IT Support - Paragon Software Group Blog

Best Practices on Virtual Server Backup Strategy – White Paper

Are you looking for the best practices in implementing and maintaining a virtual server environment?

Download the latest white paper explaining the best practices in virtual server implementation and maintenance.

IT systems have become such an integral part of the business process that down-time must be avoided at all costs. Those responsible for enterprise systems, both large and small are asking tough questions when it comes to business continuity and disaster recovery, questions such as:

How can we keep down time to a minimum?
How can I future proof my business continuity solutions?
What new technologies deliver improved 24×7 access?
How can I demonstrate the Return on Investment (ROI) of a disaster recovery solution?
Is there a way to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) with new technologies?
How can I build synergy into a backup solution that delivers future value?
How can I avoid dead-end technologies?
What criteria should I use to select and integrate recovery products?

Simply put, businesses large and small needing to maintain 24×7 access to IT resources are looking for a better way to deliver 24×7 access, prevent disasters and recover quickly from unpreventable events, all without breaking the bank and still maintain scalability with products that are future proofed. Continue reading Best Practices on Virtual Server Backup Strategy – White Paper

Partition Manager 11 – A Data Center’s Best Friend

Paragon is about to release the latest version of Partition Manager and has built in technologies that have again made this product the leader in server optimization. Any server environment can use a tool like Partition Manager. The real power of the software can be seen when used in a data center. Partition Manager’s ability to redistribute free space across a large storage environment is a cost saving beast. Just ask RackSpace.

With this new release we are also introducing a virtual edition of the product that is ideal for companies using virtual machines to run applications and virtual storage space. We are going to be holding a webinar on Partition Manager 11. Register at the bottom of this post.

10 licenses of Partition Manager 11 Server will be given away to some lucky attendees.

Maximize performance of physical Windows® Server!

Partition Manager 11 Server includes all the functionality to maximize the use of storage while minimizing downtime and the required technical applications used when optimizing and administering a physical Windows Server.
· Partition alignment to boost performance of storage
· Drive re-partitioning and system optimization
· Comprehensive bootable environments
· Backup and disaster recovery options
· Disk Editor and Boot Corrector…

PM for Virtual Server
Manage hosts running virtual Windows® environments!

Partition Manager for Virtual Server bundles Partition Manager Server and Virtualization Manager to provide a cost-effective storage management for virtual machines that run on a single physical host

* License per physical system hosting up to 99 virtual machines
* Management of virtual machines
* Partition alignment to boost performance of storage
* P2V, V2V, V2P, and P2P migration for Windows OS
* Exclusive system reconfiguration and disaster recovery tools…

Continue reading Partition Manager 11 – A Data Center’s Best Friend

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.

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

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

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

Backup and Recovery – Tekzilla Recommended PC Approved.

Tekzilla the internet based technology show hosted by Veronica Belmont and Patrick Norton have a quick review of Paragon Backup and Recovery in their latest episode. You might remember that they mentioned Paragon Backup in a past episode also. Thanks Veronica and Patrick for including us in your show.

Rick the Recruiter doesn’t know which options to choose when he’s setting up software to back up his hard drive. Should he backup folders, the whole computer, or create a disc image? Are incremental backups, better than overwrites. If his hard drive fails, should he restore from a disc image, or re-install windows then move his files back over? Veronica and Patrick walk you through their choices for backing a computer, Windows or OS X!

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.

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?

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

NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0

Paragon Software has released a new version of our NTFS for Mac software. NTFS for Mac is the only software of it’s kind that allows Mac users read and write to Windows formatted drives. Do you work or live in an environment where you have both Macs and PCs being used? How many external storage devices do you have for each of them? Now you can share one storage device and access it by both platforms.

NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0 is the first NTFS driver to support Snow Leopard in 32 and 64-bit mode!

Continue reading NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0