Paragon's software automatically realigns existing data when cloning and older drive to a new one. If you clone an older partition to a new large-capacity disk, you're likely to end up with an inefficient disk layout, because the old, XP-era formatting method stores data in a way that slows down disks that use the newest technology. When advanced users install a new large-capacity disk, they typically copy their existing data to it by transferring a cloned copy of their older hard disks. Paragon's suite is only partition manager I've found that's technologically up-to-date, and the only one with built-in support for the new Advanced Formatting scheme used on most solid-state disks (SSDs) and almost all large-capacity hard disks (1.5TB or larger) now being manufactured. But I'll always take safety over elegance when choosing software that manages my hard disk. Paragon's main interface is far less elegant than Acronis's, and Paragon looks positively clunky when it displays an animation of interlocking gears while it performs its operations. I admire the way Paragon, unlike Acronis, exposes its relatively safe tools on easy-to-use wizards, but hides away its dangerous tools on a separate interface where only expert users are likely to find them. It could be easier to find, but at least Paragon provides plenty of warnings and requires confirmations before you perform any potentially destructive operation. Each of these specific tasks leads to a wizard that leads you safely through all the decisions you need to make, with plenty of warnings and clarifications displayed along the way.įor complex tasks that involve multiple partitions-for example, moving one partition to make room for expanding and then splitting another-you'll need to find a small, unobtrusive link at the lower left of the main window which opens the full-featured partition manager program from which you can perform almost any task, no matter how dangerous. When you click the Partitioning category in the left column, the right column lists specific tasks such as "Create Partition," "Format Partition," and similar items. The main menu on both the Windows-based program and the emergency CD is a two-column list with categories of tasks on the left and specific tasks on the right. Paragon's overall interface isn't as elegant as the single-column list of features in Acronis Disk Director, and it took me a few moments to find some of the powerful tools that Paragon offers. Also unlike Acronis, Paragon's emergency CD includes tools for restoring a damaged Windows boot configuration, so you can use the Paragon CD for the repair jobs that would otherwise require a Windows installation DVD. Unlike Acronis Disk Director 11 Home (3.5 stars, $49.99), Paragon's app doesn't make you work your way through a wizard to create a bootable emergency CD, but lets you download a prebuilt disk image for burning. It adds data-management tools like one that copies files or folders from a drive and burns a copy to optical media. Like rival utilities, Paragon creates, resizes, merges, splits, clones, and defragments partitions. Even without these advanced features, the Suite version is the by far the most powerful and effective disk utility I've seen. Paragon Hard Disk Manager Suite 2011 is designed for home and small-office users, not corporations and academic institutions, who should wait for a soon-to-be-released Professional Edition, which will include a few additional tools for server-scaled systems, such as the ability to migrate between physical disks and virtual machines. But plenty of users do need to perform these tasks, and, for them, there's no better choice than Paragon Hard Disk Manager Suite 2011 ($49.95, direct) for dividing a disks into multiple partitions, each with a different drive letter, and for resizing, merging, copying, and otherwise managing partitions. Many computer users never need a disk management utility because they don't work with large quantities of data, or because they don't use massive files that need to be stored ways that makes them easy to backup and recover, or because they don't need to boot to more than one operating system on the same machine, or because they don't care about the safety and security they can gain by using two or more drive letters-or two or more physical hard disks-on the same computer. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software.
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