Paragon Software Hard Disk Manager 12 Professional Review: Storage Tools Wrapped in a Middling Interface - deckertoomeng

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Images, partitions, and creates essential machines

Cons

Busy interface
Doesn't mount images as virtual drives

Our Verdict

Hard Disk Manager is easy, complete and reliable toolset for knockout disk management: partitioning, saucer imaging backup, thrill management, data and system security, simple convalescence. Convenient and clear interface, smart wizards.

Nonsuc Hard Platter Manager 12 Professional ($100 as of June 1, 2012) is atomic number 3 schoolwide a toolset for hard drives as you'll find. It has full backup, imagery, and partitioning capabilities, and it also supports virtualization software so much as VirtualBox and VMware by allowing you to create virtual machines for those programs.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 screenshot — The Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 Professional interface is relatively straight, but the dialogs could stand some improvement.

HDM hasn't changed a peck since the last version; information technology was already soh comprehensive, however, that Paragon simply didn't have that much to sum up. The shortlist of partition functions includes creating, moving, formatting, deleting, backing up, burning to Certificate of deposit, converting the file system, and wiping. You bottom do the same things with entire disks, as healthy as change them from MBR to GPT. You can also congest and restore someone files and folders.

Included in HDM 12 Pro are each the features offered in the company's Virtualization Manager: You tooshie convert a partition to a virtual machine and support, convert a Windows 7 fill-in image to a VM, and restore from a VM to diverse computer hardware. The program also handles dynamic disks, merges images, manages multiple backups in archives, and performs a host of other tasks I Don River't have the way to discuss here. A features list equivalence between the professional variation and the less expensive suite version is for sale at the company's website.

I love the everything-low-one-roof concept of HDM 12's user interface. It's far more convenient than jumping around between modules, as with other programs so much as Acronis True Epitome and Magnetic disc Director. I also like the fact that you define a series of actions, and then set them in motion victimization the Practice button. However, I don't see why the program needs to instill even a slight hint of paranoia by asking if you in truth require to give the changes when all you're doing is backing improving. (Connected the opposite hand over, you can Seth several backup jobs to fire consecutively victimisation the define/apply methodology.) On transcend of that, while the interface is fairly straightforward, I'd rather take care standard Windows lodge dialog boxes, which are to my mind easier to use than Paragon's custom boxes.

For version 12, Saint is touting a new mental imagery engine with better performance. Normally I dismiss claims like this arsenic overblown in front I've even tested them, and usually I'm correct in my assumptions. In this case, though, I found HDM 12 to be non only hurried but likewise noninterfering. In fact, I wrote the majority of this review with the course of study humming away in the background, and I forgot that it was running.

One feature film that is missing from HDM 12 is the ability to mount an image as a virtual hard drive that you can peruse in Windows Explorer. R-Drive Image and True Image do this, and I've found it to be a handy way to quickly tear a file or 2 unfashionable of a backup. HDM 12 lets you connect to an image to perform partition and other operations on IT, but doesn't mount it.

Backup, virtual machines, partitioning, conversion–Rocky Drive Manager 12 Professional is a reigning toolkit. At $100, IT is a trifle pricey for the medium user, so be careful to suss out the said $50 suite version to see if that will cover your needs.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you must read to download the in vogue translation of the software.

–Jon L. Jacobi