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Paragon NTFS for Mac Review: We work with the Windows file system on Mac without problems. Paragon Partition Manager Free: Quick HDD Setup Restore paragon hard disk manager

Functional

performing various operations with disk partitions;
changing some partition parameters (hiding, showing, removing activity, changing the volume label, assigning or deleting a logical drive letter, converting the file system, etc.);
redistribution of space between volumes;
copying partitions and disks;
creating backup system archives, as well as data from local and network drives;
recovery of disks, partitions, cancellation of the operation in case of an error;
quick viewing, copying and editing of directories and files using the built-in file manager;
partition defragmentation;
optimization of cluster partitions;
setup and management of multiple operating systems from one device;
creation boot disk on a flash drive.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

free distribution;
convenient, simple interface;
the ability to search for bad sectors of disks;
support for all media models;
useful feature sets;
step by step master.

Flaws:

shortcomings while working with the boot disk;
free version limitations.

Victoria HDD. Free program for testing and diagnostics hard drive. It can detect and fix defects in its operation, display full technical information about it, accurately assess the current state, evaluate performance, etc. It has a built-in file manager.

HDDScan. A free software product designed to diagnose a hard drive. It can check it for bad sectors and errors, display S.M.A.R.T, change some parameters, etc.

Defraggler. Disk defragmenter app. Allows you to defragment the entire disk, as well as its individual folders or files. Distributed for free.

How the program works

After starting the program, disks are immediately scanned, then its main menu opens:

Interface

The menu consists of a line, an action bar, a hard drive structure, a panel with an OS memo, a visual section, as well as the structure of a specifically selected disk.

The operation menu can be called up with a right mouse click:

Operation menu

If you click on the hard drive icon, a screen will appear for changing the name of the tag, if you click on its letter, an information window will be activated:

Disc Information

Let's consider separate functions, for example, disk partitioning.

To get started, at the bottom of the program in the "Disk Map" item, select the disk you need. Next call context menu and click on the “Move/Resize Partition…” option in it:

Disk partitioning

In the next window, specify the final size.

You can also learn about working with the program from the video:

Paragon Partition Manager is one of the best free hard drive organizers.

Even if you prefer exclusively Apple computers, from time to time you still have to deal with the Windows ecosystem. For example, friends or colleagues might give you a flash drive or HDD file system formatted Windows NTFS. You can copy information from these media using standard OS X tools, but writing something to NTFS partitions is a no-no. For some, this problem may not seem significant, but for someone to study or work (for example, print an abstract or transfer a corrected project to a customer), it is important to be able to use NTFS media. Yes, we can say that now everyone has the Internet, and you can not remember flash drives and disks at all, but situations are different.

For example, according to various sources, up to a third of all Mac owners “keep” Windows on their PCs / laptops as a second operating system. It happens that you need to run some software (or toys) that is not available for OS X. So, the NTFS partition on your disk will be read-only. And if you create a document in Windows, you won’t be able to edit it from Macos.
Teaching OS X to fully understand the Windows NTFS file system is not so difficult. For true "geeks" there is a way with editing system file fstab. There is only one advantage - this method is "native". But, as with any intervention in the "inside" of the OS, you can "rake" unpredictable consequences - up to the complete inoperability of the system.

Another option is to use third party drivers. There are both free and paid options among them. Freeware has two main drawbacks. Firstly, the write speed is "turtle". Secondly, the stability of the work is in question.

Much easier to pay for Paragon NTFS for Mac(standard price - 990 rubles, about special conditions of purchase - in the conclusion). The utility from a well-known software company is updated quickly and works reliably. There are no problems with the speed of reading and writing - everything is similar to how OS X works with "native" file system HFS+. For example, a 10 GB movie can be uploaded to an external hard drive with Windows NTFS using the driver from Paragon Software in a minute. The free version for solving the same problem will take you more than 10 (ten) minutes! The Paragon utility is regularly updated in anticipation of the release of new versions of the OS, now it works perfectly with El Capitan.

