Windows 7 - Paragon Drive Backup Pro - FREE

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Just get Macrium Reflect free. About the only thing you can do with the paid you can't with the free Macrium is make the "capsule" type hidden partition. It's just as well because if you rely on that and get hit with a real nasty malware, all your partitions are likely to be erased anyway. Plus there's always a chance the program that makes the capsule hoses your partition table while it's at it.

Paragon zapped me twice on Vista making the backup capsule. Just use external USB drives. Way safer. It costs some money I know, but it's worth it. You always find another use for them... esp. if you get docking stations instead of plain vanilla USB externals.

Are you referring to the paid vs free version of Macrium? Because there is quite a difference between them.

I have both paid and free Macrium.. but to the point, you can get by backing up your system with the free as long as the restore CD recognizes your HD. I use free on one PC and paid on the other.

I'm not a big believer in incremental backups and all that since I run my systems lean. By the time programs calculate the increment it needs to save, I've done a full backup image. Likewise "backup capsule" type schemes run the risk of hosing your partition table. Not to mention that if you're hit by a real nasty malware, it's going to keep you from booting to use the capsule anyway. Better to have off disk backup.

Agree on capsules, they are really not reliable at all. Incrementals however I could not manage without as I backup every day (sometimes several times a day) and taking full backups would rapidly eat up my hd space.

The other thing too is people's experience shape things. I researched a bunch of image backup programs before finally buying Paragon Drive Backup Personal. Other than problems with backup capsules and Vista I thought it was great. Until I bought a PC with a Raid controller. My 45 minute restore operation ran overnight 9 hours because all I could get was "compatibility mode." I did the Macrium trial and it worked normally so I bought it. But if your experience is great all along you think whatever you're using is just fine. It's only human nature. If it works good on your hardware then it's good. Simple as that.