How HDM Suite 15 is supposed to work?

Discussion in 'Paragon Drive Backup Product Line' started by RPMtl, Oct 21, 2014.

  1. RPMtl

    RPMtl Registered Member

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    I'm struggling to see how HDM Suite 15 is supposed to work. I installed the new version to replace HDM Suite 14 and just want to back up my laptop SSD to a connected USB3 drive.

    Under the "Backup & Restore" tab all I see offered is "Backup to VD". The instructions on p.56 of the User Manual suggests that I should find "Smart Backup" in the "Backup & Restore" tab, but I cannot see that entry.

    The instructions beginning on p.56 seem very similar to what I was used to seeing in v14. But I cannot find the Smart Backup option in the program interface.

    I'm not clear what "Backup to VD" means as I just want to create an archive on a real attached (not virtual) USB3 drive. I do not want to convert the drive to a VD nor add or remove any partitions on the attached drive.

    So far I'm finding my experience with HDM Suite 15 more confusing that it should be for a consumer product. Perhaps a few 'how to' videos that demonstrate the most basic tasks (back up, restore, migrate an OS) would help with the learning curve.

    Thanks for any help.

    Russell
     
  2. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    Just use backup to VD, select the PVHD format and the desired options. This will create an image in the external USB 3.0 disk. You can verify or restore the image in the usual way.
     
  3. RPMtl

    RPMtl Registered Member

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    Thanks Robin. I'll do that. But I do wonder why the user manual makes reference to things that seem to be missing.

    R
     
  4. Paul Nutt

    Paul Nutt Registered Member

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    You may have already found that the instructions you're looking for begin on page 113 but your question is valid.
     
  5. RPMtl

    RPMtl Registered Member

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    Did a backup and everything proceeded as expected with no surprises.

    Thanks for the help, all's good :)

    Russell
     
  6. johnmsch

    johnmsch Registered Member

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    I was having the same problem, due to the user manual not accurately reflecting this version (Hard Disk Manager 15 Suite). That is really frustrating! Came hear looking for an answer and found this thread.

    After spending some time looking through the interface and all the options, I discovered that if you click on the little tool icon in the top right corner of the window, you can change the interface to "legacy features." Then you will have the smart backup option. I did a full backup that way, but it took a REALLY long time. I also noticed that the backup files it creates are all 4gb in size. I'm guessing that feature was supposed to be used to backup to DVDs?

    Since they are calling that a "legacy" feature, I'm guessing they will be eliminating it soon and forcing us to use the VD backup option. I'm going to give that a try also. Hopefully its much quicker.
     
  7. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    You can choose not to split the image. In the "Backup to VD" Wizard > "Specify backup objects", check "Change backup settings" > uncheck "Enable image splitting".
     
  8. johnmsch

    johnmsch Registered Member

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    Thanks Robin. Found that setting and unchecked it. Curious as to why that was check as the default.
     
  9. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    This may be the reason, or part of it:
    [Issue] VHD backup taking unreasonably long

    Note that this only applies to VHD backups, not to PVHD ones.
     
  10. John2222

    John2222 Registered Member

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    I have always felt that creating only one LARGE NTFS backup-image file, although nice looking, creates a lot of Windows overhead to delay writing that 25 or 30 GB file to your destination, such as an external hard drive or local network share. Better to have 4GB pieces so Windows and HDM can create the split, then move on to the next split instead of "holding" the file in memory or paging memory until it is all over. Also if you ever want to you can copy those pieces to Blue-Ray disk (5 or 6 files per disk) for offsite storage extra layer of backup.
     
  11. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    Yes, another reason to split images is the 4 GB limit in FAT32.

    I stopped splitting images some time ago, and haven´t noticed any problem. I prefer to have fewer files in the image (one file is best, not possible with Paragon programs), never copy images to optical disks, and never use FAT32 in hard disks.

    One "advantage" of the VD format is that when splitting is disabled, the resulting image only has 3 files, no matter how many partitions are in the VD.
     
  12. John2222

    John2222 Registered Member

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    I recently bought a 2TB Seagate slim portable drive. Periodically (maybe once a quarter) I copy my backup image files from several computers to the drive, and then I take it to my bank safety deposit box. Next quarter I get the drive out, take it home, and copy the latest backup images. That way, if (hope it never happens) there's a fire or flood or earthquake or worse, I still have a backup at an offsite location.
     
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