Paragon NTFS for Mac has improved support for both HFS+ (POSIX file attributes, hard links, symbolic links, data forks, and resource forks) and Windows NTFS (sparse, compressed files/partitions, recent session information update, etc.). ), as well as extended attributes for OS X and non-Latin languages. All types are supported hard drives, flash drives, memory cards. The tests were carried out on drives up to 10 TB. And most importantly, the Paragon NTFS for Mac utility works on the “set it and forget it” principle.

More information about NTFS for Mac.

Purchasing a small size SSD (60GB or 120GB) to host an operating system in addition to an existing hard drive that stores user data is an effective way to improve computer performance. This method is more economical than a full transition to an SSD drive using its resources for storing data on non-system partitions, while the increase in performance will be immediately noticeable due to accelerated work operating system. On an SSD drive with a small volume, only one disk partition is formed - the system partition, and it is entirely reserved for Windows work. The latter, when connected to an SSD computer, does not have to be reinstalled, as well as fiddling with its settings, installing programs and games again. Via special software the system partition on a regular hard drive can be transferred to an SSD drive without losing Windows performance.

How do I move Windows to another drive, specifically an SSD drive? This process on the example of using the functional Paragon programs Hard Disk Manager 15 Professional will be discussed in detail below.

Software solutions for transferring Windows to SSD from Paragon

The process of transferring Windows to another drive - an SSD or a regular hard drive - is called migration in many programs that offer this feature. Represented by a separate utility and included in some prefabricated software products developed by Paragon, the system migration wizard is a feature for transferring Windows as a separate partition to another disk, including an SSD.

Windows to SSD Migration Wizard is available in Paragon's paid software builds:

Drive Copy 15 Professional;
"Home Expert 15";

All three products can be tested in demo versions for free, however, when using some functionality, in particular, moving Windows to an SSD, they will ask for full-fledged activated versions.

Windows to SSD Migration Wizard in a separate small utility is a cost-effective option if you don't need other features found in Paragon products. The utility has no other functionality than transferring the operating system to an SSD.

Windows Migration Conditions

Whichever Paragon product has the Windows Migration Wizard, you will get a convenient process of migrating the system to an alternative storage medium with the ability to exclude individual folders and files. This feature can be very useful if, in fact, the occupied space on the system partition of the current disk is larger than the size of the SSD.

For Paragon products, the format of the disk to which the system file will be copied is not critical. Windows partition. The migration wizard will cope with its task even if the system is transferred to a regular hard disk with magnetic platters. It's just that cases of transferring only one operating system to a new hard drive are rare. As a rule, when a new hard drive is connected to a computer, the contents and structure of partitions are completely copied. old hard disk, which is a separate feature in Paragon products.

The Windows Migration Wizard is not suitable for cases where it is necessary to preserve the partition structure and the data stored on them on the SSD or hard drive where the system partition will be transferred. During the migration process, the entire space of the storage medium will be formatted, and the stored files will be deleted accordingly.

Source and destination drive

The existing picture of the connected disks can be seen using the used Hard Disk Manager, since, among other things, it also includes a disk partition manager. Version 15 of Paragon's prefabricated products provides an add-on to their Windows 8 tiled start screen API. Starting a system migration is possible in this add-on by opening the tile labeled "OS Migration", but since we need to first figure out where and where we will transfer Windows, Let's enter the normal Hard Disk Manager interface. We need a tile that says "Power User Mode".

After entering the usual interface of the program, you will see the so-called disk map. How Disk 0 is seen by the program as a working disk with a partition structure and Windows installed - this is the source disk. The other disk with unallocated space, displayed as Disk 1, is the target, and the Windows partition will be transferred to it later.

Running the Windows Migration Wizard

To launch the System Migration Wizard, click the "OS Migration" button located in the "Copy and Migration" menu tab. In the wizard's welcome window, click Next.

In our example, there is enough space on the target disk to move the Windows partition to it. In cases where this is not the case, there is an option in the Wizard's Copy Options window to exclude certain folders and files.

