Windows 8 New Paragon Backup and Recovery

MikeHawthorne

Essential Member
Microsoft Community Contributor
Hi

I thought that some people might be interested in this.

Yesterday I upgraded my Paragon backup software to the 2014 edition.

I was surprised to see that there is quite a change from the one I used previously.

Instead of asking you to choose a location the save a backup file to (you can still do it that way) it offers to create a bootable backup partition, much like you would get on a new laptop.

After installing the software I clicked go to advanced options, and got the familiar interface instead of the Windows 8 big colored blocks.

Then I selected Backup.

The first thing it did was lead me through the process of setting up the Recovery Capsule, or recovery partition.

I made the mistake of letting it use it's default setting and later discovered that it wasn't big enough to hold my C:\ drive but it will let you come back later and change it by using a simple slider.

It does this by restarting your computer and booting into what I assume is Linux and then reboots back into Windows when it's finished. I did this twice because of the adjustment.

But you should look at the size of the partition you want to back up at the time you set it up the first time.
Make it as big as the data on your C:\ drive and you won't have a problem since it will be compressed.

Note that if you chose to have the recovery partition on a drive other than the drive that Windows is on, it will warn you that the partition won't be bootable.

My Drive contained 2 partitions, C:\Windows 8 and D:\Games, the recovery capsule became a 3rd hidden partition, it doesn't have a drive letter or show in Windows Explorer.

Once I had gotten it adjusted to the correct size and seen that I now had enough space to backup my boot drive, I backed out, and cleaned up the drive.moving several games from C:\ to D:\ notably The Elder Scrolls Online and The Secret World which totaled 70 Gigabytes of disk space between them.

That got the size of my C:\ drive down to about 175 Gigs.

Next I ran every scan that I have, AVG, SuperAntiSpyware, CCleaner, and Malwarebytes.

Last I completely defragged the drive so it was 100% fragment free.

Now I reopened Paragon and selected backup again.

It asked what did I want to back up, and I selected 3 items, the boot sector, the reserved partition and Drive C\

I unchecked drive D:\ so it wouldn't back it up as well.

I made sure that I selected the correct drive.

My other hard drive has all my software and data spread over 2 partitions.

Then I clicked on Next and it asked me where I wanted to create the backup?

It is set to recovery capsule by default but you can select other options if you want.
You might do this if you were backing up your data drive to DVDs, or and External Hard Drive.

I showed me a summary of what it was going to do and I said go ahead and it's doing it right now.

Right now it say 20 minutes to go.

I thought that I'd come and type this in here before I forgot what I had done, (I'm 75) and it's doing the backup as I speak, (or type).

I'll add a PS when the process completes.

Mike

Note that one thing I didn't do that I should have was to move some of the space from my C:\ partition where I don't need the space to my D:\ partition where I could use it.

Now the backup is complete and in addition I ran Verify on the backup.

Now that, that is done I'm going to read the manual and see if I did it right.
I'll add the final notes after I figure out how to restore it.
 
Last edited:
Don't you find it a little more complicated than a simple image backup under File History? Your drive C is kind of big (175GB?). I just recently changed my backup setup that involves a hardware and not just a software. All my active data are synced across 3 PCs via my new NAS device (Qnap TurboNAS TS-220) with a copy being saved on the NAS itself which is on RAID 1 mode. Setting up RAID on the PC itself slows down the entire system so I thought about using a RAID server that takes care of backing up data of all of my 3 machines. I think it makes more sense to have all your backup outside the machine. As for system images, I have them also on a separate drive using the native Windows image backup utility. I just need to worry about my system backup as all of my data are taken care of by the NAS. Do let us know how easy it is to restore backups with Paragon. Well, my guess is it should also be straight forward. I just find the setup you shared above takes more steps to accomplish. :) But if it works for you, that is all that matters. Right? Thanks for sharing Mike! I will watch your thread.

Cheers!
 
Hi

Back again.

My C:\ drive is big because it has all my Graphic Arts Software on it, mostly Adobe stuff that has to be reinstalled it anything in Windows changes anyway.

All my games and on a separate partition, data and a lot of other video and graphics software in on another hard drive completely.

Well it's not so easy.

I can restore the image pretty easy by opening the program and clicking on restore, that's not a problem.

The problem is, what do I do if my computer won't boot?
I tried to boot into the recovery partition and it doesn't appear in my boot menu.

So I decided to just make a recovery DVD that will let me boot into the media.
Not so easy either, unlike previous versions I can't find any way to do that.

There is a link, "Get Linux Recovery Media" but when I click on that it just takes me to the registration page, so I registered.

I've logged into my account and I still don't see anyway to download the recovery disk.

I have a support request in now asking how I get the boot disk.

