eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Data backup, disaster recovery and data migration solutions specialist Paragon Software Group announced the release of a new version of the Hard Disk Manager Suite and Professional editions.
The software contains hard-disk management tools designed for PC users seeking to keep their digital data safe and maintained in physical or virtual environments. The offering includes functionality for partitioning, backup and recovery, copy and migration, security and optimization, boot management, and virtualization tasks. Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 targets beginners as well as advanced home and home office users.
With a new engine supporting the latest storage technologies, including high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs), the platform achieves the companys fastest recorded partitioning speed to date, the company said.
The communication between Hard Disk Manager and the Microsoft VSS service has also been elevated. In addition to the option of migrating physical systems to a virtual environment and physical to virtual (P2V) Adjust OS Wizard offered in both versions of Hard Disk Manager 12, the professional edition offers Paragons Connect virtual device (VD) technology to connect virtual hard drives directly to the software. All partitioning, backup and migration tasks can be applied to virtual drives as if they were physically connected.
For nearly two decades, Paragon Software has consistently led the market in hard-disk management and data safety development, pushing the discovery of more powerful and inclusive tools that are as relevant to todays technologies as to emerging storage standards, said Konstantin Komarov, CEO of Paragon. Hard Disk Manager 12 continues to support Paragons reputation for producing the industrys highest-rated hard-disk maintenance and system migration utility with faster, more flexible partition control and virtualization capabilities combined with our other technologies into one single, very useable tool.
Updated features in Hard Disk Manager 12 include P2P and P2V Adjust OS, which makes the operating system start up after unsuccessful migration or virtualization with third-party tools, and the ability to migrate between physical disks and virtual machines. This feature migrates a physical system to a virtual environment by converting the software environment into a virtual disk of the required virtual machine.
The platform also comes with Paragon Connect VD technology with nondestructive read/write mode when all changes applied to the mounted virtual drive are stored in a special snapshot file (Professional edition only), and a new partitioning engine that carries out all types of partitioning schemes and is compatible with all types of modern hard drives and high-capacity SSDs.
Hard Disk Manager 12 provides support for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) installations of operating systems and supports split partitions, where users can split any partition in two with desired size and proportions and choose which files and folders are stored on the first partition and which to store on the other one. Users can also resume operations on virtual volumes in case of disconnection or any other unexpected situation (Professional edition only).
The updated software provides improved write-operations by using asynchronous backup to improve backup processing speeds. In addition, it offers encrypted backup to avoid unauthorized access to a users backup files. The professional version also supports new wiping algorithms.
Hard Disk Manager 12 Suite is available for $49.95 and can be downloaded from the companys Website. Hard Disk Manager 12 Professional is available for $99.95.