Recommendations for backup and disc image software

Been reading a bunch of reviews, and it seems few are happy with any backup software out there. Ideally, I'd like a single app that can handle disc imaging and file backups. I'm using Win7, 64, with a SSD c-drive and a spindle D-drive.

I currently own Acronis Home 10 (from my old machine, just replaced), and while some parts of the app were confusing, it worked ok for me. Later versions of Acronis Home seem to be less favored by users and reviewers.
Anyone have guidance on this?
Thanks,

Eric
--
Eric
http://www.pbase.com/cerumen
http://www.insectography.com

Cerumen said:

Been reading a bunch of reviews, and it seems few are happy with any backup software out there. Ideally, I'd like a single app that can handle disc imaging and file backups. I'm using Win7, 64, with a SSD c-drive and a spindle D-drive.

I currently own Acronis Home 10 (from my old machine, just replaced), and while some parts of the app were confusing, it worked ok for me. Later versions of Acronis Home seem to be less favored by users and reviewers.
Anyone have guidance on this?

Click to expand...

Acronis True Image failed me badly in the past. It was back before I tested rather than trusted backup/restore imaging software and I remember how I felt when I was unable to recover my system. Never trusted Acronis again.

On the other hand I've had very bad experiences with Norton Ghost and StorageCraft ShadowProtect, just to name a few such programs. They were great until you needed them to do an actual restore. Paragon is the only one I've tried that has worked, and I've tested the heck out of it many times. Unfortunately it too sucks in its own special ways. I'm sure you've been following the thread on 'Paragon back-up disk images' in the PC Talk Forum. If not, take a look.

Good luck with your quest and let everyone know if you find a really reliable disk imaging backup program. BTW, I have almost the same system setup as you do.

The Windows backup software included in W7 Pro (and Vista Pro before it) has worked flawlessly for me. Good mirroring, file backup and especially very flexible selective roll-back tools. Its only disadvantage is that it's free (well not exactly, Pro costs more than the less-featured versions of W7, but it has other features I wanted anyway).

Chris Noble said:

The Windows backup software included in W7 Pro (and Vista Pro before it) has worked flawlessly for me. Good mirroring, file backup and especially very flexible selective roll-back tools. Its only disadvantage is that it's free (well not exactly, Pro costs more than the less-featured versions of W7, but it has other features I wanted anyway).

Click to expand...

I just got a new PC going and I have Win 7 64-bit Pro, but I'm not up to speed with the Pro version yet. I was under the assumption it could only back up critical files and selected files. You say it can clone system images? I'll be checking this out as it may be the best solution for me yet.

Thanks, guys. Soloryb, appreciate the report on Acronis. Although I said it worked fine for me, that only means that I've opened a few files over the years to confirm a BU was usable. I haven't had a dead HD for many years, and have never had to restore a disc image.

Chris, on Windows software: For my OS, I have Home Premium, so the likely better BU native to Pro isn't available for me. Never think of MS for this stuff, but probably should. However, I just checked and there is a disc image and BU utility in Home, so maybe I'll give that a whirl.
Thanks again.
--
Eric
http://www.pbase.com/cerumen
http://www.insectography.com

I use Windows 7 Home Premium back up and disk image utility. I've never had to restore anything, but it seems to be a solid (and free) alternative to 3rd party back up and disk imaging utilities.

In the words of Ron Popeil, I just "set it and forget it".

I've never heard anyone say that Windows 7 backup was not a capable and reliable utility. I have heard people say that they wanted something that was more flexible, with the ability to customize, but it does what I want it to do.

For backing up files to external devices I use file syncronisation called Goodsync.

For cloning complete drives I use Casper.

It all works very simply for me.

Cheers,

Cerumen said:

Thanks, guys. Soloryb, appreciate the report on Acronis. Although I said it worked fine for me, that only means that I've opened a few files over the years to confirm a BU was usable. I haven't had a dead HD for many years, and have never had to restore a disc image.

Click to expand...

It is important that you don't trust any of these image backup programs. I've had several occasions where the image looked just fine but then I was unable to do a restore.

