Author: Ekaterina Shabanova

Android TV large file access a growing trend

Paragon Software Group collected statistics from a random sampling of 50,000 Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB users over the month of July 2018. This data included Android users working with external storage media formatted as exFAT, NTFS, HFS+, and FAT32. The participants accessed partitions from external storage media on Android systems 6.0 and above, from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S8, and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 devices. Collected statistics included the file system format accessed and duration of operation, the type of file operations performed (copy, move, delete, et al), types of volumes accessed (picture, video, music), and other factors.

Statistics revealed that NTFS by far remains the most popular file system by Android users. Out of 44 percent of users mounting volumes, 61.5 percent accessed NTFS-formatted volumes, 30 percent FAT, eight percent exFAT, and only half a percent read or wrote data to HFS+ drives. Android users primarily access games or multimedia files, such as pictures, audio, and video, while the most frequent operations included copying, moving, and deleting files.

What are the most popular interests of Android users working with removable storage media? They are:

• 67.4% technology/mobile enthusiasts;
• 59.4% media and entertainment/comics and animation fans;
• 58.8% shoppers;
• 53.9% news and politics/avid news readers;
• 51.9% technology/technophiles;
• 47.2% lifestyles and hobbies/shutterbugs;
• 43.3% value shoppers;
• 39.5% home and garden/Do-It-Yourselfers;
• 36.8% media and entertainment/movie lovers.

The trend shows the popularity of NTFS file system almost by a factor of two compared to all other file systems combined. The collected statistics also demonstrate that the majority of on-the-go Android users require access to external storage media for multimedia files. In addition, statistics show that the popularity of Android TV is growing. Compared to the previous quarter, in 2018 four percent more Android users utilized the app to access files larger than 40GB, primarily HD and 4K video files from external storage drives mounted directly on Android TV and set-top boxes. Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB allows Android users to watch high-definition and ultra high-definition videos of any size using previously incompatible removable media formatted in Windows and macOS file systems, including NTFS, FAT32, or HFS+.

Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon Software makes it possible for Android users to exchange data between external storage media larger than 32GB and the latest consumer electronics devices. The tool enables instant, non-root, offline access to NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, or HFS+ data from external storage drives directly on Android smartphones and tablets. For improved on-the-go organization and easy mobile access, Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB allows users to easily view, backup, copy, and edit important documents, photos, videos, music, or other files between Android mobile devices and portable hard drives or flash drives.

Both tools are available for free download: https://www.paragon-software.com/paragon-mojave-tools-preview/#overview

NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software Mojave Preview edition is a high-performance tool that enables you to write, copy, edit, move or delete files on Microsoft NTFS-formatted drives from your Mac. The tool is fully compatible with Mojave Preview and is available for free download: https://www.paragon-software.com/paragon-mojave-tools-preview/#ntfs-for-mac

Key features:

• Mount, unmount, verify, format or set any of Microsoft NTFS volumes as a startup drive;
• Mount in Read-Only if you need to access sensitive data without modifying any files;
• “Do not mount automatically” option for when you want to manually control volumes access;
• Quickly restart your Mac in Windows from the menu bar;
• Intuitive and Apple-user friendly utility interface.

APFS for Windows by Paragon SoftwarePreviewedition — a driver which enables Windows users to access Apple File System (APFS) volumes on PCs, now with full support on Fusion Drives in macOS Mojave Preview.  The revamped APFS for Windows comes with support for encrypted volumes and APFS Containers composed of multiple partitions. Free download: https://www.paragon-software.com/paragon-mojave-tools-preview/#apfs-for-windows

Key features:

• Fail-safe operability across compatible hardware and software;
• Protection of data integrity and prevention of data loss;
• Effective flow control, reduced overheads, congestion avoidance;
• Thrifty usage of processor, memory, and disk resources.

Drive Copy Professional is a business software tool that smoothes data migration and copying to the new drive. It also facilitates system virtualization for those who want to use the exact copy of their PC wherever.

