Top 10 File System Drivers Articles By:| Paragon Software Group Blog

High on Sierra: Apple’s WWDC 2017

This year’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) brings us, as usual, a new version of macOS. Despite various suggestions for what to christen this forthcoming update, Apple tricked everyone and chose a most unexpected name: macOS High Sierra. The similarity to the current macOS Sierra hints at the minor improvements most users will see. However, there are many bigger changes under the hood.

With High Sierra, Apple claims its Safari web browser is faster than all competitors, and presented various benchmarks as evidence. This bold statement was followed by the introduction of Intelligent Tracking Prevention — a feature that means Safari now has content blocking built-in, automatically halting those annoying auto-play ads with sound in their tracks. Safari will also be more privacy conscious, blocking attempts to access cookies on your Mac that are deemed to be an invasion of privacy.

The Photos app also received a few improvements. With better facial recognition and a persistent sidebar, it’s easier to search for objects and scenes, or filter your library more intelligently. If you don’t have Adobe Photoshop installed or don’t want to spend your time poking around inside complicated editing software, High Sierra brings simple but helpful photo-editing tools to Photos, which sync across all your devices. Live Photos can be edited with special effects, while the Memories section of the app is a more intelligent and thoughtful curator of your memoirs.

Apple has also tweaked Mail.app, bringing full-screen, split-window support and better organization with improved Spotlight search that will serve up the most relevant results first.

The macOS update also encouraged Apple to move to the H.625 video standard, with support for improved 4K playback and efficient decoding of ultra-high-resolution video content. Those improvements are coupled with the launch of a new graphics API for developers: Metal 2, which is more efficient than its predecessor (up to 10x in many cases), with support for VR content.

Finally, the Apple File System makes it’s debut with High Sierra. APFS is a next-generation file system for Apple products based upon the iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS software platforms, which now covers devices from the diminutive Apple Watch all the way up to Mac Pro. It’s optimized for Flash/SSD storage and features strong encryption, copy-on-write metadata, space sharing, cloning for files and directories, snapshots, fast directory sizing, atomic safe-save primitives, and improved file system fundamentals.

Apple claims APFS vastly accelerates the speed of actions like duplicating large files, while boasting improved performance, security, and reliability. All users who upgrade should see noticeable gains in day-to-day use.

To celebrate this news, we’re offering big savings for our powerful application that covers all aspects of the computer’s life cycle: Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac is now available with a 20% off discount! HDM for Mac includes drive partitioning, file system optimization and repair functions, data backup capabilities, irreversible data wiping, and much more.

macOS High Sierra is available as a public beta for early adopters in June from beta.apple.com, and is currently free to download for all Mac developers at developer.apple.com. The new macOS 10.13 will arrive as a full release for all users with compatible Macs and MacBooks this autumn.

NTFS For Mac 15 Preview: A New Perspective on Windows Partitions

It finally happened: We’re releasing a preview version of Paragon NTFS for Mac 15! Two years have passed since version 14, during which time we’ve gathered a lot of feedback from you. So, let us proudly present a fresh version of our well-known Mac software utility that eliminates boundaries with the Windows operating systems, enabling full read and write access to Windows-formatted drives on macOS.

New file system driver engine

The new edition comes with a robust new engine that guarantees advanced support of the latest NTFS file systems such as Windows 10 system compression and provides even faster, more transparent access to NTFS partitions under macOS.

Completely redesigned UI

We’ve designed the new UI based on your requests and feedback. Now all product functionality and options have been migrated from the previous System Preference Pane to a standalone macOS application:

A menubar application provides quick information on mounted volumes, as well as startup and verify options:

Here’s what it looks from the macOS Finder:

Based on your feedback, we’ve also added support for two color themes: Dark and Light.

New mount options

The first option, “Mount in read-only mode,” denies write access to the selected volume to keep sensitive data intact. The second, “Do not mount automatically,” prevents a volume from being mounted automatically on system startup or when the storage device is reconnected.

