FOR BACKUP OF ENTIRE DRIVE:

You can clone (make an exact copy) of any drive or partition with EASEUS DISK COPY. (It's free) Nobody likes the crud that gets loaded onto a system by using the manufacturers system restoration disks. Can take days to get the crud off (trial antivirus, AOL offers, toolbars, etc.) and get your favorite 3rd party software installed and all your settings the way you like. Once that is done, forget about the system restoration disks. You can put them in the garbage. Get yourself an external (or internal) drive, plug it in, and use EAseus disk copy to clone it to the extra drive and put it in a safe place. You now have a backup so that you don't have to go through all that again. EASEUS diskcopy download is an iso image. the iso will create a bootable CD. boot from that CD to backup or restore your drive. A true, reliable HDD copy cannot be done properly if you boot from the drive you're trying to backup! If that drive fails completely, just swap it for the backup drive and you're done. Others just make an image file of your hard disk. Useless if you cannot mount it or boot your computer at all..

You can even take that backup of your entire drive, plug it in,(as slave or external) find the files you want to restore and just copy them. Bottom line is, all you need is to clone your drive. I find these other "comprehensive" backup programs useless.

If I want to backup and restore by file, I have Roxio 2010 and it works fine. Heck, you don't even need backup software for file backups.

If you missed this here you can still get it at dotTech http://dottech.org/freebies/16094
The direct DL link is still good! Can register using program or see comment 48

The obvious competitors to Paragon Drive Backup are Acronis True Image Home 2010 with Plus Pack, and StorageCraft ShadowProtect 4.0 Desktop. Acronis is frequently available on sale, so the price can be comparable. ShadowProtect Desktop (higher versions are available) costs nearly twice as much. TeraByte Image for Windows is cheaper, people like it, and it has a solid reputation, but it's more of a collection of utilities, and in my opinion simply isn't in the same league as the others. Paragon Drive Backup does include other utilities, but I'm primarily interested in the backup aspect. Each product has some features which the others don't. I've covered Acronis previously. It has good features, but Acronis has a poor reputation for code quality. Despite mike's gushing and fawning over Paragon, the main features in Paragon and Acronis are a poor imitation of features which ShadowProtect has had for years. In terms of features and reliability, personally I'd spend the bucks on ShadowProtect. It has truly amazing features, but there's a catch, thanks to Microsoft. It has various virtualization options which are great, but Microsoft licensing is very problematic for home users. Microsoft, being built on pure greed, sees multiple instances of your own legal OS on the same host PC as additional copies, each of which requires a license. It's like charging you money every time you open another Windows Explorer instance. So that may limit some of the best features of ShadowProtect for home users, as the virtual copies may deactivate.

Instead of duplicating a subset of what's available on each product's website or in their help files, like Ashraf, I'll simply let those with functioning brains go to the websites, where you can find tons of information, videos, manuals, etc. It would be pointless to duplicate the contents of the websites here, and these are somewhat complex products with numerous features.

Paragon Drive Backup is still a good giveaway, and although generally much weaker than ShadowProtect, it has particular features which ShadowProtect doesn't, such as support for Linux partitions, etc., which some users may require. I should also note that ShadowProtect 4 appears to still have some interesting and very useful features from ShadowProtect 3, but they're buried in and hardly mentioned in the documentation now, even though I think that they're important.

#46, mike, your senseless bashing of the Microsoft Installer, used by everything of Microsoft and required for Windows Logo certification, is tiresome. #30 had a previous installation of Paragon Drive Backup which the current installer needed to uninstall, and for some reason a file was missing/moved on his computer. It sounds like the original installation was messed-up, but you never know, people use all kinds of crapware like registry cleaners and such.

As I've stated numerous times, always extract the files from the GOTD .zip files (preferably with Window's own zip support) prior to installing or activating. Since Windows dumps everything into common temp folders (incredibly stupid), installations can get seriously messed-up from left-over junk from previous installations. I recommend using Window's own Disk Cleanup to clear the Temporary Files (just those, you don't need to ditch the rest) before and/or after installations (after is good to make sure that leftover crap doesn't interfere with automatic Windows Update).

For finding files on your computer, which may not be indexed even if you have some form of desktop search, you can use Everything, which has oodles of features, but personally I don't like the resource consumption since I rarely need to find unindexed files. I like JAM UltraSearch, which is quick for a non-resident search program.

