Windows 98, Me, 2K, XP
18MB hard drive space

Paragon AG
www.drive-backup.com

Get your registration code at http://registration.paragon.ag/pdb

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Running a backup will never be the most entertaining use of your PCs time, but that doesn't make it any less essential. Especially with the increase in viruses, trojans, worms and other malware, queuing up to destroy your valuable data. A good backup system is your best possible insurance policy against disaster.

Install Paragon Drive Backup 6.0 and you'll immediately be able to run complete image backups of any hard drive, which also happens to be convenient if you're upgrading hard drives and need to make a copy. You can also selectively copy individual partitions, useful if you keep your data separate from Windows or your applications, say.

Copying even a single partition may take a while, though, and so Paragon Drive Backup also includes an incremental image feature. You still have to make one complete backup initially, but after that the program will only copy new files, or ones that have changed since the last backup. This can be a huge time saver, and means running Drive Backup can be just as fast as a conventional file-based backup system.

Restoring your backups? That's convenient, too, because you're not simply restricted to restoring a complete image. There's also a bundled Image Explorer you can use to, well, explore any backup image, and restore whatever files or folders you like.

And that's not all. The program also includes basic partition manager functionality, can back up your images to CD or DVD without requiring third-party burning software, and includes a scheduler to automate common operations. Add a bootable CD image which you can use to restore a previous backup, if your PC won't start, and this program really does have something for everyone.


The latest version of Paragon Drive Backup includes useful new features like the ability to create bootable backup images, and added support for Windows 2000/XP Dynamic Disks. Or you could opt for the Professional Version, which comes with extras like Net Burn (share your CD/DVD burner over the network) and Boot Corrector (fix unbootable PCs by checking the Registry, partition table, master boot record, Boot.ini file and more).

And the Price? Drive Backup Personal normally costs around £42 including VAT, the Professional Edition nearer to £70, but you can save 20% on these (or any other program in the Paragon range that you'd like to try, actually) by using the discount coupon code sent to you with your registration email. Just decide what you'd like to buy at www.paragon.ag, follow the "Order Online" link, and enter your coupon code. Don't spend too long thinking about it, though -- the offer expires 7 days after your original registration.

Register online to obtain your serial code
Install DriveBackup 6 to your hard drive
 
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