"I have to search for the installation file “PM95_Pers_ea.msi” on my hard drive. When I click on that file, I get the “Get Free Serial Number” window."

I also have to search, but clicking on that file gives me the choice of modifying, repairing or removing the program. Proceeding with the installation produces the following:

"Error 1316.A network error occurred while attempting to read from the File C:\PM10_Pers_ea_x32.msi"

What am I doing wrong?

getting constant fail to connect messages when trying to activate setup.

Good post, Mike. One comment.

"The main advantage is moving a lot of files around is faster than using the *usual* [& free]"the *usual* [& free] Linux boot environ that often comes with disc-related apps."

True, but if there is Free Commander available in the Linux boot environment you can do very nice and visible and quick file moving, backups. That happened to me once, copied over what I wanted to external disk and then went ahead with reformat and re-operating system install.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

Is Kiwi really part of the development or sales team? How do we know?

I have tried twice to install it. The only thing I got is the following notification:

InstallShield Wizard Completed
The wizard was interrupted before Paragon Partition
Manager™ 9.5 Personal could be completely installed.
Your system has not been modified. To complete installation at another time, please run setup again.

I won't try again. The worst installation procedure I have ever experienced here.

Hey I am having a problem getting the serial? it just ends

#29 - What are you talking about? You must be confused. This isn't backup software. It's partitioning software. You don't have to repartition drives if Windows crashes, and even if you do for some odd reason, any partition manager can do the same thing. It's not a proprietary operation. You can even create/delete partitions while installing Windows.

# 29 No you dont because if you had a back up with it you just restore it back .. thats the whole Idea or is it not !! I have been using paragon for few years now and it did save me from a total disasters more than once.. good give away and an easy to use program ...Thanks .

Thanks GOTD for all your wonderful work! Thank you guys for all the useful and informative comments and help, and to the funny ones too..
mike - wow! we're not worthy.. :-)

At this time, the main link does not download the complete zip file, so am trying the mirror link.

Sorry just to make clear. It is not in my junk folder etc.

I filled in the form and it seemed to be accepted but I have not received my activation codes although it was about 3/4 hour ago. I expect they are busy but I don't want to miss out on this. Has anybody else had delay in getting activation codes?

I did comment on the software here, WHICH IS THE BEST THIS OR ANY OF THE OTHER PARAGON SOFTWARE YOU HAVE GIVEN AWAY TO US? Why do you send a note and say please only comment on the softwhere here? I DID and I don't need to go to the FORUMS

OMG how many of these do we need? I uninstalled a couple the other day because there were so many. Can someone tell me/us which is the best of all that we've been offered?
Thanks!
Donna

After having installed this software and running it on a WinXP-SP2 machine suddenly two 40GB partitions on the HD (640 GB RAID-1 array partitioned C-J) had disappeared. PM reported them as having no drive letters assigned and as having 100% free space. My G: and H: logical partitions suddenly just weren't there anymore. Drive management somehow also had 'forgotten' their assigned drive letters and the fact they were full of data.

WTF!?!?! This was something I've never(!!!!!) experienced before so coincidence? I believe not!

I immediately uninstalled the software and with some apprehension rebooted the system. Fortunately everything came back normally again. Phew!!!! I don't know what strange quirk in this software caused this but I'm inclined to be careful with it after this experience. Partition Magic 8 and Easus Partition Master 3.5 that I already have installed will do me just fine for the moment.

And about exFAT? I suggest doing a bit more research. Check out the SDXC spcification for instance. It's the default file system there. You'll be using exFAT before you know it. A lot of people are probably already using it without even knowing it. That new 1TB or bigger USB drive you bought recently is standard formatted with FAT32 which won't allow you to store files larger than 4GB. If you do want to store larger files you'll have to reformat it. As I said Vista-SP1 and W7 are already doing that with exFAT unless you tell it otherwise. And NTFS certainly has its limitations/disadvantages too. Its 2TB volume size limitation for instance where exFAT max volume size is 64ZB.

To #24 - http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/partition-manager-9-5-personal-english/#comment-183845

http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/manual_pm10per_eng.pdf

Terrible installation/setup and usability. They made it too complex and have to go to https://www.paragon-software.com/registration/pm95pers.html to register. I almost missed it!

Wow, Mike! Thanks for the great reviews and all the information & education (I needed the education because I couldn't even begin to understand parts of your first comment above). You're a real asset to this website!

Downloaded the 64 bit version and the registration button takes me to:
http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/absent_try_free.html and says at the top of the page that the registration period has expired.

That's funny, GOTD said there was 14 hours left!

