Paragon NTFS for Mac Review: We work with the Windows file system on Mac without problems. How to Partition a Hard Drive with Paragon Partition Manager

Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free- a free program that will allow you to easily manage your computer's hard drives. The main function of the program is to split hard drive into sections.

The program interface is in English, but simple and will be clear to any user. The program has many different features, the main ones are available in the free version, and they should be enough for home use. If you want to use the program "to the fullest", then you need to purchase a license.

Downloading free version programs from Yandex.Disk by clicking on the link below. Run the installation file and go through all the suggested items - the process is very simple.

After installation is complete, run the program on your computer. You can use the program either in simple mode, or select the mode for advanced users.

In simple mode, the program is displayed as a menu quick start. It allows you to run the product components, access the help system, navigate to home page. To open the main window of the program, click on the button "Partition Manager Free".

From the Quick Launch Menu, you can perform the following operations with hard drive: "Create New Partition" - create a new partition, "Resize Partition" - change the size of the partition, "Format Partition" - format the partition, "Delete Partition" - delete the partition, "NTFS-HFS Convert" - convert the file system of the selected partition.

Go to the main window of the program. The disk map is displayed here. The color of the disk - blue, light green - depends on the current file system. On the right, you can view information about the selected disk: drive letter, volume label, type, file system, amount of disk space used. There you can also select the operation to be done with the hard drive.

If you want to return to the previous view of the program, click "Express Mode".

To create a new partition on the selected hard drive, click "Express Create".

Next, the wizard will ask you to choose "Partition Creation Method", i.e. choose the amount of space for the new partition. I have two methods available, yours may be different - it all depends on hard state disk.

As a result, a new partition will be created on the hard drive. Click "Apply" to save the settings.

It is better to create a new partition on the hard disk manually. To do this, right-click on the hard drive and select "Move / Resize Partition" from the context menu.

Now select the amount of memory for the new partition. If you select "Free space after", then the new partition will be created after the partition from which it is created. Click "Yes".

Now we right-click on the created partition and select "Create partition" from the context menu.

To finish creating a new partition, click "Apply".

With Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free we have partitioned HDD. This is done quickly and should not be difficult.

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Supported hardware: P-ATA (IDE), S-ATA (S-ATA II), SCSI hard drives up to 500 Gb and (theoretically) more. Partial work with IEEE1394, USB 1.0, USB 2.0, ZIP and Jazz, plug-in drives.

System requirements

Processor: Intel Pentium
Memory: 32 Mb RAM
HDD Space: 12 Mb
OS: Microsoft Windows 9X/XP.

test system

Processor: AMD AthlonXP 3000+
Motherboard: Asus A7V600 (rev 1.0, bios 1009)
Memory: 1024MB PC2700
Video card: GeForce 6600 GT
CD/DVD: NEC DVDRW ROM
HDD: IDE Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 120 Gb
HDD: SATA Seagate ST3160023AS 160Gb
OS: Windows XP SP1, DirectX 9.0c

It is desirable for each owner of a hard drive to do at least three things: partition the disk into sections, assign a file system, and copy system data. To date, there are many programs that can solve the above tasks, and the difference between them, as a rule, is insignificant. Now (since the long presence of Windows XP and before the advent of Windows Longhorn), the time has come when there seems to be nothing to improve, so we will focus on the usability and accessibility of the program. And Paragon Partition Manager 6.0 was presented to us as the tested software.

We have paid attention to this program not by chance. It was this summer that Russified CD-versions of Paragon Partition Manager 6.0 (PPM6) from Novyi Disk began to appear in the "pharmacies" of Russia at a price of 120-140 rubles. The price turned out to be an order of magnitude lower than the Western original at a price of 450-600 rubles, especially since the translation into the native language, we think, will please many (especially inexperienced) users.
We would not like to paint everything that PPM6 can do (and it can do a lot). Let's dwell on the most relevant moments.

