BR16 adding old backups

[MihaiPop]

I have an older backup on an external hard disk and I cannot figure out how to add it to the BR16 backup list so that I can mount the virtual disk and restore some of the files. In older versions of Paragon I could easily do this but the functionality seems to be lost in BR16. Is there any way to add the backup to the list manually?

[PhilTheHill]

During my testing of B&R 16, I have not found any mechanism to access earlier archives, specifically those from B&R 14.

I presumed that as B&R 16 was installed as a new application on my test Windows 10 AU system, leaving B&R 14 intact, this was specifically to permit restores from archives created under earlier versions. However, it would now appear that B&R 14 is incompatible/unsupported on Windows 10 and as such, there is no supported method to restore from archives made by B&R versions before B&R 16 on Windows 10. Not an ideal state of affairs to say the least!

[Deutsches Paragon-Support-Team]

Please refer to Archive formats.

[Deutsches Paragon-Support-Team]

@PhilTheHill - BR 14 is not compatible to Win 10: Compatibility with Windows versions.

While it is not possible to create backups of Win 10 it does not make sense to restore HDD or OS backups on Win 10 because these will most likely come from an older OS.

The rescue environments of BR 14 will work though. A restore of files or data partitions should be possible this way.

By the way: Latest version is BR 15 which is running smoothly on Win 10 of course.

@MihaiPop - VD backups of BR 14 and 15 can be restored with BR 16. But you are right: Adding those to the "Archive DB" of BR 16 to mount or handle them otherwise is not possible.

[MihaiPop]

I'd argue that this is an important feature that BR16 should have. The reason I chose Paragon (and I've used your programs for many years now) is the functionality provided to expert users, allowing non-standard backup/recovery scenarios. The reason I want to add an old job to the list is because I have switched computers. I'd like to be able to access the old files and synchronize some parts of the file system, and I want to do this as I work on the computer and figure out which parts of the old system I want on the new one. The only convenient way to do this is through mounting an old backup, and not through the rescue environment.

As far as I can tell, Paragon puts all the backup jobs in a sqllite database - it's not hard to create a new entry in that database based on the information found in the backup folder. Can that be added as functionality in BR16, or at least could you provide an add-on utility to do so?

I'm afraid to say that if the answer is no, I'll have to look into the products of other companies.

[English Paragon Support Team]

The missing option to add arbitrary archives (VD format, of course) has been rated as a bug and will be fixed for the next service pack. I (!) expect this SP to be released before or along with the date the free distribution of BR 16 will expire (Nov. 01 2016).

[SpeedFlow]

Regarding the ability to add old backups to BR16, a missing feature now described as a bug in the previous post, how will we know when BR16 is done and ready to deploy, i.e. when issues such as this are resolved? Are change logs available for updates?

The initial BR16 version I downloaded was "Paragon-700-PEE_WinInstallSNx64_10.1.28.163_000.exe". I just downloaded and installed "Paragon-700-PEE_WinInstallSNx64_10.1.28.224_000.exe", and I do not yet see an option to add old backups under Main View/My Backups/Single Backups. The only way I can determine if a BR16 update is available is to proceed all the way through my Paragon account to start the BR16 download to inspect the name of the install executable, and there is no indication of what changes have been made.

[wptski]

I've never seen or heard of a change log on Paragon products before.

[SpeedFlow]

Likewise. Pity.

The question in the OP still stands unanswered. Where is the ability to add pre-existing Paragon images to the BR16 backup list, described three posts back as a bug? How shall we know when a BR16 patch/update is released, and how shall we know what issues have been addressed in the updates?

Thus far I find the interface redesign of BR16 to be wholly unintuitive, and I am a long-time Paragon B&R user. I've convinced numerous clients to move to B&R over time, but BR16 is putting a stop to that. Previous versions were powerful yet easy to navigate. Tools could be found with ease. There seem to be useful new features in 16, according to the Paragon description, but shoot, if they can't be found, they do not exist. (Edit scripts? A long-time extremely important tool now seems to be entirely missing. Send email notifications? This is a critical tool now nowhere to be found.) Paragon should add a toggle to allow users to revert to the normal menu-driven interface. I understand that some stupid reviewers knocked B&R in the past for being "too difficult" to use. Those reviewer comments must be taken with a grain of salt because power means walking through menus and options, but if Paragon felt like a simpleton version was necessary, they could have added X-view for the tile pushers while leaving the powerful menu system in place.

[SpeedFlow]

"The question in the OP still stands unanswered. Where is the ability to add pre-existing Paragon images to the BR16 backup list, described three posts back as a bug?"

No response yet.

The frustration level is building.

This may seem to be off-topic, yet it ties into the general theme of "What happened to..."

What happened to the Linux build for recovery media? It's always been there, now it is missing in the BR16 manual, even though it is here:

https://kb.paragon-software.com/article/64

So I built the default PE recovery media, and it is a total fail (after spending two hours trying to get a successful write to a thumb drive). Booting off of it (Win 8.1) yields "Windows failed to start" after the thumb initially loads files. Really? Well, I have had nothing but trouble over the years with Windows PE builds, so Linux is always the way to go. Yet now the Linux build is not available for recovery media.

All I am doing is learning how to use BR16 so I can explain to clients why they should continue to use Paragon BR. But I can't rebuild recovery media. How am I supposed to explain that to a an existing or potential new client? Heck, how am I supposed to use BR16 on my own machines?

There is no way I want to go the WAIK/ADK route, for it shall be more trouble. Do I really need to explain that I need to do a 1.2GB download and install it on each of their computers? That's nuts!

That which should be a short project, building recovery media that works, is becoming a nightmare. And even if I could get any piece of Paragon recovery media to work, I'm still stuck with not being able to mount any pre-existing Paragon images to the BR16 backup list. Sorry client people, we can't get into all those Paragon backups you have been saving for years, under my strong recommendation. And I still can't figure out where the emailed logs option went, nor how to access and edit scripts.

Why are there no Paragon responses here?

The bummer is that BR15 is a work of art, a beautiful and reliable piece of backup software. Can BR15 still be purchased instead of this BR16 mess?