In the additional window of this option, you need to uncheck the folders and files that will not be transferred to the target drive along with Windows. Naturally, you cannot uncheck the system folders and program installation folders. You can save system space by eliminating user profile folders containing videos, music, images, documents, downloads, and other non-system files.

In our case, an empty disk with unallocated space is used as the target. If the target disk already has a partition structure and stores data, the latter must be stored elsewhere, and at the preparatory stage of the migration wizard, agree to format the disk.

In the copy settings window there is one more setting that determines the future structure of the target hard disk - using all available space to form a system partition or the ability to create one or more non-system partitions in the future by leaving unallocated space. Two alternative options for transferring Windows, depending on this setting, will be discussed below in separate questions.

Migrate Windows to all available space on the target drive

Check the option to use all available space on the target drive to host the Windows partition. Click "Copy" at the bottom.

Everything is ready to start the migration process.

In the main window of the program, we will now see not the real picture of the disks, but with future changes, where Disk 1 is already displayed with markup and data. Click "Apply" and confirm the decision to start the migration process.

The Windows migration process will not take long. The completion percentage, visual scale, and time until the end of the operation will be displayed in the information window of the migration wizard.

Close the information window when the process is complete.

Now you can reboot, set the boot priority from the target disk in the BIOS at startup, and test Windows on the new media. When you launch Hard Disk Manager, you will see on the disk map that the once target disk is now displayed as working Disk 0, the structure of which is the only system partition with Windows.

Windows Migration with Drive-by-Partitioning the Destination Drive

Migrating Windows to the target disk, as mentioned, is possible with some amount of unallocated space left. We will carry out just such a migration process, and from the remaining unallocated space in the future we will create a non-system partition on the target disk using the partition manager as part of the Hard Disk Manager.

As in the previous case, we start the system migration process.

In the copy settings window, do not use the option to use all available space for the system partition. Click "Copy".

We confirm readiness to start the migration.

Returning to the main Hard Disk Manager window, we will see a picture of disks with planned changes: the size of the future system partition on the target disk (Disk 1) is identical to the size of the system partition on the source disk (Disk 0).

You can increase or decrease the size of the system partition on the target drive. We call the context menu on Disk 1 and select "Move / resize partition".

In the additional window that appears, drag the slider of the “Volume Size” column until the required indicator of the volume of the system partition is set. Then click "Yes" at the bottom of the window.

If you reduce the space on the partition with Windows Hard Disk Manager, it will not allow you to install a smaller amount than actually occupied by the data on the source disk with the system. However, it is necessary to create the system partition of the target disk taking into account the needs in the future - both your own and the system ones.

From the remaining unallocated space, create a non-system partition. We call the context menu on the block with the inscription "Not marked" and select "Create section".

Of all possible graph to fill in our case, only the name of the volume label, i.e., disk partition, has been changed. You can change the drive letter if necessary. We will give the entire remaining volume to a single non-system partition. Click "Yes" at the bottom of the window.

If several non-system partitions can be formed from the unallocated space, accordingly, in the size setting column, set the required indicator for each of them, and repeat the partition creation process.

After partitioning the disk space in the main window of the Hard Disk Manager, a different picture is now visible, already with all the changes made - both regarding the Windows migration and the partitioning of the target disk. To make this picture a reality, click "Apply" and confirm the decision.

Upon completion of all scheduled operations, close the window.

We reboot and at startup we set the BIOS to boot first from the once target disk.

After Windows startup Let's open Hard Disk Manager and in the main window we will see a picture of disks, where once the target disk is now displayed as Disk 0 and has a partition structure according to the parameters specified during its layout.

Have a great day!

For any user who wants to be "you" with a computer, disk partitioning and data recovery utilities are indispensable. The list of these programs is quite large, there are plenty to choose from. If you are thinking about purchasing a utility of this class for yourself or an organization, then take a closer look at Paragon Hard Disk Manager from the company (System Utilities), which recently released a new version - 8.5. Among many other advantages of this version is support for the new operating system. Microsoft systems Vista.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 is a program that performs a full cycle of hard disk maintenance:

loading process management;
disk partitioning;
copy and restore operations;
ensuring system and data security;
decommissioning a disk.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 was released in two editions: and . We got a personal version for testing, and we will tell about its differences from the professional version below.

