Well, I'm getting ready to do a bunch of PC stuff and, as I've mentioned before, I've got Acronys and am not that fond of it.  So I'm thinking that Paragon is the way to go.  Unfortunately, the free version doesn't allow the creation of bootable media so I can't check this myself before buying but...
 
Can you completely use Paragon from a boot disk? 
 
I had this ability with Acronys and it's the part I liked best.  I find backups just work better when they aren't fighting for resources and, since nothing is running, there are no conflicts and the files aren't changing during the backup.
 
I just read that Paragon has the ability to restore single files or directories.  Since I'd love to have data archived that's NOT on my PC, I think this would be just the ticket for me.

buy it.. wait didn't you just get a system from me? if so you own it

jcschild
buy it.. wait didn't you just get a system from me? if so you own it

No, unfortunately I didn't (not YET anyway!)... 
 
The company I was working with broke up so I'm forced to wait again, but SOMEDAY you will hear from me again and I will get a system from you!

Look at Macrium Reflect.  The free version will allow creating either a Linux or WinPE Rescue disc (I recommend the WinPE version).  I moved from Acronis to Macrium last year, after Acronis failed me twice on restoring hard drives.
 
  http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

Thanks, I just got Paragon, but I'll check out Macrium as well.

Macrium Free works great here. Saved my ass a couple of times!

I've used Acronis True Image literally hundreds of times over the past 10 years...
The only time/s I've ever had an issue is when using a brand-new (unsupported) motherboard chipset.
Contacted Acronis when the X58a first appeared... and they forwarded an ISO for tweaked version that worked.
 
Paragon will also allow you to create/use a bootable "rescue disc"... very similar to True Image.
 
If you purchase a retail copy of True Image, the Install Disc is also a bootable "rescue disc".
You can boot from that disc and create/restore any backup image file.  No need to install the application
A very clean/lean way to approach backup.
 
BTW, If you're talking about backing up audio projects/data, there's no advantage to using a backup application.
Just drag-drop to create a copy on external HD... or burn to optical disc