{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition

Version reviewed:

System Requirements:

Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000; CPU: 300 MHz or higher; RAM: 256 MB; Disk space: 120 Mb; Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher

Price:

Since this is a “special edition” this software is not for sale anywhere – you can get Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition for free for a limited time at Giveawayoftheday.com. The closes two software to Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition are Paragon Drive Backup 9 Professional ($39.95) and Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Suite ($69.95)

Software description:

Special offer for GAOTD users! Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition offers more safety to all your important data including videos, images, audio files, documents and applications. Find other extra features onboard this toolkit along with a Windows 7 and 64-bit Operating Systems support.

What we offer:

• Complete set of features for entire disk imaging and file Backup;
• Backup to any destination: Including local mounted/un-mounted partitions, external storage locations, CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs, network shares, FTP as well as a secured hidden partition on your local drive (Paragon Backup Capsule);
• Smart Backup options for headache-free security, so you can backup exactly what you need and with the best backup method, chosen automatically depending on the data to protect;
• Professional recovery tools;
• Useful extras: boot corrector, simple partitioning and more.

If you are 64bit system user follow the link here.

Technical Support:
During the Giveaway period Paragon Software provides technical support at http://twitter.com/paragonsoftware. Please, post your questions if you have any troubles while downloading, registering and using the software. Paragon Software’s support team will reply you as soon as possible.

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{rw_good}

• Has handy step-by-step wizards to guide the user when using a feature.
• Performs image and file backups.
• Multiple different backup methods, including full and differential backups.
• Can backup files which are currently being used.
• Can create bootable CD/DVD (Linux based) or bootable USB/flash drives.
• Can backup to multiple different locations, including locally, remotely, and FTP.
• Has a scheduler for automating tasks.
• Has basic partitioning features.

{/rw_good} –>

{rw_bad}

• Speed of backup creation and compression level can be improved vs. rival software.

{/rw_bad} –>

{rw_score}
{for=”Ease of Use” value=”10″}Nice wizards guide the users making everything, more or less, point and click.
{/for}
{for=”Performance” value=”7″}At face value, performance is fairly good. However, relative to rival software, Paragon’s creates backups more slowly and less compressed.
{/for}
{for=”Usefulness” value=”10″}In the day and age where our computers hold so much critical information, everyone should be creating backups and thus everyone needs backup software.
{/for}
{for=”Price” value=”7″}With Acronis True Image Home Edition 2010 available for $49.95 I would never pay $39.95 for Paragon Drive Backup 9 Professional. However, Paragon Backup & Recovery Suite has some nice features in addition to the backup capabilities; I would pay $50-60 for it if I needed it.
{/for}
{for=”Arbitrary Equalizer” value=”9″}This category reflects an arbitrary number that does not specifically stand for anything. Rather this number is used to reflect my overall rating/verdict of the program in which I considered all the features and free alternatives.
{/for}
{/rw_score} –>

{rw_verdict}[tupr]
{/rw_verdict} –>

I love Paragon freebies, because as I have said time and time again Paragon makes quality software. However, as a reviewer I dislike the “special editions” Paragon runs promotions with because it is near impossible for me to get my hands on a “special edition” to review it before the GOTD giveaway beings. Today I face the same problem with Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition. However, fear not; because of the way Paragon markets their products, they have multiple versions of, essentially, the same core software out for me to review. So this is how today’s review is going to go down. I have reviewed Paragon Backup & Restore 10 Free; I also have a chart which shows the feature differences between Paragon Backup & Restore 10 Free, Paragon Drive Backup 9 Personal, Paragon Drive Backup 9 Professional, Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition, and Paragon Backpu & Restore 10 Suite. Everyone that wants to get a basic idea of what Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition can do should read my review on Paragon Backup & Restore 10 Free then read my comparison chart to see the feature differences. Ready? Set? Go!

• Review on Paragon Backup & Restore 10 Free
• Comparison chart:

(Click on the above image to view the chart.)

(The chart is the product of Ashraf meshing together a couple of charts provided by Paragon.)

This review was conducted on a laptop running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. The specs of the laptop are as follows: 3GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 2600 512MB graphics card, and an Intel T8300 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

{rw_freea}

There are tons of backup software. If you are interested in free image backup software, I suggest you read the following articles:

• Paragon Backup & Restore Free vs Macrium Reflect Free vs EASEUS Todo Backup vs DriveImage XML vs Acronis True Image Home: Which one should you use?
• 8 free software to image/backup/ghost your computer (free alternatives to Acronis True Image, Norton Ghost, etc.).

If you want free file backup software, consider:

{/rw_freea} –>

{rw_verdict2}Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition is a good software. It has many features and performs well. I recommend it to anyone that wants it. As for free alternatives:

• Image Backup
  • Paragon Backup & Recovery Free, Macrium Reflect Free, and DriveImage XML are all great, and well performing, free image backup software. It is hard to go wrong with either of them. Which one you will use depends on your needs. If you want a free  image backup software that is small in size and has the best compression, go with DriveImage XML (however before you go with DriveImage XML, be sure to Google and learn how to create the bootable CD/DVD because creating a bootable disk is quite difficult with DriveImage XML). If you want a fast and light on computer resources software, go with Macrium Reflect Free. If you are on a netbook and don’t have a CD/DVD drive, grab Paragon Backup & Recovery Free so you can make use of the bootable USB/flash drive. Personally, my favorite is still Macrium Reflect Free because it is fast but still light on computer resources.
• File Backup
  • Cobian Backup is nice and lightweight, but GFI Backup has more features. My favorite is GFI Backup.

{/rw_verdict2} –>