Paragon Image Backup softwares

I installed the trial version of Paragon Hard Disk Manager, but the RecoverCD doesn't recognize my Seagate External Harddisk of 160gb.
So I uninstalled PHDM and installed the trial version of Paragon Drive Backup, same story, no recognition.

I'm not going to buy PHDM or PDB to get a working ISO-file and I'm not familiar with BartPE or WinPE.
Good grief, why does it have to be so difficult to create a good CD and why don't they include these iso-files in one download package. Amateurs !!!

As far I could see, Paragon seems to be able to do a better job than ShadowProtect and it might work the same way as Acronis True Image.
The Paragon Recovery CD loaded very fast, unfortunately it didn't work, BUT it looks very promising, but I couldn't test it in practice.

Sorry guys, but I can't test this way. When I zero my two harddisks, it means I have to depend on this Recovery CD and my external harddisk.
The only way to get my system back is the Acronis Recover CD.

PS: Now I remember, that I also had difficulties with the ShadowProtect Recovery CD, which didn't recognize my external harddisk each time.

 

My system is entirely dependent on the ATI recovery CD. ATI is extremely version sensitive. A perfectly working image will not be restorable with a CD created by a different build than the build that created it. I probably would not try any other backup software any more though, but thanks for the post.

 

PS: Now I remember, that I also had difficulties with the ShadowProtect Recovery CD, which didn't recognize my external harddisk each time.


That's an extreme exeption with SP,maybe you do something extremely wrong !!!

 

What could I do wrong, my external harddisk has only ONE button ?
There are only two possibilities :
1. Turn it ON
2. Turn it OFF
And it was ON when I tried the Recovery CD.

 

sorry for the bold statement,but have ticked the option in the reco.env.with SP loading All drivers,initially i ticked loading default,this worked on my laptop and IDE rigs but not on my Sata driven rig,then i switched to loading all drivers on my Sata and everything was fine.

 

it must also work on your "exotic"external Seagate,sorry but i use Maxtor,and it should't make a difference.

 

The SPrecoverCD gives you 4 options in the beginning.
I choosed the first option, but I don't remember what it was, it was something like standard drivers or default drivers.
I don't have SATA enabled or don't use it. I checked this and that's why I choosed the first option.

 

if you have a windows xp cd you can make a bartpe cd.
its not hard.
the only reason it wouldnt work for me is the fact i had to use a a rubbish oem xp cd.
the paragon winpe cd has plug and play.
it works great.
since one of my first boot devices is usb support i couldnt plug in my external drive first.
so i loaded up the cd.
opened the full program to check it seen my internal drive.
then I closed the program.
left with an empty desktop with a paragon start menu.
plugged in my external.
opened up the program and it saw it.
so now i know if windows wont load i can restore the image.
check your PM.
lodore

 

If you want, you can still get Paragon hard disk manager 8 for free from this older thread, i just tried the 2 links and they still work!

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=171144&highlight=paragon

 

Let me see if I can contribute in a helpful way...

I fired up VirtualBox 1.3.8 for the purpose of easy screenshots (I'm still thanking Peter2150 for mentioning Virtual Systems)

Here is a picture of Windows XP in the VirtualBox and please notice that a USB drive is available (WDC WD12 00JB-00FUA0 USB Device):



I slide the Paragon ISO in the virtual CD drive and reboot the Virtual System.

Please take a look at the next picture, which shows the available hard disks in Paragon Hard Drive Manager 8.5 (Bootable CD)
It concerns the Basic Disk 1 00JB-00FUA0.



Well, it's not a Seagate 160GB, but a WDC 120 GB, but this demonstrates that Paragon functions well. Would you not agree, ErikAlbert?

 

I've just had a similar experience to Erik's using ATI Home and the recovery CD. The ATI CD wouldn't boot at all with my Freecom (Samsung) usb drive connected. It would boot up in its safe mode but all operations involving the disk were like treacle (maybe USB 2.0 had been disabled in safe mode).

