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Price: £40
($79.95)
Supplier: Paragon
Software Group
Sales:
sales@paragon-software.com
Web:
http://www.paragon-software.com
System
requirements:
Pentium Processor 300MHz or higher, 128MB RAM, 60MB free Hard Disk
space, Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Server 2003
As a Partition Magic and Drive Image (now Symantec Ghost) devotee, I
was more than a little apprehensive that Paragon Hard Disk Manager
would meet my expectations; how wrong I was! Paragon Hard Disk
Manager not only gave me the control I needed, turning hard disk
management into a joy rather than a technical nightmare, but also
gave me more tools for my money. Considering Paragon Hard Disk
manager is a suite of disk management applications, rather than a
single application, it managed to Partition, Copy, Restore and
Securely wipe my hard drive; performing as good as, and sometimes,
even better than similar competing applications on the market.
DOS or Linux Recovery, you choose
HDM ships with two main components – A Windows application and a
bootable recovery CD. The recovery CD is an important addition
because this is the easiest way of restoring images/files and
creating partitions etc, in the unlikely event of a full unbootable
system crash
The recovery disc runs both DOS and Linux, with Linux being the
default option. While many advanced users are familiar with DOS
command line protocols, DOS does have its disadvantages. The
biggest, in the case of HDM, is its inability to burn CDs directly
from within the DOS environment. Fortunately, this is no problem for
Linux, thereby enabling the user to create backup images directly
within the recovery CD environment.
Dividing the spoils
A great computing maxim is “always buy the largest hard drive you
can afford.” While this is common sense, simply allocating the whole
drive to the operating system is not a very efficient way of using
the available disk space. It is, after all, human nature to
compartmentalise, put things into neat little boxes; so why not
apply the same theory to the hard drive?
Partitioning the hard drive in this way is more efficient than
simply allowing the operating system full rein of the available
space. HDM has an extremely efficient partitioning system that
enables you to create separate partitions with the minimum of fuss.
Nothing could be easier than selecting a section of free space,
right clicking on it and selecting Create. It is then a simple
matter of selecting whether you want a primary, logical or extended
partition, typing the desired size for the partition, selecting a
suitable file system – FAT, NTFS, Linux etc, - and finally clicking
the Apply button to start the whole process off. In less than no
time the original single span drive becomes multi-spanned. With
these extra partitions it is easy to install another operating
system, store back up data, or image the original operating system
to the partition as a safeguard against any impending disaster.
Fig 1: The main Interface is crisp
and clear
If partitioning the drive with HDM has a downside it has to be the
non-automatic allocation of drive letters to when creating a new
partition. In order to give the new partition a drive letter, it is
necessary to mount the partition first using HDM’s Mount option.
HDM is not only brilliant at creating partitions, it also deletes,
formats, wipes free space, resizes, and moves, all with
relative ease.
Mirror Image
Consider the following scenario: You recently spent hours
re-installing Windows XP along with every piece of software you
have. Three days later the system crashes and cannot be repaired
without doing a complete re-install. What option would you rather
take, spend hours re-installing again or, after the first initial
install, take the precaution of imaging the hard drive or partition?
The decision revolves around whether you want your system up and
running again in several hours or 30 to 40 minutes. I know which
option I prefer!
Fig 2: Partitions can easily be
copied to any available free space
HDM not only copies one specific drive to another drive, it can also
image the drive, along with bootstrap and service structures, for
the purpose of security and back up. In turn these images can be
saved to another hard drive, as a compressed image or, for added
security, burnt via HDM’s built in burner software to a set of CDs
or DVDs.
Fig 3: Backup copies can easily be
burnt to CD/DVD with Paragons built in CD Burner
As well as creating an exact replica of the drive, it is also
possible to create incremental backups of the system drive or
partition. Like an image these incremental backups are compressed to
save disk space and transfer time. By using HDM’s scheduled backup
option a backup can be scheduled to suit the user, either at system
start-up, logon, daily, weekly or monthly, thus taking the drudgery
out of performing system wide backups.
Fig 4: Backup scheduler enables
you create incremental backups when you want to
Wiping the slate
Deleting a partition does not delete the contents of that partition.
Instead it merely removes all references of the partition from the
partition table. This method, although not secure, does enable the
user to recover the partition should it be accidentally deleted.
However, there comes a time when it is imperative that the contents
of the drive/partition are irreversibly destroyed. This is where
HDM’s wipe hard drive and wipe partition options come to the fore.
Accessed via Disk Menu and Partition Menu on the main toolbar, the
wipe hard drive and wipe partition options enable the user to
permanently destroy the contents of the drive/partition. This is
ideal if, for example, you are planning on selling your PC or you
simply need to make certain that all sensitive data is removed from
the hard drive.
Fig 5: Securely wiping a disk or
partition couldn't be easier
On the same note it should also be remembered that file deletion
acts in a similar way. When a file is deleted only its reference is
removed. To all intent and purpose the file still remains. It is
only through further use of the PC that, eventually, the deleted
file becomes over-written by new data. If the file happens to be a
particularly sensitive one this can be a major security headache
because, so long as remedial action is taken straight away, the file
can, with the help of the correct software, usually be recovered. To
counter the security breach HDM can wipe all free space on the hard
drive/partition. This option allows for the free space to be
over-written a number of times, thus rendering any deleted file
unrecoverable.
For drives/partitions that are not locked by the system the wiping
of free space can be performed directly from within the Windows
environment. Locked drives, however, require a system reboot to
enable the wiping procedure to be performed in ‘blue screen’ mode. I
have to say that I found this somewhat irritating, particularly as
numerous freeware file eraser applications are available that are
more than capable of wiping the free space of the system drive
without re-booting having to take place.
Verdict
Paragon Hard Disk Manager is an extremely versatile disk management
application with plenty of power under the hood to satisfy both
general and business users. For those less familiar with HDM the
application provides numerous wizards which guide the user
effortlessly through the various disk management options. These are
simply to use and less intimidating. As a disk management package
there is simply only one word to describe it, Brilliant!
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Ease of use:
10.0
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Features:
10.0
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Value for
Money: 10.0
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Overall: 10.0
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