So I used the link that was pasted in the comments above, got a code and registration from that page, but it does not work. Yes, I copied and pasted, and no there aren't extra spaces in it.

What gives?

Broadly you can copy to another drive (in slave mode ) or DVD Rewritable, if Hard drive is larger it will resize automatically. if needed change the jumper pins to master and switch drives over and you have your system plus settings and programs back!! If paragon don`t supply instructions (rare ) found in Program Files, then download copy from their site I have old version for ME and it`s pretty quick, you have to check other drive to believe it`s all done! Needless to say it`s recommended but large file size can`t be got around I`m afraid

Grab it while you can.
After using Paragon products they have me as their customer. Their products are my favorite offerings here, and they are well worth the retail price.

As with any software like this, always back-up your stuff first. Although I have yet to lose anything even when changing the partitions around on my hard drive from within windows. Want to load another OS? No problem! The Boot Management interface is straight forward, making this a complete package that rivals software that sells for $50-$100

Since we really don't have many competant alternatives, I have to give this one my highest recommendation. I'd rather buy this one than the few others that you can buy.

Thanks, GAOTD

A decent utility - I prefer Partition Wizard tho.

Have to mention many thanks to Ashraf - your reviews have been invaluable to me and I'm sure many others.
Days like yesterday without his reviews - I'm not usually willing to spend my precious little time to try if I can't read his review 1st.

Speaking for myself and any others that have never said it - thank you!!
.
.
If at 1st you don't succeed - remember it's the 2nd mouse that gets the cheese. :-)

I always have a problem installing Paragon Software because I do not get the registration window where it says "Get Free Serial Number" when I first install the program. I have to search for the installation file “PM95_Pers_ea.msi” on my hard drive. When I click on that file, I get the "Get Free Serial Number" window. Before I search for that file, I get the window that says that the program was successfully activated. It would be easy for someone to think the program is activated if they receive the window that says the program is actibated before finding the "Get Free Serial Number" window.

I have emailed Paragon Software from their website and gotten a response.

#23: "Should I be letting the supposed x64 version install in the x86 directory as it is asking me to by default? (I honestly don’t know if it makes a difference.)"

Great Question!
The majority of the apps running in most peoples 64 bit Windows are 32 bit apps -- it's a hassle to re-write everything for 64 bit, so until 32 bit code goes the way of the 16 bit stuff before it, sometimes you've gotta use 32.

SO where do these apps go?... Doesn't really matter. 64 bit apps work just fine in the 32 bit section [...Program Files (x86)] & vice versa. With the *maybe* exception of some special Windows' folders, there's nothing more to it than arranging the contents of your desk drawer. What makes Paragon's Partition Mgr 64 bit different is the drivers/driver support... that's where things Need to be written in or for 64 bit code.

#27
Bravo mike for the information

#28: "I’m missing exFAT support."

The Wiki url you graciously provided more than explains why it's not there, & why 99.9% of users today [IMHO] could care less.

"Microsoft has not released the official exFAT file specification, and a license from Microsoft is required in order to make and distribute exFAT implementations[10]

Limited or no support outside PC environment at present..."

There's more, but IMHO those 2 are quite sufficient. ;-)

Partitioning -- briefly how/why...

Hard drives -- & devices that mimic hard drives, like USB sticks -- have at least 1 partition... in order to have a Table Of Contents & manage the storage space something has to keep track of how much space there is. And if you think of a hard drive as a 3 ring binder, adding partitions is just like adding those tabbed page dividers, & for the same sorts of reasons. Taking it a step further, you might use 1 binder & however many dividers, or simply use more than one binder; doesn't matter or change the pages inside the binders what-so-ever -- but it does effect how many pages you can have, how easy it is to find what you're after, & of course you have to put the binders somewhere -- the more you have the more space they take up.

Since Windows cares about the pages -- not the binders -- having one or several partitions &/or drives generally makes no difference to it at all. It does however matter to your PC... you can only physically fit so many drives in a case [or on your desk if you're talking external], & at some point it'll become a problem connecting just one more. And it matters to your Operating Systems, from the standpoint that different OSes & versions just don't get along. If you want to be able to boot into more than 1 version of Windows, having each version on it's own partition [whether on the same drive or not doesn't matter], means different versions of the same files can co-exist in folders with the same name. That's it. [Vista & 7 have a *fake* docs & settings folder, but in XP it's very much real -- doesn't take much imagination to see potential problems there. ;-) ] Linux normally uses a different file system entirely, so a partition or drive has to be formatted in a way that Windows *out-of-the-box* doesn't understand.