Supply

The disc comes in a standard jewel box. Autorun displays a full-screen menu, which is not very convenient, since I would like to be able to minimize the window, rather than constantly pressing +.

The menu offers information about the product and also contains information about Paragon System Recovery 7.0 and Paragon Rescue Kit 4.0.

In addition, there are demo versions of the following software:

• Paragon Hard Disk Manager 6.0
• Paragon CD Rom Emulator 3.0
• Paragon Drive Backup 6.0
• Paragon Easy CD/DVD Recorder 6.0

The Partition Manager installation package contains the following components:

• Partition Manager for Windows 95, 98 and ME
• Partition Manager for Windows XP
• Partition Manager for DOS
• Partition Manager for Linux
• Diskette Build Wizard

Version difference

Please note that we are considering a "personal" version of PPM6, which can only be installed and run on Windows 9X/XP and cannot run in Terminal Sessions. To work in Windows NT4/2000/2003 Server, there is a professional version of PPM6 ($50), which has a number of additional advantages, of which we highlight:

• operations on dynamic disks, including converting dynamic disks to basic disks
• creating scheduled disk management tasks, somehow - daily defragmentation
• automatic backup of the system disk at a specified time
• creating a Recovery CD

Main menu

The installation does not require a reboot. We start PPM6. Approximately 3-4 seconds are spent scanning disks, after which the main menu of the program opens.

The menu is divided into several constituent parts. At the top is the program line, below is the action bar. On the left is the structure of hard drives, on the right is a panel with a reminder of operating systems, below which is a visual partition with hard drives (you can assign a proportional view), and even lower is the structure of the selected disk.

Many functions duplicate each other, in addition, by right-clicking the menu, you can call up the menu of operations:

By clicking on the hard drive label, you can call up the screen for changing the name of the label, and by clicking on the hard drive letter, you can quickly activate the information window:

User Settings

I think it makes no sense to describe all the features of the menu completely, everything is intuitive, all the more Russified. Let's turn your attention to the user settings (Program - program settings).

Let's break down all the options:

• Check data on write- the option is used for unreliable hard drives that are capable of losing data. The write operations will be followed by the read and compare operations. There is a similar option in Nero Burning ROM when you want to make sure that all the data has been written to the disc.
• Sector copy 1:1- when this option is enabled, the program processes all sectors of the partition. That is, when copying a disk image, everything is copied, not just working partitions. The only way to copy a partition with bad sectors is to switch to the sector-by-sector copy mode. Naturally, such an operation will require more time than the quick copy mode.
• FAT 64K clusters for NT- the option allows you to create a FAT16 partition with a 64K cluster, thereby increasing the size of the space from 2 to 4 Gb. In fact, only Windows NT 4.0 supports 64K clusters.
• Don't hide trailing primary partitions after copy/restore- this option is enabled by default. This is necessary so that Windows can boot from the hidden system partition.
• Try to access the hard disk bypassing the BIOS- the parameter is required only for compatibility with older hardware. The option is only effective in DOS and Windows 95/98/ME. On Windows NT/2000/XP and also on Linux it is useless.
• Don't prompt for label before deleting partition- activate this option to suppress the label request for the partition being deleted (see chapter "Deleting a partition"). By default, before deleting a partition, Partition Manager asks for its label (to eliminate the possibility of accidental deletion).
• Automatic conversion of FAT16 to FAT32 when increasing partition size- when enabled, PPM6 will convert FAT16 to FAT32 if the resulting partition size exceeds maximum size(2 Gb) defined for FAT16. Since some OS(Windows NT 4.0 and earlier) do not support FAT32, the program will warn the user about the conversion.
• Enable hardware failure protection mode- a very useful option, which is recommended to check. Enables disaster recovery mode. Let's say you are partitioning, and at this time the PC is turned off due to a power failure. PPM6 will allow interrupted operations to be completed, thanks to the fact that a log of ongoing operations will be kept. Naturally, the option slows down the speed of the program, but, as they say, God saves the safe.
• number hard disks, starting from 1- without enabling the option, the program uses numbering hard drives and sections starting from zero.
• Disk surface check mode - the option allows you to select three check options:
  • No - verification is disabled
  • Normal - one-time reading test
  • Thorough - three-time read and write test
  The option is used when formatting, copying or moving a partition, resizing, testing the surface.

