PARAGON

Hard Disk Manager

VERSION 17

User Manual

Paragon Software GmbH

Systemprogrammierung
Wiesentalstraße 22
79115 Freiburg, Germany

Tel. +49 (0) 761 59018201

Fax +49 (0) 761 59018130
Web www.paragon-software.com
E-Mail [email protected]
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Table of Contents
Product Overview ............................................................................................................................... 4
Getting Started ................................................................................................................................... 5
Product Components .................................................................................................................................... 5
System Requirements ................................................................................................................................... 5
Installation ................................................................................................................................................... 6
First Start ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
Changing Program Settings ................................................................................................................. 8
Application Settings...............................................................................................................................................8
E-mail Settings .......................................................................................................................................................8
Notifications Settings ............................................................................................................................................9
Reporting Settings ...............................................................................................................................................10
Building Recovery Media .................................................................................................................. 12
Booting from Recovery Media .......................................................................................................... 17
Protecting System and Data .............................................................................................................. 19
Backup Tasks .............................................................................................................................................. 19
Configuring Backup Job .......................................................................................................................................19
Managing Backup Jobs ........................................................................................................................................28
Restore Tasks ............................................................................................................................................. 29
Restoring Individual Files and Folders .................................................................................................................29
Restoring an Entire Disk or Separate Volumes....................................................................................................31
Mounting a Backup Image...................................................................................................................................33
Importing a Backup Image...................................................................................................................................35
Restoring a Failed System ...................................................................................................................................37
Fixing Boot Problems ...........................................................................................................................................40
Transferring Files between Storages ...................................................................................................................42
Managing Partitions and Disks .......................................................................................................... 44
Basic Partitioning Tasks .............................................................................................................................. 44
Creating a Partition .............................................................................................................................................44
Formatting a Partition .........................................................................................................................................45
Deleting a Partition..............................................................................................................................................47
Moving/Resizing a Partition ................................................................................................................................47
Undeleting a Partition .........................................................................................................................................48
Converting File System ........................................................................................................................................49
Changing Volume Label .......................................................................................................................................51
Changing Drive Letter ..........................................................................................................................................51
Hiding/Unhiding Partition ...................................................................................................................................52
Making Partition Active/Inactive.........................................................................................................................52
Updating MBR .....................................................................................................................................................53
Getting Disk/Partition Properties ........................................................................................................................53
Complex Partitioning Tasks ......................................................................................................................... 54
Splitting a Partition ..............................................................................................................................................54
Expanding a Partition ..........................................................................................................................................56
Merging Partitions ...............................................................................................................................................57
Advanced Partitioning Tasks ....................................................................................................................... 58

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Changing Cluster Size ..........................................................................................................................................58
Converting to Logical/Primary.............................................................................................................................59
Changing Serial Number ......................................................................................................................................60
Change Primary Slots...........................................................................................................................................60
Converting a Partition Table................................................................................................................................61
Editing Disk Sectors .............................................................................................................................................63
NTFS Optimization...................................................................................................................................... 64
Compacting MFT .................................................................................................................................................64
Defragmenting MFT ............................................................................................................................................64
Partitioning Virtual Disks ............................................................................................................................ 65
Connecting Virtual Disks ................................................................................................................... 66
Checking Partitions for Problems ...................................................................................................... 69
Testing Partition Surface............................................................................................................................. 69
Checking File System Integrity .................................................................................................................... 69
Erasing Data ..................................................................................................................................... 71
Copying Data .................................................................................................................................... 74
Migrating VM ................................................................................................................................... 77
Extra WinPE Scenarios ...................................................................................................................... 79
Adjusting OS for the New Hardware............................................................................................................ 79
Adding Specific Drivers ............................................................................................................................... 81
Configuring Network .................................................................................................................................. 82
Network Troubleshooter ............................................................................................................................ 84
Using the Command Prompt ....................................................................................................................... 85
Operation Results and Reports ......................................................................................................... 87
Migrating VM from VMware vSphere to Microsoft Hyper-V .............................................................. 88
Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................................... 94

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Product Overview
Hard Disk Manager 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 guide you will find the answers to many of the technical questions, which might arise while using our
program.

As we continuously update and improve the product, live product screens may not match the
screenshots contained in this document, despite the best effort to keep the document
consistent with the product outlook.

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Getting Started
Product Components
• Windows installation package for regular system and data protection, drive partitioning, OS
migration, and other operations. It’s the main component of the product.

• WinPE recovery environment for emergency scenarios. It provides an excellent hardware support
and the same interface as the Windows version (recommended for most scenarios).

• Linux recovery environment for emergency scenarios. Unlike the Windows and WinPE versions, it
includes the "Secure Erase" function. Please note that the Linux recovery image is not included into
the installation package and should be downloaded separately. Find more details in Building
Recovery Media.

System Requirements
For the Windows installation package

• Windows 7 SP1 and later.

• Opened ports in Firewall: inbound and outbound 80, 443

• Internet Explorer 10.0 or higher

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

For the WinPE recovery environment

• Intel Pentium III CPU or its equivalent, with 1000 MHz processor clock speed

• At least 2 GB of RAM

• SVGA video adapter and monitor

• Keyboard

• Mouse

For the Linux Recovery environment

• Intel Pentium CPU x64 only

• At least 2 GB of RAM

• SVGA video adapter and monitor

• Keyboard

• Mouse

Additional requirements

• Recordable CD/DVD drive to burn bootable recovery environment to a compact disc

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

In case there is some previous version of our program installed on the computer, you will be
asked to uninstall it first.

1. Click on the supplied setup file to initiate the installation. First your system will be checked for the
presence of Visual Studio C++ 2015 Redistributable and if not found, it will be installed automatically
(comes with the installation package). Note! Before installing this library in Windows 8.1 or Windows
Server 2012 R2, the following OS updates should be present: KB2919442, KB2919355.

2. Please Read Paragon License Agreement and Privacy Policy carefully and then select the appropriate
option to accept. Otherwise you won’t be able to proceed with the installation.

3. The final page reports the end of the setup process. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

First Start
After the installation you can see a program icon on the Windows desktop. Double click it to launch the
application.

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Hard Disk Manager is built around the sidebar that gives you access to action wizards and settings. The
sidebar located on the left side of the screen includes several buttons: Home, Backup & Recovery, Disks &
Volumes, Reports, Settings & Tools, and Help. By clicking the Home button, you can see names of these
buttons. On the right side is the working area that displays contents of the currently selected item.

At the bottom of the working area you can find the buttons of the so-called simulation mode. It gives you
the choice of placing potentially dangerous operations that may destroy the on-disk data (format, delete,
restore, etc.) on a special list instead of immediate execution. First it helps to avoid possible mistakes as you
should confirm all provided changes. Second it saves your time and effort when executing several
operations, as you don’t need to wait for each operation to physically complete before proceeding to the
next operation.

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Changing Program Settings

Click Settings & Tools on the sidebar to access the program settings. All settings are grouped into several
sections, which functions are described in the following paragraphs. By selecting a section from the list, you
can open a set of options.

Application Settings

• Allow to send anonymous statistics. Disable this option if you don’t want to share usage statistics
with Paragon Software.

• Check for updates. Disable this option if you don’t want our program to automatically check
company’s website for available updates once a day.

• Close progress dialog automatically. Enable this option to automatically close the progress dialog
after accomplishing operations.

E-mail Settings

In this section you can set up e-mail transport for sending notifications and reports. Our e-mail client can
well work with a private or corporate SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server, or one of public e-mail
services. Please contact your network administrator or support of your e-mail service provider for detailed
settings.

• SMTP server. All outgoing messages are first sent to this server, which then delivers them to
recipients. The address may be represented as a traditional Internet host name (e.g.:
smtp.gmail.com) or as an IP numeric address (e.g. xxx.xxx.xxx.xx).

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• SMTP port. Non-encrypted connections are usually established through port 25, while port 465 is
used for SSL (Secure Socket Layer) connections.

• Encryption. Our e-mail client supports non-encrypted, SSL and its successor TLS (Transport Layer
Security) connections.

• Login. If your SMTP server requires authentication, select the corresponding option, then provide
valid user credentials in the opened dialog.

• E-mail address. Enter the e-mail address of the user from whom notifications and/or reports will be
sent.

When you’re done with the settings, enter a destination mailbox in the corresponding field, then click Send
test e-mail to check whether the e-mail transport is configured properly. You don't need to reply to the test
e-mail.

Notifications Settings

Our program can be set up to notify you by e-mail about successful completion and/or failure of most
operations. This function is enabled when configuring tasks, while in this section you should specify the
preferred e-mail transport, either MyParagon service or an SMTP server.

• The MyParagon service is the easiest option of getting things ready, as you only need to provide an
e-mail and password of a valid Paragon’s account. This e-mail address will be used as recipient to
receive notifications. If you don’t have an account yet, please create it by following the provided
hyperlink.

