*** ACHTUNG ACHTUNG: SUPER SATURATED FIELD DETECTED!!! ***

This GAOTD was one of the best tool of this genre until AOMEI guys decided to release an awesome FREE software called "AOMEI Backupper", which actually sports all those powerful and unique features, usually provided by very expensive commercial apps like Acronis True Image, designed to backup & restore a disk image and clone a drive, such as that helping you clone smaller SSD's from larger HDD's.

KEY FEATURES:
Supports Incremental & differential backups, Encryption and Compression,
Supports ALL storage devices out there (IDE, SATA, SCSI, SSD, USB external disks, Hardware RAID and so on) with a capacity greater than 2TB, as well as MBR and GPT style.
Supports Windows 7/8/XP/Vista and Server 2003/2008/2011/2012 (both 32bit & 64bit).
Backup & Restore your entire hard disk drives
Backup & Restore your single partitions (including dynamic volumes) to an image file.
Backup & Restore your operating system and installed applications

Compared to others similar products out there (Easeus, Macrium, Paragon etc...), I can say that this program is much faster at performing the HD backup & cloning process, not to mention that it's also able to create smaller backup files in size as final output.

With this magic FREE tool you can even restore individual files and folders from a backup image file, thus without being forced to recover the entire backup.

It can also check the data integrity of your image file, so as to make sure your backups can be restored with no hassle, giving you even the ability to mount your backup image files on a virtual partition in order to browse and see their contents in Windows Explorer.

Honestly I can't figure out why this awesome program is FREE of charges: simply AMAZING!!

http://www.aomeitech.com/aomei-data-backuper.html

- How to Create Windows PE & Linux Bootable Disc
http://www.backup-utility.com/help/create-bootable-disk.html

LINUX BOOTABLE DISK EDITION:
http://www.backup-utility.com/download-iso.html

In addition to that, this awesome software also supports HD and Partition cloning operations, which can be very handy if your main intent is just to upgrade/replace/migrate your old HD to a new one (SSD supported).

In fact, what you have to do is simply to copy your HD directly to a new one, without creating an image file, with the additional cool ability to resize your partitions even during the cloning process.

http://www.aomeitech.com/features/disk-clone.html

Bye bye PARAGON (and ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE as well)!!


*** ACHTUNG ACHTUNG: SUPER SATURATED FIELD DETECTED!!! ***

Giovanni (Super King of Freebies)  –  10 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+135)

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Pros
*Supports file-level and drive-level (image) backups
*Supports full, differential, and incremental backups
*Can create Linux-based bootable CD/DVD/USB
*Is able to backup files in use
*Has a scheduler
*Can encrypt/password protect backups
*And more

Cons
*You won't get WinPE bootable media in Compact
*Compact can't restore to dissimilar hardware

Free Alternatives
Review of best free backup software for Windows

Final Verdict
Click here for final verdict and full review

Ashraf from dotTech  –  10 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+128)

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In response to a question: How can I use this program to restore the system when the computer crashes?.

You can create Linux/DOS recovery environment (included in the installation package) on external media (CD, DVD, or flash memory) to boot and run utilities under Linux or PTS DOS, and that way to get access to your hard disk for maintenance or recovery purposes.

Paragon-software  –  10 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+44)

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(according to #8)It is not true. You can do the backup and restore files from external USB drives.

Paragon-software  –  10 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+43)

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#5: "Too bad that this new version can’t uninstall the older 2011 compact version and you have to do it manually"

The uninstaller for v. 11 should work fine -- you might have to manually delete the program's folder because that's where some logs are stored, & those logs aren't automatically deleted.

* * *

#6: "I have the Paragon Hard Drive Manager ... I tried to copy the contents of a 500gb hard drive to a 1tb drive ... It failed. The answer, in part, provided by Paragon is as follows: ” you can copy the drive using our program if you can connect the new drive by using SATA or eSATA rather than USB.” Note Ashraf’s caution about dissimilar hardware..."

As far as copying or cloning a drive/partition goes I've never had a problem, though when replacing a drive I'll normally create a full image backup, swap drives, then restore the backup. I mean, you're going to swap the drives physically anyway, so why bother with the hassle of adding & running another pair of cables, &/or mounting the drive & such when you'll just redo it. When it comes to USB, USB 2 is just too slow IMHO to be practical when/if you transfer a lot of data, so I've found no reason to try [for the last 8+ years anyway]. A hard drive dock or external housing that you can buy starting from $10-$20, & that has USB 2.0, also normally has eSATA -- eSATA uses the same bus as your internal hard drive(s) so is just as fast. If your PC doesn't have a eSATA connection, you can usually buy an adapter cable that supplies one at the rear of the case for a couple of dollars -- I've also bought eSATA cards for laptops pretty cheap.