Support for Spotlight indexing

Spotlight is a search feature of Apple’s desktop and mobile operating systems designed to quickly locate specific data including documents, music, and pictures. Spotlight also delivers other benefits, including quick access to definitions from the built-in dictionary. This feature is helpful without compromising performance by working periodically in the background. A major re-indexing only occurs after a major OS update.

New OS Boot manager

The program detects all bootable volumes available on the system, allowing you to choose the one you’d like to boot from. After selecting a startup volume, you can choose whether to restart your Mac from it immediately or postpone the operation until next time.

Thanks to your feedback, we have managed to create a great utility you’re sure to love. Please give it a try, and feel free to provide us with any thoughts or ideas about this new release. It’s free to use until September 1^st, 2017, so click here to download the latest version, or check your MyParagon account if you already own a previous version.

What Is Secure Boot, and How to Solve “Unsigned Driver” Issue in Windows 10 Anniversary Update

We just want to let you know that we fixed “Secure Boot” issue in the latest update of HFS+ for Windows 11. We explain what was the hindrance down below. By the way, HFS+ for Windows 11 is a part of Paragon UFSD Value Pack for cross-platform users, that goes with lifetime upgrade assurance. More info at the end of the article.

Modern PCs start up with the “Secure Boot” feature, part of the UEFI firmware that replaced traditional BIOS.

BIOS is a computer’s Basic Input-Output System — low-level software that resides on a chip built into the motherboard. BIOS’s job is to start up various components when you turn on your PC, make sure they’re functioning, then pass functionality off to your operating system or another boot loader. Prior to 1981, computers used very different ways to perform this operation, until IBM presented the 5150 that became standard for hardware compatibility

IBM 5150 used a 16-bit Intel 8088 processor, matching the BIOS itself which allowed 1MB of address space. It also used a Master Boot Record (MBR) to specify the computer’s partition table, which in turn told BIOS where the operating system was.

BIOS was a good system, providing an interface where you could enable or disable individual components and advanced hardware options. But as time passed, BIOS obsolesced compared to the newer hardware in development. To make up for its shortcomings, extensions were developed. But over time, the limitations had to be overcome by a brand-new system.

UEFI soon inherited BIOS’s legacy. Unified Extensible Firmware Interface was originally developed by Intel to circumvent BIOS issues for their 64-bit Itanium-based servers. Many changes were made compared to BIOS.

First, the visual layout was fundamentally overhauled. While pictures aren’t necessary, they can be helpful for things like overclocking. Second, UEFI can function in 32-bit and 64-bit modes, allowing far greater amounts of RAM to be addressed by more complex processes; by comparison, BIOS was limited to 16-bit processes and 1MB of memory addressing. Third, UEFI uses the GUID Partition Table, which utilizes Globally Unique IDs to address partitions, and allows booting from hard disks as large as 9.4ZB (one zettabyte = one billion terabytes), while MBR is limited to four primary partitions per disk and bootable disks are limited in size to 2.2TB.

So, the UEFI “Secure Boot” protocol is one the new features that prevents your PC to boot from “untrusted” firmware.

When you boot your PC, it checks hardware devices against the configured boot order, then attempts to boot from them. Typical PCs will find and boot the Windows bootloader, which then launches the full Windows operating system.

Traditional BIOS will boot any software, and some malwares, such as a rootkit, can replace your bootloader. Rootkits could load your normal operating system with no indication anything was wrong, remaining invisible and undetectable on your system. Secure Boot was designed to prevent this.

UEFI checks the bootloader prior to launching it, ensuring that it’s signed by Microsoft. If a rootkit or another malware has forged or replaced your bootloader, UEFI won’t allow it to boot. This prevents malware from hijacking your boot process and concealing itself inside your operating system.

However, with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft has changed this policy. All new Windows 10 kernel mode drivers must be submitted to the Windows Hardware Developer Center Dashboard portal (Dev Portal) to be digitally signed by Microsoft. If they were not, Windows 10 could fail to load new, unsigned kernel drivers. Thus, when you install the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, some drivers may not work the way they used to. For instance, our driver Paragon HFS+ for Windows 11 used to require “Secure Boot” disabled, but we fixed it by having it officially signed by Microsoft.