Thanks for this. A great freebie. This is much more comprehensive than Win 7's built-in backup/imaging.

To #59 . . I had the same problem on one of my computers. If you have Version 9.0 it wants you to uninstall that version before installing this one so you must go ahead and uninstall it and then install this version 9.5.

@63 - hunter,
The downloaded zip file, upon extraction contains a GAOTD wrapped Setup.exe file and a readme.txt file.

Upon clicking on the GAOTD Setup.exe file, it will extract all the Paragon files to the Temp folder, with a Paragon window giving you choice to install 32bit or 64bit Paragon Drive Backup software.

When you click 32bit, which is what I did, it will ask for the Serial Number and Product Code.

Upon entering the two strings, it proceeds to install.

You should get the keys first independent of the setup: http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/db95pro_eng.html

Another thing, the Paragon files in the Temp drive is everything. So, you do not need to install today if you have no time. Just make sure you have run Setup to dump the files to the Temp folder and have the keys to unlock the software from Paragon.

Hope this helps.

I can't get their website to come up to get a registration code. Hopefully, I can get the registration still tomorrow when their site comes back up.

Re my comment #23 - I think the issue may have been due to Online Armor (a GAOTD). I selected 'run safer' from the context menu and also disabled to Online Armor password and eventually got the Paragon program installed.

This is an awfull big download. I really feel sorry for the ones on dial-up or satalite that would like this program, but it would take forever. I use to have dial-up and I know how long it takes to download a file this big. They probably couldn't do it in a day. This download should have been in 2 separate downloads. One for 32 bt and one for 64 bt. Keep that in mind for future giveaways, OK?

I THINK I have a fairly fast machine. WinXP Pro 32 bit, SP3, 3 GHz Intel dual-core CPU, and 2 GB DRAM. Running this Paragon v9.5 Drive Backup program takes between 25% and 35% of CPU usage and about 200 MB of DRAM leaving about 1500 MB free. And it SLOWS MY COMPUTER SIGNIFICANTLY! There is no way I can comfortably use the Paragon program and use my other programs at the same time. Sure, I can set Paragon to work and take a very long coffee break or go for lunch and that's just fine. But those folks that claim they can allow Paragon Backup to work AND also work on their other programs must have a MUCH faster machine than mine. Be advised!

Can anyone tell me how much disk space is necessary for the recovery CD? When I am using the software the first time, it asked me to make a recovery CD.

I am really not familiar to backup software, so all the help is appreciated.

PS: I am using a sync software, similar to Synback. It is called FreeFileSync. Now, I am trying out Paragon but I'm really out of the water on this. Sorry.

I ran the install and registered the program but cannot find the installed app to load and enter the registration keys... Any ideas?
Windows XP home, sp3

I always love giveaways from Paragon, they always give you your own serial number and you can always find their installers in some directory. I have the installers burned into a CD for future use for a time where the computer crashes, data cannot be restored, and I made a backup using this software that I'll need to use. :P

Mike

could you please answer No35, because I have the same problem with all the Paragon stuff I have got from GAOTD.

My request for registration keeps being rejected, and from the response on the web page link it seems that registration from the United Kingdom is not being accepted.

Any chance that this will create a backup that can be restored to different hardware?

I have been trying to register this software (numerous times) keeps failing... same window pops up with red message "Please fill in all required fields, marked with an asterisk." Despite filling correctly

Indicates failed in the address bar details.

Anyone else experiencing this?

My registration request keeps being rejected and from page it appears that it's not being accepted from the United Kingdom.

Sorry for 3 comments but-
Besides not needing to buy this software to use it for recovery if you ever need it (explained above)- Paragon also keeps a page on their website for you that shows all your Paragon products you have gotten, including free ones, and shows the download link & your Reg codes, in case you lose either. You just cannot lose with Paragon! And their tech support forum is better than any I've ever found online! A tech answers all questions as soon as possible, free versions or not. They are honestly incredible people. Go take a look.

BTW, I really appreciate Mike here on GOTD! I'm beginning to depend on his comments as much as Ashraf's! Thanks so much for all you do, Ashraf & Mike! :) Also, Kiwi is a great help often. Thanks Kiwi. :)

The registration page is not working - it won't accept any country input and fails to register. Support not responding either.

