Too many option for a Newbee

[olibara]

Hello
Yesterday I bought Paragon Suite
The first intent was to get a powerful tool (I've read some reviews) to be able to make A full Backup of my System and installed Application that I can use to restore my working environment in case of Crash
I've just had an Hard Drive failure on my Laptop and it is a Nightmare to re-install everything to be able to work as usual
So I don't want to have this happen again

Unfortunately I just realize that there are too many option in Paragon Suite and there are no clear short explanation to understand the difference from each to others and which one to use to fit the need

This is bad !

I probably have to sit for a while and read the manual but having to read the manual to understand what should be one of the basic feature of the tool I've just bought is also bad IMHO
So I need help to understand Which feature I need for my purpose
Or maybe it is necessary to proceed with different steps
- Back-Up the system
- Back-Up Files
- ??

Or mayby I've selected the wrong product

I've just hear about these two other that sound very easy to use

Norton Ghost
AOMEI Backupper Standard,

So I'm a bit lost

Thanks for any help

[rtfm]

http://download.paragon-software.com...SP3-Manual.pdf
https://kb.paragon-software.com/

[fireworker]

Olibara, please attach a partitioning screenshot of your disk(s), with an explanation of exactly what you want to include in the backup. And also, where you want to keep a backup.

[olibara]

Thank for your reply
I was expecting an email notification but I did'nt get any
By chance, before to give up I've decided to have a last look in the Forum.
There is only one partition on my C drive
I have other drives to D, E, F but my Goal is to take image of My C drive with the system and all the App installed in order to be able to get a Clone in case of System Disk crash (It occurs once and I do not want to live that again)
The Idea is to save that Back-Up on an external drive on regular basis hoping to never have to use it

Thanks for your support

[fireworker]

There is only one partition on my C drive

"C drive" is the partition on your HDD. Also there maybe partitions without letters that are not visible in the explorer, but necessary for Windows loading.
You can select the "back up operating system" in the "backup to VD" wizard.
BU_OS.jpg

[aoz987]

Olibara -
first, don't give up
second, when posting in forum, make sure you go to ADVANCED, in your thread, make sure you check the SUBSCRIPTION box, at bottom of the post, and select for a response to be INSTANTLY BY EMAIL (my personal feeling is that should be the default option for all posts, already checked)

OK, you bought paragon.
you need to INITIALLY just learn ONE step - how to back up your whole hard drive. then, hopefully you NEVER need to recover it... BUT, you SHOULD eventually learn HOW to recover the drive, and you can actually practice this, to an EXTERNAL drive, to make sure you know how to do it.

Paragon HDM is an excellent program. Yes, it looks daunting. BUT, when your drive blows up, and you need to recover it, and you are ABLE to recover it, you will appreciate the power of this program.

OK, some simple instructions to back up
FIRST, I like ADVANCED mode; onceyou see what to do with it, it makes more sense (to me)

select tab of back up to VD
you then get welcome to Virtual disk wizard - click on NEXT
select back up VOLUMES

see images that I have. select the WHOLE DRIVE. you select the OUTER blue space, around ALL the partitions, and click in that, it then outlines ALL the partitions.
The REASON to do this is if you have to rebuild or recover an actuall hard drive, you ned the initial partitions in order to do this. THEN, later, you can figure out how to NOT select the RECOVERY partition of the drive itself (not critical), etc.

THEN select whre to backup

now, you can wade through the options from here. Once you select WHERE to back up, you have flexibility to add a PASSWORD to this backup (which actually encrypts the backup for storage), and you can EXCLUDE certain folders (example, you have a working folder of constantly changing files that you don't need to include, etc; I have a c:\zzWorking\ folder, has temporary downloads, etc)

you will then select to CONFIRM this backup, and program will state that IT DID NOT COMMIT THE CHANGES, you have to then hit the APPLY button. This may seem like extra work, but it is also PROTECTION whn you are DELETING stuff, so you don't automatically DELETE things in an automatic fashion.

The machine starts a progress bar.... NOTE, for windows, there may be a notification that comes up, about a RAW partition, answer YES, just make sure that before you walk away fro the machine, you see a blue progress bar starting, in the top of the paragon window.

THEN, once backed up, for security, you want to VERIFY the VD image; that is another tab at the right side of the tabs. it is good to do this just so oyu know that backup is a valid one (once you do it a few times, and are comfortable with the machine doing accurat backups, you can just do this periodically)

AGAIN, this may seem like a lot. but take it from me - this is like an insurance policy, because if you hve a hard disk disaster, this program can save your rear end, and your data. it works !
I had Acronis True image years ago; IT worked also, but got too bloated, and I converted to paragon, about 6 years ago, and have used it since then. I've seen it turn into an even better program through the years. Once you learn the basics of doing this backup, you may NeVER need many of the other features present. BUT, they are available, and if needed, you can wade through teh manuals, etc, to figure them out, OR post to the forum for help.

I hope this is of help to you and other new users

check the web site of paragon for tutorials also, ; maybe i'll write a brief tutorial, using the advanced mode....

i took time to write this because, in the midst of this recent ransomware attack, across the world, protection of your data is one of the most important things you can do with your comptuer, and if you take the time to learn this, even the basics, it is invaluable.
nick

[mcauleti]

Does anyone know why my backup file of my entire C: drive (all partitions) is only about 49 GB when the entire C: drive contains about 76 GB of data? Did everything get backed up or did something get missed?

[mgrant]

@mcauleti, it compressed your files in the backup to save space.

I used Paragon back in 2011 and for reasons I can't recall, I didn't end up using it. But now it looks much better, much more feature rich, so giving the free version another go before buying it.

One thing that's not clear to me, I see reading the support articles on this site, https://kb.paragon-software.com/article/89, some files are not backed up. This sounds scary! Is there something I need to do initially to backup my entire disk at the raw disk level to avoid files not being backed up? Or is this article only referring to people who backup their disk at the file level as opposed to raw level?

Previously, I have made backups of my disk using Windows 'Save System Image Backup' and it seems to get everything, a complete image of the disk. Is this what Paragon does for it's base image?