As of right now I'm not recommending this for anyone without a lot of computer knowledge.

So far it's got me stumped, I looked at modifying the boot menu to add the recovery partition but it doesn't show up as a drive so I don't know what to do.

I thought this was going to be great, if your computer won't boot into Windows just select boot to Paragon and restore Windows but so far it's not so going so well.

If they have a link in the software that says get recovery disk, it could at least take you there.

Mike
 
Last edited:
Just an update, I made a backup of my new C:\ drive using my older version 2012 so that I do have a backup in place.

I'll work on this again after I hear from Paragon.

As of Monday evening I haven't received any response from Paragon.
I can see that my request it there but it still says being processed.
 
Last edited:
To Badrobot.

It sounds more complicated than it is, there is actually a very basic click this button kind of interface you can use, the problem is that

when I finished and had my backup all made the recovery partition wasn't bootable so I have no way to access it if my computer won't boot into Windows, because I don't see anyway to make a boot disk, I haven't received any response from Paragon so far.

This is complicated by the fact that I already have 2 internal hard drives each with 2 partitions, so I have to be very careful that I'm backing up the right thing.

If someone had only a C:\ drive it would be very straightforward.

To bad that Paragon doesn't have a forum, then I might be able to get some answers.

Mike

I undid and redid the whole process, using the default values, no changes by me, and I have a new backup created in a new recovery module.

Still the same issue, I can't find any way to access it if my computer won't boot?

I updated my request for help from Paragon being very clear that I needed a way to access the backup outside of Windows, either from the boot menu or a boot DVD, but I haven't received any response so far.

To forum management!

If you want to move this post to Windows 8 Software it's ok with me.

I expected this to be a one shot description of how the software worked.
I didn't know that it was going to expand into a major project.


I have found posts on other forums talking about how there is no way to boot into the recovery module to run restore. So I'm not alone, I didn't find any answers and searching the Paragon Site.

I spent over a half hour searching their site but didn't find any link to download a recovery disk or ISO file.

This seems pretty dumb, to design software that has no way to access it when you need it.

In spite of the fact that it mentions Recovery Media on there web site searching for Recovery Media on their web site provided no information on how to get it.
 
Last edited:
Hey Mike!

I remember I have a Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12. When I open it, it gave me this message:

IMAG3189.jpg


I clicked the "create Recovery CD":

Screenshot (16).png


and then I boot up on the CD:

IMAG3192.jpg


I just don't know if it will work with your version of the Paragon but if you want to try it out I can create an ISO and link it to you from my personal cloud storage.

Let me know.


Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Hi Badrobot

Thanks for taking the time to check this out and take the screen shots.

I have Paragon Backup Manager 12 too, that's what I've been using since it became available.
In fact I made a new backup with it a couple of days ago when I couldn't get Paragon 14 to work.

I run Paragon 12 completely from the DVD, I don't even have it installed on my computer.

I put in the disk, (I have 2 of them just to be safe) I run the create a backup program in Linux and then when I need to restore I put in the disk boot to it and run the restore application. It has always worked great.

I haven't tried using the disk with my Paragon 14 backup but I don't think it will work because the recovery partition will not show in the list of disks, so I don't think I will be able to select the recovery file.

At this point I think I will just stick with the old version and forget about using 14,

Paragon 14 does give you the option to place the backups on a normal partition in a folder.
I can do that, but the problem then is you would still have no way to access it without a boot disk.
The old one would probably work in that case, but if you are new to Paragon and don't have one you are out of luck.

What gets me is what do they expect people to do?
The 2014 version does not remind you to create recovery material, and as far as I can see has no built in utility to do so.

That's because the whole point it that it isn't supposed to need it.

It's supposed to be able to restore your computer from the boot menu without a disk or anything else, like a laptop recovery partition.

The issue is that if it's not bootable when you get done, there's no way to use it
My boot menu shows only Windows 8.

I've contacted Paragon twice explaining the situation and telling them that I have gone through the complete process 2 times.
But I have not gotten any response from them, if they don't offer support for the free addition they could at least take the time to tell me that.

As I said I did find posts on other forums from people who are running into the same thing but I didn't find any answers.
They are as lost as I am on this.

Mike
 
Hi Badrobot

Thanks for taking the time to check this out and take the screen shots.

I have Paragon Backup Manager 12 too, that's what I've been using since it became available.
In fact I made a new backup with it a couple of days ago when I couldn't get Paragon 14 to work.

I run Paragon 12 completely from the DVD, I don't even have it installed on my computer.

I put in the disk, (I have 2 of them just to be safe) I run the create a backup program in Linux and then when I need to restore I put in the disk boot to it and run the restore application. It has always worked great.