Graham

 

i would just like to add something about paragon.
i connected up my external drive to my main pc and booted to the paragon winpe cd.
then i went to the archive tab to try and add the archive from the external drive.
i looked at the drive letters and all i saw was C:
D: dvd burner
E: dvd driver
i knew it had seen the drive since its in the drive view.
so i clicked on the drop down menu above and saw psyically mounted partitions.
thats where it was.
a bit odd but at least i know i can add the archive and restore it if needed.
so for other people testing if you dont see the external drive as a drive letter while trying to add an archive use the drop down menu and look for psyically attached partitions.
it thru me at first but it works.
lodore

 

That's the luxury of NOT having to deal with USB externals. ALL recovery CD's recognize whatever drive i plug INSIDE the box no matter what.

It is something of a mystery though why a simple matter such as connecting an external wouldn't be recognized, but then i don't waste the time, money, or frustration of externals when all i have to do is unplug and plug-in again hard drives for storage or whatever purposes. Also change jumpers. LoL

PARAGON is a Pot-O'-Gold for me. Including Recovery CD. Somehow i don't trust anything $M when it comes to critical tasks and i especially hint to that WinPE fiasco.

 

Thats what I meant when I said the interface is slightly quirky. It does exactly the same when you use it from Paragons own Boot Disk only worse. The drives dont show up in the drop down, they only show up if you click around on mount or disk or something else in the list and if you are lucky the correct drive will show up.
Caveat....on my system anyway.

BUT, it does work beautifully, and I dont find it any slower than ATI. AND it seems to be so reliable.

 

what i discribed above was from the winpe boot cd.
the installed program doesnt seem to have that issue.
lodore

 

I could burn a WinPE PHDMrecoverCD successfully, but loading during reboot was a flop.
I had this error message in a CMD-window :
FACTORY.EXE
Failed to install network adapter -- check WINBOM
I was stucked in an endless loop.
I could start PHDM over the CMD-Window, but I didn't use it because of the error.
These RecoveryCD's are really bugging me.
The loading procedure of WinPE was better than with ShadowProtect.

The installation of PHDM under WinXPproSP2 was successfully, but I needed the RecoverCD also.

Well, I'm tired of testing Image Backup softwares for awhile.
At least, I could test ShadowProtect and use PartitionMagic for the first time.
So I keep Acronis True Image for awhile. Next time better.

 

that error comes up with my pc upstairs.
click ok and in a few minutes the other stuff will work and the start menu will appear.
please try loading the cd again.
press enter on the keyboard when it happerns.
have a cup of tea or something while you wait for the rest to load.
it takes a while to load the rest after that error.
that error is just showing it cant detect your network card properly for mapping network drives.
you will still be able to use the program and restore an image from your external drive.
lodore

 

OK. I will try again, but not right now. These tests take too much time.

 

yes i know.
hence the cup of tea idea
speaking of which im gonna get a cuppa tea now
lodore

 

I decided to reformat my external USB 2.0 120 GB hard drive to FAT32. (don't ask!)
Since Windows XP doesn't support formatting FAT32 over 32 GB, I needed another application and I selected Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.0.

After booting the Rescue CD, I noticed that the USB drive was not available
...and my thoughts went to ErikAlbert.

This is what I did: click 'Operations / refresh [f5]' and Paragon starts rescanning for disks.
There it was, my USB hard disk was visible in the list. Not at the end of the list, though. So you need to be careful when you perform disastrous actions.

Anyway, my USB drive is accessible by Paragon software.
I dare ErikAlbert to try the same refresh procedure.

 

with my next pc i might just get a case with quick removeable trays.
so i image then take out the drive.
which means i can use eiether the winpe cd or the linux based cd.
caddies could be useful as well.
lodore

 

Nice discovery about Paragon's Disc wilbertnl. I know from experience it takes some time to become familiar with ALL of Paragon's features and it's easy to overlook some of them.
I tried Paragon's Drive Copy but it kept telling me there wasn't enough space to do a simple Copy Partition when i know that it did with a 200Gb disk divided equally except one which is 100Gb, LoL I bet anything i overlooked something but i thought i covered every feature i could find but no joy. It was not untill i went with Drive BackUp Professional that things became so much simpler, so i just took it for granted the Personal Editions ARE NOT for me, only the Pro releases. They work like a charm!!
I'll add i've successfully used the Drive BackUp Recovery CD also, but unlike ErikAlbert and others i don't use no external drives, only internals or USB Pen Drives.