Let's go through the neighboring bookmarks.

An interesting option. If someone doesn't know - NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 file systems use different standards for file names and timestamps (Created, Modified and Last accessed). PPM6 uses locale settings to correctly convert the mentioned values, otherwise non-latin filenames could be corrupted. The settings presented affect the conversion of the "FATxx=>NTFS" and "NTFS=>FATxx" file systems. Time tracking avoids the situation in which all files and directories on the converted partition become "older" or "younger" than the originally fixed temporary values. Setting the code page is required to correctly convert non-Latin names from Unicode to ANSI and vice versa.

Other bookmarks User And Language are not of interest for the description, and we will consider the Operations tab separately.

Virtual, real operations

So, PPM6 is able to perform operations in three modes.

• Virtual Operations- the program emulates all user actions so that he can get acquainted with the final result. This creates a list of changes. You can take steps back, you can give a command to apply actions.
• Operations- in this mode, the program performs an operation after each user command.
• Performing only complex operations - in this case, all operations that take time to complete are performed in virtual mode, and fast operations are performed immediately. Quick transactions include:
  • Hide/Show section;
  • Set the "Active"/"Inactive" flag for the section;
  • Connect section;
  • Set partition label.

  PPM6 Features

  Let's highlight the main features of the program.

  Partitioning

  PPM6 is able to create the following file partitions: FAT-12/16/32, NTFS, Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, HPFS, L-Swap 1&2. The main features of the program are listed in the table:

  Operations	FAT, NTFS	ext2, ext3	ReiserFS	HPFS	L-Swap 1&2	Other file systems
  copying	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	*recreate	** mode 1:1
  Formatting	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
  Resizing and moving	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	*recreate	No
  Changing the cluster size	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
  transformation	Yes	No	No	No	No	No

  * PPM6 does not save data localized on Linux Swap partitions. The program simply deletes existing L-Swap partitions and creates new ones.
  ** Partitions of unknown types are always processed using the sector-to-sector algorithm (1:1 mode)

  Surface test

  With the help of a surface test, the program can detect "bad" bad sectors and mark them as unusable without placing data in these sectors.

  Cloning system drives

  PPM6 can be used as a system disk copyer. The execution algorithm is the same as Norton Ghost:

  1. Copy the desired disk partition to a free partition on another hard drive.
  2. We turn off the computer.
  3. Turn off the original hard drive.
  4. We boot the PC from the hard drive to which the source disk was copied.

  After completing this procedure, you can use both discs individually or together.
  I tried using PPM6 to copy my system disk with Windows XP and programs (only 9 Gb). The operation took me 8 minutes. As a result, I received a complete working copy of my system partition and now, in which case, I can quickly restore crashes or Windows crashes.

  Redistributing Free Disk Space

  With PPM6, you can expand / shrink any partition of the hard drive, if neighboring partitions allow it. In this case, the data is preserved intact, even if neighboring affected partitions have a different cluster size. The only thing to keep in mind is that Windows cannot boot from an NTFS partition that has a cluster size of 64K.

  The PPM6 disk is bootable. When this operation is performed, the following menu appears:

  
  

  Unfortunately, the Linux version is stuck with us. There was no time to find out the reasons, and we booted using PTS DOS.

  
  

  In principle, the program allows you to use almost all the features of the Windows version of PPM6, only the mouse cursor slowed down noticeably more during the planning of the operation than when using the DOS version of the famous PartitionMagic 8.0 utility.

  We have considered only a part of the program's functions, but we think this is enough to make an initial impression of PPM6.

  pros

  • The program meets all modern requirements for working with hard drive partitions;
  • Convenient intuitive interface;
  • High quality localization;
  • Detailed instructions in Russian;
  • Low price.

