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:

Volume Snapshot for Mac OS X

The only snapshot based backup solution for comprehensive protection of both data & systems!

Easily create an exact point-in-time copy of your data & system, and when a disaster strikes – get everything back in minutes. Unlike Time Machine and other file-level backup utilities, our solution has very fast backup and restore capabilities. Now you can backup running applications and locked system files, and if your system fails – there is no need re-install, just boot from the Mac® OS X Install DVD and launch the restore operation. This is a huge time saver compared to other methods.

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True live protection

Traditional backups involving file archiving has a number of drawbacks, like:

  • Running applications usually require exclusive rights for processed files, thus preventing a backup program from copying them.
  • During a volume backup to ensure accessibility of files and the data integrity, a program requires suspension and/or termination of all running applications. For high-capacity disk systems, this could take hours.

Snapshot-based backup easily solves these problems. It’s a common industry term denoting the ability to record the state of a storage device at any given moment (make a snapshot), and then preserve that snapshot as a guide for restoring the machine in case of emergency.

Fastest Recovery

The old way: In case of a system malfunction (it fails to boot), you should re-install the system first. To do that, you need to boot from a distributive CD and install the system (~40 minutes). After that, you need to set up Time Machine and roll back to the required state of the system. This process is time-consuming as it involves re-installation of the operating system.

The better way: With Paragon Snapshot for Mac you don’t need to re-install the system, just boot from a Mac OS X Installation DVD and restore via Disk Utility. Moreover, data retrieval from snapshot is accomplished through private interfaces, which is faster, than processing files on a file system level. Reduce the number of steps it takes to restore your system with Snapshot for Mac®.

Read more…

Adaptive Restore Week

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About two weeks ago I had a computer crash. Not just a bad virus or other corruption but my PC gave me the dreaded blue screen of death and nothing I seemed to do was going to bring my PC back from the dead. I had a recent backup image of my computer. I was using Drive Backup scheduled for an image on a weekly basis but that alone wasn’t going to help since I was going to need a completely new computer to replace the one that was fried. Granted it was time to buy a new computer, the one that died was on it’s last leg and was over 3 years old.

I ordered a new PC online and when it was delivered I wanted all of my old data to be on the new machine. I was sure that our product had functionality to do this but wasn’t exactly sure how it worked or how difficult it would be since I was now using a completely new set of hardware. I asked my favorite Tech Support rep how hard it would be to restore my computer on the new hardware and he just about  laughed at me. He explained that with Paragons Adaptive Restore, I could restore my backup image onto ANY computer and it would be just as easy as running a regular restore with one minor adjustment. Adaptive Restore would do the rest automatically. Continue reading Adaptive Restore Week

How to Search your iPod for Music and Video with Paragon HFS+ for Windows

Search your iPod for Music and Video with Paragon HFS+ for Windows.

If you have an iPod you may probably know that it contains all your music inside some sly hidden folders. And when you attach your iPod (excluding Touch models) to the system it can be seen as a simply Removable Flash Drive. It’s not a secret.

In case you use iPod with iTunes under Windows, its internal volume is FAT32 formatted. This file system is native for any Windows OS. So you can simply check it contents for special folders and music and do whatever you want with them. There is no any special issue.

But things are getting worse if your iPod was configured and synchronized with iTunes under Mac. In this case in Windows you’ll see just another RAW volume, which contents you cannot access.

Paragon HFS+ for Windows driver can solve this problem. Let’s see how it can help you.

After driver installation it becomes deeply embedded to the operating system. If there were any HFS+ volumes on internal hard drives, they become visible and accessible also. Any newly attached media with HFS+ partitions will be mounted automatically. So there are no special actions from your side.

As a Mac configured iPod contains the HFS+ volume with the help of the driver you become able to manage all data inside your player: music, video, files. As if it was synchronized under Windows.

Just plug your iPod in. Reject iTunes formatting proposal.

And manage all your files inside player storage, no matter where it was synchronized. You don’t need to bother what exactly file system it has. And don’t forget to safely unplug your player.

Moreover there are benefits from using your iPod with HFS+ internal file system even if you don’t have a Mac. HFS+ has several advantages over default FAT32. For example HFS+ isn’t affected by file fragmentation, which is a curse of FAT32. If you frequently modify your media library in your player with FAT32, write and change files, after some time your iPod will suffer a performance loss because of a large file fragmentation. HFS+ stores files differently and do not yield file fragments.

Also HFS+ is faster than FAT32 if you need to access to single files inside your player. So you will get a speed boost during file copying and synchronization.

The one limitation for using an iPod with HFS+ is that you cannot use the traditional iTunes player for music and video synchronization and playback. However this issue is solved very simply as there are many third-party players in the Internet.

How to Search your iPod for Music and Video with Paragon HFS+ for Windows

Search your iPod for Music and Video anywhere with Paragon HFS+ for Windows Driver

If you have an iPod you may probably know that it contains all your music inside some sly hidden folders. And when you attach your iPod (excluding Touch models) to the system it can be seen as a simply Removable Flash Drive. It’s not a secret.

In case you use your iPod with iTunes under Windows, its internal volume is probably FAT32 formatted. This file system is native for any Windows OS. So you can simply check it’s contents for special folders and music and do whatever you want with them.

But things get worse if your iPod was configured and synchronized with iTunes under a Mac. In this case inside Windows you’ll see just another RAW volume, with contents you cannot access.

Paragon HFS+ for Windows driver can solve this problem. Let’s see how it can help you.

After the driver installation it will become deeply embedded to the operating system. If there were any HFS+ volumes on internal hard drives, they will become visible and accessible also. Any newly attached media with HFS+ partitions will be mounted automatically. So there are no special actions for you to take.

A Mac configured iPod contains the HFS+ volume and with the help of the newly added driver you will become able to manage all the data inside your player: music, video,  and files. As if  they were synchronized under Windows. Continue reading How to Search your iPod for Music and Video with Paragon HFS+ for Windows

Read and write to an NTFS partition from your Mac

Another very good review for our latest NTFS for Mac 8.0. We appreciate all of the blogs that have given us their feedback on our software.

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Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X will be welcomed by anybody who finds themselves working with both OS X and Windows, but particularly anybody using Boot Camp in a dual boot environment. When opening, copying and editing files, transfer speeds of up to 90MB/s can be expected and performance is further enhanced by the fact that Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X feature full support for 64-bit Snow Leopard.

Software Giveaway: HFS for Windows – 50,000 License Giveaway

HFS for Windows, the only software that lets you read Apple iPods, Macs and iPad data from a Windows PC. It is a well known fact that Windows cannot read from and write to HFS+ partitions. This limits the ability to exchange or share files between Windows and Mac OS X file systems. Occasionally, users will rely on the services of FAT partitions which can be read and written to by both Windows and Mac OS X. FAT partitions have disadvantages and limitations as well for example you can’t store/create files greater than 4GB in size. Moreover, what if your data is already stored on a Mac-formatted partition and you want to migrate them to a Windows-formatted drive (NTFS) to preserve the integrity of the data?

HFS for Windows Giveaway Continue reading Software Giveaway: HFS for Windows – 50,000 License Giveaway