Hard Disk Manager has a nice modern interface, which, however, has flaws in small things. In particular, when creating partitions on large disks, the problem of specifying the exact size of the disks arises. The size is set by a slider, which does not allow you to accurately set the required section, and there are no fields for numerical entry of the size. This inconvenience is especially noticeable on modern high-capacity hard drives. And the larger the disk in volume, the more difficult it is to get into the right dimensions. Of course, you can then use the partition resizing function and adjust these sizes, but these are unnecessary gestures.

And one more light note. Change of types of work is implemented in the form of tabs in the main window of the program. The developers chose the Disk Panel as the first tab. HDD partitioning work is important, but one-time. The main thing in Paragon Hard Disk Manager is performing archiving operations in the current job, as well as restoring data from the archive. Switching to a new tab is not a problem, but it would still be better to make a tab first " File manager". Or let the program open with the last tab used. Or maybe it's just me being too picky?

Discs are created in lazy mode. This means that the user can format the hard disk in virtual mode, without making real changes to the HDD. After creating the entire cycle of operations, you can check the correctness of the selected commands, and then click on the single "Apply" button, and the program will start executing all the specified operations, which are performed quite quickly. After the reboot, all disks will become visible in the system.

Now archiving. The archiving algorithm is typical: an object for archiving is selected, then a place to store the archive, then process parameters. And the archiving itself is performed. V new version In the personal edition, the possibility of incremental archiving has been added (that is, copying only those sectors that have been changed since the last copy was received). This significantly increases the speed of the archiving procedure, which is especially important in the daily operation of data saving.

Over time, any personal user collects a whole package of archives of different dates. (What can we say about the corporate use of the program?) Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what can already be deleted and what copy should be kept. For the convenience of users in both editions (personal and professional) the "Archives database" function is implemented. Also in the new version, it became possible to create an extensive text commentary for each of the archives. Now you can, without relying on your memory, record in text form all the necessary notes for each of the archives.

There are also several important innovations in the data recovery mechanism. First of all, it should be noted that it is possible to restore data from an archive capsule without creating emergency disks. As you know, data recovery programs can restore archived copies even with a "killed" operating system. But for this they need to enable boot from CD in BIOS and have the rescue CD itself.

When using Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 for recovery, you will no longer need to change boot options and worry about the safety of the rescue disk. And the CD-drive itself is no longer necessary. Booting the computer and performing any recovery operations in the event of damage to the operating system or other boot problems can be done directly from the backup capsule.

Another feature is the "Compress" function. In some cases, you have to restore data to partitions that are smaller than the original ones, but have enough space to restore the data itself. In this situation, data recovery was previously impossible. But now it can be done easily.

Restoring an entire partition is, in general, also a rare operation, just like partitioning a disk. Much more often there is a need to restore some specific, private data, rather than the whole image. For such restoration, the function of connecting a partition archive is used. With this connection of the archive, all further recovery operations can be performed using the Windows operating system - a simple copy function.

All operations in the program are performed using wizards. Some of them may work in advanced, for advanced users, mode. The wizards will help the user to perform operations on working with the disk and working with archives correctly and in the right sequence.

Professional version

Changes in the professional version are fewer in number than in the personal version. Because some of the innovations (in particular, incremental copying) were already present in the professional edition. But here, the developers have something to brag about:

the "Cyclic backup" function, which allows you to regularly create backup archives and automatically manage them;
Hot Backup technology for dynamic volumes.

Summary

Paragon Hard Disk Manager is a convenient and practical tool for working with hard drives and archiving data for users of any skill level. It can equally well store data of both a personal user and an enterprise. A particularly valuable innovation in the new version is the ability to recover data without creating a rescue disk, the incremental copy function, as well as support for the new operating system. Windows Vista.