In this article, we describe five most common use scenarios for Drive Copy Professional.

1. You are the big cheese now and you need a larger hard drive

So you  want to copy your old hard drive to a new, larger one. Drive Copy Professional is your tool to migrate the Windows OS and data to different environments. Whether you upgrade to newer hardware or just replace the failed equipment, you can comfortably move your Windows to a completely different hardware platform. You wouldn’t need to reinstall anything. Moreover, you can copy a full hard disk or separate partition, and resize a partition while copying. If there’s anything you don’t need anymore on your old computer  – easily exclude data from the copy process.

2. You realized it’s a new technology era: switch from HDD to SSD needed ASAP

That is understandable. The solid-state drive uses flash memory to store data, which provides better performance and reliability over a hard disk drive. It’s quieter, more durable, smaller, and works faster than HDD.

To that end, Paragon Drive Copy encompasses the dedicated Migrate OS to SSD wizard. It will guide you through the process of Windows migration to the new storage device. Also, feel free to separate user and system data, and distribute them across multiple target hard disks. This way, you’ll make the utmost of your space on a new speedy SSD.

3. A new laptop is on the table (literally and figuratively)

Every once in a while companies update their hardware. If that’s the case and you want to take the burden off your IT department and employees, consider using Drive Copy for data migration.

It copies the laptop data to a new hard drive in three simple steps:

• Creation of a backup archive of the system
• Replacement of an old HDD
• Restore of the system to a new one.

Unlike ordinary HDD copying, our program not only copies user’s data but transfers the entire HDD content, including metadata, service structures, and settings — to a new hard drive. No manual configuration or adjustments needed!

4. You’re that mysterious coworker who is hardly ever at the office

Meaning you travel for work a lot. To use your work PC anywhere, anytime, make your system mobile. A soft option is to create a virtual clone of your PC that includes OS, drivers and settings, all your applications and files. Save it to the USB hard drive and use it on another computer, just as if you were working on your own PC.

Drive Copy operates with virtual environments such as VMware Workstation, Oracle Virtual Box or MS Virtual PC.

5. Why my OS won’t boot up anymore?

We don’t have an answer to that question. But we have the solution.

Create your own personal recovery environment to avoid this kind of problems. Drive Copy’s  Recovery Media Builder makes it extremely easy. Your operating system won’t boot up anymore? Fire up your PC with the bootable Paragon recovery environment and load into an existing backup, secure important data or fix booting errors. Keep in mind: better safe than sorry.

Got any specific questions on Drive Copy Professional? Contact us right away!

Now that warm weather is here and the days are getting longer, get over the list of your favourite apps and gadgets for hitting the trail! Rated as one of the top 5 Android apps must to have by Techniblogic https://techniblogic.com/top-best-android-apps-that-you-must-download/, Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon Software is the most convenient, non-root method for transferring files between Android devices and USB flash drives, SD cards or other removable storage media connected via OTG. It also comes with Android TV support! 

Connect any external storage media directly to your Android device and work with photos, videos, presentations on-the-go. Without the need to connect to a PC, simply attach the camera to your smartphone or tablet to share images with family and friends or upload images to popular hosting services and social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others. Download exFAT/NTFS for USB On the Go: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paragon.tcplugins_ntfs_ro&referrer=utm_source%3Dexgdt

Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB OTG enables you to:

• View files stored on USB flash drives on your smartphone or tablet;
• Export photos and video files from the device to a thumb drive to free up space on a device’s internal storage;
• Import photos, video files from a USB drive to mobile devices;
• Watch videos and photos offline on mobile devices;
• Check external storage media and verify remaining space;
• Organize files and clean up used space;
• Use files directly from USB stick – listen to music, read a book, show a presentation;
• Send files to Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, other cloud services;
• Share files with friends and colleagues.

