Paragon Drive Backup 9.0 personal?

[ejr]

Greetings!

I am considering a trial of this software. Although other products seem like top notch quality products, the Paragon Product seems to be calling to me. So I am not looking for a thread that compares all the different Disk Imaging Programs. I am looking for specific feedback from those that have used Paragon Drive Backup 9.0.

I am hoping to know:

1. What you like about the product?
2. What you don't like like?
3. Does it work for you as your imaging solution and why or why not?
4. How you use it (backup to external hard drive, CD, DVD, flash drive?)
5. How long backups take and what size data?
6. How long restores take you?
7. Is it easy enough for someone of only moderate PC skills?

Thank you in advance!

[lodore]

hello ejr,

1. easy to use reliable,decent compression, few difference types of recovery environment. ability to restore an OS partition using a reboot
2. could be faster backup.
3. works great, schdule backup at 5pm daily always works. sometimes when i try to create a backup manual it tells me it cannot create the file. all i do is close the program delete the folder it created and start the program and it works fine.
5. backup takes around 5mins with 16gb partition.
6. around the same time as backup.
7. yes it is.
hope this helps.

btw i use the 9.0 professional version.

[ejr]

Thank you.

Another question: what prompted you to purchase the professional version over the personal version? I am thinking that the personal version has everything I need. But I may have overlooked something.

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "Thank you.

Another question: what prompted you to purchase the professional version over the personal version? I am thinking that the personal version has everything I need. But I may have overlooked something." }-
the windows based recovery cd mainly. the linux based CD didnt detect my usb hard drive. the windows based recovery cd(winpe2.0 based on vista) comes as standard with drive backup pro 9.0
if it doesnt detect some of your hardware you can load a driver from a usb stick or other device.

definatly worth it for that alone.
if you have the cash get the pro version. it has two files to download when brought. 1. windows install file. choose your windows version 32bit or 64bit different installers. plus the second download pack and burn wizard which burns the winpe image to a cd or dvd so you can use it when you need to.

if you buy the personal version the pack and burn wizard will burn a linux based recovery cd to a cd or dvd.

you can also burn a cd or dvd with the linux based environment in the program using eiether personal or pro.

[AKAJohnDoe]

I have been using PDB Personal 8.51 successfully for quite awhile now.

I backup everything (including MBR) weekly to an external USB Drive (NTFS). Quarterly I boot from CD and restore the most recent backup onto a spare drive (I physically swap the internal drive) to be sure it is in fact restorable.

[ejr]

Lodore...You opted for the professional version which is $70. That's getting awfully close to the price of Shadow Protect ($80).

Did you consider Shadow Protect? If so, why did you feel that the Paragon Product was better for you?

[ejr]

-{ Quote: "I have been using PDB Personal 8.51 successfully for quite awhile now.

I backup everything (including MBR) weekly to an external USB Drive (NTFS). Quarterly I boot from CD and restore the most recent backup onto a spare drive (I physically swap the internal drive) to be sure it is in fact restorable." }-

Do you do incremental backups or do you take a complete fresh image each time? If you go the full image route, how many images do you keep stored on your external hd?

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "Lodore...You opted for the professional version which is $70. That's getting awfully close to the price of Shadow Protect ($80).

Did you consider Shadow Protect? If so, why did you feel that the Paragon Product was better for you?" }-
i found a 70percent discount code at the time.
so it was mega cheap.
and i got version 9 pro upgrade for free for helping paragon sort out some bugs.
shadow protect desktop is a very good product.
cant go wrong with eiether.

[AKAJohnDoe]

-{ Quote: "Do you do incremental backups or do you take a complete fresh image each time? If you go the full image route, how many images do you keep stored on your external hd?" }-
I backup the C:\USERS\username\ directory manually and the whole PC (including the MBR) via PDB. The PDB backup is always a full backup. I keep 3 generation of each type of backup, which is three weeks. I have a smaller (160GB) USB 2.0 external hard drive which is just about right for holding this given my data.

My overall backup strategy is described here (http://computing.akajohndoe.com/backups.htm).

[ejr]

Lodore...Whatabout Partition Manager Pro? Does it pretty much have all the same backup capabilities as Drive Backup Pro?

For me, I am only using 30 GB out of 230. So someone suggested that I partition my harddrive. Thing is, I don't know how.

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "Lodore...Whatabout Partition Manager Pro? Does it pretty much have all the same backup capabilities as Drive Backup Pro?

