new to Paragon, Experienced with backup, encryption

to all,
just purchased Paragon HDM suite 2009, with free 2010 upgrade.

I am an experienced user (25+ years) of systems, have used imaging since DriveImage, befor ghost, tried ghost, and have extensively used acronis, but if you read their message boards, you will see my frustration reflected in many threads there.

I downloaded the FREE version to test.
I have ENCRYPTED hard drive, did backup from inside the encrypted drive, restored to another external drive (as unencrypted), data looks good.

Based on that, I purchased the full version

QUESTION
I have several machines that I test, wreck, etc.
Is the FREE version of backup the same engine that is in the HDM suite?

I will put teh PAID suite on my main machine, but will use the free one on my test machines (I test various encryption programs, reliability)

QUESTION
will the RESTORE disk (bootable CD/DVD/USB stick) of the suite, restore the backups done with the free version, or do I have to have separate restore disks?

Also, anyone's experience with this , versus acronis, feedback, would be appreciated.
thanks
Nick

Addendum -
I use WinMagic's SecureDoc for Encryption, for bootup encryption, and it has worked very reliably, if anyone is interested in encryption experience.

 

Essentially , yes - however the free one is v10 - I believe there have been some minor changes , but they are fully compatible.

Yes, the restore disk will work for both.

Hope it helps.

 

thanks for reply.

re: free version v.10, and bought version, v.9, will that make a difference if teh bootable v.9 suite, is used to recover the v.10
OR, should I wait until v.10 suite is released, make that recovery disk, then have one common disk?

QUESTION
in the download, there are 6 files (some ISO, some EXE, etc), I downloaded 4 of them (all the 32-bit)
what to do with the add-ins, are they their own standalones, or are their directions that clarify the downloaded files?

thanks
Nick

 

The boot disc from HDM 2009 will work with v10 backup images.

HDM 2010 may be a month or so arriving - I would run off HDM 2009 boot disc in case you need it meantime - it's only the cost of a blank cd.

Not sure what add - ons you have. If they are .iso's , or say WinPercd - then you need to burn them to cd - they do not integrate directly with HDM 2009 , as they came out afterwards.

The Adaptive Restore is excellent.

 

SIW2, thanks for reply.

I have the WinPE dsk burnt; looks great.

I will burn the adaptive version, but confused as to what it is (am on super-fast learning curve, as I have a couple hours this weekend to work on this)

just installed the full version to my main tablet PC, it is encryted, I will back it up, full, then restore to a separate drive (it should restore unencrypted), and I should be able to read the files

thasnk
NIck

 

The adaptive restore component was added after HDM 2009. So when you purchase HDM 2009, it's a separate installation and disk for virtualization and dissimilar hardware migration.

Drive Backup 10 has the AR component built it so it's one less CD to worry about. Same with HDM 2010 when it's available.

 

thanks for reply.
I am rapidly getting the feel for the software.
I have the one recvery disk burnt (the PE version), and seems to work well, and I will continue to test the drives, to altenative recovery drives on usb cables, etc

thanks
Nick