Paragon products comparison

[Nikilet]

First, I'm not an advanced computer user.

What is Paragon Drive Copy 11 Professional? Is it a backup program, like Paragon Backup & Recovery?

I had purchased Acronis and never appeared to have any problems with the backups, which I saved to a 320 GB external hard drive. But when I needed it, my mouse would not make the selection that would allow me to "select" recovery. I tried 3 different mice. My cursor just jumped all over the place. I had to reformat. Would the same mouse problem be true of Paragon Backup & Recovery and if that problem exists, is there a solution that one could do before the fact?

Vista Home Premium SP2 32 Bit / Avast Internet Security 5 / WinPatrol
Programs I run only on demand: Registry Commander / Malwarebytes / SUPERAntiSpyware
320 GB hard drive / 2 MB Ram (with 2 MB more to put in) / 6320 @ 1.86GHz

[wptski]

I'm using W7 Pro 64-bit. I have tried both HDM2011S/B&R2010FA from a WinPE Recovery Disc with no problems with my Logitech M510 mouse.

[Nikilet]

Does HDM2011S refer to Paragon Drive Copy 11 Professional?

What is the difference between the two programs?

I tried two brand of mice when I had the problem. Two Logitech and one mi laser mouse. Someone finally tried to explain it to me, but by that time it was too late, I couldn't really make heads nor tails of it and was no longer interested in trying after I lost all my pics and everything I thought I had backed up and safe through Acronis. Yes, I know now to have more than one backup source.

I'm still looking for a reliable backup program, something that will take a clone of my hard drive. Something I can figure out and use. And if there are going to be any problems with mice, or anything else, I want to know ahead of time and get it worked out before I depend on something that isn't going to work when I need it.

[moonriver]

Been using casper for years with no hiccups whatsoever, give it a shot.
www.fssdev.com/products/casper

[wptski]

Originally Posted by Nikilet

First, I'm not an advanced computer user.

What is Paragon Drive Copy 11 Professional? Is it a backup program, like Paragon Backup & Recovery?

Vista Home Premium SP2 32 Bit / Avast Internet Security 5 / WinPatrol
Programs I run only on demand: Registry Commander / Malwarebytes / SUPERAntiSpyware
320 GB hard drive / 2 MB Ram (with 2 MB more to put in) / 6320 @ 1.86GHz

Here's a comparison page that may help: http://www.paragon-software.com/home...omparison.html

[Nikilet]

moonriver: Thanks for the heads up on Casper. I checked it out briefly just now and am definitely interested. I'm just wondering why I've never heard of it before.

wptski: I thank you for that comparison page but the truth is now I'm more confused than ever about Paragon. I wonder if this program is something a novice like myself could use with any confidence or whether I'd be swimming in doubt and confusion all the time.

And what about Casper? Would I be comfortable with that? Cnet says "boot your computer directly from your backup hard disk and you're up and running again in seconds." Later it says Casper runs entirely from within Windows. So can I put the backup on my external hard drive? It kind of sounds like I can't.

[moonriver]

Originally Posted by Nikilet

And what about Casper? Would I be comfortable with that? Cnet says "boot your computer directly from your backup hard disk and you're up and running again in seconds." Later it says Casper runs entirely from within Windows. So can I put the backup on my external hard drive? It kind of sounds like I can't.

You can clone your HDD "anywhere" you want.
I use casper to clone to a second internal HDD and to an USB external HDD as well, to store offsite.
Casper creates a complete bootable clone, that's always up to date.
No more fussing with incremental, differential backups or what have you.

[Nikilet]

On the site it talks about a Casper Startup Disk that comes with something called the value pack. What is this?

If I had to do a recovery operation and Windows wouldn't boot (which is what happened last time), how would I boot -- from a CD or from this startup disk?

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm asking dumb questions, but I didn't ask enough last time and I'd like to be a little better prepared this time.

[Nikilet]

I have continued to read on the Casper site and feel more impressed and hopeful of a program that I can actually figure out and have some confidence in. Still can't understand why I haven't heard of this program before. But thank you for mentioning it to me.

[moonriver]

Originally Posted by Nikilet

On the site it talks about a Casper Startup Disk that comes with something called the value pack. What is this?

If I had to do a recovery operation and Windows wouldn't boot (which is what happened last time), how would I boot -- from a CD or from this startup disk?

Since I have 2 internal drives, I have no need for a startup disk which should be something like the above mentioned WinPE Recovery Disc.
Don't hold me to it, I've never used it.

The basic idea of casper is to just swap drives if one fails or gets corrupted.
That's why I have my drives in system trays, so switching takes seconds only.
Hope that helps.

[Robin A.]

Originally Posted by moonriver

... Casper creates a complete bootable clone, that's always up to date.

So if the system becomes corrupted or infected by malware, so does the bootable clone. What is the point?

[Nikilet]

What I want to do is back up my entire system on my external hard drive, and then in case of a problem, be able to recover it to my computer. I guess I want to know if Casper can do that.

[wptski]

Originally Posted by Nikilet

What I want to do is back up my entire system on my external hard drive, and then in case of a problem, be able to recover it to my computer. I guess I want to know if Casper can do that.