Paragon Software releases Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac — a full-featured software to protect and manage your macOS system, now with High Sierra 10.13 and APFS (Apple File System) support. This utility covers all aspects of a Mac’s life cycle, from drive partitioning and regular backup to system migration, flexible disaster recovery options, and secure wiping of recycled storage. The new edition allows users to bypass System Integrity Protection (SIP) limitations, so Hard Disk Manager operations are no longer inhibited by it. Any operation with a system disk can be performed, even when SIP is enabled. The current release doesn’t yet include APFS backup functionality, which is anticipated in the next product update.

Sector-level data processing via Snapshot allows users to perform migration of an entire Mac — including the operating system, applications, and files — without interrupting your daily routine. Advanced functionality includes the resizing of partitions, redistribution of free space, and other advanced disk operations.

New Features:

New! macOS High Sierra 10.13 support

New! Detect and display APFS on a disk map

New! Resize (shrink and increase) of APFS container

New! Bypass SIP technology

New! Bootable media creation on 10.13 (APFS and HFS+)

Key Features:

• Sector-level backup through Snapshot delivers superior backup and recovery speed, plus overall performance. Paragon’s Snapshot performs live imaging of the entire Mac, including OS, applications and files, all without a system restart.

• Incremental imaging is the most efficient backup method for keeping data up-to-date by excluding duplicates and minimizing the backup storage footprint for several timestamps of the same data.

• Free space redistribution on adjacent partitions without restarting Mac.

• Apple Core Storage: Backup and restore any type of Core Storage configurations including FileVault 2 (Full Disk Encryption) and Fusion Drive.

• Boot Media Builder: Create a bootable USB thumb drive or external drive to restore macOS system volumes or accomplish drive partitioning outside of macOS.

• Disk cloning: Transfer not only macOS, but Boot Camp Windows volumes as well, resizing partitions proportional to the size of the target disk or any way you need it while copying.

• Wide restore options include restore of macOS, Boot Camp Windows, any set of data partitions, or an entire Mac to the original or new location; fast restore of individual files by mounting backup images in read-only mode; restore with various resize options.

• Virtualization ready: Back up your Mac into a VMDK container and launch the system in VMware Fusion environment or vice versa.

• Data wiping: Irreversibly destroy information on a volume, or only remnants of deleted files and directories on the disk.

• Data containers support (VMDK or VHD): Hard Disk Manager supports pVHD (Paragon Virtual Hard Drive), a special VHD image optimized for backups of virtual and physical machines. pVHD eliminates the limitations of standard virtual drive formats, such as a poor compression ratio, integrity control, and encryption capabilities. As a result, it creates backups that are up to four times smaller than original backup objects!

• Fix Windows boot issues: If Windows OS volume refuses to boot after replacing a failed hardware device, boot virus activity, or other issue, our boot repair tools can be used prior to taking more radical actions.

• Partition schemes support: Hard Disk Manager supports GUID Partition Table (GPT), Master Boot Record (MBR), and hybrid (GPT+MBR) partition schemes, and allows easy non-destructive conversion between them.

• Rich file system support: Create, format, resize, change properties of HFS+, NTFS, ExtFS, FAT, and exFAT partitions. Resize of an APFS container is also now possible.

System Requirements: OS X 10.7 or later.

Pricing & Availability: Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac is available for immediate download as a free 10-day trial or can be purchased direct for $39.95 at http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hdm-mac/. For other macOS tools, please visit Paragon’s Mac Toolbox at http://www.paragon-software.com/mac/

Paragon Software releases the third edition of Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB On-the-Go by Paragon Software. This application enables an instant, non-root method for transferring files between any Android devices — smartphones, tablets, or Android TVs — and HFS+, exFAT, NTFS, or FAT32-formatted USB flash drives. The new edition supports Android Storage Access Framework (SAF) and comes with new UI options for easier data management. Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon Software now utilizes the native, built-in Android file manager, providing users more flexibility in accessing USB OTG storages directly – without the need to install additional applications. What’s more, the SAF integration in Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon Software allows users to access data from USB flash drives directly from SAF-supported third-party applications, such as messaging, cloud storage services, Gmail clients, and others.