To me the most IMPORTANT thing about this software is that it not only backs up whatever you want it to on your PC, BUT IT ALSO RECOVERS IT BETTER THAN YOU WOULD THINK POSSIBLE! RECOVERY IS SIMPLE, WAY EASY, and complete! Backs up what you want, recovers what you want! And NO, you DO NOT need to buy this (or buy it again) to use it for recovery! It has a "Backup Capsule" that does it all for you, which to me is called also a "wizard". Also, when you use this to change your systen onto a different PC, in the backup image it made & uses, is this product, which will be installed on the other PC from the backup image of your old PC. So you will already have it right there. When in doubt, read the stuff on Paragons website, it's very informative.
Any questions that are important to you about it, see the info at top of this page on contacting Paragon via Twitter today! It may take a lil bit to get an answer, but they will answer!
I promise you this is the easiest backup and recovery software you will find anywhere! Easiest & complete! No other 3rd party software needed.

I register once but is given 2 serials and product keys. Anyone facing the same situation as me?

I'd also like to know where this stands compared to past giveaways, especially the Backup and Recovery 10 Compact Edition that was given away about 2 months ago. I think B&R10CE is a more full featured version of this but Paragon makes so many different versions it's hard to track down.

(why do people keep down-voting comments asking about versions? It's really confusing to figure out, especially with the whole "free versions get a smaller version number" thing)

DB9.5 shows c + f partitions in properties as unformated, but in Volume Explorer as NTFS. I use Diskcryptor if it matters.

This is obviously not correct because my unformatted partitions are working fine.

What can I do, becasue this way I can tell it to backup c: but not to f:, which DB9.5 considers to be unformatted?

Where did it go?

It extracted files and ran (didn't catch where), now running out of time and still got to wait for reg, looks like this is going to stuff up

Won't setup - could another program such as the AYrecovery offered
previously be preventing it, because of boot sector?

Says activated, but goes no further to enter serial number.
Extracted the program but it's not on my drive?

@51

Yes. I think SyncBack (www.2brightsparks.com) can do that (paid version only, I think)

Tom

I have BartPE (pebuilder 3.1.10a). Do I need WinPE?
Sorry I'm not familiar with Image backup and restore solution so any input will be helpful.

To #52 Jackson: yes, there is — http://download.cnet.com/Backup-To-EMail/3000-2242_4-10579350.html | http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/06/backup-any-files-to-gmail-with-backup.html

Here's some data that you might find helpful:

I just ran Paragon Drive Backup on my system. the following are the specs of the system:

Acer Aspire M5811 desktop
Intel i5 650 dual core processor
6 GB DDR3 RAM
1 TB SATA hard drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

I'm not entirely sure how much data was backed up, but it was a full disk image that compressed to a 121 GB backup archive.

Time to execute backup: 1 hour 20 minutes <---

That's perfectly satisfactory to me especially seeing as I am right now backing up the contents of another drive and posting this at the same time with no lag. I am not even aware that the backup is being done!

I am very impressed with Paragon Drive Backup !

Although I have not been through a recovery operation (and hope not to have to ;) ), I would purchase this GAOTD offering at the drop of a hat, and will recommend it to my friends without reservation. How about that for a product endorsement! ;)

[I have no affiliation whatsoever with Paragon or GAOTD]

-=PB=-

I earlier installed Paragon System Backup 2010. It seems to do a lot of what this program does, but I can't differentiate the two. Is there a location that compares the two?

I need a system back up to restore my system in the event of a disaster. Will drive backup do this? Do I need a Linux or Win PE solution. I was hoping that, in the event of a Windows Crash (For example, a windows update from Microsoft makes it so I can no longer boot my laptop and had to reformat because the entire machine was messed up) A real backup program would sure help. But now it seems that you need your backup and a few other programs and facility with use of the command line. All this WinCE, WinPE, Win whoopee and Linux seems to mean I can't really get my system back readily.

Given the frequency of Windows crashes, why isn't there a program I can launch from a backup hard drive and just say "restore me" and I'd be up and running with all my data and programs up to the point of my backup.

#10 Denis, If the program is valuable enough to you, it may be worth downloading it from a public kiosk and taking it home on a USB key.

A 300MB file would cost me about AUD $4.00 to download at my local shopping centre (~2 Mbps speed).