For me, I am only using 30 GB out of 230. So someone suggested that I partition my harddrive. Thing is, I don't know how." }-
paragon partition manager doesnt have backup features. if you want backup and partitioning you need paragon harddrive manager. Hard Disk Manager 2008 Suite= paragon drive backup personal plus paragon partition manager personal.
if i want to partition i use my older paragon hard disc manager 8.5

[RAD]

I have been using Drive Backup Personal for quite a while, version 8.51
I also got version 9.0 just last month for a new computer.

1. It works.
2. It works under VISTA
3. It always works
4. It has saved my system numerous times now.
5, It ALWAYS works.

After horrible, unrecoverable disasters with acronis, I just really appreciate a disk imaging AND RESTORING program that ALWAYS WORK just like it says it will. Any disk image program will appear to work during the image saving....it is the RESTORING that is a real nail-biter! :D

I have tried just abbout every feature, just to make sure IT WORKS; but usually I just make an disk image to a separate internal hardrive before I install any new program or when I have accumulated a lot of new data and updates, like maybe every two weeks.

If a new program doesn't work, acts flakey, or I just don't like it, I don't bother to uninstall it, I just restore the pe-installation disk image back.

It works every time.

Since I stumbled upon paragon, I also used their total defrag, and it also works fine under VISTA. I ended up buying PerfectDisk 2008, but I am not convinced it is any better. Paragon is a good company and their stuff WORKS.

I always do a full image with maximum compression. I keep approximately half a dozen backups on the hard drives and one on DVD. I delete old images when they get old enough and my system has remained stable-enough that I am convinced they have become uselessly obsolete. Right now my oldest image on HD is from 9/7/08, but I have one from about 3 months ago on DVD.

[huntnyc]

Seriously would love to upgrade to a version 9 of Drive Backup but am waiting for Hard Disk Manager 2009 to come out if they are going to have one. Would like to get an all-in-one updated pro]duyct with both partitioning and imaging. But, I like hwat I hear about version 9 product line.

Gary

[Tadoussac]

I purchased Paragon Drive Backup Personal 8.51 about 4 months before they introduced version 9.0. Unfortunately, my license doesn't permit a version upgrade.

I am thoroughly satisfied with this product, but I am curious to know what additional functionality was built into version 9.0 that I don't have in 8.51.

Does anyone know? - Thanks!

[RAD]

I am in the same situation, but I went ahead and bought 9.0 for another computer.
There is really not a lot of difference that I can see. Admittedly they are on different computers so I can't compare directly. No difference that really changes how I use it or how well it works.
If I get time, I will try to fire both up back-to-back and see if I can find a difference.

[renegade08]

If the program is uninstalled from PC, and restore is done from the boot disc, how long does it take to restore?

From my testings, it takes restoring within Windows and with the program installed about 10 min. (depends from partition size and data on it), BUT when the program is uninstalled it takes about 30-40 min.

Way too long!!!!!

That's what i really don't like.

With ATI is same, whether the restoring is done from Windows or from boot disk without program installed, the restore time is same.



Beside that i think that is great. Take in mind i'm writing about Drive Backup 8.


Don't get me wrong i thing that Paragon is quite good with their programs and an alternative to others imaging programs.

I highly appreciate from them that are giving older ver. for free like SE versions.

There also is Drive Backup 9.0 Express.

@ Lodore (and anyone with experience with Paragon)

What about Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 ?

1. Can it be used as primary imaging program?

2. How good is it for imaging(mainly) and other stuff?

3. Compared with with Drive Backup how is it?

4.Does restoring from backup capsule affects on restoring time? When program is on PC or uninstalled (restoring is done with boot CD)?

5. Can it be real substitute for ATI (i'm taliking about Hard Disk Manager 8.5)?

[AKAJohnDoe]

-{ Quote: "If the program is uninstalled from PC, and restore is done from the boot disc, how long does it take to restore?

From my testings, it takes restoring within Windows and with the program installed about 10 min. (depends from partition size and data on it), BUT when the program is uninstalled it takes about 30-40 min.

Way too long!!!!!

That's what i really don't like.

With ATI is same, whether the restoring is done from Windows or from boot disk without program installed, the restore time is same.



Beside that i think that is great. Take in mind i'm writing about Drive Backup 8.


Don't get me wrong i thing that Paragon is quite good with their programs and an alternative to others imaging programs.

I highly appreciate from them that are giving older ver. for free like SE versions.

There also is Drive Backup 9.0 Express.

@ Lodore (and anyone with experience with Paragon)

What about Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 ?

1. Can it be used as primary imaging program?

2. How good is it for imaging(mainly) and other stuff?

3. Compared with with Drive Backup how is it?

4.Does restoring from backup capsule affects on restoring time? When program is on PC or uninstalled (restoring is done with boot CD)?