  Minuses

  • Some limitations in the Personal Edition compared to the Professional Edition;
  • Issues with the boot disk.

  conclusions

  Well, Paragon Partition Manager 6.0 turned out to be a very solid program, one of the best in its class. The $4 price is more than reasonable. However, there are no ideal programs, we did not use PPM6 so much, so you may find flaws and errors. In the end, it remains for us to recall only one good truth - rely on the program, but don't make a mistake yourself (read: make copies of important files before any operations on the hard drive).

Functional

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

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

• free distribution;
• convenient, simple interface;
• search capability bad sectors disks;
• support for all media models;
• useful feature sets;
• step by step master.

Flaws:

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

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

HDDScan. Free software, created to diagnose the hard drive. It can check it for bad sectors and errors, display S.M.A.R.T, change some parameters, etc.

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

How the program works

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

Interface

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

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

Operation menu

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

Disc Information

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

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

Disk partitioning

In the next window, specify the final size.

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

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

It is very important for a PC owner that the information stored in his disk drive is completely safe. Therefore, we bring to your attention Paragon Partition Manager - this software for performing operations with hard disk partitions and optimizing the file system of the drive itself. The program provides data on local disks, and also displays detailed information about the HDD.

In the main window of the program, you can see a simple design, a list of disks and the structure of its partitions. The menu consists of several areas. The action bar is on the top row. When a specific section is selected, a list of available actions with it is displayed in the right area of ​​the interface. The bottom right pane shows information about the drive that the OS is currently installed on. You can see detailed data not only about the volume and occupied disk space of the HDD, but also technical specifications, which imply the number of sectors, heads and cylinders.

Settings

In the settings tab, the user can fully customize all processes for himself, using for this standard ways offered by the program. Paragon Partition Manager provides advanced settings for almost every operation, ranging from archiving to logging information. An interesting feature is that in this tab you can configure sending letters in the form of reports to your email. You can set up this process in such a way that the program will send information after each operation performed in graphical form or in HTML format.

File systems

The program allows you to create partitions and convert them to the following file systems: FAT, NTFS, Apple NFS. You can also change the cluster size in all suggested formats.

HFS+/NTFS conversion

There is an option to convert HFS+ to NTFS. This operation is used in cases where the data was originally stored in Windows in the HFS+ format. The function is used taking into account that this file system does not support the standard type Mac systems OS X, as well as NFTS itself. The developers assure that the conversion operation is completely safe in terms of preserving the data available in the original file system.

Disk expansion and shrinkage

Paragon Partition Manager allows you to shrink or expand disk partitions if it has free disk space. Both merging and trimming can be applied even when sections have different sizes clusters. The exception is the file NTFS system, which Windows will not be able to boot, given that the format cluster size is 64 KB.

Boot disk

The program provides the ability to burn an image file with a bootable version of Partition Manager. The DOS version allows you to use only the basic functions. This can help the user optimize their PC in cases where their OS does not start for some reason. You can also perform operations in this DOS version on Linux systems by clicking on the corresponding menu button. But unfortunately, in this case the program does not work correctly, therefore, as an alternative, you can use the section in the menu - PTS-DOS.

Virtual HDD

Connection function image of hard disk will help transfer data from the program to the virtual partition. All types supported virtual disks, including VMware, Microsoft Virtual PC images. The program also works with files such as Parallels images and Paragon's own archives. So, you can easily export data from the listed programs to disk partitions displayed by standard OS tools.

Advantages

• The necessary set of tools for working with the hard drive;
• Convenient program management;
• Russian version;
• Ability to convert HFS+/NTFS.

Flaws

• The download version may not work correctly.

The Partition Manager software solution is very interesting in its way. Having a simple design, the program boasts good support for file system formats. Allowing you to create copies of disks and perform the necessary operations with the hard drive, Partition Manager is one of best solutions among analogues.