Drive Backup Pro (backup to DVD) question

I have never used an imaging program before this but I am now trying out Drive backup Pro. I was testing and attempted to copy my hard disc image to DVD (from outside Windows via the restore CD) and had a strange issue come up.

When I began the process Drive Backup advised that the image would be 10+GB in size (don't remember the exact number). I was using double layer DVDs which are supposed to have a capacity of 8.5GB. I expected that I would be asked to insert a second DVD when the first was full. Well the whole copy process went to the one DVD. The program never asked for a second DVD and the program stated at the end that the 10+GB had copied. I received no errors, etc. If I look on the disc with Windows Explorer the disc is completely full.

So, what is the deal??

 

Hello Firebytes,

Did you get a chance to browse into the DVD and check its size? With the File Transfer feature, you can look into the archive and validate the data. Might want to extract random files for testing purposes. Typically on the summary page, a few sizes are mentioned, the before compression raw data size and after compression archive size. By default, Drive Backup is set to normal compression which can achieve approximately 80% of the original data, depending what type of files you backup.


-Tommy

 

According to explorer the disc capacity is 7.94GB and the amount of space used is 7.94GB. That's why I think something is wrong as even if the disc image was compressed to more than the 10+GB size that Paragon DB initially estimated, I find it hard to believe it was compressed to exactly the size of the disc capacity. Also, when the disc was finished Paragon DB did state that 10+GB had been copied.

I did a complete disc image not a file backup but if the File Transfer feature can be used to look at the image then I will attempt to do that when I have a chance.

Thanks for your help so far and I appreciate any additional information you can provide.

 

Firebytes,

Is there a reason why we're performing the backup in the recovery environment? with VSS we should be able to perform a hot-backup in Windows, save it temporarily on the Hard drive, and manually burn the image to the DVD with a DVD writing utility (Nero, Roxio). If your image exceeds the single DVD capacity, in Tools > settings, you can set the image splitting to the appropriate size and burn the archives onto multiple DVDs.

Similarly, you can enable image splitting from the recovery environment, save the archive on the hard disk, and burn them to the DVD medias in Windows.

I find recording to medias in Windows will always be more reliable because the proper drivers are present.

-Tommy

 

Just testing things out. It is an available option in the program so I figured it should work. Plus I was under the impression (from reading here and there) that backing up from outside Windows was supposed to be more reliable. Also, I think image splitting was enabled when I tried it but I am not 100% sure on that.

I will try it the way you advised when I get a chance.

Thanks

 

Hi Tommy,

I have had always problems with burning the images into the DVD's with a DVD writing utility.
I have tried almost every Paragon programs and none of the recorded DVD's was recognized after i make an image and save it to same partition and then burn it with some utility on DVD.
When i try to boot from the recovery CD and then when i search for the image on DVD's, the images are not shown.
Although the images that are saved on some partitions from which images i have made the DVD are still recognized bu recovery CD.

 

Hi Tommy,
I've posted an question and never got answer.
As you can see there are some other older posts that don't have answers from Paragon Support.

Renegade

 

Hello renegade08,

Sorry about our delay responses. Can you point to me the thread/question that you still have?

Regarding your question below about the software not recognizing your archive CD, did you swap out the recovery media and put in place the DVD with the archive? Often times the hardware is not re-initialized with the new media in there.

If you have a flash drive you can temporarily use, make the recovery media using the flash drive, and put the DVD with the archive in before the program starts.

-Tommy