Anyhow, this issue might affect others, so we show you a workaround in case you encounter it. You can disable the “Secure Boot” feature by following these steps:

1) Open the PC BIOS menu by pressing a key during the boot-up sequence, such as F1, F2, F12, or Esc (depending on your PC), or hold down the Shift key while selecting Restart while Windows is running.

2) Go to Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> UEFI Firmware Settings.

3) Find the Secure Boot setting and set it to Disabled. This option is typically found in either the Security tab, the Boot tab, or the Authentication tab.

4) Save changes and reboot your PC.

In conclusion, while Secure Boot does create a safer environment for users by preventing the installation of malicious driver software, not every honest developer has yet managed to pass through Microsoft’s registration process for a variety of reasons.

P.S. We have an awesome pack of five useful drivers for cross-platform users – Paragon UFSD (Universal File System Driver) Value Pack. It has been developed for users working with multiple operating systems to instantly solve compatibility issues. The UFSD Value Pack comes with a lifetime free upgrade guarantee, and is available for just $49.95 — a savings of nearly $100 compared to purchasing the included tools separately. For existing Paragon NTFS for Mac 14 customers, the UFSD Value Pack is available for just $19.95 in their personal MyParagon accounts. For all users with NTFS for Mac 12 version and lower the final bundle price is $24.95.

Check out your offer now >>

How to verify, repair or format NTFS partitions under Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Quick troubleshooting guide

Since the release of Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, Paragon Software Сustomer Service have received over a 1000 requests concerning the verify/repair/format disk utility options, which disappeared from the Disk Utility in OS X 10.11 El Capitan. To address this issue, we integrated the functionality directly to NTFS for Mac Preference Pane.

Additionally we have recently released a new professional maintenance tool, Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac, to help you perform these basic and numerous advanced file system and volume partitioning operations.

If you are in need of such a solution, you can try Paragon HDM for Mac now.

However, in this article we going to show you how to format, verify and repair NTFS volumes with built-in partitioning tools in NTFS for Mac 14 under Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

Disk Utility vs. Third-Party Drivers

The El Capitan version of Disk Utility has been through major changes — both cosmetically and under the hood. Once you get used to the glossy new user interface, veteran users might notice Disk Utility no longer manages disks mounted by third-party drivers, at least not through the program’s graphical user interface. The reasons for the change don’t make a whole lot of sense to outsiders, especially when disks mounted by non-native drivers can still be mounted, formatted, or repaired by using the command-line diskutil.

In addition to the under the hood changes outlined above, the familiar NTFS for Mac preferences pane has been overhauled with version 14. Since Disk Utility can no longer be used to work with Windows-formatted volumes, NTFS for Mac 14 now includes built-in format, verify, and mount functionality.

In addition to Windows NTFS, other file systems supported by OS X can also be used with this preference pane — for example, if Paragon’s ExtFS for Mac driver is already installed on the same system, NTFS for Mac will also be able to format, verify, or mount Linux-native Ext2/3/4 disks as well.

Here’s what NTFS for Mac 14 looks like when launched:

In order to verify or format your NTFS or ExtFS volumes with Paragon drivers, you need to launch the app Preference Pane, select a volume and click “Verify” or “Erase”, depending on what operation you need.

NTFS for Mac 14 also fixes found file system errors during the volume verification process:

For those comfortable with Terminal, the same actions can also be performed with Paragon’s command-line utilities. Advanced users familiar with Unix will have access to additional options through this interface:

fsck_ufsd_NTFS finds and repairs errors on NTFS disks.

newfs_ufsd_NTFS formats a volume to NTFS.

mount_ufsd_NTFS mounts or unmounts NTFS disks.

Support of the Windows NT file system is automatically added to the command-line diskutil during installation of the NTFS for Mac driver.

In case you quite often need not only to verify and format NTFS volumes, but perform more advanced tasks, such as move, resize, copy or even undelete partitions formatted to HFS+, NTFS, ExtFS, FAT and exFAT, try the new Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac.