5. Can it be real substitute for ATI (i'm taliking about Hard Disk Manager 8.5)?" }-
I would never perform a full restore within the OS using any product. I always boot from CD. How long it takes is likely dependent upon both the hardware in use and the amount of data. I found that for my data, PDB takes about an hour, whereas ATI was infinite (that is it never would restore).

[renegade08]

-{ Quote: "I would never perform a full restore within the OS using any product. I always boot from CD. " }-

Can i ask why?:lurking:

-{ Quote: "How long it takes is likely dependent upon both the hardware in use and the amount of data. I found that for my data, PDB takes about an hour, whereas ATI was infinite (that is it never would restore)." }-

I agree that some times hardware and software are affecting on out choices. *puppy*

Maybe with some "higher" reason.

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "If the program is uninstalled from PC, and restore is done from the boot disc, how long does it take to restore?

From my testings, it takes restoring within Windows and with the program installed about 10 min. (depends from partition size and data on it), BUT when the program is uninstalled it takes about 30-40 min.

Way too long!!!!!

That's what i really don't like.

With ATI is same, whether the restoring is done from Windows or from boot disk without program installed, the restore time is same.



Beside that i think that is great. Take in mind i'm writing about Drive Backup 8.


Don't get me wrong i thing that Paragon is quite good with their programs and an alternative to others imaging programs.

I highly appreciate from them that are giving older ver. for free like SE versions.

There also is Drive Backup 9.0 Express.

@ Lodore (and anyone with experience with Paragon)

What about Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 ?

1. Can it be used as primary imaging program?

2. How good is it for imaging(mainly) and other stuff?

3. Compared with with Drive Backup how is it?

4.Does restoring from backup capsule affects on restoring time? When program is on PC or uninstalled (restoring is done with boot CD)?

5. Can it be real substitute for ATI (i'm taliking about Hard Disk Manager 8.5)?" }-

Hello,
Paragon hard disc manager 8.5 is drive backup personal plus paragon partition manager 8.5 personal. It is definitely a replacement for ATI. Paragon has more features and works better.
When paragon is installed you can restore system partition without needing a boot disc. Follow the wizard as normal. Once the wizard is complete you should click on apply changes. When you get a prompt to reboot click on yes. Windows will now reboot and paragon will restore the image. Non system partitions not in use will restore without a reboot.
You can always image and restore using the boot disc.
I think you should use a trial first use the recovery media builder to create the boot CD to make sure it detects all your hardware correctly.

[mantra]

-{ Quote: "hello ejr,

1. easy to use reliable,decent compression, few difference types of recovery environment. ability to restore an OS partition using a reboot
2. could be faster backup.
3. works great, schdule backup at 5pm daily always works. sometimes when i try to create a backup manual it tells me it cannot create the file. all i do is close the program delete the folder it created and start the program and it works fine.
5. backup takes around 5mins with 16gb partition.
6. around the same time as backup.
7. yes it is.
hope this helps.

btw i use the 9.0 professional version." }-
does Paragon's powerful new Professional Adaptive Restore™ work for xp too or is only for vista?

[AKAJohnDoe]

-{ Quote: "I would never perform a full restore within the OS using any product. I always boot from CD. " }-
-{ Quote: "Can i ask why?" }-

Two main reasons; It is difficult, if not impossible, to replace modules that are in-use Presumably, the OS is being restored due to some issue or problem; why would I trust a problematic system to correctly perform a restoration?

[Aaron Here]

-{ Quote: "Two main reasons; It is difficult, if not impossible, to replace modules that are in-use Presumably, the OS is being restored due to some issue or problem; why would I trust a problematic system to correctly perform a restoration?" }-
No disk-imaging program actually does a restore of the C-drive (or partition) from within Windows! Those that allow you to start the restore process in Windows (software by Acronis, Paragon and TeraByte come to mind) then automatically reboot into another OS to perform the restore.

Whenever you are in Windows but find it corrupted, infected, or whatever, that is (imho) a very convenient feature. :thumb:

[renegade08]

-{ Quote: "Two main reasons; It is difficult, if not impossible, to replace modules that are in-use Presumably, the OS is being restored due to some issue or problem; why would I trust a problematic system to correctly perform a restoration?" }-

I agree that restoring from CD is probably the best way to restore OS.
And Most secure.

But only thing that keeps me away from Paragon is slow restoring from CD without installed product. I know that this is not "Some Big Issue" , but maybe someone should report this to Paragon.