I already have version 9.0. When I ask to install this version, the installer comes up to modify or remove version 9.0 instead of installing the new version. I've wasted lots of time and don't have the new version. What is going on?

Very good! installed well on Windows 7 x86, 2GB Ram, Core2Duo Processor.

Smooth activation too (unusual lol)

However i do have onoe moan, this software, or similar is given away too often! Its better than nothing, or paying but we need some different software, other than paragon

i am looking for a program that will save all or part of system with cd saving included (not make copies that i have manually copy to cd - i dont have the spaceto do that - i have to clear space just to play games a lot. i only have a 30gb drive and most is important programs)

as i read these comments this is not what i am looking for, right ?
has gaotd had something like that in past ???

i really need to back up drives (in pieces at least) the one time HP recovery disk program is useless (one time ??? what was hp thinking >>> - that back up recovery is toooooo far back !!!).

DOES ANYONE KNOW IS THERE ANY BACKUP SOFTWARE THAT BACKUP FILES TO E-MAIL ACCOUNT VIA SMTP PROTOCOL???

I really don't get it. aRenegade, what's the profit of doing that?

Anyway, it is true that Windows 7 has a built-in backup function, its VHD file format is barely compressed and will take up a lot of HDD space if your HDD is running low. I think Paragon compresses more, so there could be some benefit. Moreover it is a dedicated backup software, so somewhat advanced settings are available to meet your needs. Based on Paragon's software quality this is something you would like even if you're on Windows 7.

"While I’m afraid I will get accused of a "rant” again…..I just think it’s a bit redundant. Fair enough?"

I don't think you are ranting or being unfair. There are PILES of programs that profess to be just what you need to do something that your OS is already doing(like many on this giveaway site), or can do. If they want you to buy theirs, they should give you grounds as to why they do it better - especially when you get charged a fee for it.

I can tell you that for myself, after dealing with the aftermath of a calamitous crash, I run 2 backups to 2 external drives I have. I run the Windows 7 backup to one external HD, and I run Acronis to the other. I also do complete independent backups of my email to both externals AND my internal HD.

Some may find this excessive, but, today's large size drives are cheap, and not ever going through that mess and that loss again is well worth it to me.

After more than 2 h to download the file it came with failure and could not be opened/unzipped.
I am starting again the download and the system says that I will need 3 h to download it!
I checked my connexion and its speed and it is OK.

I am installing this on 5 PCs, three XP SP3s, two Vistas and One Win7Pro 64bit. Do I need to create a separate restore disk for each PC? For each OS? For 32bit AND 64bit?

Thanks, Rich

#15 by Olaf: I got the same problem first time I installed this software. I installed it again and then I was asked by installer to reboot my computer. I did it and then 2 shortcuts appeared - one in Start/Programs menu, second one on my Desktop.

Got my code and completed installation on XP Home SP3. When their installer finished, it ran the installer for Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 (that I also have on my system). This is an odd problem. Roxio then completed and said I also have to restart my system for the changes to take place. I hope this has not caused problems with my Roxio installation, but the offer will probably be over by the time I've been able to test everything and it will be too late to report back on what changes I've found.

Hi, i have paragon drive backup 2010 special edition...thanks gatd... is todays giveaway a different, newer, fuller featured version? can i install over the top or will it install todays alongside the old one and will that cause any issues?
thanks
jeff

Windows loads AHCI drivers so that my system can see my SATA drives.

Do any of these backup things have some way to add that to the restore disks? If not, the system won't see a drive to restore to.

Two hours and still no registration code - Get your code before installing this software.

Direct link for registration:

http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/db95pro_eng.html

#3 & #4: RE: Windows backup... since 3.1 it's always been better than nothing, but like Windows Firewall, & Microsoft's free AV software, it's intent is more for those who for whatever reason(s) decide not to install decent apps. It's really not much different than comparing any of the free stuff in Windows with commercial &/or open source alternatives, like Paint vs. almost any 3rd party image editor, or WordPad & a real word processor.

If that's all you want/need, fine, but FWIW the millions of Windows users who choose to use better than the built-in freebies aren't all crazy or un-informed. ;-)

* * *

#21: "Here’s my issue... if your hard drive crashes and you need to restore it again from the backup... you would need to install that backup program in that computer..."