• Getting notifications through an SMTP server offers more flexibility as you can specify several
destination mailboxes, though its configuration might be a problem for novice users. Find more
details in E-mail Settings.

The MyParagon service doesn’t support the e-mail reporting.

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Reporting Settings

In this section you can specify contents and properties of generated operation reports. This function is
enabled when configuring tasks.

• Company name/Company address/User name. Fill in these fields for easier report identification.

• Report format. Reports can be generated as PDF, HTML, or plain TXT files.

• Report destination. Reports can be stored locally or sent by e-mail. The e-mail reporting requires a
properly configured SMTP transport. Find more details in E-mail Settings.

Parameters you specify here are used by default for all operations. You can change any
property when configuring tasks.

Wipe Report Settings

• System information. Use this option to add a computer name, OS and BIOS versions.
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• Sector dump. If required by your security regulations, use this option to additionally save contents
of the first, middle, and last disk sectors as prove the wiping has been accomplished as planned.

• Supervisor Approval. Use this option to add a signature field for an executive or supervisor
responsible for data sanitization procedures in your company.

Parameters you specify here are used by default for all wipe operations. You can change any
property when configuring wipe tasks.

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Building Recovery Media

Our program includes a user-friendly wizard that will guide you through the process of creating a WinPE or
Linux-based recovery media on a USB thumb drive or in an ISO file to later burn it to CD/DVD. For advanced
users, there are capabilities to add drivers for specific hardware devices, configure network settings, and
map network shares in the process.

This product feature is locked and should be activated before use. Activation details are provided on the first
page of the wizard.

1. Click Settings & Tools on the sidebar, then select Recovery Media Builder.

2. Request a license file from Paragon Support Team as described on the first page of the wizard. If the
provided data is valid, "LicenseSet.xml" will be send to your account email address. Just copy it to the
target computer, then use the Import license option for the import.

Please note that one consumer license can be activated and used on one device at a time.

3. Select the desired recovery environment platform. Depending on your choice, the wizard prompts
you to specify a number of options. Since the WinPE environment takes more steps to complete, let’s
take this scenario as an example.

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Please note that the Linux recovery image is not included into the installation package and should be
downloaded separately. By selecting Linux, the wizard first prompts you to start the downloading.
Click Yes to confirm.

4. Recovery Media Builder doesn’t require Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) to be
installed in the system to build a WinPE-based environment, as it can directly use WIM image inside
the operating system. However, some system builders remove this image from preinstalled
Windows OS. If this is your case, select Use ADK. You will also need it to create an ISO image of the
WinPE environment.

If you have installed ADK by its default location, the wizard automatically detects it. Otherwise, you
will need to browse for the required folder. If you haven’t installed this toolkit yet, click Download
ADK to get it directly from the Microsoft website. Please note that ADK is a Microsoft’s proprietary
tool and can be obtained from its Download Center for free, provided you have a genuine Windows
installation. Moreover, you need to download a version, which is suitable for your Windows OS.

The wizard won’t continue until you install ADK.

Please use ADK 8.1 if you run RMB under Windows 7, 8, 8.1, Server 2008 R2, Server 2012
R1/R2.

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5. Click on Removable flash media, then select a thumb drive of at least 512MB in size from the list of
flash memory devices available in the system at the moment (if several). Please note that all data on
it will be deleted during the operation. If you’d like to create an ISO image of the WinPE
environment, please use the corresponding option.

6. Inject additional drivers for specific storage controllers or network card if needed. First click on the
required link.

Then browse for an .INF file of the required driver package.

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If successfully injected, you can see the specified driver on the list. If you’d like to add another driver,
please repeat the procedure.

Recovery Media Builder can build 32-bit WinPE media configured to the uEFI mode, which is
the only type compatible with Windows pads running on Intel Atom.

By default, WinPE environment doesn’t support touch screens, thus Windows pads can only
be managed by mouse and/or keyboard. You can add required drivers however through our
driver injector.

7. Set up a network connection and map a network share if needed.

Network settings

• Connect to network automatically... Specify the following parameters if you’d like to have an
active network connection once the recovery environment has been started up:

- A network adapter to use. Select a network adapter (if several in the system) to be used for
the network connection.

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- IP address settings. Choose whether to get an IP address automatically from a DHCP server
or set it manually.

• Connect to network manually... If selecting this option you will be prompted to configure
network properties each time the computer has been started up from the recovery media.

• Do not set up network… Please use this option if you don’t need network support on the
recovery media.

Mount options

• Do not mount a network share. Please use this option if you don’t need to map network
resources.

• Mount a network share automatically... Mark this option if you’d like to have a mapped
network resource once the computer has been started up from the recovery media. Manually
type in a path to the required network share or click Browse to find it, then provide user
credentials if necessary.

With no pre-defined user credentials your network share will be attempted to map under the
Guest account.

Please use back slashes for WinPE-based media, like \\server\share, while for Linux – forward
slashes, like //server/share.

• Mount a network share manually... If selecting this option you will be prompted to map a
network resource each time the computer has been started up from the recovery media.

8. When done with all parameters, please confirm the operation to proceed.

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Booting from Recovery Media

The recovery media helps to boot your PC to load in an existing backup, secure important data, or rectify
booting errors when Windows OS fails to start up.

1. Start up the computer from the prepared recovery media. To automatically boot from it, you should
configure the on-board BIOS to start up from CD/USB first.

2. Select an operation to start. While the user interface of the WinPE recovery media is identical to that
of the Windows version, the Linux media has a little different working environment.

WinPE media

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Linux media

Find more details in:

- Restoring a Failed System

- Fixing Boot Problems

- Transferring Files between Storages

If you have questions on how to use our program, please refer to the embedded help system.

While utilities included into the Windows and Windows PE versions vary for your product, the
Linux recovery environment is one for the entire product line.

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Protecting System and Data

Backup Tasks
Configuring Backup Job
Hard Disk Manager includes all technologies to help you effectively protect different types of data. Do you
need to secure your software environment, including the operating system, applications and data? Create a
full backup image of entire disks or individual volumes to be able to recover your system to a working state
within several minutes in case of emergency. Are you looking for an optimal way of securing individual files
or folders? Use the file-level backup capabilities to protect family pictures, favorite music, some project or
document without wasting time and backup storage on other on-disk data. Are you busy developing a
specific project on a day-to-day basis and have to make a backup every evening so as not to lose the
progress of your efforts? Just automate your backup routines through scheduling.

Are you a pro in backup technologies? Configure comprehensive backup strategies that utilize full,
incremental, and differential backup methods and their combinations as well as various backup retention
options, where backup runs can be scheduled from every hour till certain days of the month, or evoked by a
certain event. Does your backup policy engage an instant virtualization scenario? Set up our program to
back up directly to a virtual container supported by your hypervisor. Do you need a rock-solid shield against
unauthorized access to backup data? Several encryption algorithms to choose from, including 256-bit
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), ensure complete safety for sensitive data.

1. Click Backup & Recovery on the sidebar.

2. If this is the first time you do backup, you will see the backup configuration wizard. If you already
have some backup jobs in the list, then click the plus icon.

3. Give a clear name to your backup job.

4. Click the Backup source icon, and then the most suitable option.

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• Entire Computer. Choose this option to back up all storage devices of your PC.

• Disk/Volumes. Left click an object(s) you’d like to back up. When selecting a volume that
hosts Windows OS you may be warned that the wizard additionally selects another one that
contains boot system files. Though it’s not recommended, you can deselect any volume you
consider unimportant.

• Files/Folders. From a list of all partitions available in the system, mark a checkbox opposite a
file, folder or even a whole partition to build up contents of the future backup image.

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Switch to Select files by file type mode if you’re planning to back up specific types of files,
for example Word documents or Excel workbooks. The wizard includes three predefined
categories containing file masks for popular document, music, and video formats. Either
select an entire category(ies) or use the arrow icon to expand it and choose a certain file
mask(s). If you don’t find the required mask, add your own through the Add your file types…
option.

When you’re done with the file masks, mark a checkbox opposite a folder or partition where
the wizard should look for your files.

5. Click the Destination icon, and then specify backup location (local or external storage, or a network
share).

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• Local folders. Browse your internal disks to find a storage place for the backup data. Use the
corresponding buttons to create new, rename, or delete folders.

• External drives. Choose an externally connected storage (hard disk, thumb drive, etc.) from
the list. If it’s not present, please make sure it’s available in the system, then try again.

• Network locations. Choose a mapped network share from the list or add a new one by
specifying its name, location (a full path or through browsing the network), and access
credentials.

6. At this step you can click Back up now to create a full backup image of the specified data. Click this
button again in the future and our program will create another full backup image reflecting changes
since the initial backup.

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Having a full backup is a good start, but we recommend you to continue configuration of the job in
order to automate the backup process, optimize utilization of the storage space, protect your backup
data from unauthorized access, and do some other useful setups.