I'm not a expert at anything but what kind of external drive and what size? I use a external USB 2.0 drive to make a RAW copy of my 750G HD internal and that took around 12 hrs. It's a bootable copy but how often can one spend that much time?

[Nikilet]

At present I have a 320GB Iomega, USB 2.0. I was previously using Acronis and when I would make a full backup and then perform the verify process, I'm sure it didn't take more than 2-3 hours (I never timed it). When I did an incremental it didn't take any time at all to do the backup, but then would take maybe 45 minutes to verify. My first post talks about the trouble I had with Acronis.

[wptski]

Originally Posted by Nikilet

At present I have a 320GB Iomega, USB 2.0. I was previously using Acronis and when I would make a full backup and then perform the verify process, I'm sure it didn't take more than 2-3 hours (I never timed it). When I did an incremental it didn't take any time at all to do the backup, but then would take maybe 45 minutes to verify. My first post talks about the trouble I had with Acronis.

I can make a backup with USB 2.0 in around thirty minutes but that's not a sector by sector exact copy of the source that's bootable. Differential and incremental are backup compressed images of a drive and not bootable.

I just got a USB 3.0 PCIe card and using it with the BlacX 5G docking station I had already which cuts the time in half. That doesn't help making a RAW copy because a reboot is required with which the USB 3.0 drivers are lost. I started another seperate thread about that issue and/or solution here: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=294363

[Nikilet]

Casper sent me some information and I must confess that I'm not much clearer on things now than I was before.

The guy who wrote me brought up whether I can boot my computer with USB backup drive. I have no clue and don't know where/how I can find this out. Can you tell me?

[wptski]

Originally Posted by Nikilet

Casper sent me some information and I must confess that I'm not much clearer on things now than I was before.

The guy who wrote me brought up whether I can boot my computer with USB backup drive. I have no clue and don't know where/how I can find this out. Can you tell me?

Depends on your computer but most at bootup, you'll see something on your screen like press F2 for setup and maybe F12 for boot sequence. The F12 is like a somewhat temporary change on what your PC will boot from. The F2 will get into the BIOS where you can make a permanent change.

If you try to boot from a external USB drive, Windows will detect a hardware change, you can EXIT right there but if you proceed, it'll try to boot from that drive. If it fails, you'll have to go back again and select your internal again, etc. If it boots from the external drive, it'll continue to try until you change it back.

I myself started to boot from that 12 hr. copy but backed out when Windows detected the hardware change. I wasn't expecting that screen to pop up.

[Nikilet]

I just received a recommendation for Clonezilla too. Do you know anything about it?

[wptski]

Originally Posted by Nikilet

I just received a recommendation for Clonezilla too. Do you know anything about it?

Never heard of it. Go to CNET Utilities for options.

[pandlouk]

The easiest program from paragon's product line is System Backup.

Panagiotis

[Nikilet]

Pandlouk

I have been checking out Paragon System Backup 2010 for the past hour; taking the tour and reading. Then I got to the "Compare Editions" section and the resolve I was feeling about making a decision became a little shaky. It sounds like SB 2010 would do everything I'd want, but ...

There are quite a number of things in Backup & Recovery Suite that System Backup 2010 doesn't have. Most of them mean nothing to me as I don't have even a clue what they mean. Some I don't care about, like backing up to an FTP server. But there are some I question.

For instance, Mount Images. SB 2010 does not have this. What does it mean? It sounds like something I'd want. File increments and file backup? I have no idea what the PV2 Copy, Restore and Adjust wizards are.

Can you, would you be willing to clarify any of this for me?

[pandlouk]

Originally Posted by Nikilet

Pandlouk

I have been checking out Paragon System Backup 2010 for the past hour; taking the tour and reading. Then I got to the "Compare Editions" section and the resolve I was feeling about making a decision became a little shaky. It sounds like SB 2010 would do everything I'd want, but ...

There are quite a number of things in Backup & Recovery Suite that System Backup 2010 doesn't have. Most of them mean nothing to me as I don't have even a clue what they mean. Some I don't care about, like backing up to an FTP server. But there are some I question.

For instance, Mount Images. SB 2010 does not have this. What does it mean? It sounds like something I'd want. File increments and file backup? I have no idea what the PV2 Copy, Restore and Adjust wizards are.

Can you, would you be willing to clarify any of this for me?

Check here about mount images
http://kb.paragon-software.com/parag...3597&foLang=en
File backups
http://kb.paragon-software.com/parag...3618&foLang=en
P2V means physical to virtual (you can use it to create a virtual machine from your real pc).
Restore and Adjust is used to tranfer you system to another pc
http://kb.paragon-software.com/parag...3620&foLang=en

Panagiotis

[Nikilet]

I don't think this SB 2010 is really what I'm looking for. I want something like Acronis, only I won't use Acronis.

I thank whoever posted for their help, but I just don't understand all this technical stuff and I keep getting more confused. I read something that I thought indicated if you try to recover your entire HD by using SB 2010 it takes a long time. That indicates to me this isn't really what this program is meant for. I just don't know what to do.

[pandlouk]

Check your pms.

Panagiotis

[Nikilet]

What are you referring to?