What can adding partitions do for you?... Besides maybe better, easier organization, it's faster/easier to maintain a smaller amount of drive space than a large one. If your music, photo, &/or video collections don't change as often as your software &/or Windows, do you need to scan them for viruses, defrag, or back them up as often? Probably not. OTOH do you want to spend more time than necessary when you perform those tasks re: windows & your software? Again, probably not.

Now, you add a partition to a hard drive when it's installed or connected, before it can be formatted & used. Dividing that original partition into smaller pieces is normally a 2 step affair -- you make the existing partition smaller, then create a new one in the left over hard drive space [Paragon's Partition Mgr & other apps will say it's unallocated]. It's common sense that defragging the drive, to move all your files to the beginning of the partition, gives you more free space at the end you're going to basically chop off. While you should still back everything up [**** does happen], working with partitions this way is almost trivial.

Your PC/laptop needs 1 drive designated as the boot drive, and there's a small amount of code that needs to be at the front of that drive [Paragon's Partition Mgr can handle that], but in Windows since XP, you can re-order hard drives & partitions as you wish. There's much less reason to create a new partition at the beginning of an existing partition rather than the end with all the free space, which is where partitioning could go wrong in the past, moving all that data. Still, if you need to, nowadays you can [fairly] easily move all the files on or in partitions around as if they were a single folder. You do that by restoring a disc image backup wherever you need it, to whichever partition you want it on, or by copying the partition from one place to another. The main practical difference between the two is copying recreates the NTFS tables on the partition, & doesn't leave you with a permanent archive of the partition's contents the way creating a backup image does. When you copy or restore a partition image sometimes the destination isn't the same size as the original -- while you have to have enough room for the files you're moving, you can sometimes end up with unallocated space at the end of your destination partition -- if the software doesn't adjust that automatically, it's easy to then just *grow* the partition to take up the rest of the space. If you find you can't copy or restore a partition to an existing partition [different apps have different restrictions], just delete it, & copy/restore to the now unallocated space.

Just in case...
When you're moving partitions & their contents, you can have hardware &/or software errors &/or failures, lose power etc... Create a disc image backup, & Don't store it on the drive you're working on if at all possible. Make an image backup of the boot drive's MBR tables -- I use Paragon's software -- which you might well need if you have to put everything back the way it was. It can also help to have a copy of NeoSmart's free Easy BCD -- read the docs & have the associated boot files handy -- which can work with XP as well as Vista & 7. Day to day running Windows you're probably not accessing most every bit of your hard drive(s), & realistically there could be a problem waiting for you that you just haven't come across yet. There may be part of a drive you can't access, &/or maybe it's been loafing, goofing off just reading/writing the contents of your browser cache for a while. You're about to make it run a marathon.

#7 - Janet ?huh? It's THEIR software; they may call it anything they DWP!

More to the point, whenever a tech inquiry is made, or even if the s/w checks for a newer version. it is easier for them to determine just which distribution network was used and how much free support may be offered.

if your computer crashes ths wont help because you will have to have it install again on your pc which will cost you.

I'm missing exFAT support. Are you people aware that since Vista-SP1 (which means also under W7) exFAT is the default file system used when formatting a removable drive?

When I search the knowledge base at Paragon "exfat" generates zero hits!!!

I find that rather unimpressive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT

Paragon's software downloads are often large, but that's because of: 1) the bootable image file [you can put it on CD/DVD/USB device], & 2) the html-based help files...

Comparison with major alternatives: Acronis products are very good, but unless you grab the free, limited versions offered by some hard drive makers, like Seagate, they're expensive. The leading free alternative is GParted, which is a Linux app often put together with a small Linux OS setup so it can be run from CD/DVD/USB. Norton Partition Mgr. was once not only the standard, but the only widely available, well known Windows partitioning app. Norton used that as an excuse to over-price Partition Mgr. [IMHO], & slow the development of new, better features & compatibility. For quite a few years now the only times I see the Norton name it's either a complaint, or talking about the company's habits of producing very incompatible bloat-ware. That said, you can sometimes pick up OEM discs [designed for distro with new PCs/laptops] very cheap. EASEUS makes excellent partitioning software, & is well known because of prior Giveaways. Their main disadvantages vs. Paragon is more limited help & support, & their backup solution, while it does work, doesn't measure up [to much of anything IMHO].

In actual use the final results are not going to be much different no matter which partitioning software you use [assuming it works], so Paragon outshines the competition with value added features. I use both EASEUS & Paragon for partitioning because Paragon adjusts your PC to account for partition changes, & I don't always want/need that.