7. Schedule your backup job by clicking either the watch icon on the backup timeline or the
corresponding hyperlink.

We suggest choosing the daily backup when it comes to protecting valuable information that keeps
changing constantly, for example some project or document, or a financial report you’re working on
every day. The main rule here is the more valuable the data, the more frequent backups are
required. For production environments like SQL Server or Exchange Server, where multiple
transactions occur every second, the optimal interval between backups is about 30 minutes. By
reducing it even further you risk to heavily overload the entire infrastructure.

The weekly or monthly backup comes into play when your data is not changed often. Obviously,
there’s no need to back up your music collection on a daily basis, as in most cases losing the latest
album won’t be a huge disaster. The same goes for partitions that host the operating system.

While setting a start time for backup runs, please make sure it is during off hours (at night or early in
the morning) or whenever the computer has the least work-load to perform. To allow backup runs
when a non-admin user is logged in, or to wake up from sleep or hibernation automatically, click
Show advanced settings to see and adjust the corresponding options.

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8. Set up a backup strategy by clicking one of two hyperlinks in the corresponding section.

Hard Disk Manager supports full, incremental and differential backup methods and their
combinations as well as various backup retention options, which opens a way to create
comprehensive backup strategies. Your choice may depend on whether this applies to a home
computer for which you may want only a few restore points to roll back, or a production
environment that contains sensitive data that might be needed for the future forensic analysis
and/or it can be subject to compliance requirements.

For important files you choose to back up daily, we suggest a seven-day backup cycle of one full
backup image followed by six incremental updates. It is a reasonable compromise between backup
storage consumption and restore performance. To avoid the situation when backup data eats up the
entire storage space, we also suggest enabling a retention policy that will only keep seven latest
restore points.

For non-critical information protected on a weekly basis, we consider the use of the incremental
imaging not optimal, as the amount of data changes may be so huge, so it can nullify primary
benefits of this backup method, i.e. small backup times and image files. Furthermore, restore from
this type of backup chain may take plenty of time. Thus, we recommend it to create full backups only
and keep no more than three latest restore points.

If you prefer an external storage device as backup media and don’t need to have several restore
points, we suggest creating and keeping one full backup. The same goes for backups done before
applying OS patches or installing new software.

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If you need our help in working out an optimal backup cycle for your environment, please
contact our Support Team.

9. Click Options to modify advanced backup settings. Please note that all parameters set right here will
be relevant for this backup job only.

• Backup container type. By default, our program is configured to back up to pVHD (Paragon
Virtual Hard Drive), but you can switch it to VHD, VHDX, or VMDK. Please note that pVHD-
based full backups are several times smaller than the original objects, while incremental
updates – dozens of times smaller when comparing to VHD, VHDX or VMDK, which have
some fixed size of blocks, not dynamic. Besides, password protection, backup compression
and splitting options are only available for pVHD. However, if you’re having a VMware or
Microsoft hypervisor and are planning to do instant virtualization, make sure the used
backup container type matches your hypervisor.
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• Password protection. Specify a password and encryption algorithm to protect backup data
from unauthorized access (recommended). Please note that setting, changing, or resetting
password or encryption algorithm forces creation of a full backup. This option is only
available for pVHD containers.

• Backup compression. Select the desired compression level (none, fast, normal, best). Please
note that the better compression level you choose, the more time backup takes. This option
is only available for pVHD containers.

• Backup splitting. By default, created backup images are split to files of 4GB. This helps to
avoid problems caused by a maximum file size limitation of FAT32 file system. Use the
spinner control to set another size or disable the backup splitting. This option is only
available for pVHD containers.

• Prevent from sleep/hibernate during backup. Use this option prevent your computer from
going into sleep or hibernation mode until the backup is done.

• Check backup integrity after creation. Use this option to make sure the created backup
data is 100 percent flawless.

• Shut down system after backup. Use this option if you want the computer to automatically
shut down when the backup is completed. Please note however that in some cases you may
lose unsaved data of the running apps because of this action:

- If you don’t have running apps with unsaved data, the shutdown is absolutely safe;

- If you do have running apps with unsaved data and your Windows session is not locked
(interactive mode), our program initiates a 10-minute countdown, then the "soft OS
shutdown”. This means that the operating system will ask you what to do with unsaved
data and wait for you to save the data inside the running apps or confirm the shutdown
without saving. So in this case the shutdown is also absolutely safe;

- If you do have running apps with unsaved data and your Windows session is locked, then
your computer will be shut down after a 10-minute countdown and all unsaved data will
be lost. Please avoid this scenario.

• Handling unknown volumes. Set behavior for processing unsupported or unformatted

partitions (skip from backup, process in sector-by-sector mode, or ask the user each time this
type of partition has been found).
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• Run during backup options. Specify external applications to execute at various phases of
the backup process in order to obtain consistent backup images of systems with high
availability requirements (MS SQL, MS Exchange, etc.). The point is to provide a coherent
state of all open files and databases involved in a backup, taking into account that
applications may still keep writing to disks.

- Execute before backup. Specify an executable file (through browsing or typing a full
path to it) that helps you to prepare running applications for backup. It may include
specific commands/programs to delete unnecessary files, suspend services, flush
transactions or caches, etc.

- Execute after backup. Specify an executable file to run after backup. It may include
commands/programs to resume the previously suspended services, etc.

Our program supports three types of executable files (.exe, .bat, .cmd). You can set
parameters for your files directly from the line. However, if a file path contains word gaps,
you need to enclose it in quotes in order to let our program distinguish between the path
and the used parameters.

Requirements for batch files:

- All programs and commands must execute sequentially and finish before your .bat file
completes its work.

- We recommend you to use external commands/programs in the following format -

Start/wait program.exe. The wait option allows starting an application and waiting until
it completes its work. This guarantees all included commands complete their execution
before your .bat file does.

10. Review all parameters of the operation and modify them if necessary. Click Back up now to save the
changes and start the backup.

11. If everything went smooth, the resulted status on the backup timeline would be "Succeeded" (the
green OK icon).

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Managing Backup Jobs

By selecting an existing backup job from the list on the sidebar, you can see its properties and available
operations in the working area. The backup timeline helps to instantly grasp the key properties of selected
job, including availability of restore points and the number of failed backup runs.

• Click Files and folders (Disk and volumes or Entire Computer for a volume-level backup job) to
change backup objects.

• Click Local folder (Network folder or External Drives) to change backup location. Please note that
after changing the backup location, Hard Disk Manager forces creation of a full backup in the new
place. All backup data in the old location remains intact and can be used for restore without
limitations.

• By clicking corresponding links, you can change the current backup schedule and/or backup strategy
properties.

• Click Backup up now to force running the backup job.

• Click the desired restore point on the backup timeline, then select the require operation (Explore,
Mount/Unmount, Delete).
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Find more details in:

- Restoring Individual Files and Folders

- Mounting a Backup Image

• Use the minus icon on the sidebar to delete the selected job and all restore points produced by that
job or only the job.

Restore Tasks
Restoring Individual Files and Folders

1. Click Backup & Recovery on the sidebar.

2. Select an existing backup job, click the desired restore point on the backup timeline, then select
Explore.

Be ready to provide a valid password to access contents of an encrypted backup image.

3. Browse the backup image to specify what you need to extract by marking checkboxes next to the
required data items. Click Export when ready.

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4. Specify where you’d like the selected files to be restored. Use the corresponding buttons to create
new, rename, or delete folders.

Restore to the original location with overwriting existing files requires exclusive access
rights to the entire target volume. By default, if the target volume cannot be locked, our
program ends this type of operation with a corresponding error.

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If selecting files with security attributes that cannot be restored at file-level correctly, the
wizard will prompt you to restore the corresponding volume entirely.

5. The operation starts immediately after confirmation.

Restoring an Entire Disk or Separate Volumes

This scenario would be identical on the WinPE recovery media, except for the necessity to
additionally import a backup image you’re planning to use for restore. Find more details in
Importing a Backup Image.

1. Click Backup & Recovery on the sidebar.

2. Select an existing backup job, click the desired restore point on the backup timeline, then select
Restore.

Be ready to provide a valid password to access contents of an encrypted backup image.

3. By default, the program prompts you to restore all backup objects inside the selected restore point
exactly where they belong. Just click Restore now to start the operation or change any of the
defaults as described below.

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• Select another restore point from the drop down list, if necessary.

• Click the Disk/Volumes icon (or File/Folders for a file-level backup job) to specify backup
objects you’d like to restore by marking/unmarking checkboxes next to the required data
items.

• Click the Original location icon to choose any disk of enough capacity available in your
system as backup target.

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You will be warned when trying to rewrite a bootable partition.

4. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

5. The operation starts immediately after confirmation.

Mounting a Backup Image

You can assign a drive letter to any partition inside an existing backup image. As a result of the operation
you will get a new partition in the system to easily browse through its contents and copy the required
information even with the standard Windows tools.

