Free (today only) software for backing up and copying a complete hard drive

Giveawayoftheday.com is my favorite site for finding freebies (one of only a couple buttons I have on the right hand site of my blog here). Every single day they offer full versions (versus trial versions) of some type of software that would normally cost you money. The software is licensed, there are always plenty of reviews, and it is totally and completely legal. It's not a file-sharing service, but an opportunity for businesses who want to promote a piece of software.

Today's giveaway is Drive Backup Professional (version 9.0) by Paragon software, a VERY reputable software company (currently $40 from Amazon). You usually see their software next to the big boys like Norton or Nero. Here is a description from the website:

• Backup and Restore your system without the time consuming process of applications setup and customization in the event of a system crash.
• Paragon File-level backup – An innovative file-level protection system that allows users to protect all files documents from damage through the creation of a backup copy.
• Use Cyclic Backup – “Set it and forget it” backup policy that performs regular backups and automatically manages them.
• Paragon Adaptive Restore- A powerful and unique technology which allows restoring Windows Vista on completely different hardware or even on a virtual machine.
• And much more.

Our computer's hard drive crashed about four or five months ago. It really sucked. I was mad, my wife was screaming "Where's my pictures???!!!" and I had no idea what to do. It had never happened to me before, so I thought it was pretty rare, but as it turns out, it isn't. It literally just didn't work one day. There was no warning, no time to take it in to get it fixed, nothing. We tried to turn on the computer and got a blank, black screen. We lost months and months of pictures, important document, and other files that made life pretty rough for a little while. So, once we got a new hard drive, I immediately purchased a backup program so I could copy the entire hard drive, including the operating system, onto a back-up drive. So, if that drive ever fails again, I won't loose any thing.

There is a difference between back-up programs and disk copy programs. Back-up programs let you copy (and sometimes sync) individual files so you don't loose them. They tend to take up less resources on your computer, and are pretty easy to locate the copy if you need it. A disk copy (or "ghosting" a disk) program, copies the entire content of the drive onto a new one (and some programs will compress the files so they take up less room), including the operating system and drivers. So if your OS goes belly-up, or your hard drive drive crashes to a halt, EVERYTHING has been copied. Fortunately, this software does BOTH.

Head on over to Giveawayoftheday and pick up this software (it is 84 MB, so it might take a minute or two to download). Also, it is a ZIP file, (which should open up in explorer) and after you read the 'readme' file, then click the installer. It will install in your c:/program files/paragon folder. YOU WILL NEED TO FIND THAT FILE AND DOUBLE CLICK IT TO COMPLETE INSTALLATION. It will start to load, and then a window will come up saying "click to get free product key". Click on that and you will be directed to a page to register it, then they will email you the key. Complete the installation from there and you are set! (Really it is not as complicated as I am making it sound!)

Everyone needs a good backup program, and it's not very often that it's free! If you have any questions, you can read the comments section on their page, or leave a question in the comments and I will try to answer it for you. Also, if you download it, I would appreciate it if you could leave me a comment letting me know what you thought of it!