HDM for Mac is not just for backup — it’s a powerful application that covers all aspects of the computer’s life cycle, including drive partitioning, file system optimization and repair functions, data backup capabilities, and irreversible data wiping. It already works with macOS Sierra 10.12 Preview.

5 reasons to use Paragon USB plugin to increase Android’s performance

#1 – Extra storage space instead of buying a new smartphone

The more storage space a mobile device has, the more expensive it costs. With Paragon’s USB plugin, you won’t need to spend more on storage space. Instead, just use an inexpensive portable storage device connected to your Android device using the USB OTG cable — the same way you already do it with your desktop computer or laptop. There’s no longer a need to replace your Android device when all you need is more storage space.

There are two simple ways to get extra storage space using Paragon Software:

SD card: Add an extra 32-128 GB for less than $25
USB Mass Storage Device: Use it for backup or to save multimedia no matter where you are

#2 – Connect with everything

Your boss or client uses an iPhone, but it’s too hard to transfer a presentation from your Android device. Paragon’s USB plugin supports multiple partitioning schemes and file systems, including NTFS, HFS+, and FAT32.

#3 – To be online or not to be? It’s no longer a question

You do not need to stay online all the time to work with data. Cloud storage is not yet the best way to share or work with multimedia and other common data. Even if you were in Antarctica, you can make data transfers between any device without mobile internet or Wi-Fi by using any SD card or USB Mass Storage Device you prefer.

#4 – Save & Share 4K videos and other high-resolution media

2016 will see an explosion of 4K and 8K video content, creating new storage demands for the video creation industry and tech-savvy consumers. Filming in 4K takes up about seven times more data than 1080p, so what’s the best solution for storing all of this data? You can simply use portable storage devices as a data bank, connected to your Android device using a USB OTG cable and Paragon’s USB plugin.

#5 – NTFS Support on Android without Root

Android does not yet natively support NTFS read/write capabilities (read more above). Most SD cards/pen drives arrive formatted as FAT32. Average users who prefer not to root their Android smartphones can now add NTFS support to Android from the Total Commander app and USB plugin developed by Paragon. Enjoy non-root communications!

Download and install Total Commander for Android, install Paragon USB plugin, connect NTFS, FAT32 or HFS+ formatted disks or other storage devices via USB OTG and enjoy instant, high-speed access.

Faster, More Efficient Backup with Paragon Snapshot for Mac OS X

On OS X, traditional backup archives are created at the file level by Apple’s built-in Time Machine and other third-party software that work in a similar fashion. Paragon Snapshot for Mac OS X is the only technology that allows users to create block-level archives of OS X volumes. Recovery from images made with Paragon Snapshot for Mac OS X are up to four times faster than restoring from existing Time Machine backups. Compared to file-level backups, the software also provides a higher compression rate for archived files. Among other advantages, Paragon Snapshot for Mac works 100 percent online while OS X is running, requiring no system restart or reboot. With this Snapshot technology in place, incremental backups will be smaller, because the block-level imaging stores only the blocks that have changed.

Once integrated, Paragon Snapshot will prove invaluable for Mac owners, providing them with an option to elevate and accelerate backup routines. When disaster strikes, Paragon Snapshot for Mac enables hassle-free recovery from snapshot-based backup archives, which is significantly more efficient than recovering from file-level backups. Based upon the company’s industry-proven, cross-platform Universal File System Driver, Paragon Snapshot for Mac OS X supports all popular file systems not natively supported by Mac (e.g., Windows NTFS or Linux ExtFS), thus assuring the safest data imaging and integrity.

Availability
Paragon Software provides flexible licensing packages for independent software developers as well as large disaster recovery solution vendors.

Special for users of earlier OS X version: Try our full-functional Paragon NTFS for Mac Yosemite Free!

Despite its name, this multilingual product supports all OS X versions up to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard!

Paragon NTFS for Mac eliminates boundaries between Mac and Windows operating systems, delivering full read and write support for NTFS-formatted drives on OS X. Paragon NTFS for Mac achieves the speed of native drivers and is the industry’s fastest solution for Mac users who want to share data between Mac and Windows systems, so that the user doesn’t even notice on which platform their files are.