Example: I had a system crash that rendered a file unreadable. Windows' disc check found it & marked a sector of the hard drive as bad [don't know if it is/was or not, but I suspect not], which the NTFS file system remembers -- forever -- & it causes problems with some partitioning &/or defragging programs. You can replace the drive, or maybe use drive utilities to fix the original problem, like I did, but to wipe the error from NTFS *memory* meant *copying* the partition to a new one & back -- cloning &/or backups include NTFS *memories* of any/all bad sectors. [Imagine replacing a drive to find the new one has hundreds of **reported** bad sectors -- it happens] For that operation I used EASEUS, because I didn't want or need to mark that temporary partition as bootable -- if I had I would have used Paragon & it would have worked that way automagically.

The payware versions of Paragon's apps often include a limited, Windows-like environment you can boot to when/as needed [WinPE]. The main advantage is moving a lot of files around is faster than using the *usual* [& free] Linux boot environ that often comes with disc-related apps. A faster bootable *nix setup rather than mini-versions, &/or a mini Windows environ [I use LiveXP] can make a world of difference when restoring a backup [or use another PC/laptop, remove your drive & use an inexpensive dock]. For partitioning, unless you're copying your boot partition, just not much call or reason for it -- since CD/DVD/USB transfer is slower that your SATA hard drive(s), *might* even take longer using those bootable devices.

In case anyone has a problem getting to the registration page, the direct link is https://www.paragon-software.com/registration/pm95pers.html.

Thanks very much, looks like a great program.
Made the bootable recovery CD and wanted to print out the user instructions to it from the HELP file (by Select all>PRINT or COPY>PASTE), but could not.
Is there a way to do it, since they obviously will not be available if I cannot boot from the HD?
Thanks again,
Eldad

Should I be letting the supposed x64 version install in the x86 directory as it is asking me to by default? (I honestly don't know if it makes a difference.)

Paragon's programs are good, I think.
But they're TOO BULKY even if it is offered as free today!
Does it provide funtions equal to its size?

64 bit version is located right inder the last part of the description below and much more.....

@ #8 Janet
I've always had a reply from Paragon on Twitter, albeit after the offer has closed, but they are probably inundated so fair enough. Just send a direct Tweet.

@ #9 Jimbo
Which part of "If you are x64 OS user follow the link here (file size: 128 MB)." didn't you understand?

@ #7 and #10
It's called marketing.

@#9 Jimbo: Presumably you missed the large, bold text link saying If you are x64 OS user … (sic) just ABOVE the box containing the system requirements etc.?

Several GOTDs have separate 64-bit versions with separate download links, which often appear in exactly that way.

If you are (as I assume) a 64-bit OS user, I'm surprised that you haven't seen that before on a GOTD.

#10, etc: We ain't really customers, and having a weird version number helps them to know we ain't. So, yes, 9.5 == 10.0, but 9.5 has different support policies.

C'mon, it's FREE

#9, there's a download link for the x64 version as well.

Quote:
If you are x64 OS user follow the link here:
http://files.giveawayoftheday.com/PartitionManager95_x64.zip

Please, please read product description carefully before posting any questions! This will keep the place clean help other users to find relevant and actual info.

To be able to use Twitter you need to sign up there and have Twitter account. You can also ask questions here.

Just a note on the 64BIT -
When you click on "f you are x64 OS user follow the link here (file size: 128 MB)." in FIREFOX, it does NOT move you to a new page, it just starts the download; I grabbed it 3x before realizing the link was not broken, but instead automatic!
Thanks GOTD!

Paragon has 64 bit versions of their programs. GOTD has ALWAYS provided a link in the giveaway for the 64 bit version when they are running a Paragon promotion. Please take the time to read the Giveaway page more closely.

@9: Jimbo-The 64 bit version is available if you look at the top of the page
See this
"If you are x64 OS user follow the link here (file size: 128 MB)."
It gives a link directly to the 64 bit download.
FYI :)

@ Jimbo - try reading the program description properly before commenting negatively - there's a separate link that says "If you are x64 OS user follow the link here (file size: 128 MB)". If you've tried that and it still doesn't work, THEN say so.

From now on our promo versions will have version number 0.5 lower than commercial version. So free version 9.5 is a clone of commercial version 10.</i
How to confuse your customer base!

This is a 32-bit version of the program that cannot be installed under a 64-bit operating system.

It always says that during the Giveaway period, Paragon Software provides technical support at http://twitter.com/paragonsoftware. But I have NEVER been able to get to this support! Can someone walk me thru...? It would be very helpful to get direct answers for technical problems straight from Paragon......

Kiwi,

I don't get it---free version 9.5 is actually commercial version 10, but you just call it 9.5...???

can this be used to install other operating systems