Not doing well physically this week, hoping better late than never applies...
Get it if you can -- you may or may not use Paragon's Drive Copy on a regular basis, but it could help you out of a jam in the future, & then you'd have to buy it. That said, putting up the cash so you get their WinPE disc might be worth it if you're planning on migrating your setup to a new PC/laptop -- that disc [actually an ISO disc image you can download & burn] lets you do Paragon's P2P adjust OS, meaning you could save yourself the hours [if not days, or even weeks] getting everything installed & setup.
Installation is easy, but a bit different from most GOTD apps... The GOTD wrapper, Setup.exe, contacts the GOTD servers to verify the date, then starts or runs a WinRAR self extracting file. That in turn expands the setup file package [basically what you'd find on a setup CD] to your Windows' User Temp folder [Documents and Settings\ [YourUserName]\ Local Settings\ Temp (XP) or Users\ [YourUserName]\ AppData\ Local\ Temp (Vista/7)]. That setup package starts/runs automatically, so you get a Window with Support contact info, the option to open Drive Copy Pro's User Manual (PDF), a link to the Paragon web site where you can register to get your GOTD license key, the option to create recovery media, & of course the option to install Drive Copy 11 Pro SE. Once you close that window that setup package is deleted from that temp folder. You might want to copy/save it 1st, along with a copy of the e-mail you got from Paragon once you registered -- that e-mail also includes log-in info for Paragon's site, where your keys etc. are stored. FWIW the actual setup file is a 115 MB Windows Installer file [.msi], & once installed the program's folder takes up ~140 MB, less ~60 MB if you decide to delete the rescue disc ISO file [once you've got it on CD, USB stick etc.].
Drive Copy Pro has 2 GUIs, an Easy & an Advanced mode that you can switch between -- you might want to go to the advanced mode just to make your preference settings [File menu -> Settings], then switch back if you prefer the more streamlined window. Settings under General options have a lot to do with how fast or slow Drive Copy Pro works, with drop down boxes for Data Loss Protection Mode & Check FS integrity policy. For those who don't like the Virtual mode, having to click a couple of more times to actually perform whatever operation or task, the settings window is where you turn that off too. What Drive Copy can do is copy your hard drive or partition(s) to another drive, virtual or real, including ssd, or to a backup archive or container -- you'll find that some things work better using the Express launcher [i.e. Easy Mode], where for example you can create a backup container, & others work better from the Advanced window.
Paragon has some neat tech centered around their Driver Injection, to go a few steps further than just moving your data from point A to point B... You can migrate to a larger disk, & apps like Drive Copy go quite a ways towards making that process as painless as possible, setting *most* things so the system will go ahead & boot from that new drive, or adding it to the drives that Windows knows about if it wasn't a system drive. Some Paragon apps [like Drive Copy] can go into the registry of a copied Windows system partition, deleting critical keys/values so it'll boot or start on different hardware, & that includes Virtual Disks for Virtual Machines. Windows will supply most of the drivers you need when you start it, and/or you can supply them yourself, during the process or once you've got Windows to start -- while Paragon software will sometimes ask for specialized guest system *Additions*, depending on the type of VM you're creating or migrating to, with VirtualBox &/or hardware in my experience Windows launches a flury of add hardware dialogs/wizards, & once that stuff clears up you can add the specific driver packages/additions you want/need. TO do this for hardware, i.e. P2P Adjust you need one of Paragon's WinPE discs, e.g. the one that comes with the retail copy of Drive Copy Pro you bought -- if Windows isn't running yet you can't run the normal version of most any Paragon App. You can however copy your drive/partition to a new drive, or expand a copy from a backup container/archive, & then try running a Windows repair install, or use specialized tools to edit the registry, deleting more or less the same critical keys/values that Paragon's P2P Adjust will. You **might** [& I can't stress Might enough] even find that Windows copied to a vhd for Windows Virtual PC, when copied to your new hard drive will boot well enough on your new hardware that you can install whatever drivers are needed.
Somewhere else Drive Copy Pro might be useful is if you're setting up a new system that uses UEFI rather than traditional Bios, & that's something they all seem to be moving to. UEFI uses GPT disks, but since there are so many MBR disks around in use, EUFI features vary depending on your individual hardware, & is often capable of working in either MBR or GPT mode. In recent experience this proved a challenge, with a motherboard that would only recognice the win7 setup media in MBR mode, meaning it wouldn't/couldn't see the already GPT disk. Dirve Copy Pro can switch your disk back & forth, MBR <-> GPT. It also includes Paragon's driver so 32 bit XP for example can use your new GPT disk.
Finally, while I don't feel it's a full substitute for using Paragon Backup to backup the 1st track of your 1st, system disk, Drive Copy Pro includes their Boot Corrector, which might get you going if you have a problem & don't have a good backup of that 1st track. Malware/rootkits may write to that 1st track, starting/running malware before Windows loads, maintaining as possible invisibility. Updating/adding Windows writes to that track, including win8, which works differently in that respect than prior versions. A restored backup of your system disk/partition(s) will not boot unless that 1st track is restored or recreated. While tools like EasyBCD are useful [in some cases essential], I've yet to find something as easy & that works as well as a simple backup of that 1st track. Without VBox additions available yet, you don't have full capabilities getting files/folders into & out of a win8 VM -- I've even used Paragon software to backup that 1st track, restoring it & then using EasyBCD to set up a dual boot win7/8 VBox VM, using win7's loader when win8's loading setup wouldn't work for me.