I haven't tried using the disk with my Paragon 14 backup but I don't think it will work because the recovery partition will not show in the list of disks, so I don't think I will be able to select the recovery file.

At this point I think I will just stick with the old version and forget about using 14,

Paragon 14 does give you the option to place the backups on a normal partition in a folder.
I can do that, but the problem then is you would still have no way to access it without a boot disk.
The old one would probably work in that case, but if you are new to Paragon and don't have one you are out of luck.

What gets me is what do they expect people to do?
The 2014 version does not remind you to create recovery material, and as far as I can see has no built in utility to do so.

That's because the whole point it that it isn't supposed to need it.

It's supposed to be able to restore your computer from the boot menu without a disk or anything else, like a laptop recovery partition.

The issue is that if it's not bootable when you get done, there's no way to use it
My boot menu shows only Windows 8.

I've contacted Paragon twice explaining the situation and telling them that I have gone through the complete process 2 times.
But I have not gotten any response from them, if they don't offer support for the free addition they could at least take the time to tell me that.

As I said I did find posts on other forums from people who are running into the same thing but I didn't find any answers.
They are as lost as I am on this.

Mike


I am not sure if Paragon Backup Manager 12 (your copy) is similar to Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 Pro (my copy). I don't understand it wouldn't see the Paragon 14 recovery partition. Maybe it would if you start running the restore wizard and it will scan for the recovery files in your local drive.
 
Hi

Just here to say that I gave up on Paragon 1014.
I couldn't see any reason that I should upgrade to it, if I was still going to use my 2012 disk to recover it.

I have to say that I put in 2 requests for information to Paragon and never got any response even though I can see that my requests are there on my accounts page.

Anyway Paragon 2012 works so I'll stick with it.

I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't make the 2014 addition work, it would have been nice to be able to just recover a crashed computer from the boot screen.

If no one else makes a recovery program that will do this, (like new laptops do) it's a great idea if you can make it work.
Essentially it a dual boot of Linux with the recovery interface built in.

I've been thinking of adding Ubuntu to my computer as an optional OS, I wonder it there is a recovery program I could run from there that would recover my Windows Drive?

Mike
 
Mike, I upgraded my Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 to version 14.



Paragon_HDM14.jpg



It doesn't have the option to create a recovery CD like the version 12 (or maybe it does but it didn't pop up like the version 12 did) , but when I created a system image with it I used the recovery CD from version 12 and it worked. Right now it's performing an image restoration on my test SSD running a cloned Win 7. So I guess this one will work if a PC won't boot up. I just need to check if it can boot up to recovery environment without the rescue CD (like the regular recovery screen).
 
It seems to me like a lot of good software gets over complicated with dubious new features and layouts just to have a newer version to sell. I'm still using Acronis TI 2010. It meets my needs and I see no reason to upgrade at this time and that isn't the only program I've held back on upgrading.
Joe
 
It seems to me like a lot of good software gets over complicated with dubious new features and layouts just to have a newer version to sell. I'm still using Acronis TI 2010. It meets my needs and I see no reason to upgrade at this time and that isn't the only program I've held back on upgrading.
Joe

This one has full UEFI & Win 8.1 support and has the ability to back-up virtual drives (from VMWare, Hyper-V, etc.). But yeah, we're just discussing. I use the native Windows imaging and backup utility most of the time.
 
I've logged into my account and I still don't see anyway to download the recovery disk.

I have a support request in now asking how I get the boot disk.

Mike,

Apparently, the recovery bootable media is not a downloadable ISO file. You have to build one by yourself tailored to your own system. It's not a generic boot disk because you have to inject specific drivers for your system (storage device driver, network driver, USB driver etc.... which makes a lot of sense). But you have to have WAIK installed first. The step by step guide in creating the Paragon bootable media will point you to the right direction including the WAIK download if you need one.

I was able to make one myself in 15minutes including the download and installtion of Microsoft WAIK.

Here: http://www.paragon-software.com/landing-pages/bmb/



...
 
Hi BadRobot

I assume that you use the version of WAIK that's for Windows 7?
I don't see a later version anyplace.

I guess that's the problem with using a Windows based boot disk as opposed to Linux.
I think I'll just stick with the older version.

It's too much hassle to jump through all these hoops to do what you could do in the old version easily.
Why come out with a new version that is less convenient to use then the old one?

Anyway now that I've found EaseUS it seems to be much easier to use and creates it's own boot disk with no hassles.

So I have created a backup using both Paragon 2012 and EaseUS and a boot disk for each.

I'm a little disappointed that Paragon did not respond in any way to my request.
I suppose that they don't support the free version, but they could at least have a form letter saying sorry no support that they send out.

Mike
 
Back
Top