Paragon Volume Snapshot User Manual

PARAGON Technologie GmbH, Systemprogrammierung

Heinrich-von-Stephan-Str. 5c  79100 Freiburg, Germany

Tel. [phone]  Fax [phone]

Internet www.paragon-software.com  E-mail [e-mail]

Volume Snapshot for Mac® OS X

Use r Manual

Copyright© 1994-2010 Paragon Software Group. All rights reserved.

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Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3

Features Overview ................................................................................................................. 3

Key Features ............................................................................................................................................... 3

Supported Media ........................................................................................................................................ 3

Snapshot versus File Archiving ............................................................................................... 4

Getting Started ...................................................................................................................... 4

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................. 4

Installation ................................................................................................................................................. 4

Contacting Paragon Technology GmbH ........................................................................................................ 8

Backing Up System to External Storage ....................................................................................................... 8

Restoring System from External Storage ..................................................................................................... 10

Using Command Line ................................................................................................................................. 13

De-installation ..................................................................................................................... 14

Copyright© 1994-2010 Paragon Software Group. All rights reserved.

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Our company is constantly releasing new versions and updates to its software, that's why
images shown in this manual may be different from what you see on your screen.

Introduction

Paragon Volume Snapshot for Mac® OS X is an online disk-imaging utility, which is actually the only snapshot based
backup solution available for Mac computers at the moment. That means, with this program you can easily make an
exact point-in-time copy of any volume of your Mac, even the system one, without the need to restart the system or
any other inconvenience from your side, to later quickly get everything back on track in case of emergency.

Unlike Time Machine and the other file-level backup utilities, our solution is faster both, in backup and restore, for it
doesn’t have to wait until all locked files become available, and it doesn’t require additional re-installation of Mac OS X
before restoring from a backup.

In this guide you will find the answers to many of the technical questions, which might arise while using our program.

Features Overview

This chapter dwells upon key benefits and technical highlights of the product.

Key Features

Let us list some of the key features:

 True live protection for system and data volumes. Creating a snapshot of the whole disk system tackles the

problem of backing up running applications and system locked files.

 Smooth system recovery. You just start up your Mac from the installation disc and launch the restore operation

through Disk Utility without the need to re-install the system first.

 Restore at a granular level. Since we do backups as DMG disk images, which are standard for Mac OS X, you can

mount these images and recover data selectively without the need to restore an entire image.

 High efficiency. We don’t overload the system during backup and are really fast (approx. 1 gigabyte per minute).
 Wide backup destination, including local volumes, external storages, and network shares.
 ssctl utility to manage snapshots for the command line.
 Simple and easy interface. Our program operates exactly as any Mac OS X native application.

Supported Media

 Large hard disks (up to 1,5 TB tested)
 IDE, SCSI and SATA hard disks
 FireWire (i.e. IEEE1394), USB 1.0, USB 2.0 hard disks, ZIP® and Jazz® disks
 PC card storage devices (all types of flash memory, etc.)

Copyright© 1994-2010 Paragon Software Group. All rights reserved.

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PowerPC G5 has not yet been tested for compatibility, but our driver is most likely to work
flawlessly on it.

Snapshot versus File Archiving

Snapshot is a common industry term denoting the ability to record a state of a storage device at any given moment
(make a snapshot), and then preserve that snapshot as a guide for restoring this storage device in case of emergency.
Primarily a snapshot has to do with making a point-in-time copy of data.

Unlike the traditional for Mac OS X backup, that involves file archiving, a snapshot technology enables to make a
consistent image even as the data is currently modified. The point is to provide a coherent state of all open files
involved in a process, taking into account that applications may still keep writing to disks. That’s why only this type of
backup can be used for protecting an active operating system, while Time Machine, for instance, requires re-installation
of Mac OS X before the restore operation.

Moreover, even though Time Machine can wait until running applications are closed and locked files become available,
the backup operation certainly takes more time than if it’s done with a snapshot based utility.

Getting Started

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to get the product ready to use.

System Requirements

To use Paragon Volume Snapshot for Mac OS X, you should install it first. But before that, make sure your computer
meets the following minimum system requirements:

 Operating systems: Mac OS X 10.4.6 Tiger or higher, 10.5 Leopard, and 10.6 Snow Leopard
 PowerPC G4 or x86
 128 MB of RAM

Installation

To install Paragon Volume Snapshot for Mac OS X, please do the following:

1. Launch the installation process by clicking on the supplied DMG disk image.

2. After the installation package is extracted you can choose whether to install/de-install the program or read the

manual or license agreement. Click Volume Snapshot for Mac® OS X to install the program.

Copyright© 1994-2010 Paragon Software Group. All rights reserved.

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3. In order to actually start up installation of the program, you need to confirm your intention by clicking the

Continue button.

4. The setup wizard contains a standard user interface and set of installation steps to easily go through the process

of installation. The Welcome page informs that the application is being installed. Click Continue.

5. Choose where you’d like to install the program, and then click Continue.

Copyright© 1994-2010 Paragon Software Group. All rights reserved.