DriveClone 3 / DriveClone 3 Pro

Hi there,

Has anyone ever tried DriveClone 3 or DriveClone 3 Pro? I'm specifically trying to find a drive image/file backup utility that is very easy to use. For example, on a scale of 0 (difficult) - 10 (easy), I would put Acronis 10 at 4, in other words moderately difficult.

For more info, go to http://www.farstone.com/software/driveclone.htm.

If anyone knows of other products that are very easy to use, please let me know.

Thanks.

JPC

 

I take that to be a resounding 'No'!

 

ShadowProtect Desktop is more userfriendly than Acronis True Image and is the fastest one at this moment and very reliable.
Since I have SD, I backup/restore more than ever before.
I used it all the time, when I was preparing my new installation gradually without losing my actual installation.

 

Sorry jaypeecee didn't see your post before now.
I use the predecessor of Drive Clone Pro on my laptop 'RestoreIt' without difficulty.
Both RestoreIt & DCPro have a system restore function which is comparable to Rollback Rx & FD-ISR as well as being able to image the system HD.
RestoreIt is slooooow compared to Rollback & FD-ISR at restoring and whilst it is easy to use as an imaging program it is much slower than Shadow Protect or ATI.
Unless DriveClone Pro has changed things majorly I would say ShadowProtect is certainly faster, certainly easier to use & very reliable. It would get my vote too.
Alternatives : Paragon Drive Back up (slower but reliable)
Acronis True Image (read the support pages - especially for ATI 11)
BING/ Image for Windows ( cheap & cheerful but I found it difficult to use).
Good luck
Lee

 

i try ATI10, SP and Rollback, this is my opinion...

Rollback Rx --> 8

ATI10 --> 5

Shadow Protect --> 2




PS, scale of 0 (difficult) - 10 (easy)

 

Hi there,

Thanks for the feedback. I currently have ATI 10 Home but I think it's too difficult for a lot of people to use. In my view, the use of disk imaging and backup software should be a breeze - no wonder so many people shy away from it, but it's as important as anti-virus software.

The reason I was drawn to DC Pro was precisely because of what L Bainbridge stated - namely that it can do both disk imaging and set restore points. I also like the looks of Rollback Rx, but it has to be used in conjunction with disk imaging software, according to the suppliers.

All three of you seem to favour Shadow Protect, so that's got to be worth looking at. Interestingly, fce thinks that SP is fairly difficult to use whereas ErikAlbert feels that " ShadowProtect Desktop is more userfriendly than Acronis True Image". The fact that SP is very reliable sets it apart from ATI - both version 10 and 11 appear to be plagued with problems.

It's time to take another look at SP Desktop.

JPC

 

Huh? Rollback Rx ver 8.1 is already disk imaging software....

tell your supplier that they better check ver. 8.1

 

fce is right: rollback 8.0 & above can image the System HD (C drive) to another HD.
However like most imaging programs it will only contain one 'snapshot' of Rollback & on restore of that image you will lose all your other Rollback snapshots.
This is equally true of Rollback & most imaging progs (e.g. ATI, Shadow Protect ) but imaging programs capable of taking a sector by sector (RAW) image including Paragon Drive Image or Image for DOS/ Image for Windows will create an image with all your snapshots.
Downside of a RAW image is that it takes ages to create in any imaging program.
Rollback Rx is getting to be a very good instant restore program (especially 8.0 & above) but is not always a happy bed fellow with imaging progs.
My personal choice if you want only one software would be for Shadow Protect Desktop as it's imaging/restoring is so quick (4 minutes for a 12 Gb image for my PC) (& it can do continuous incrementals) that instant restore is less important to me than it used to be.
However, if instant restore is your priority Rollback is beautifully easy to use & getting more stable in each incarnation.
DriveClone Pro does both instant restore & imaging & is still worth a try if you want a prog. that does it all.
I'd trial DriveClonePro 1st & then try Shadow Protect if you decide DriveClone is not for you as ShadowProtect is mucho dinero & may be overkill for your needs.
RollbackRx is a different kettle of fish altogether but is worth a trial - remembering it's primary function is instant system restore not imaging.
Personally I use FD-ISR & Shadow Protect (as do many others) but FD-ISR is not the easiest prog. to use initially & is much more space hungry than Rollback.
Lee

 

Thanks Everyone,

I really value all your comments and I only wish I'd turned to this forum before buying ATI 10 Home. I feel better informed now and will proceed a bit more wisely. I'll try to report back on my findings from time to time.

Cheers.

JPC

 

Hi Folks,

What a nuisance - I've just discovered (by reading the DC 3 Pro User Manual) that DC 3 Pro is incompatible with Kaspersky Anti-Virus. No prizes for guessing which AV software I'm using!!

JPC

 

Hi Peter,

No, they don't say which version of Kaspersky, nor do they say why. I'll put the question to them.

JPC

 

this is no good for rollback rx as it only backs up the data part of the disk not the rest as it states on there site.

 

The easiest, in my view, is Drive Snapshot. 5 clicks to create an image, 5 clicks to restore the image.

We aren't talking about myriad features, just what is easy (and reliable).

 

I use the Clonezilla live-cd to make images, it's easy to use and costs nothing,ziltch and it's reliable aswell. See link for further info

http//clonezilla.sourceforge.net/

Lamehand

 

Farstone have just released DriveClone Pro 3.5, it has some interesting developments :
"DriveClone 3.5 Pro’s included Universal Restore feature allows migration of a system to dissimilar hardware, regardless of the manufacturer.
USB Hot Drive lets you run your computer off a disk image saved to a USB drive, as though it were your local system."

And by the way - Driveclone Pro IS easy to use.

 

Pete, jaypeecee asked this question..

You mentioned ShadowProtect.

 

It installed ok but when it rebooted it came up with a message saying incompatibility with my bios then it tried to take a snapshot and fell over, when in windows it uninstalled itself. I am running raid so i think it dosen't support the ICH8R chipset yet. The asus p5bd.

 

markymoo, to which program does 'it' refer?

 

Can someone comment on how reliable the snapshots or images this program does upon restoring, how many have failed you? I wonder if this works on ICH5R Raid0?

dja2k

 

@appster

It didn't say what it was conflicting with but i think it maybe the raid. i need to test it on a clean system before i'm convinced it don't work fully. On the site they list what hardware works. At startup in its menu you can press ALT-F4 to uninstall. It takes auto snapshots so it does have promise.

Edit: It definitely don't work with this chipset.

 

I was interested in there Universal Image. You can make a universal image to be able to work on all hardware so they claim but i can't get it working yet. Usually when you restore to a image to another pc it fails and blue screens because your hardware is different. The 2 that are different is the ACPI power driver under Computer in device manger. If you change this to Advanced Power Configuration and also change the Hard disk controller to standard you can make your image work on all pcs and then change it back later to the correct ones. This will make it 100% work on all pcs.