Easeus 3.0 beta - what ya think?

http://www.todo-backup.com/beta-testing/

95MB download seems a bit bloated but it may also include the Linux boot CD...

Can also be used with WinPE

 

gave it a quick whirl, don't like the kiddy interface at all and the grammar is the worst i have ever seen in a program. also don't like the fact that there is no ready made WinPE option, you have to make it yourself using WAIK.

could well be a decent program, but the program does not ooze quality like IFW, Active@, Shadow Protect, O&O, Paragon etc. i just would not rely on it as my main backup program and i don't see why anyone would.

i hope i am proved wrong though and it does turn out to be a respected backup program, the more the merrier!

 

I am not familiar with the other imaging programs except for Paragon and Macrium Free. I would have to say that for being free, it has a lot of features including scheduled and incremental backups. I know for a fact that the Linux Boot CD that Todo provides is a lot better than the one provided in Macrium Free but Macrium free does provide a plugin for use in a BartPE. The only disadvantage I see with Todo Free is to get a WinPE, you need to download the AIK which is 1.7GB. I do not know of any free imaging version that lets you have the opportunity to build a WinPe Recovery CD except for maybe the one that is built by Windows 7 itself. I have used Windows 7 imaging program and have not had one problem with it. You can even browse the image it creates in Disk Management by loading the VHD.

 

hi tgell, would you seriously use this as a primary imaging program? oh and Drive Image XML provides a free BartPE plug-in which i successfully used for 2 years straight (2008-2010)

 

If a person did not have the capacity to make a BartPE disk with plugin and wanted only a free program, I would not hesitate to use it. It has a very strong Linux Boot CD. I never had it not recognize a drive or have it fail to boot. I cannot say the same about the Linux CD that Macrium Free provides. I am talking about v2.5. I have not used 3.0 beta. I know of no other free imaging program that provides the ability to build a free WinPE disk along with scheduled and incremental backups. The one thing I like about Macrium is that it is very fast. But, in the end, it will be for the person using the program to judge if it is suitable for them. I would just like to emphasize that whatever imaging program a person decides to use, make sure the Recover CD is capable of seeing your drives.

If I was on Windows 7, I would use the built in imaging program. For being just a basic system imaging program it does the job and it does it well.

If I was going to pay for something, I would probably buy Macrium.

Edit: I have never tried DriveImage XML but from what I have read, it is very reliable.

 

I didn't know this was even out there...thanks...I thought 2.x was OK, and I had some restore issues so I shelved it. Will take a look.

 

In my testing, V3 beta left me wondering if its solid enough to rely on.

1) I tried to convert a few images to VHD virtual machines, but they could not be restored to Virtualbox. I kept getting errors like "unmountable boot volume". I tried the Easeus boot CD as per their knowledgebase, but soon found out the restore to dissimilar hardware feature will only see the Easeus images and not the converted VHD file. Gave up after a couple tries.

BTW, same test on same test PC with Shadowprotect, BESR 2010 and Macrium V5 all restored without any major issues. For Shadowprotect I had to use the recovery CD, but it was relatively painless.

2) There's still some things in V3 that just don't work such as email notifications of job success/failure. Easeus is not following RFC rules and many SMTP servers will NOT deliver their mails (not all, but many refuse delivery and others SPAM filter it out). This has been a problem for a while and they keep saying they are working on a fix, but that fix never seems to come. The fact they cannot get that piece right makes me wonder who the heck is behind their programming...

I think I'll be moving on and sticking with more professionals solutions for backup of my critical data.

 

exactly my point, i think with a backup program, free doesn't mean squat. reliability and consistency comes first.

as much as i want this program to do well, unfortunately its one of the worse ones i have used.