Before you start, please read the following limitations:

• System restart is required after the product installation to correctly mount backup images in
Windows Server environment;

• Backup partitions will only be mounted for the current session and won’t be available after the
system restart;

• Backup images containing Windows Storage Spaces are not supported;

• Backup images containing ReFS partitions are not supported;

• Backup images located on physical (unmounted) partitions or in the backup capsule cannot be
mounted;

• Backup images containing LVM/LDM volumes are not supported.

1. Click Backup & Recovery on the sidebar.

2. Select an existing backup job, click the desired restore point on the backup timeline, then select
Mount/Unmount.

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3. In the opened dialog you can see contents of the selected backup image. Select a partition you’d like
to mount, then one of the vacant drive letters from the list to associate with the partition. Click Next
to confirm.

4. Once mounted, you can treat the backup partition as you would any other Windows volume (browse,
retrieve files, modify files).

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5. Use the same algorithm to unmount the backup image when not required any more.

Importing a Backup Image

You can add an existing backup job and all restore points produced by that job to the "My Backups" list and
this way make them available in the program interface.

This function is available on the WinPE recovery media only, helping you to quickly start a backup or restore
operation.

Supported backup data containers:

• Volume- and file-level virtual containers (pVHD, VHD(X), VMDK) created by the current version.

• Volume- and file-level virtual containers (pVHD, VHD(X), VMDK) created by any 15-16th version.

Backups imported in the WinPE recovery environment are only available for the current
session, so you won’t be able to use them in Windows after system restart.

Although legacy PBF-based backup images cannot be imported, you’re allowed to specify an
old image as restore point in the Restore Wizard of the Linux recovery media.

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

2. Click Backup & Recovery on the sidebar.

3. Left click the three-dot icon on the sidebar opposite "My Backups", then select Import backup.

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4. Browse for the required backup index file (PFI), then click Next.

Please note that Paragon’s backup index files are browsable. Just click on a PFI file to see backup
items stored in corresponding backup containers.

5. Upon success, you will see a new preconfigured backup job on the list with available restore points
on the backup timeline.

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Restoring a Failed System

If your computer fails to start up because of a software glitch or after you accidentally deleted the entire
Windows partition or some system files, you can get it back on track by utilizing a previously prepared
recovery media and one of available backup images.

Volume-level restore scenarios are also available on the WinPE recovery media and in
Windows.

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

2. Select Normal Mode in the boot menu or wait 10 seconds and it will be loaded automatically.

3. Select Restore from VD Wizard in the Wizards pane.

4. The welcome page introduces the wizard’s functionality. Click Next to continue.

5. Click the standard browse button [...] to find the required backup image, then double click it to
proceed. If your backup is located on a network share, you need to map it.

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6. View the provided backup properties to make sure you have selected the correct image. At this step
you can also set up how to process unknown volumes.

7. If the partition structure on the source disk hasn't been changed much, you can restore to the
original location. If it has changed, e.g. you're attempting to restore to another computer, then you
can use one of the two remained options.

8. Our program displays contents of the selected backup image. If you have several partitions in the
backup, select those you need to restore.

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9. Depending on the specified restore mode and backup object(s), you may have the options to enlarge
the restored volume to occupy the entire target disk, remove existing free blocks, or restore as is.
Any change to the disk layout will be displayed on the disk map.

Restoring a single volume

Restoring to another location

10. Check the resulting disk layout. Click Next, then confirm the operation to start.

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11. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out by our
program.

12. After completing the operation, please reboot the computer.

Fixing Boot Problems

If Windows OS doesn’t boot after replacing a failed hardware device or you have any other boot issue
resulting from a human or program error, or a boot virus activity, first try our boot repair tools before taking
more radical actions.

Boot Corrector is currently available on the Linux recovery media only.

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

2. Select Normal Mode in the boot menu or wait 10 seconds and it will be loaded automatically.

3. Select Boot Corrector in the Wizards pane.

4. Select the required operation from the list.

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• Windows installation to correct. Use this option to fix your Windows startup ability, if it fails to
complete the startup procedure. You will need to choose a failed Windows installation from the
list of found installations (if several) and then the required action.

• Correct the Master Boot Record. Use this option to overwrite the current bootable code in the
MBR (Master Boot Record) by the standard bootstrap code, thus repairing a corrupted bootable
code after a boot virus attack or a malfunction of boot management software.

• Correct boot parameters (boot.ini, BCD). If you have several operating systems on your disk
(Windows Vista and later) after copying a system partition for instance, update their BCD (Boot
Configuration Data) files to be able to choose an OS to start up.

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• Modify partition parameters. Use this option to review and modify a number of partition
parameters that are critical for the boot process.

5. When done with all parameters, please confirm the operation to proceed.

6. After completing the operation, please reboot the computer.

Transferring Files between Storages

File Transfer Wizard is currently available on the Linux recovery media only.

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

2. Select Normal Mode in the boot menu or wait 10 seconds and it will be loaded automatically.

3. Select File Transfer Wizard in the Wizards pane.

4. Select a source disk, then mark files and directories you want to copy. The wizard enables you to
browse both mounted and unmounted (without a drive letter) partitions. It is also possible to map a
network drive. All selected files get to the Clipboard.

5. Select a disk where the files you need are stored from the pull-down list in the right pane of the
dialog window, then select files you want to copy and place them to the Clipboard by pressing the
left arrow-button.

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File Transfer Wizard allows browsing both mounted and unmounted (without a drive letter)
partitions. It is also possible to map a network drive.

Use the Calc button to estimate the resulted data amount.

6. You can copy data to a local or external drive, a network share, a physical partition (without a drive
letter), or burn it to a CD/DVD/BD disc. Use the standard browse button [...] to specify the required
location. If you’d like to copy the selected data to a network share, you need to map it.

7. Complete the wizard to initiate the operation. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a
detailed report on all actions carried out by our program.

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Managing Partitions and Disks

Partitioning lets you divide a single physical drive into a number of logical drives, each of which serves as a
container with its own drive letter and volume label, thus enabling the operating system to process data
more efficiently. Partitioning also makes it possible to organize data so that it is easy to find and manage. 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. Finally partitioning is a necessity if you’re planning to run several
OSs on a single hard drive to effectively delineate the boundaries of each OS.

Basic Partitioning Tasks

Creating a Partition

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click a block of free space on a disk you’d like to partition in the working area, then select Create
volume on the sidebar.

3. By default, you will be prompted to create a primary NTFS partition named "New Volume" that will be
the size of the selected free block. This partition will also acquire the first vacant drive letter.

If necessary, change the partition size by using the "Volume size" slider or setting an accurate value
in the corresponding field. You can also change the default volume label to easily identify the
partition later.

4. Click Show advanced options if you want to modify other properties.

• Select the desired partition type (Primary or Extended). The available alternatives depend on the
selected block of free space – within a Logical block, only Logical partitions can be created; Within
a Primary block, both Primary partitions or the Extended Partition are allowed to create.

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• Select the desired file system from the list, otherwise you won’t be able to store data on the
created partition.

Supported file systems:

- FAT32 – use for data disks that are 32GB or less

- NTFS – the primary file system for Windows OS

- Ext 2/3/4 – the primary file system for Linux OS

- Apple HFS – the primary file system for Mac OS X

- Resilient FS 1.2/3 – a potential successor to NTFS

• Choose one of the vacant drive letters from the list to associate with the partition. The drive
letter plays an important role in telling Windows where to look data. Select "None" if you do not
want this partition to be available in the system.

• If the partition does not occupy the entire free block, define its position by using the
corresponding sliders or setting accurate values of unallocated space before and after the
partition.

• By default, the amount of sectors per cluster will be specified according to the used OS and the
chosen file system. If you’d like to set another value, unmark the Use OS built in format routine
and define the desired value in the corresponding field. The cluster size is one of the crucial
parameters of any file system. Its value implicitly affects the performance of the files input-
output activity since it defines the size of the file system metadata. Besides, the so-called waste
space factor also depends on it.

You won’t be able to work with a partition formatted to a Windows unsupported file system,
unless you have a third-party driver installed, for instance Apple HFS for Windows.

5. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

6. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

7. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts. Click Create now to
start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of pending changes for
later execution.

Formatting a Partition
When you create a new partition you will be prompted to choose the desired file system format as described
above. This section explains how to format an existing partition.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Format volume on the sidebar.

3. By default, you will be prompted to format the partition to one of the Windows-native file systems
(depends on partition size) with the volume label "New Volume".

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If necessary, select another file system from the list and change the default volume label to easily
identify the partition later.

Supported file systems:

- FAT32 – use for data disks that are 32GB or less

- NTFS – the primary file system for Windows OS

- Ext 2/3/4 – the primary file system for Linux OS

- Apple HFS – the primary file system for Mac OS X

- Resilient FS 1.2/3 – a potential successor to NTFS

4. Click Show advanced options if you want to change the default amount of sectors per cluster. The
cluster size is one of the crucial parameters of any file system. Its value implicitly affects the
performance of the files input-output activity since it defines the size of the file system metadata.
Besides, the so-called waste space factor also depends on it.

