I recently protected my laptop with bitlocker encryption.
But it seems I can only backup to a unprotected archive and restore a unprotected harddisk.
I also found the KD to be a bit crypric about it.
"For BDE partitions, all Non-FS-Destructive operations (which change something on partition sectors level) are prohibited.
Such partitions can be backed up (without preserving encryption) and restored in non-encrypted (Unlocked) state."
This is the problem I have. So far it seems to be how it all works.
"Also, you can copy BDE partition or disk with BDE partitions, preserving all keys and encryption methods that were used on Source drive"
This sounds like I whould be able to backup and preserv encryption?
No I can not be impossible, do all world leading companies have encrypted harddisk, with a unlocked ready to backup in backup.
It sorta kills either the point of backup or the point of encryption.
don't worry, the program does well if you have bitlocker.
I have had truecrypt, and then veracrypt, and now bitlocker. I have doen backups, and restores, and it works ! as long as you follow some guidelines.
first, when I do backups, I assign a PASSWORD to the paragon image backup. This encrypts the backup, so nobody can break into the data. The image backup DOES HAVE the unencrypted c: (or whatever main partition you have) drive, so that when you RESTORE it, you have to agan re-encrypt with bitlocker. That is NOT that big of a deal. if you have a reliable system it is not going to BLOW UP frequently :-)) and if it does, then you have far bigger problems :-)))
So, if you do an image backup with an encryption password, then you can safely store it on external media, usb drive, even the cloud.
NOTE - MAKE the password to be some easily typable phrase (not an EASY password, just something easily TYPABLE), because if you have to recover, then you hve to type the password to open the image backup, when you use the recovery media.
example - theclownjumpedoverthemoon your fingers type this easily, and it is lower case, SO that you don't have to remember shift keys, etc, when trying to get an emergency recovery done - BUT, unless you have some billion dollar accounts, or something to hide from the NSA, I doubt ANYONE is going to GUESS this password (unless you wrote it down somewhere and they found it)
I keep my passwords in KeePasss so I don't have to remember them.
AND, you could use the SAME password for several images; again, you goal is to protect them during storage, and then be able to restore them easily.
I do a lot of software testing due to the software giveaways sites.
This gives that I have a restore/backup policy every month.
I was hoping to not have to reencrypt c:
But I will take you up on the password protected backup, since I have some sencitve data in user folder by default.
question - do you actually RESTORE your whole drive every month? if so, why? (just curious)
Unless you are RESTORING, you don't have to worry about re-encrypting c:; and if you have an emergency restore, re-encrypting c: is only a minimal part of that, more importantly is getting things back to stability.
if you are testing a lot of stuff (software giveaway sites), why not create a separate virtual drive to test them? then you don't have to worry about creating chaos on c:
Its due to software giveaways. Some times I install 1+ software a day. Some update the system files during install. Some software like the game booster software I tested yester day, kills internet and disables windows antivirus and firewall. This was by the way a known and trusted software developer.
Basic to much installs leeds in the end to a restore since it brakes the system, makes it slower, more errors and so forth.
My computer is getting old so it needs to be keept in trim. But I just can't not test new software lol.
understood.
but, again, why not create a virtual image (paragon can do that, as VMware or oracle), put that on a separate drive, mount that as a separate operating system, and run the test software on there? then, if that blows up, just recreate a new virtual image.
store THAT image on an external bitlocked drive. when you start the system, bitlocker opens that drive, then you have access to the virtual system.
run VMware or oracle, mount that virtual image, install the test stuff there, etc, etc.
but at least your main system remains intact
AN, if you r main systemdoes NOT have an SSD drive to boot from, get one, make it an SSD, it will improve (probably) performance
just my humble two cents
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