Cerumen said:

Been reading a bunch of reviews, and it seems few are happy with any backup software out there. Ideally, I'd like a single app that can handle disc imaging and file backups. I'm using Win7, 64, with a SSD c-drive and a spindle D-drive.

I currently own Acronis Home 10 (from my old machine, just replaced), and while some parts of the app were confusing, it worked ok for me. Later versions of Acronis Home seem to be less favored by users and reviewers.
Anyone have guidance on this?

Click to expand...

I've been using Terabyte's "Image for Windows" (IFW) for my backups. I've restored backups twice on spinner hard drives and they worked perfectly. IFW currently costs $38.94 compared to Acronis 2012 $49.99. Also, my IFW updates are free (not sure what the current policy is) compared to having to pay for Acronis updates. Google "Image for Windows". Can buy Terabyte's IFW and "Boot it Bare Metal" a partition and boot manager, now for $49.98.

I previously used Acronis True Image 8 on my WinXP PC and two of my friends bought TI-8 for their WinXP PCs at my recommendation. I restored backups for me and for both of my friends and the restores worked perfectly.

Regarding Win7 Home Premium's backup: When I built my i5 PC, I backed the 64GB SSD to an external spinner eSATA hard drive using Windows 7 Home Premium when everything was pristine. That backup only had about 32GB of data. I had a problem so did a restore to the SSD. The restore took 10.5 hours !!! The restore did install correctly with proper partition alignment for the SSD but 10.5 hours for 32GB ? I immediately updated IFW and backup the SSD. The IFW backup was faster than the Win7 backup. I have not done a restore yet, but have complete faith in Terabyte's software.

On an aside, I've been using Terabyte's "Boot it Next Generation" (predecessor to "Boot it Bare Metal") as a partition manager and dual boot systems and it works great.

Sky

skyglider said:

Skyglider said:

Regarding Win7 Home Premium's backup: The restore took 10.5 hours !!! The IFW backup was faster than the Win7 backup.

Click to expand...

I have Win7 Pro disk mirroring and incremental backups both turned on to an external USB drive with automated updates every night. I have never done a full disk restore off Win7 backup, but I have done roll-backs on individual files and that works very well. I have the impression that the disk mirror and incremental data is all stored in one database, so maybe the full restore is slow because data has to be reconstructed? I think the dedicated mirror apps do sector-sector copies which is a lot faster. Just a guess.

Actually, I just remembered that I did have to restore the mirrored disk about 2 years ago when I bought a bigger drive. It worked fine. I was running Vista Pro at the time but I assume the Windows backup utility is the same for W7 Pro.

Chris Noble said:

Chris Noble wrote:

Actually, I just remembered that I did have to restore the mirrored disk about 2 years ago when I bought a bigger drive. It worked fine. I was running Vista Pro at the time but I assume the Windows backup utility is the same for W7 Pro.

Click to expand...

"Bought a bigger drive" infers it's a spinner HDD and the restore was to it. I wonder if Win7 Home Premium took 10.5 hours to restore 32GB because I restored to a SSD and Win7 had to do the restore with proper partition alignment for the SSD?

I would like to hear from someone who did a restore to a SSD and what the size of the restore was and how long it took. Just out of curiosity since I'm using Image For Windows now.

Thanks,
Sky

I find it surprising nobody is using Macrium. I've tried Norton Ghost, etc in the past. Ghost was not so good. Hard to re-install. Acronis is fine, but I don't know how to make a bootable SD or flash disk.

Macrium was a bit easier and I could backup to another drive or even create a bootable flash disc using SDHC card. Got myself a 32gb SDHC and made that bootable with Win 7 in it and my favorite settings. I've tried about 3 different times restoring the windows 7 from this flash disc. No problems. No need for limited sized DVD discs that are bigger and slower too.

The nice thing about Macrium is that it is free. There is a paid version with more options but at least you can test the free version for personal use and see if it works for you. Just google Macrium backup.
--
--------------------

• Caterpillar

'Always in the process of changing, growing, and transforming.'

