Buying Upgrade

I have a licenced copy of Backup and Recovery 10. If I go to the download free update information I don't see any available update, only the previous versions that I already downloaded. However if I click on the buy upgrade link I then get an offer to upgrade to Backup and Recovery 11 but at an additional cost. Is this correct or should I be able to upgrade for free using my current licence.

 

I think this is the way it is. Normally, you can upgrade for free for updates (generally bug fixes) that are for the same version but when a new version comes out there is a cost associated with the upgrade. The upgrade cost should be less than for a new license.

Some programs typically bought-online and are relatively small programs may offer free upgrades to all versions.

 

Thanks seekforever for that clarification.

 

Would there be any advantage in my buying Backup and Recovery 11. Are there any reasons to do so. I have used my current version 10 with no problems so now I'm wondering if the cost of the upgrade is justified with any improvements that would be noticed.

 

Many of us like to always have the latest and greatest but the reality is if the program is doing all you need and there are no new features you want then it doesn't make sense. And yes, I have bought upgrades that I didn't really need.

If you do upgrade a backup program like Paragon then you really should test that it is working properly and you can restore your files if necessary.

One thing I found with version 10 was that I couldn't verify an archive from its Linux boot CD version. It would immediately return to the screen saying done and it hadn't done anything. This works properly in the paid copy of version 11. It didn't work in the Free version 11 either but maybe they have updated it.

 

Thanks again seekforever for you reply here.

I have to be honest and say that I too also like to have latest versions of programs as and when they are made available, however with paid software I think we have to look at the value of any possible advantage over if the current version does the job.

I have never had any issue with archive verification, maybe this is because I always backup to a second hard drive and it has not once failed to verify a good image. I also have on more than one occasion actually had to do a complete restore of my C drive and it has worked totally flawlessly and saved my operating system (Win 7) with absolute success.

So whilst I'm tempted to get the upgrade I may have no valid reason for doing so at this time unless someone can convince me otherwise.

I appreciate your input and feel I need not make any decision yet.

 

Did you verify with the bootable Linux recovery CD created by the program not the WinPE CD or from within the program running in Windows?

It isn't an issue of the verify failing, it didn't even attempt to verify when tried from the Linux environment. The verify should have taken several minutes but said done in less than a second.

It did it with both version 10 paid and version 11 free on more than one PC. Paragon support said it was a problem and it would be fixed although I never heard from them further on it. Paid version 11 came out and it worked properly.

 

I've only ever used the verify option within the program itself and never tried with either of the boot CD's. This because my usual method is to make an image of the C partition and then I always immediately verify from within the program.

It has never failed and so I've then kept the archive knowing it is in good condition. Then on a few occasions I've actually completed a restore when needed. Been very pleased and saved me more than once.

So the CD verification problem you mentioned hasn't been an issue for me. I guess if it had then this would be one good reason to upgrade, but as I said so far the program has worked for me fine.

 

The risk with validating only within the program is that this isn't the environment that must be able to read the archive when you do a restore of C. If the provided Linux environment does not have good drivers for your hardware it may not be able to restore. A good indicator if it would be able to do a successful restore is by verifying the archive with the CD which shows it can read the archive and successfully recreate the checksums. The best test by far is to do a test restore to a spare HD (in case it fails). After you have confirmed the Linux recovery CD works on your system then verifying only within Windows is sufficient.

This isn't quite so critical for you, because you have a paid version which provides access to the separate download file to create the WinPE recovery CD which is Windows-based and typically is less problematic than the Linux-based CDs.

However, the WinPE CD doesn't work for everybody so it is still a good idea to test it by at least doing a verify with the WinPE CD.

 

I see what you mean. I do have both the Linux CD and the WinPE CD here so I will have to carry out these verification tests you mentioned just to be sure they are all good and then can decide if I need to look at the upgrade again.

The few times I have restored the image was when I could still boot into Windows and then do the restore from within the program to correct some system errors that I had inadvertently created.

Obviously if I ever needed to do a restore from the either of the boot CD's then I need to be sure they are all working correctly. I did actually do a test to a spare hard drive when I first started to use the program to ensure that it was able to restore from the WinPE CD, and it did fine but I don't recall doing any verification checks from either CD at that time. But as you say, maybe all I need now is to do verification from within the program anyway, but it's always good to test everything fully when it comes to backup and restoration.

Thanks again for the extra information which is most useful.

 

If you restored the C (active partition) drive from Windows you probably are OK since it would have rebooted the machine to do the actual restore after it collected the archive name, etc. The reboot would load the Linux recovery environment (as is on the CD). Still a good idea to check that the PC will boot from the CD or flash drive though.

 

Yes all that worked just as you said so this is why I have always been happy that it does what it should. This is good reliable software so for now I'll keep using this version with the thought... why change something that does the job... but I'll still keep the upgrade in mind for some future consideration.