Image system & "raw" option

In order to image (backup) the hard drive (& partition) that holds my windows (7), do i need to maybe check the "raw" (sector by sector copy?) option for the backup to provide when restored, the OS fully functional and the same bootable partition ?

 

No. The raw method is to copy all the sectors in the selected partitions whether or not they are being used by the filesystem or not. This is normally used to copy a partition or disk where the format is not understood by the program or if there is a problem with the disk such that Paragon cannot make sense of the format. If you had a disk with a problem you might want to make a copy of it so you can have a backup while you try various recovery techniques.

In the normal mode of operation, Paragon determines which sectors are being used for your information and only backs them up. This results in a smaller image archive file and is also much faster than doing all the sectors.