This is actually still available free - not for much longer - a few hours at most:
Paragon Backup & Recovery Compact
Only available free till Tuesday 19th Jan 2010 :
Paragon Backup & Recovery Compact Free registration
Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Compact [32-bit]
Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Compact [64-bit]
Thanks, I just saw this and got it in time. Good Find.
I just finished installation and free registration, although I missed the deadline for a few hours.
Installed it, made an image, made a recovery disk, and booted from it to investigate restoration process.
The image I made of C, first track, and MBR results in 4 files in an arc folder. 3 PBF files and 1 PFM file.
In restore process, I was asked which file I wanted to restore and was shown 3 files, not 4. Didn't make a note, but those 3 may have been the 3 PBFs? I had hoped to see exactly one choice because I had made exactly one image. Not intuitive.
Next screen concerned destination to restore, which showed a "before" and "after" graphic of my C drive.
I thought that graphic was confusing and non-intuitive. Why not be explicit and ask me to choose among my drives: C, D, E, without the graphic or before/after stuff?
These issues may all be explained in the documentation--I have not yet looked. Just wanted to run through it as a greenhorn might and evaluate.
The imaging GUI is reminiscent of Macrium--good marks for that.
Hi Ig,
It seems pretty straightforward to me. I guess all the manufacturers do things a little differently.
The arc contains some info Paragon uses to determine the contents and partition info - it also contains .pbf , each partition is listed in there separately - allowing individual or multiple restore - very likely you only want to restore one partition.
If you don't untick "image splitting", then it will split the image into chunks so it can be burned to dvd , or flash.
It is not intended the user attempts to dig around the arc in windows explorer - just like Windows sys img doesn't expect you to go digging in it's folders.
There are multiple ways within Paragon to restore the image, individual partitions, or individual files/folders from within the image.:)
Hi Bongo - glad to hear it is still up:) - it did give a 404 not found message a while ago.
I use Backupify to back-up things that are in the "cloud" and Mozy to back-up stuff on my PC.
SIW:
I did untick image splitting and nonetheless ended up with the 4 files previously mentioned. I assume that is normal.
My intent was to image one partition: C.
I chose 3 items in the "whaddya wanna image" screen: C, MBR, and first track.
Maybe choosing those 3 items (C, MBR, first track) results in 3 files and/or 3 separate images, not 1? Maybe each PBF represents 1 of the 3 items I chose? If so, which is which? If so, which do I choose in the restore process?
At any rate, in the restore process I was shown 3 files to choose from and had no idea at all what each represented and consequently did not know what to choose.
As far as restore destination goes, as I recall there was a dropdown. I assume I could have chosen any of my existing partitions at that point (C, D, or E). I chose C and was then presented with the before/after graphic.
The graphic contributed absolutely nothing to my understanding, particularly the "before/after" bit.
If fact, it detracted from my understanding in this way: since Paragon deliberately chose that graphic and the associated "before/after" comment, I am just dumb enough to assume it must have a literal meaning. Exactly what, I didn't know. And I don't see why a GUI documentation/quality control staff (if any) would willfully leave any doubt whatsoever on such a critical issue.
But I am the guy who has been rolling his eyes for at least 15 years on clarity in applications and support documents---to no avail at all.
Having said all of that--my questions are based purely on what I saw on first pass as a total novice might use the program. All of my issues may be explained in the help file (if there is one).
I will review the help file. If my questions are answered, I may well use the program. If the answers are not in the help file, I will likely not have enough confidence to use the program--precisely because of the lack of documentation, not because of whether or not it "works".
If my attempts had been a real-life emergency rather than an exploration, I would not have felt comfortable and would have had doubt when I pushed the restore button.
Nice talking to you as usual.
Hi Ig,
I understand for those who are accustomed to apps with very few controls and features it may look a little different.
Paragon is big on features - particularly safety features - making the user confirm and double confirm sometimes. They also like to show what will happen if you go ahead and confirm/apply the operation.
Seems sensible to me.
You get a choice of boxes to tick in the "what to backup ". Each of those is stored separately in the archive folder. That makes it easier to find and restore just the partition you want ( I use the term loosely as the first track isn't actually a partition ). Or to explore and restore individual; files - assuming you know which partition they were on.
Normally , you use Volume Explorer, or File transfer Wizard to expand the .pbf of the partition you want , then explore/copy back any files you want.
The only time you won't be able to see anything is with the first track, and the mbr - there are no folders there to look at.
The before and after you refer to is to prevent the user making an error.
Clearly "Before" - means this is what your drive looks like now - before you do the restore.
Equally clearly - "After" means -this is what your drive will look like after the restore.
In your case - you were restoring an image you just made - back to the exact same place.
Obviously the before and after look the same.
If the after looks different - then obviously, you have pointed the restore somewhere different - if that's what you intended - you can double check you pointed at the right restore location.
If it's not what you intended - that should alert you.
It's not hard to understand.
I know what you mean about support documents - what I am looking for is never mentioned in the Help file - no matter what app. I am using.
Not surprising, I suppose. Most people can't be bothered reading the Help file anyway.
If the developer included every possible scenario - the Help file would be enormous - hundreds of pages - guaranteeing nobody would ever look at it.
For the developer, it's damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
Quote