hard Disk Manager 15 Premium to offer more options, usability, and stability

• Prepares Linux or WinPE-based bootable environment on a USB thumb drive, in an ISO, or PXE image
• Doesn't obligatory require Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) or Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) on Windows 7 and later platforms
• Can build WinPE-based media on Windows XP, Vista, and Server 2003 if there's WAIK installed in the system
• Allows injecting additional drivers for storage devices, network controllers, USB controllers, or system during setup
• Enables to set up a network connection with a pre-mounted network share during setup
• Prepares hybrid (both, uEFI and BIOS compatible) 64-bit recovery environment on flash or in an ISO image

The GUI of Hard Disk Manager 15 has been revised so you can easily find particular legacy functions that deal with the old Paragon's backup container (.pbf), which are hidden by default but can be called through a special legacy view

The wiping SSD function is user friendly and lets you permanently wipe nearly all brands of SSDs

After wiping a drive, you have an option to automatically save the wipe reports to a specified folder

Backup and Disaster Recovery Features

Sector and file level backups with differential or incremental updates as well as an exclusive file complement

Local mounted/un-mounted partitions, external storages, CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs, network shares, FTP/SFTPs servers as well as the secured hidden partition (Backup Capsule)

Smart Backup wizard automatically backs up only the data you wish to protect

Back up, restore, copy, or change properties of volumes encrypted by Windows BitLocker. Combination of BitLocker and pVHD enables protection of OS and personal data from unauthorized access and from data loss

Increased backup performance, minimized backup storage requirements, and elimination of interference with special-purpose backup tools by automatic exclusion of applications from the backup process

Back up separate partitions or entire hard disks to the pVHD (Paragon Virtual Hard Drive) format, which is a special VHD that's optimized for storing backups of virtual and physical machines

Restore entire hard disks, separate partitions, or certain files and folders from pVHD (available under Windows, WinPE, and Linux)

Paragon's backup imaging technology opens up the option of creating file-level virtual containers (full, incremental, as well as file complements), thus offering users stable, high-performance technology to protect system and data not only on sector-level, but file-level as well

Easily extract files and folders from a backup image through the Restore wizard without the need to restore an entire image

Archive database

Change any property (merge a given differential image with its full image, split/un-split, compress/de-compress, and more) of an existing backup without carrying out a physical backup operation

Backup encryption and password protection for archives prevent unauthorized access to personal data

Comprehensive recovery environments are based on Linux, DOS, and WinPE. They are available on CD/DVD/Blu-ray, USB flash drives, and Backup Capsule. This version of Premium offers P2P Adjust OS, uEFI fixup, and Connect VD functions for the Linux based recovery environment

Exchange granular recovery gives you transparent access to backup mail databases of MS Exchange Server 2003/2007/2010, using the standard facilities of MS Outlook 2003/2007/2010 for easy and fast data recovery at a granular level

Boot corrector fixes most system boot problems, which can be the result of human error, program error, or a boot virus activity under Linux or WinPE

To successfully start up a PC in case of emergency, you can build a WinPE-based bootable backup capsule for your 64-bit Windows system resided on the GPT

Includes Paragon HotBackup and Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which are two different methods of hot processing

UIM (Universal Image Mounter) mounts pVHD backup images (full, incremental, and encrypted), so you can browse their contents and retrieve data within in the program and directly under Windows OS

Disaster recovery for Apple Boot Camp is available to protect dual-boot Macs from the Windows side or in the Linux or WinPE recovery environments

Partitioning and Optimization Features

Aligns partitions automatically during the operation and optimizes physical as well as virtual disks for I/O performance

Create, format, and delete are basic functions for initializing, partitioning and formatting hard disks. Instead of the standard Windows disk tools, the program supports all popular file systems

Separate OS and data or different types of data by splitting one partition into two different partitions of the same type and file system, thus providing for more effective data organization and safety

Safely merge contents of two partitions into one bigger partition

Increase free space on one partition by taking available, unallocated space from other partitions

MFT (Master File Table) defragmentation and shrinking enables to get the most out of the NTFS file system. A defragmented MFT can cause performance degradation of servers that host databases like MS SQL and Exchange

Change the cluster size value to effectively control performance of your system and the so called "waste space factor"

Swap the current file system type to another (FAT to NTFS or HFS to NTFS) while ensuring data is kept safe

Boot manager lets you easily manage several operating systems on one 32-bit computer

Convert any version of NTFS file system to Apple HFS and vice versa without reformatting

Convert an MBR basic or dynamic disk into GPT or vice versa with minimal efforts while keeping data safe

Data Copy and Migration Features

Hard Disk Manager 15 Premium offers uEFI support

• A 64-bit Windows OS system configured to the uEFI boot mode can be adjusted to successfully start up on another hard disk during copy/restore accomplished directly under Windows. Previously the uEFI fixup was only available under WinPE
• A 64-bit Windows OS system configured to the uEFI boot mode will successfully start up in a virtual environment after P2V migration
• The Linux-based recovery environment supports systems configured to the uEFI boot mode