The 'Free' Version of Macrium Reflect does not support SSD drives. You need to download the 30-day pro version for that.

I used Acronis through Ver. 2011, but I didn't like the Interface after Ver. 2010, and WORSE--experienced failed Restores even after Archive Verification!

I bought the "paid" version of Paragon Home 10, and have never experienced any Restore problems.

There's a free version http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/ , which I haven't tried, and the current Home Version is Home-12. It costs $39.95

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/download.html

20% discount--direct application : http://www.softwarevouchers.com/paragon-backuprecovery12home.html

Leigh

soloryb said:

The 'Free' Version of Macrium Reflect does not support SSD drives.

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Huh? It works for me.

Here's my summary:

Acronis: Just too many bugs and problems over the past few years for me to place my trust in it. Having said that, it clearly works well for a large number of users.

Paragon Free: Works well but I hate using it. I dislike the interface and find it slow and unnecessarily complicated to use.

Macrium Reflect: Has recently become my new favorite. It's fast, simple, and easy to use. It seems to work well but this based on somewhat limited experience.

Chris Noble said:

The Windows backup software included in W7 Pro (and Vista Pro before it) has worked flawlessly for me. Good mirroring, file backup and especially very flexible selective roll-back tools. Its only disadvantage is that it's free (well not exactly, Pro costs more than the less-featured versions of W7, but it has other features I wanted anyway).

Click to expand...

I tried the Win 7 backup (available on Ultimate and Pro) and although I was able to create a disk image, I couldn't burn a system repair disk. I get the message, "The parameter is incorrect (0x80070057). This problem seems to plague many owners of OEM versions, of which I am one. I searched for a solution on the Web and came across a bunch of fixes - none of which worked. There's only one solution I have not yet tried involving a visit to the Admin-elevated command prompt in Windows and then performing a deep modification to a few mysterious parameters therein.

Work-around: Holding down F8 during boot and getting the Windows Repair Menu(if your system has one). Then choosing command prompt and typing "recdisc" and enter, etc. This will create a bootable emergency disk. I was successful with this solution.

Also, Win 7's backups have another big disadvantage, the backups are not transparent - at least I know of no way to open and look at files and folders. On the other hand, several companies make backup software - based on Windows own shadow copy - which create backup images that can be easily mounted and provide full file accessibility. I'm trying out Macrium Reflect Pro right now and it looks pretty nice, though it is a bit pricy.

Member said:

soloryb said:

The 'Free' Version of Macrium Reflect does not support SSD drives.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Member said:

malch wrote:
Huh? It works for me.

Click to expand...

I found out from a Macrium tech e-mail that the free version didn't show my SSD because - like the standard version - it doesn't support my SSD, which is formatted in GPT. It does support my other spinners, which are all formatted with a Master Boot Table.

I downloaded and am now trying the Pro version. It was a real PITA to get it to create a boot rescue disk. Lots of e-mails to Macrium Support, but I finally got it to work correctly. The tech also said that the paid-for Pro version comes with a built-in WAIK (a program from Microsoft that creates the Windows PE for the boot disk) which sounds good since the trial Pro version required a separate 1.7 GB monster download before you can even get started.

In any event, Macrium Reflect Pro (trial copy) looks good. I used the rescue disk I created to boot my system in the Windows PE environment (as modified by Macrium) and it appeared to be a straightforward process to access the backup copy. The program shares some similarities with Paragon, but it's way more user-friendly. The company also responds to e-mail support requests very quickly as I've already experienced. At $58 (for the Pro version which I need) it's not cheap but I think I'll buy it anyway considering how high in importance I hold backing up your system and data reliably.

Thanks, all. I'll give Macrium a try. I guess backing up is inherently complex, especially if you want to auto-delete old backups, rotate external backups, and all the challenges of boot disk.

My suspicion is that the Windows backup--at least on Win7Home--won't support some of the niceties that make some backup routines what they should be--set it and forget it, and with the logic to delete old cycles and recognize rotating externals.
Thanks, again.
--
Eric
http://www.pbase.com/cerumen
http://www.insectography.com