I'm really considering to switching to PDB and maybe it will be soon.


Let's suppose that i don't want PDB to be installed from various reasons (if i have only one account and not guest account on my PC and i let some one to use my PC and i don't want he to knows that i have installed PDB(or other product or i don't want someone to mess my computer. If i store my images in a capsule, someone can delete capsule or format it. I know that this is not most common scenario but let's suppose it's real for someone).



Can somebody tell me time(data for restoration vs.time needed for restoration) for restoration for IFW (IFD) with product installed on PC and when the software is not installed, let's say restoring from DVD-R.
And can be restoring done for IFW from one DVD device if restoring from DVD.
First to put the bootable CD, it loads itself and then put the DVD with image(s)? Like for ATI.

[Bunkhouse Buck]

-{ Quote: "does Paragon's powerful new Professional Adaptive Restore™ work for xp too or is only for vista?" }-

I hope it works for XP but it is not stated on their website under the product features. I want to do a hardware independent restore to a new computer both running XP. ShawdowProtect does do this.

[virtumonde]

-{ Quote: "
Can somebody tell me time(data for restoration vs.time needed for restoration) for restoration for IFW (IFD) with product installed on PC and when the software is not installed, let's say restoring from DVD-R.
And can be restoring done for IFW from one DVD device if restoring from DVD.
First to put the bootable CD, it loads itself and then put the DVD with image(s)? Like for ATI." }-
I guess it depends on read/write capabilities of your Hard Disk.One one of my PC with the product installed,restoring a image from the back-up capsule,or from the HD is done at around 1GB minute(I've done this duzins of times speed is the same).So math is simple.
Restoring a back-up from a DVD-R was veery slow.It took 15-20 minutes to restore a 4GIB size backup.I don't remember the exact speed as i've done this only once.

Edit :sry i'm dumb i thought you ware refferring to Paragon not IFW.Sry

[NeilC]

I've just been trialling Macrium

It seems pretty good. It has a Good UI and is very easy to use. I backed up an image of my Windows system/boot partition of 40gb and it created a compressed image a fraction of the size in a few minutes. I removes empty disk space and compressed pretty quick it would seem.

For system restore, the free version provides either a UNIX boot disk or a Bart PE plugin. Both seem to work OK for me but I prefer the Bart plugin. I made up a Bart disk with both the plugin supplied and a copy of my system partition image which has just been installed and populated with my usual core apps. So that one CD should be capable of an emergency restore. I partially tested this and my other PC booted to Bart, the plugin worked and it was all set to go. i didn't actually restore the partition. The paid version supplies an integrated Windows PE boot disk which is a neater, simpler option. but the Bart building process was not hard anyway.

The free version does not do incremental backups. not sure about the paid version. But then i don't THINK I really want them. Maybe I'm missing something here but it would seem better just to back up actually user data using Cobian or something which is a pretty fully fledged free backup app with incremental and differential backups etc.

My main motivator is just having had to rebuild my PC which took most of a day. A system disk image could have saved all that time and effort.

What is the advantage in using images for large amounts of data backup rather then file backups?

[gud4u]

I recently purchased Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009, a suite combining image backup/recovery functions with complete partition-management functions.

I haven't compared various Paragon products, but I assume the suite combines functional modules very typical of other Paragon products.

For image backup/restore performance, I can relate my impression of performance against other image backup/restore apps I've used:
Terabyte IFW/IFD
Acronis TI10

OS partition image backup/restore times are very close for all 3 apps, essentially equal speed for all. I've only done one OS partition restore with this Paragon app - versus perhaps 20 restores with the other apps, but that was fast and successful.

Partition-management functions perform very well in manipulating my multi-partition HD.

I'm pleased with all functions of this product, with just one exception: the HD defrag function takes forever. Performance fine - just slow.

Hope this helps!

[renegade08]

-{ Quote: "I guess it depends on read/write capabilities of your Hard Disk.One one of my PC with the product installed,restoring a image from the back-up capsule,or from the HD is done at around 1GB minute(I've done this duzins of times speed is the same).So math is simple.
Restoring a back-up from a DVD-R was veery slow.It took 15-20 minutes to restore a 4GIB size backup.I don't remember the exact speed as i've done this only once.

Edit :sry i'm dumb i thought you ware refferring to Paragon not IFW.Sry" }-

No problem.

You have confused me a lot, when reading the text, but at the end i figured out that you are not refering to IFW.

AFAIK IFW doesn't have backup capsule, right?

From my personal experience Paragon are excellent and every one that are considering reliable backup have to try it.