That's Not to say Paragon or any other backup software won't work over USB 2.0... I've occasionally used Paragon's software since I think version 5 with USB 2.0 & not had any software problems. I phrase it that way because I have had USB 2.0 drive housings where the USB 2.0 interface was unreliable transferring anything over 500 MB -- it didn't matter if I was simply copying files or writing a backup archive to the disk.

I think you might misunderstand "Dissimilar hardware" -- it means moving Windows from one PC/laptop to another. When a system starts the Windows boot process it 1st starts the various driver software so it can talk to the system's hardware. If it loads the wrong drivers the process fails. To migrate Windows to a different PC/laptop, software like Paragon's edits the registry, removing or disabling those critical drivers -- Windows then reverts to its process of detecting new hardware & adding required drivers, same as it does during a new install.

The process of Windows adding new drivers automagically is not foolproof however -- Vista/win7/8 can store driver info several places in Windows, & since that stuff isn't deleted [you may not even be able to delete all of it], Windows can still try to use the wrong drivers, now or in the future. Plan on *maybe* having to spend as much time as if you installed Windows fresh to begin with.

Migrating Windows to new or different hardware means using a boot disc or USB device. Those generally either run a small version of *nix or WinPE, & the migration software runs on top of that. Paragon's version will only run on top of WinPE, & since that isn't part of the giveaway [which has been discussed at Great Length previously], their giveaway versions cannot support migrating Windows to new/different hardware.

* * *

#10: "How can I use this program to restore the system when the computer crashes?"

#15: "Slight problem: If you get hacked or your system really crashes, and you have to reinstall/recover everything, you have to have Paragon Backup and Recovery 12 Compact installed on your system to do the recovery. But, GotD programs can only be installed on the day they are offered. You won’t be able to re-install Paragon Backup and Recovery 12 Compact when you need it to recover your system.."

It's somewhat important to pay attention to what "crashed" your PC/laptop to begin with... If Windows won't start normally or in Safe Mode, 1st try the boot option to use last known good. If that doesn't work, & you didn't make any changes to your system before Windows crashed, it might be worthwhile to run a virus/mal-ware scan from a bootable CD -- it's not foolproof [it can miss stuff]. If you suspect or find that your system was infected, consider that your earlier backups may or may not have included that infection, & mal-ware just may not for example have received the order to damage Windows, Yet. If you do restore a backup & think mal-ware may have been at fault, *Do Run* complete anti-virus scans in Windows -- several companies have free AV scanners just for this sort of thing, & since most all AV software has its own particular weaknesses, run more than one. Note that Paragon backup software lets you separately back up the 1st, hidden disk track where mal-ware can hide, & that area doesn't change unless you do something like add another version of Windows -- that means you can backup that 1st track when your system or Windows is brand new, before it's had a chance to become infected, & usually restore that backup years later.

Otherwise, if/when mal-ware is not a problem, it's good to pay attention & note any changes to Windows, software, & performance, since that stuff can provide clues if/when your PC/laptop breaks. My wife for example started having problems where occasionally sound would quit working on her PC -- she remembered that when Windows wouldn't start one day, & sure enough, pulling the sound card fixed it. The main idea anyway is to not repeat whatever it was that caused your system to break, or else restoring a backup will only be a temporary solution. With those bases covered, restoring a disk/partition is pretty fast & easy with Paragon's apps.

For normal, everyday stuff I have another hard drive in our PCs where I store backup archives -- I often use an older drive that's been replaced but is still working well. Our systems are also set up to dual boot -- rather than replace an older version of Windows, the newer version was installed to another partition. If the main OS [win7] breaks or just has problems after a graphics driver update for example, it takes roughly 20 minutes to boot into the older version of Windows & restore the latest backup. The biggest downside was yesterday on Update Tuesday, had twice as many updates to do, one set for each version of Windows.

Paragon backups can be burned to DVD as they're created, & this setup will include a bootable restore app. Paragon's bootable rescue discs [or USB sticks] work just like the Windows versions, but with a very few limitations. You can save the software's .msi setup file to use whenever. Paragon apps will work without their included drivers as I've detailed in the past & in forum posts, so they're for the most part portable. You can get generic WinPE images [for CD or USB stick] that provide a mini version of Windows rather than just the underpinnings necessary to run whatever app -- I have one from Wondershare, & have [easily] created several using tools from reboot.pro. Long story short, for backup or restore outside of Windows you have a pretty fair number of options, actually more options than I've found with Any other brand. The only caveat I've found is that for Really Old hardware it pays to hang onto your old Paragon rescue discs, e.g. working with an old win98 laptop only similarly ancient Paragon versions worked.

mike  –  10 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+31)

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