All data on the selected partition will be lost after formatting.

You won’t be able to work with a partition formatted to a Windows unsupported file system,
unless you have a third-party driver installed, for instance Apple HFS for Windows.

5. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

6. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

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7. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts. Click Format now to
start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of pending changes for
later execution.

Deleting a Partition

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Delete partition on the sidebar.

3. By default, our program only suggests removing references to the selected partition from the
Partition Table.

4. If you’d like to additionally destroy the on-partition data, mark the Make the deleted data
unrecoverable option to specify data erasure algorithm and other parameters. Find more details in
Erasing Data.

5. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

6. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

7. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts. Click Delete now to
start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of pending changes for
later execution.

Moving/Resizing a Partition

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Move or Resize on the sidebar.
Alternatively, you can drag-and-drop borders of a partition directly on the Disk Map to define its size
and position.
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3. Use the corresponding sliders or set accurate values to define new size and the amount of
unallocated space before and after the partition.

4. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

5. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

6. Click Change now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Resize or free space redistribution that leads to shrinking of an unlocked bitlocked volume
may fail due to limitations of a Microsoft service used for accomplishing this type of
operations.

Undeleting a Partition
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.

Hard Disk Manager can help you 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 our program offers this function only for blocks of free space.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click a block of free space that used to be a partition in the working area, then select Undelete
volumes on the sidebar.

3. By default, the wizard selects the quick search method. In most cases it’s enough to find an
accidentally deleted partition. However, if the wizard fails to find the partition you need, you can
select the "Full search" option to scan every single sector in the specified search area to get the most
accurate results.
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4. By default, our 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.

5. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

6. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

7. Click Undelete now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list
of pending changes for later execution.

Converting File System

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You can change type of an existing file system without formatting and completely safe for your data. First
the original file system will be checked for consistency, then the partition data will be verified whether it
meets the requirements of the target file system or not. And only after having passed this testing, our
program will re-organize the file system metadata and user files.

Our program supports the following scenarios:

• FAT16/32 <> NTFS conversion

• NTFS <> HFS conversion

• NTFS <>Resilient FS 1.2/3

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Convert file system on the sidebar.

3. Choose a file system you would like to convert to from the list. Our program only displays variants
available for the operation, taking into account parameters of the selected partition and limitations
of the used file system.

If necessary, you can change the suggested cluster size. 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.

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

4. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

5. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

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6. Click Convert now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Changing Volume Label

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Change volume label on the sidebar.

3. Change the default volume label to easily identify the partition later.

4. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

5. Click Change now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Changing Drive Letter

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Change drive letter on the sidebar.

3. Choose one of the vacant drive letters from the list to associate with the partition. The drive letter
plays an important role in telling Windows where to look data.

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After changing drive letter of the system partition, your Windows OS won’t start up.

Some programs may not run properly either if changing drive letter of a data partition.

4. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

5. Click Change now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Hiding/Unhiding Partition
This option can help you hide a partition from OS, applications, and users, thus preventing access to its
contents and vice versa. To prevent the situation when the operating system becomes unbootable, our
program doesn’t allow you to hide OS partitions.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Hide/Unhide partition on the sidebar.

3. Click Hide/Unhide now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the
list of pending changes for later execution.

Making Partition Active/Inactive

You can set an active/inactive flag for primary partitions on an MBR-type hard disk. Please note that OS
starts up only if the partition where its bootable files are resided is active or bootable.

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1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Set partition as active/inactive on
the sidebar.

3. Click Set active/inactive now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task
to the list of pending changes for later execution.

Updating MBR
Our program enables you to overwrite the current bootable code in the MBR (Master Boot Record) by the
standard bootstrap code. This can help to repair a corrupted bootable code of a hard disk after a boot virus
attack or a malfunction of boot management software.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing MBR disk in the working area, then select Update MBR on the sidebar.

3. Click Update now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Getting Disk/Partition Properties

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition or disk in the working area, then select Properties on the sidebar.

3. Our program provides detailed information on the properties of an entire storage device or
individual partition. Besides the general information, such as capacity, used space or file system type
it provides the possibility to get info on hard disk geometry, cluster size, exact partition location, etc.

Disk Properties:

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Partition Properties:

Complex Partitioning Tasks

Splitting a Partition
Let’s assume you have one partition across the entire hard disk, like most other people who purchase a
computer with a preinstalled operating system. So besides OS, it holds all your documents, favorite music,
movies and family photos. This type of configuration is not optimal for effective data organization and
safety. First, it negatively affects the system: huge amount of data aggravated by its inevitable excessive
fragmentation causes poor performance in file search/access and read/write operations. Second, it’s
inconvenient for the user: system files and folders piled up with media and documents besides obvious
difficulties in transparent organization become a naughty problem in case of a system malfunction.

Hard Disk Manager can help you detach the operating system and data or different types of data by splitting
one partition to two different partitions of the same type and file system – you just select a partition, then

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files and folders you’d like to move to the new partition and finally redistribute free space between the two
partitions, if necessary.

Before you start, please take into account the cases when the split operation is impossible to perform:

• Partition's type is not supported (you have selected a non-standard primary or logical partition);

• The selected partition is located on a dynamic disk;

• You've already got 4 primary partitions on a Basic MBR disk;

• You've already got 3 primary partitions on a Hybrid (Retained) GPT+MBR disk;

• There's not enough free space on the selected partition (free up to 50 MB);

• The selected partition has an unsupported file system.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click a partition you’d like to split in the working area, then select Split partition on the sidebar.

3. By default, our program suggests you to allocate some free space to the new partition (depends on
the disk layout), label it "SPLITVOL", and assign no drive letter.

If necessary, change the partition size by using the "New volume size" slider or setting an accurate
value in the corresponding field. You can also change the default volume label and associate one of
the vacant drive letters with the partition to make it available for OS and applications after the
operation.

You should decide for yourself how much free space of the original partition should be given to
the new partition. Anyway, we strongly recommend you to allocate enough free space to both
partitions.

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4. Click Move files to new volume…, then mark checkboxes next to files or folders you’re planning to
move from the original partition to the new one. Click OK when ready to let our program calculate
the amount of selected data and go back to the main dialog window. Please note that the calculation
may take some time, so please be patient.

Please do not move system files or folders like "Windows", "Users", "Program Files",
config.sys, etc. for it may cause inability of the operating system to start up.

5. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

6. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

7. Click Split now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Expanding a Partition
Hard Disk Manager can help you increase free space on one partition by up-taking the on-disk unallocated
space and the unused space of other partitions. According to introduced changes, our program will
automatically recalculate positions of the involved partitions and move their contents to new locations.

If you need to redistribute free space between two adjacent partitions, drag-and-drop the
border between them directly on the Disk Map.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click a partition you’d like to expand in the working area, then select Expand on the sidebar.
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3. By default, our program suggests adding all blocks of the free space to the target partition. You can
also specify other on-disk partitions of the supported file system type to act as space donor.

4. Set the partition size by using the "New volume size" slider or setting an accurate value in the
corresponding field. If capacity of the available unallocated space is not enough, lacking free space
will be taken proportionally from specified donor partitions.

5. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

6. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

7. Click Expand now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Merging Partitions
Hard Disk Manager enables you to consolidate the disk space, which originally belongs to two adjacent
partitions (or additionally separated by free blocks), into a single, larger partition.

Please note that our program can only merge two adjacent NTFS, FAT32 or FAT partitions, also separated by
unallocated space.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

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2. Left click the left partition of the pair of partitions you need to merge in the working area, then select
Merge with the right volume on the sidebar.

3. By default, our program suggests moving all contents of the right partition to a folder named "Files
from <volume label>"on the resulted joined partition. If necessary, change the default volume label
in the corresponding field.

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

4. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

5. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

6. Click Merge now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Advanced Partitioning Tasks

Changing Cluster Size
The cluster size 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.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Change cluster size on the sidebar.

3. Change the default cluster size according to your needs.

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7. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

8. Click Change now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

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

Converting to Logical/Primary
You can include a primary partition into the extended partition or exclude a logical partition from the
extended partition without partition duplication.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing primary or logical partition in the working area, then select Convert to
logical/primary on the sidebar.

3. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

4. Click Convert now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

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The operating system won’t start up if you make the system partition logical.

Changing Serial Number

FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS file systems include the serial number parameter. It is generated automatically
while formatting a partition and is saved in the boot sector.

You can modify this parameter for FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS partitions without re-formatting, and this way
tackle software activation problems that may occur after Windows OS reinstallation or formatting partitions.
It can also help when you get banned from a game server.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition in the working area, then select Change serial number on the sidebar.

3. Enter a new serial number for the selected partition. It should contain 8 hexadecimal figures (0..9 or
A..F). The operation cannot proceed until you enter all 8 symbols.

4. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

5. Click Change now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Change Primary Slots

Different operating systems apply different approaches to enumeration of the primary partitions on MBR
disks.