With any Windows OS since 2000 to Windows 8.1, Paragon's adaptive restore will boot on dissimilar hardware by automatically injecting required drivers and performing other operations crucial for this type of migration

Migrate a Windows-based virtual system to a physical hardware platform

Swap your virtual servers and workstations from one to another hypervisor with minimal efforts

Migrate the Windows OS from a high capacity HDD to a lower capacity SSD

Migrate contents of a 512-byte hard disk to a 4k hard disk

Support of GPT drives and modern high capacity disks (2.2TB+) under Windows XP for storing data

Virtualization Features

Supports the migration of a physical machine to a virtual machine to provide you with flexibility and availability of hardware and applications

P2V Adjust OS makes the operating system start up after an unsuccessful migration or virtualization with third-party tools

P2V Restore uses a previously created backup image of a Windows physical machine to bring to virtual life a damaged or already non-existed system

Instead of the old PBF-based backup images, refactored P2V restore wizard uses virtual containers (pVHD, VHD, VHDX, VMDK) to do P2V for backup image scenarios. The use of virtual containers significantly improves the performance and usability for P2V migration operations

Migrate a virtual system from one virtual environment to another, or migrate a virtual system to a physical environment

Connect a virtual disk as if it's an ordinary physical disk and open up all physical-disk functionality in a virtual environment

Mount a virtual disk in read-only mode to make sure no data is altered on the virtual disk during copy or other operations

Hard Disk Manager is now able to resume any operation with a virtual volume in case of disconnection or any other unexpected situation

Supports MS Virtual PC, VMware Workstation 10.0, VMware Fusion, VMWare vSphere ESX/ESXi 4.x/5.x, and Oracle VirtualBox 4

Data Wiping Features

Destroy all on-disk information or only remnants of deleted files/directories with 10 wiping methods: a custom algorithm, US DoD 5220.22-M military standard, Russian GOST R 50739-95, US Navy, British HMG Infosec, German VSItR, and Australian ASCI 33 as well as Guttman's, Schneier's, and Paragon's algorithm

Supported Technologies and Operating Systems

The following options are supported on a physical or a virtual disk

• Mount Paragon's backups (.pbf and .pVHD images)
• Mount a virtual disk in the non-destructive mode. This is a special read/write mode, in which all changes on the connected disk are being saved to a snapshot, thus providing complete safety for the original disk's contents. If needed, this snapshot can later be merged with its parental disk by using standard tools included with the virtualization software
• Remote connection of virtual drives through vSphere interface to accomplish drive partitioning, data exchange, or OS migration of Windows virtual environments hosted by ESX

Set a time table for any operations to automatically be executed later

Not only resize, but also create, format, or get read only access to Apple's HFS+ file system

Adjust your 64-bit Windows system configured to the uEFI boot mode to successfully start up the OS on another hard disk after copy/restore, or in a virtual environment after P2V migration in Windows, WinPE, or Linux

Supports AFD (Advanced Format Drive), 2TB+, and non-512B sector size drives and SSDs

Manage external hard drives more effectively by using all the benefits of a USB 3.0 interface

Windows Storage Spaces Support

Specify the acceptable balance between the operation performance and the risk of data loss with FS integrity and data loss policies

Compatibility

Supported Hypervisors for Connect VD

For remote connection to virtual hard drives:
VMware ESX 4.x and higher
VMware ESX 5.x and higher
VMware ESXi 4.x and higher
VMware ESXi 5.x and higher
VMWare vSphere ESX/ESXi 4.x/5.x

For direct access to virtual hard drives:
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
Microsoft Windows Virtual PC
Microsoft Virtual Server
Microsoft Hyper-V R1/R2
Oracle Virtual Box 1.0-4.x
VMware Player
VMware Workstation 10.0
VMware Server
VMware Fusion

Supported Virtual Machines for P2V Scenarios

Microsoft Virtual PC
Microsoft Virtual Server
Microsoft Hyper-V
VMware Workstation 10.0
VMware Fusion
VMware ESX Server
VMWare vSphere ESX/ESXi 4.x/5.x
Oracle VirtualBox 4.0

Supported Virtual Hard Drive Types

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

Supported Computer Bus Interfaces

Parallel ATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment)
SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)
External SATA (eSATA)
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.x/2.0/3.0
IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
All types of RAIDs (hardware and software)
PC or PCMCIA Card (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association)

Supported Storages

2.2TB+ hard disk drives
AFD (Advanced Format Drive)
Non-512B sector size drives
SSD (Solid State Drive)
HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
CD-R/RW
DVD-R/RW
DVD+R/RW
DVD+/-R (DL)
BD-R
BD-RE

Supported File Systems

reFS
With Bitlocker encrypted hard disks
NTFS (v1.2, v3.0, v3.1)
FAT16
FAT32
Linux Ext2FS
Linux Ext3FS
Linux Ext4FS
Linux Swap
Apple HFS+
Other file systems (in the sector-by-sector mode)

Supported Partitioning Schemes

Windows Storage Spaces
MBR (Master Boot Record)
GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Microsoft Dynamic Disk (simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID-5)