Couple of points that hopefully will help... Paragon apps follow 1 of 2 routes --> either the GOTD setup Un-RARs the real setup file, or like today, everything's Un-RARed into Windows' Temp folder where you can copy & store it forever. Provided you still have a copy of the app & registration numbers you'll always be good to go.

Second, with *Any* backup app, you need to think about a way to restore your backups before you need to. Paragon Backup Pro can create a bootable USB/CD/DVD so you can restore your boot hard drive if/as necessary -- your backup would presumably include your installation of Paragon Backup Pro, so you'd be covered if you didn't want to bother with a Paragon Backup Pro re-install. If you don't want to use the bootable device setup in Paragon Backup Pro, again set it up now before you need it -- I have copies of Paragon Backup on different rigs, drives, & devices, so I *think* I'm fairly well covered with the systems we have here.

* * *




#22: "WinPE: it provides a comfort factor but you’ll get the same functionality from the Linux based recovery CD, it will boot much faster and it’s not at all more difficult to use."

My experience is that restoring a disk image backup using any of the *nix/DOS type bootable CDs/DVDs is slooooowwwwwww. Using the better disk access with one of the Windows-like boot environs happens at roughly the same speed as in Windows. For those with multiple drives &/or partitions, compare the time it takes to run Windows own disk check compared to running it during booting -- disk reading/writing is simply faster in Windows. Booting into LiveXP [on a USB stick] it takes roughly 20 min to restore my C: drive -- the same from the *nix boot CD takes hours.

* * *

#25: "What format does it store in? I like zip files for file backups because you don’t need the software for restores."

Drive/partition images are stored in a proprietary format -- need Paragon software to restore, but I've personally found no compatibility problems over the last few versions. For individual File/folder backup as needed I tend to agree with you, Joe, & use 7Zip.

* * *

#30: "Will not install – keeps looking for DB9_Prof_free_en.msi I have searched my computer high and low and cannot find this installer for which it is looking. Any ideas? System = win xp sp3 32-bit"

**IMHO** you're suffering problems from/with Windows Installer. It's looking for a file likely not on your system, that was probably extracted to a hidden &/or temporary folder, & far as I can tell isn't part of today's GOTD setup at all. Normally for these sorts of Windows Installer errors the fix is to download/install "Windows Install Cleanup" from Microsoft.com, run it, & then remove the install/un-install records for the app setup giving problems, in this case one or more versions of Paragon Backup. Note that doing so clears out Windows uninstall records for whatever app, so it would then have to be installed again if you ever wanted to uninstall it -- you might want to uninstall older, no longer needed versions 1st to get that out of the way.

* * *

#36: "I would like to make a complete image of my current HD to another local HD. Then enable my Dell Vostro 220’s hardware raid and reinstall the image to my raid array. Will this product enable me to do this AND have a bootable machine when done?"

Without looking up the specifics for/with your rig, Brad, & without knowing your OS, IMHO it should be possible, but plan for it being less straightforward than you might hope. One issue is hardware RAID & driver support & the quirks that seem to be there with several motherboards, so check that end of things out as best possible. Also, you won't be able to restore a backup as-is, because that will be a copy of Windows set-up for std drive access. I'd suggest researching what others with your hardware & Windows version have done -- for example inserting AHCI/RAID drivers into the registry -- & from there figure out how/where things like Paragon's Adaptive Restore might help. Sorry to sound so *iffy*, but there are lots of reports of people not being able to get RAID working to start with, & I've seen reports where changing drivers in the registry didn't work, & if that was the case with your rig & OS, you'd likely have to re-install. With XP even that can be tricky if your PC doesn't have a floppy drive -- the *factory* way for Windows XP setup to take in new drivers.

Please reply.... How is the recovery portion of this software?

I have a unique problem. I did a new os install for a client which did not tell me they used micrsoft outlook to email. Long story short they lost their contacts. I've ran "Recover my files" and have seen that the old partitions with the old contact list... pst file. But with the trial version i couldn't save the found partition. Will this software help me with this problem or any other suggestions?

.....will not back up "irrelevant data" such as videos and music? That's exactly what I want backed up. An extensive set of filters, which filters out my videos and music, really is pretty useless to me.
May as well skip all my documents, pictures, and what ever else is "irrelevant." Thanks Paragon. Love your stuff, but not this one.