The user interface has been updated with new control options that make browsing and opening photos, movies, and documents on-the-go easier than ever. By selecting “Manage Files,” users can easily transfer files from USB devices or between onboard memory and USB, as well as perform file operations including copy, move, rename, delete, and share.

How can you utilize the app in everyday life?

New features:

• Paragon File System Link as Android SAF Document Provider;
• Integration with built-in Android file manager;
• Direct access to external storage media without installing third-party utilities such as Total Commander;
• Advanced third-party applications support:
• attach files to e-mail via Gmail;
• upload files to cloud storage via Google drive, Yandex.Disk, Dropbox;
• send files to contacts directly in WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype.

How Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon Software works:

1. Install Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon Software on your Android device(s).
2. Connect USB flash drive via USB OTG and mount the necessary file system.
3. Tap “Browse” and select the desired option:
4. “Open files” to view files;
5. “Manage files” to copy, move, delete, or rename files.
6. To choose your USB volume, tap the hamburger menu and select Paragon File System Link.

For users who prefer to work with Total Commander, Plugin for Total Commander functionality remains the same. Watch this video to see how it works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoD6B6EN4J4 

Availability: Microsoft exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon Software is available at Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paragon.tcplugins_ntfs_ro&referrer=utm_source%3Dpress-release. File systems can be purchased separately or as a pack for just $9,99.

Paragon Software releases the new, free APFS Retrofit Kit for macOS – a system driver which enables read-only access to APFS (Apple File System) volumes under macOS 10.12 or earlier versions. For Mac users working on legacy versions of Mac OS X and macOS where APFS is natively not supported, the tool allows instant, read-only access to APFS-formatted data stored on hard disk drives, solid-state storage, or flash thumb drives.

Once installed, the driver requires no additional interaction from the user. The software delivers:

• Stable Operation: Fail-safe operation across compatible hardware and software systems for general-purpose and specialized applications.
• Data Safety: Protection of data integrity, along with prevention of accidental data corruption or loss.
• Guaranteed Performance: Steady, balanced throughput with effective flow control, reduced overhead, and no data congestion.
• Efficient Use: Thrifty usage of processor, memory, and disk resources.

Availability:

To download APFS Retrofit Kit for macOS, please visit https://www.paragon-software.com/business/apfs-kit-mac/ No registration is required.

Paragon Software releases VM Backup for small and medium-size businesses seeking an affordable, reliable tool to handle the entire IT management cycle for VMware vSphere. The technology protects your business-critical applications and data while guaranteeing business continuity and includes the essential disaster recovery for entry-level VMware environments.

Small organizations can start with VMware vSphere® Essentials Kit. The basic license covers six CPUs. You get the industry-leading virtualization platform to suit most of your IT needs at a very affordable price. Request your one-month free evaluation copy with full support now: https://www.paragon-software.com/business/vmbackup/

Today we release an important update to Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software  – a software utility that grants ultra-fast, transparent read/write access to Windows-formatted NTFS hard drives, SSDs, and thumb drives under macOS. This release delivers improved support for macOS 10.13 High Sierra in conjunction with the latest update from Apple. macOS High Sierra is designed to be secure by default and includes several architectural changes, including a new file system and user-approved, third-party kernel extensions. Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software now provides full support for Secure Kernel Extension Loading, which enables users to install the application and evaluate its benefits without any additional interaction with System Preferences.

New features and enhancements:

• Support for Secure Kernel Extension Loading;
• Improved functionality of “Set as startup” option;
• Login via Facebook now fully available for macOS High Sierra;
• Service APFS volumes hidden by default;
• Enhanced stability and performance improvements;
• Bug fixes for macOS 10.10.