In Linux:

In Linux, every partition has a special symbolic name that encodes a hard disk containing a partition, and a
partition itself. Partitions are addressed and accessed by using their symbolic names. Symbolic names are
automatically generated by Linux in accordance with the order of hard disks in BIOS and the order of
partition records in the Partition Table. Thus changing enumeration of the primary partitions can lead to
changing of paths to some important resources.

In DOS:

MS-DOS uses a rather sophisticated algorithm for a drive letter assignment. A drive letter, which is assigned
to a partition, depends on the order of records in the Partition Table. Thus changing enumeration of the

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primary partitions affects the drive letters assignment. In early versions of MS-DOS, it could even lead to the
unavailability of a partition.

Hard Disk Manager enables you to change enumeration of the primary partitions on a basic MBR disk, and
this way fix boot problems that may occur after a boot manager failure or incorrect work of a disaster
recovery utility.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an MBR disk in the working area, then select Change primary slots on the sidebar.

3. Use the corresponding buttons to move the selected partition up and down within the primary part
of the partition table.

OS may no longer start up after changing enumeration of system partitions.

4. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

5. Click Change now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Converting a Partition Table

Your storage device may have GPT (GUID Partition Table), MBR (Master Boot Record), including dynamic disk
configurations, or a hybrid GPT+MBR partition table.

GPT is now used on Windows and Mac computers as the primary partition scheme, while MBR used to be
the main and only partition scheme for Windows computers up to Vista. A hybrid GPT+MBR partition scheme
is a necessity for Apple BootCamp users. Dynamic disk configurations are mostly employed by business.
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Our program allows easy non-destructive conversion between various partition schemes:

• Basic GPT <> Basic MBR disk conversion. Please note that only 64-bit Windows OSes since Vista are
able to boot from a GPT disk. So if you’ve got a 32-bit Windows OS accommodated on an MBR disk, it
won’t start up after converting to GPT.

• Dynamic GPT/MBR > Basic MBR disk conversion. Please note that our program can only process
dynamic disks containing solid simple volumes (without extension).

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click a disk in the working area, then select Convert MBR disk to GPT/Convert GPT disk to
MBR/Convert dynamic to basic on the sidebar (available operation depends on the chosen storage
device).

3. Conversion from MBR to GPT doesn’t require any configuration.

But when attempting to convert a basic GPT disk or a dynamic disk containing several volumes, our
program will ask you to choose the preferred number of primary partitions, and the rest (if there are
more than four volumes on the disk) will be converted to logical disks within the extended partition.
It has to do with the limitations of the MBR partitioning scheme, that does not allow more than four
primary partitions on one disk or one extended and three primary partitions.

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4. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

5. Click Convert now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Editing Disk Sectors

With the help of this function advanced users can fix various boot problems or verify results of accomplished
data erasure operations. It can also be great for studying purposes as it provides visual representation of
the disk structure and information it contains.

Careless use of this function may lead to boot problems or even data loss.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click a disk or individual partition in the working area, then select View / edit sectors on the
sidebar.

3. You can directly access and modify sectors, save and restore sectors from specified files as well as
navigate through the system metadata.

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NTFS Optimization
As you know NTFS partitions get more and more redundant records about deleted files over time, which
slows down performance. On database servers that host MS SQL or Exchange it may cause severe
performance degradation. We include tools that help you organize valid and delete redundant records
inside NTFS MFT (Master File Table) in a couple of minutes, so you don't need to rebuild the system or
defragment the entire disk when that is the only problem.

Compacting MFT

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an NTFS partition in the working area, then select Compact MFT on the sidebar.

3. By default, our program prompts you to shift MFT records to the head of the table ("Compact
records") and then remove emptied table rows ("Truncate MFT"). Though it’s not recommended, you
can disable any of these actions.

4. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

5. Click Compact now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list
of pending changes for later execution.

Defragmenting MFT

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an NTFS partition in the working area, then select Defragment MFT on the sidebar.

3. Since a hardware or software failure, or power outage during this operation may lead to data loss,
please make a backup of the selected NTFS partition. Find more details in Configuring Backup Job.

4. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.
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5. Click Defragment now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the
list of pending changes for later execution.

Partitioning Virtual Disks

Guess you didn't know that partitioning of virtual disks could be done from outside without login into a
guest virtual machine? Just connect a virtual disk you’d like to manage as if it was an ordinary physical disk
and here you go. And if you feel uneasy about spoiling anything, just enable the non-destructive mode and
all changes on the connected disk will be saved to a snapshot. This snapshot can later be merged with its
parental disk by using standard tools included with the virtualization software. Find more details in
Connecting Virtual Disks.

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Connecting Virtual Disks

Our program helps you to connect virtual disks of all popular virtualization vendors (VHD(X), VMDK, and VDI)
as if they were ordinary physical disks, and this way accomplish various operations, including:

• Clone partitions or entire disks, which opens V2P and V2V migration scenarios. Find more details in
Migrating VM from VMware vSphere to Microsoft Hyper-V;

• Data exchange between physical and virtual environments;

• Drive partitioning (create, format, delete, move, resize, etc.);

• Modification of partition attributes (Active flag, Hidden flag, Volume Label, etc.);

• Optimization of virtual disks formatted to Microsoft NTFS;

• Data import from a parent virtual disk to one of its snapshots;

• Edit/View sectors, and many more.

Limitations:

• A virtual disk opened for writing with a 3rd party tool (e.g. being used by a virtual machine) won’t be
connected, as asynchronous parallel writing to the disk file will most likely result in data corruption.

• A virtual disk opened for reading with a 3rd party tool (e.g. it’s a parent VMware disk, which snapshot
is being used by a virtual machine) will be opened for reading only with the corresponding
notification.

• The non-destructive connection is unavailable for .vdi disks, as our program doesn’t support Oracle
VirtualBox snapshots.

• Virtual disks connected from compact discs will be available for reading only.

• A double disk connection is prohibited.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click the three-dot icon on the sidebar opposite "Operations", then select Connect virtual disk.

3. Choose the required connection mode. Select the first option if a virtual disk you’d like to connect can
be reached directly (resides on a local disk, removable media, or network share). The second option
is for virtual disks hosted by VMware vSphere.

Direct connection

4. Type in a full path to the desired virtual container in the corresponding field or browse for it
wherever it is stored (a local disk, a flash stick, a mapped network share, or a compact disc).

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• Allow write on disk. By default, the selected disk will be connected in read/write mode until you
disconnect it or exit our program.

• Allow non-destructive write on disk. It is a special read/write mode, when all changes on the
connected disk are being saved to a snapshot, thus providing complete safety for the original
disk’s contents. If needed, this snapshot can later be merged with its parental disk by using
standard tools of virtualization software vendor.

• Read only. Use this mode to avoid modification of data on the virtual disk.

• Connect disk at the program start. Use this option to have the virtual disk connected
automatically at every program start.

Although you’re allowed to connect virtual disks from network shares, we do not recommend it
due to modest performance.

vSphere connection

4. Enter an IP address (DNS name) of your vCenter or standalone ESX host and access credentials in the
corresponding fields. All information except for the password will be saved for later use. Just click the
arrow icon during the next launch and select on the previous connections.

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Initial scanning of the ESX infrastructure requires time, please be patient.

5. Upon success, you will see the inventory of the connected host or vCenter. Browse for a guest virtual
machine, which disks you’d like to manage, or enter its name in a text field for the fast search. Once
found, mark a checkbox opposite the VM name to connect all virtual disks or double click it to select
individual disks.

If your local network is not secured and can be accessed by intruders, we highly recommend you to
encrypt VD connections by enabling the Securely connect virtual disks option. Connections in this
mode are also advised, if you establish multiple connections of more than 30 machines from one
host managed by vCenter and 8+ machines from a standalone host, while a 3d party application
simultaneously works with the same virtual disks via NFC.

6. Click Connect when ready. The operation will be performed immediately.

7. As a result a new disk(s) will appear on the Disk Map. Now you can change its layout, copy data
from/to, check surface and file system integrity, optimize NTFS, and accomplish other operations.

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Checking Partitions for Problems

Testing Partition Surface
You can test surface of existing partitions and blocks of free space for bad or unstable sectors. During the
operation all found questionable and damaged sectors will be marked unusable in the file system metadata,
thus minimizing the risk of data loss.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition or block of free space in the working area, then select Test surface on
the sidebar.

3. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

4. Click Test now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Checking File System Integrity

You can check the integrity of a file system to detect and repair errors before copying data or performing
drive partitioning.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click an existing partition or block of free space in the working area, then select Check file
system on the sidebar.

3. If you’d like our program to automatically fix file system errors and/or find and attempt to repair bad
sectors, just enable the corresponding options.

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4. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

5. Click Check now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

This operation requires exclusive access to the volume, so please be ready to restart the system.

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Erasing Data
You probably don’t have an idea that deleted data can be easily recovered by novice, while pros can retrieve
data even from a disk destroyed by mechanical means. Your private data is yours alone and should not be
exposed to third party in any way. This can be achieved by erasing your storage device.

1. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

2. Left click a volume or disk you’d like to erase completely in the working area, then select Wipe data
on the sidebar. If you need to wipe remnants of deleted files and folders only, select Wipe free
space.

3. Change the default wipe options, if necessary.

• Select a specific data erasure algorithm or create your own method.

Please note that the SSD Trim option becomes available in the wizard, if our program detects one
or several SSD (NVME SSD) drives in your system. We highly recommend you not to apply
traditional HDD-based wiping algorithms for your solid state drives. First, the data wiping eats up
write cycles, which are limited for SSD. Second, none of traditional erasure software is able to
control the specific region the data is written to, as this is controlled by SSD controllers. Thus the
data wiping doesn’t guarantee complete data destruction on SSD.

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However, even SSD Trim doesn’t securely delete data. Because the SSD hardware controller does
the job independently, you cannot say for sure when it actually trims all blocks. Furthermore, SSD
drives use some unallocated space as a buffer during the wear leveling to keep data records
there.

Only the so called "Secure Erase" function can help you to irreversible and completely delete data
from SSD. Many SSD manufacturers include it into their hardware management tools. Our Linux-
based recovery environment also contains this capability. So if you need a guaranteed
permanent deletion of data from your SSD or NVME SSD drive, please use the secure erase.

The list of supported wiping algorithms may vary for your product.

The "trim" command works for individual volumes, entire drives, and remnants of deleted files.

To create a new wiping algorithm, define up to four wiping patterns, number of passes for each
wiping pattern and for the group of patterns. The Mask spinner control allows you to set a
hexadecimal character value ("0" by default). The available range is from "0" to "FF". You can also
choose whether to carry out residual data verification or not specifying the percentage of sectors
to check.

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• Mark the Set wipe stamp option to add information on the used wipe program, algorithm,
device serial number, and other properties to the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the wiped
storage device to get notified during the boot phase how and when the storage has been wiped.
Please note this option is available when wiping entire disks only.

4. Click Reporting and notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the wipe operation and/or to let our program generate a wipe report.

Find more details in:

- E-mail Settings

- Notifications Settings

- Reporting Settings

5. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

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6. Click Wipe now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

Copying Data
Sooner or later each of us faces the problem of having not enough space on the internal disk to install a new
game or application, or to store a favorite music album or family pictures. Worse still, is a situation when a
system HDD or a trendy SSD starts to deteriorate, threatening to die any moment. When this is happening
to us, the only thought we've got is how to transfer Windows OS, applications and all data to a newer and
larger storage device with minimal time and effort.

Fortunately, there are technologies that help to straightforward the process of moving all contents of your
disk, including standard bootstrap code and other system service structures, to another storage device
without having to re-install the operating system and applications. Our program can help you to perform
fast and safe migrations of Windows OS, single partitions and entire disks to new storage devices and even
downsizes to smaller capacity drives.

Below you can find a step-by-step guide how to transfer Windows OS to a fast but relatively small SSD drive.

1. Connect a new disk to the computer.

2. Launch Hard Disk Manager.

3. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

4. Left click the three-dot icon opposite "Operations", then select Find and copy OS. Alternatively, you
can left click a Windows OS volume in the working area, then select Copy operating system on the
sidebar.

5. Our program will search your system for supported operating systems. If several OSes have been
found, you will need to choose the one you’d like to migrate.

6. Depending on your choice, it will then automatically pick one or two on-disk partitions (Windows may
have System Reserved, a special hidden partition that contains boot critical files, while in the
uEFI+GPT mode there will be another hidden partition, called EFI System Partition).

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If there are more than two storage devices besides the source, you can select a destination disk from
the drop-down list.

If the selected disk is not enough in capacity to hold your OS, you will be suggested to exclude files
from the main system partition.

If the selected disk is the same size or larger than the source, but you’re still willing to remove
redundant data from the migration process, just click Exclude files and folders.

• By default, our program is configured to expand the resulted OS partition across all on-disk
space. Unmark the corresponding option if you don’t need that.

• If the destination disk becomes Bootable GPT as a result of the migration process, you’ll see one
more option available for selection. Please note that you can specify a bootable device at any
time through Boot Corrector.

All data stored on the specified destination disk will be lost during the migration, so
please use Windows Explorer or any file manager to check and save important data to
another location.

7. Double click the system partition to see its contents, then unmark checkboxes opposite unnecessary
files and folders to try to fit in to the destination disk. We highly recommend you not to exclude
system files, but those that could take plenty of disk space, like video, music, photos, etc.

Click OK when ready to let our program calculate the amount of selected data and go back to the
main dialog window. Please note that the calculation may take some time, so please be patient.
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8. Use the corresponding buttons to check the original and resulting disk layouts.

9. If necessary, click Notifications to set up e-mail notification about successful completion and/or
failure of the operation. Find more details in Notifications Settings.

10. Click Copy now to start the operation immediately or Place in queue to add this task to the list of
pending changes for later execution.

11. When the migration is over, first check up Windows OS starts up from the destination disk. If yes,
delete the Windows OS partition from the source disk, then re-partition the disk according to your
needs.

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Migrating VM
You can easily migrate your virtual machines from vCenter, ESX or ESXi servers and save them as VHD or
VHDx hard drives, which is an invaluable feature for those who need to use their VM in both VMware and
Hyper-V environments.

1. Click VM Migrate on the sidebar, then click the plus icon.

2. Task steps list will appear to the right of the bar.

• You must specify details needed to establish connection to a particular server, such as its name
or IP-address, your user name and password for access to the server.

Port 443 is selected by default.

You can check the Ignore Invalid SSL Certificate box, if the server’s certificate is recognized as
invalid.

• If the details you entered at the previous step are correct, you will be switched to the next step
Select VMs to migrate.

Find and check one or several VMs you need to migrate.

Click Next once all the needed VMs have been selected.

• Select the name and file location of each migrated VM. You can also specify the format for your
migrated VM’s hard drives (VHD or VHDx) and their type (Fixed size or dynamically expanded).

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Click Finish after having specified the parameters you want to use.

3. You will see the resulting migration task.

You can rename the task if needed.

Click Run migration now to start the process.

4. The following window will appear, containing all necessary information pertaining to the migration
task in progress.

5. You will see a notification that the migration process is complete after your VMs have been
successfully migrated.

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Extra WinPE Scenarios

Adjusting OS for the New Hardware
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 that will most likely lead
to a boot failure. In Windows 8.1 this problem has become less acute and almost disappeared in Windows
10. However, many people are still using Windows 7 and earlier versions, where built-in driver repositories
are relatively modest. Additionally, these operating systems require adjustment of the Windows kernel
settings according to the new configuration.

Our program can help you make Windows OS bootable on dissimilar hardware by allowing automatic
injection of the required drivers and other actions crucial for this type of migration.

When you may need it

• After moving your OS to a different hardware platform

• After replacing failed hardware devices

• After upgrading hardware

Known issues

• After transferring Windows to a different hardware platform, you will need to re-activate your license.
It’s normal behavior as Windows keeps tracking any change of hardware. Re-activation is legally justified
in this case, as you transfer OS to another PC.

• If you’ve installed several operating systems on one partition, we can only add drivers to the latest OS
version. Microsoft highly recommends you to install an operating system on a separate partition.

• Drivers are not cached during the selection. So if you select a driver to inject, but it’s become unavailable
during the operation, the program will end with an error.

Operation prerequisites

• You should have drivers for the new hardware ready to use, not zipped or in .exe files (crucial for
Windows 7 and earlier versions).

• Your OS should be unrolled on the new computer, not in a backup image.

• The WinPE environment offers excellent hardware support. However, in case it doesn’t have a driver for
your disk controller, your disks will be unavailable, until you inject the required driver. Find more details
in Adding Specific Drivers.

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

2. Click Disks & Volumes on the sidebar.

3. Left click the three-dot icon opposite "Operations", then select Find and adjust OS.

4. Our program will search your system for supported operating systems. If several OSes have been
found, you will need to choose the one you’d like to adjust to the new hardware. If you’re willing to
adjust them all, just re-launch this wizard for each.

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5. All necessary adjustments are accomplished automatically. You may only need to provide a path to
an additional driver repository in case the wizard has failed to find drivers in the built-in repository.
Generally, together with new hardware you get its drivers for different operating systems on
removable media. By collecting all these drivers in one folder, you can let the wizard automatically
pick and install those required for your OS.

After the search, the wizard lists devices without drivers in the built-in repository, highlighting those
that are critical for the boot process.

If you’d like to see all drivers to inject, change to "All drivers" in the drop-down menu.

Though providing drivers for boot critical devices is highly recommended, you can proceed as is by
marking the corresponding option at the bottom of the dialog window.

Select Find missing drivers automatically to navigate to an additional driver repository. If you’d like
to add drivers for undetected devices, use the Add more drivers manually option.