Paragon NTFS for Mac 14

Paragon NTFS for Mac Yosemite Free is based on Paragon’s proprietary Universal File System Driver (UFSD) technology. Paragon UFSD provides full access (read/write, format, etc.) to volumes of the most popular file systems under all popular platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux, Android and DOS).

Availability:
Paragon NTFS for Mac Yosemite Free is available for download absolutely free of charge! For Mac users of El Capitan, the commercial 14th version is available at $19.99.
For other Mac products, please visit Mac ToolBox Portal.

Paragon Software Announces Storage SDKs for Android and iOS

New SDKs greatly simplify the creation of storage management apps for Android and iOS, and make it easy to add USB storage functionality to other apps.

USB storage is generally underused in mobile apps, even though there are various situations where it would be very convenient for users. Examples include on-the-go backup without relying on mobile data or Wi-Fi hotspots, and giving copies of photos or videos you’ve just taken to someone else without having to upload them. If you want to take movies on a trip to watch on the plane or in your hotel, for example, it’s much easier to save large media files on a flash drive, and this also avoids cluttering up the device’s limited internal storage.

Mobile OSes are beginning to incorporate USB storage support, but that support tends to be inflexible. This feature only came to Android in version 6 (Marshmallow), and that implementation only supports FAT32. That’s a problem for developers who want to produce apps that run on the majority of Android phones and tablets, and an even bigger one for those planning to create cross-platform apps. Furthermore, FAT32 imposes file-size limitations that can be inconveniently restrictive when dealing with large files such as HD and 4K videos.

Paragon Software’s new UFSD SDKs help fill this gap. Available for iOS (iPhone 5 and later, iPad 2 and later) and Android (version 3.0 and later), they abstract and implement support for multiple partitioning schemes (MBR, GPT and APM) and file systems (NTFS, HFS+, FAT32, ExFAT and ExtFS).

The UFSD SDKs will be of particular interest to storage vendors, as they can bundle Paragon’s UMS service and other Paragon FS drivers with portable USB storage products to ensure compatibility and interoperability with any OSes including iOS, Android, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Similarly, ISVs can use the SDKs to simplify the development of Android and iOS apps supporting multiple brands of mobile USB storage.

Since iOS provides a very limited support for external storage and only allows access to images stored on digital cameras via custom Lightning to USB adaptor, storage vendors entering the iOS market need a companion app that would support their storage media’s file system. Naturally, each vendor’s app only supports its own storage brand.

To provide a real-life example of how the UFSD SDK can be used, Paragon Software has developed a plug-in https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paragon.tcplugins_ntfs_ro that adds USB storage support to the well-regarded, 4.5 star average rated, Total Commander file management app for Android. The plug-in has already been downloaded more than 400,000 times, which clearly demonstrates end-user interest in this capability.

A demonstration of a sample iOS app using the iOS UFSD SDK can be seen via YouTube:

Paragon Software’s new portal prescribes a cure for consumer device data exchange headaches

The Largest Selection of Cross-platform Tools for Users of Incompatible Consumer Electronics on Android, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Paragon Software is happy to invite every user to visit a new portal — a very special place hosting a comprehensive selection of essential free or inexpensive tools for users of multiple devices seeking to solve incompatibility issues on consumer electronics.

Users of PCs, smartphones, audio and video equipment, TV sets, DVD players, digital cameras, and camcorders increasingly need to interchange data content between various incompatible systems. To solve the interoperability issue, Paragon Software has developed eight essential tools (seven drivers and a converter) to guarantee full high-performance read/write access to volumes of the most popular file systems (NTFS, HFS+, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, etc.) under various platforms (Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) where these file systems normally are not supported.

Paragon Software’s cross-platform tools are based on the company’s exclusive Universal File System Driver (UFSD) technology and enable any device to communicate and share files regardless of its operating system. Beyond access, the tools provide the highest data throughput speeds possible — equivalent to, or exceeding, native performance.

In an engaging, interactive way, the new portal invites you to pick two platforms. The portal then suggests the right software to solve the incompatibility issue and gives the user an opportunity to download it. TRY now!