Paragon released HDM 17 early in 2019 without too much fanfare – I found out about it by accident when I logged into my Paragon account and saw the upgrade offers for HDM 17 Advanced [think Pro version], one for each copy of their backup software I’d registered over the years. After a recent update it works well – as of last fall it could be a bit iffy sometimes – but other than improving the bootable USB sticks you can create, it’s a step back from HDM 16 Advanced in my opinion. HDM 16 is more straightforward – I could use it right away, while after the last update to HDM 17 I had to again go hunting to see what options were available how & where.
Paragon HDM 17 will also let you work with partitions, but in most cases I like AOMEI’s software better for that. Again it’s simply more straightforward.
Paragon HDM primarily backs up the raw data on a hard disk partition to a VHD and does work with older version backup archives. HDM’s main competition is Macrium Reflect, which in many ways is superior, but Paragon’s software will do some things that Macrium Reflect will not. HDM 17 LE & Advanced can backup USB sticks & SD cards in my USB reader – Macrium doesn’t see them. HDM 17 does a good job letting you exclude folders from an image backup job, without slowing things down big time. Paragon’s software is more flexible restoring a backed-up partition – Macrium Reflect [the Free version at least] only restores a partition in the same place on disk that it was originally. The WinPE USB sticks from HDM 17 LE & Advanced offer a boot corrector, for when Windows won’t boot, and those from HDM Advanced also [hopefully] fix Windows to boot on different hardware.
HDM will check & attempt to modify the boot files as necessary after performing an operation, e.g. Restore, which Macrium Reflect will leave alone. Earlier versions of HDM let you turn this behavior off, but I can’t find that option in the LE version, or the Advanced version after the latest update. This extra step is good if you need it, bad if you don’t want it, and adds risk since it’s something that can go wrong. HDM will split the backup archive into separate files of a size you specify, e.g. 4.5 GB to burn to DVD later, or it’ll create just one file – Macrium defaults to one file. Paragon HDM 17 will save archives in their own VHD format, pvhd, or lets you use .vmdk, .vhd, .vhdx. Macrium Reflect will let you boot to a backup archive. Macrium Reflect is faster backing up and restoring backups. HDM is 64-bit only, while Macrium Reflect is available for 32-bit Windows. And Macrium Reflect Free is always free, with no keys or registration necessary, while you need a serial number for each copy of HDM 17 LE.
Paragon HDM 25 Anniversary LE installs to the Program Files folder, with a copy of the full installation .msi file [165 MB] stored in ProgramData\ Package Cache. If you create a Linux-based bootable USB stick, you’ll need to download a 433 MB ISO – the Linux USB stick does more. To create a WinPE USB stick you either use the .wim file that’s stored on the Recovery partition with most Win10 installations, or you can use the files from a Windows ADK that you download & install [roughly 5 GB]. [Note: Macrium gives you more options, and they’re more sophisticated, but you don’t get anything like the boot corrector unless you buy their pro version.] Installing HDM 17 LE isn’t terribly bad when it comes to the registry, with program & uninstall keys plus keys for 2 new drivers. There is a lot of churn however as those drivers cause the registry’s driver database to be rewritten [why I can’t give you a total of new entries].