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6. After the operation your system will become bootable on the new hardware. Just after the startup,
Windows may initiate reconfiguration of all Plug'n'Play devices. It’s a standard procedure, so please
don’t worry.

Adding Specific Drivers

The WinPE recovery media offers excellent hardware support. However, in case of not having a driver for
your disk controller, for example, your hard disks will be unavailable to work with. Please use this scenario to
inject drivers for unknown storage controllers, network cards, or other devices.

To avoid this action every time you start up the recovery media, we recommend you to
inject additional drivers during its creation. For more details, please consult Building
Recovery Media.

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

2. Click Settings & Tools on the sidebar.

3. Left click the three-dot icon opposite "Setting & Tools", then select Load Drivers.

4. Click Add drivers to load, then browse for an .INF file of the required driver package on a floppy
disk, local disk, CD/DVD or a network share. To learn how to map a network share, please consult
Configuring Network.

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The chosen package gets on the list. Repeat this action to inject more drivers. Click Load drivers to
accomplish the operation.

The WinPE environment can either be 32- or 64-bit, so are to be drivers for injection.

Configuring Network
If your local network has a DHCP server, a network connection will be automatically configured once the
WinPE recovery media has loaded. Otherwise, you will need to do it manually by providing an IP address, a
network mask, default gateway, etc. in Network Configurator. Additionally, this wizard will help you map a
network share, ping a network resource, or measure transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol
(IP) network to track down problematic nodes.

To avoid this action every time you start up the recovery media, we recommend you to
pre-configure network settings and map network resources during its creation. For
more details, please consult Building Recovery Media.

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

2. Click Settings & Tools on the sidebar, then select Network Configurator.

3. Use the Network properties tab to change the computer identification on the network.

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• Device name and Workgroup. Click Change if you’d like to join a specific workgroup or edit an
automatically generated computer name.

• Adapter properties. By default, the recovery environment is configured to get an IP address

from a local DHCP server. If there’s no DHCP server on the network, please set up IP settings
manually, providing a static IP address, network mask, default gateway, etc.

4. Use the Network drives tab to manage network shares.

Click Map Network Drive to map a network share.

• Define a letter from the pull-down list of available drive letters;

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• Click Browse to navigate to the required network share or manually enter a path to it, using back
slashes, like in \\server\share;

• Mark the Reconnect at sign-in checkbox if you’d like to make this connection permanent.
Otherwise it will only be available for the current session;

• Mark the Connect using different credentials checkbox to specify access credentials if the
selected network share is not open for everyone. By default, the Guest account is used to map
network shares.

Network Troubleshooter
Network Configurator includes a traceroute/ping utility that enables to get detailed information on
particular routes and measure transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network. So with its
help you can easily track down problematic nodes.

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

2. Click Settings & Tools on the sidebar, then select Network Configurator > Troubleshooting.

3. By default, you will be prompted to verify the connection to google.com.

• Remote host. Type in the required IP address or its DNS name in the corresponding field.

• Ping the specified host until stopped. Mark the option to ping the chosen host for indefinite
time.

• Resolve addresses to hostnames. Mark the option to display hostnames instead of IP

addresses.

• Number of echo requests to send. By default, the utility sends 1 echo request, which you can
modify however.

Click Run when you’re ready with all parameters.

4. Select Trace route in the drop-down menu to see the path Internet packets traverse to reach a
specified destination.

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• Do not resolve addresses to hostnames. Mark the option to display IP addresses instead of
hostnames.

• Maximum number of hops to search for target. By default, the utility goes through maximum
30 hops when searching for the target host, which you can modify however.

• Wait timeout milliseconds for each reply. By default, the utility waits 4 seconds for each echo
reply message. If not received within the timeout, an asterisk (*) is displayed.

Click Run when you’re ready with all parameters.

Using the Command Prompt

The primarily function of the command prompt is running generated program scripts with different
parameters. Additionally, it can help you with opening Notepad or Diskpart, running batch files, or solving a
variety of issues such as failure to connect to the internet or website loading problems.

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

2. Click Settings & Tools on the sidebar, then select Command line.

3. The embedded command prompt utility is similar to Windows CMD. It supports the auto-complete
and commands history features:

• Arrow up/Arrow down to navigate the history,

• Tab to complete or select a path,

• Esc to clear a text field,

• Return to run a command.

Type in hdmengine_scriptsapp.exe <path to a generated script file> --multiple to run the

required program script.

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Please note that the ‘multiple’ parameter is obligatory to use in WindowsPE. To learn more about
scripts, please consult the Paragon Scripting Language manual.

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Operation Results and Reports

1. Click Reports on the sidebar to see when and with what result (success or failure) each operation
completed. If the list contains too many items, use the built-in filter to narrow it down.

2. Click Preview report to get a detailed report on the selected at the moment operation. Use the
corresponding buttons and fields to modify report properties according to your needs. You can print
out the report, sent it by e-mail or save locally.

Find more details in:

- E-mail Settings

- Reporting Settings

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Migrating VM from VMware vSphere to Microsoft Hyper-V

Are you willing to shift your virtual infrastructure from VMware vSphere to Microsoft Hyper-V and the only
thing that holds you back from it is plenty of time and effort required from your side to accomplish this type
of migration? Don’t worry, we can help you streamline this process.

We highly recommend you to migrate one virtual machine at a time in order not to be confused
by a large number of disks to deal with.

1. Connect all or individual disks of a virtual machine you’d like to migrate using the "vSphere
connection" scenario. Find more details in Connecting Virtual Disks.

As a result, one or several new disks named "VMware ESX Virtual Image" should appear on the disk
map. In our example, these are two disks of 80 GB each.

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2. Since we have selected two VMware virtual disks for migration, we create a new virtual machine with
two empty disks in Microsoft Hyper-V. Please note that the capacity of these disks should be enough
to hold all data of the connected source disks (see the "Used space" property). In our example, data
occupies about 50% of the available free space on each disk, so we could create disks of 50 GB only.

Another important thing at this step is to select the correct generation of the virtual machine. In
short, for Windows 8 and later environments, configured to boot in the GPT-uEFI mode, you should
pick Generation2, while for earlier Windows systems and those configured to boot in the MBR-BIOS
mode – Generation1.

We recommend you to use Windows Admin Center for managing your Hyper-V server. Find more
details in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/manage/windows-admin-
center/understand/what-is.

3. Connect the virtual disks of the just created Hyper-V virtual machine using the "Direct connection"
scenario. Find more details in Connecting Virtual Disks.

If you try to connect the disks remotely, you need to share them across the network. This action can
be omitted, if our program is installed on the Hyper-V host.

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You’re allowed to connect one disk at a time in this mode, so please repeat the action for all involved
disks.

As a result, two new empty disks named "Microsoft Virtual Image" should appear on the disk map.
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4. Now it’s time for copying contents of the source VMware disks to the target Hyper-V disks. Left click
one of the connected VMware disks in the working area, then select Copy disk on the sidebar, if
you’d like to copy the entire disk. If necessary, you can copy an individual volume(s) only.

While configuring a copy operation, you can also choose files and folders you’d like to exclude from
the migration process as well as change the target disk layout. Find more details in Copying Data.

We recommend you not to apply each copy operation immediately, but place them all in the queue
for later execution in the batch mode. Find more details in First Start.

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While copying a disk or volume that hosts Windows OS, our program also does a boot fixup to
make your OS bootable on a different virtualization platform.

5. Once the copying is completed, disconnect the source and target virtual disks (left click each disk in
the working area, then select Disconnect virtual disk on the sidebar). The virtual disks will also be
disconnected after closing our program.

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6. It’s time to start and connect to the migrated virtual machine.

7. After you make sure the guest operating system starts up and all data is in place, you can delete the
original virtual machine.

Copyright© 1994-2019 Paragon Software Group. All rights reserved.

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Troubleshooting
In case of having difficulties with handling the product first visit our Knowledge Base to find an existing
remedy: https://kb.paragon-software.com/.

If your issue is not described there, please address our support engineers for assistance. To help you solve
your problem with minimal time, our engineers need operation logs and your brief description.

1. Reproduce your issue (make it happen again).

2. Click Settings & Tools on the sidebar, then select Logs Collector Tool. Provide an e-mail address
used for registering the product, then describe the encountered problem. Please don’t worry - we
respect your privacy, so none of your confidential data will be exposed.

3. Browse for the required location of the log files package and edit the default file name, if necessary.
Click Save when ready.

4. Once the operation is over, click Explore logs location to check the prepared package doesn’t
contain anything confidential, but layouts of your disks, performed operations, etc.

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5. Use the link on the first page of the wizard to sign in to MyParagon Account.

6. Go through the first-level ticket request form, then click Submit request.

7. Go through the second-level ticket request form, attach the prepared logs package, then click Post
request. That’s all. Our support engineers will get in touch with you in a little while.

Copyright© 1994-2019 Paragon Software Group. All rights reserved.