How do I test my Paragon back up to make sure its good?

Ok I just used Paragon for the first time 7 backed up my OS hdd.

So how do I check if everything backed up ok?

richc46 said:

JohnnyScience said:

Ok I just used Paragon for the first time 7 backed up my OS hdd.

So how do I check if everything backed up ok?

There is only one 100% sure way and that is to use the image. Make a system image of your drive. Then just try the Paragon image on your OS. If there is a problem your System Image will be there for you. If it were me, I would make a system image on your HD, make another on an external and take a chance if you are going to have doubts about the usefulness of the image on Paragon.

Ok so how do I go about making a system image of the paragon files I have?

I have Daemon tools if that helps...

here is what was created:

richc46 said:

The system image will be the one included with Windows 7. In the event that the Paragon Image does not work, you have the Windows 7, image to fall back on.

Go to back up and restore, and look for create system image in the left column.

So there's no way to virtually test it? I have to run an actual restore?

well its not 100% I guess but what I do is to "mount the archive" (right clicking on the archive name in archive view of paragon) - you can then explore the archive as if it was another drive and this is also a good way to restore individual files from a full system archive. The only issue I have found is that the programme refuses to unmount the drive as it should - claiming that files are in use even when they are not - however a reboot effectively unmounts it so this is not a big issue.

I run a complete new system back up once a month (would be less frequent if i had a bigger external hard drive) and a differentail back up every three days - this takes relatively little time and runs in the background (though I run in the night anyway)

I bless this programme it has saved me from having to deal with two virus attacks - I didnt bother trying to explore the issue - I knew when the attack occured and simply restored the system from a back up rather than spend the usual hours and hours posting on forums to deal with the issue.

Restore on a 1TB system drive is a bit slow - but I simply ran it when I went to bed and the next day I had my system restored excactly as it had been two days before.

I have been playing around with a few imaging programs and I also teach a class about imaging at the local computer club. What I do for testing and class demo is to create a small 3GB data partition to where I copy a bunch of random files. Then I take an image of this partition followed by removing some of the data from that partition and a subsequent restore. If the removed data is back, I ( and the students) know that it worked.
This method is expedient and without any risk. It is still not a 100% guarantee that your OS backup is OK, but it proves at least that the process works (including the recovery disk).