HD Backup Solutions Revisited

Alright I am rather sick of Paragon. It takes forever to load and you cant compare archives without extracting large amounts of data and using another external program to compare. The only thing I do like about it is that its extremely fast at creating backups and pretty quick at restoring.

Ive been seeing alot of FDISR? I cant seem to find that online.

What about Norton Ghost, Active@, R-Drive Image, Image For Windows, etc? You dont see to much of those mentioned around here.

Any other superior options to Paragon that is much quicker and allows comparing archives without extracting Gbs upon Gbs of data?

So far Im looking at Norton Ghost, Active@, R-Drive Image, Image for Windows, Shadowprotect, or even the Windows built in backup solution with possible certified addons. What are your thoughts?

 

You could try Macrium Reflect, the fastest one, or Lsoft Active@Disk Image which has the best Recovery CD (Win PE 2 based, very configurable, also handle usb sticks). ADI is a bit slower, but that's manageable.

 

Does Macrium allow the comparison of 2 archives without extracting contents and using another external program? Thats the issue Im having is finding something like that.

 

Yes, you just have to mount the archives and use your favorite folder diff tool.

 

Does Macrium Free do full and incremental backups? How do you mount the archives? Im not seeing that mentioned on their site. How well does the Linux based boot CD work with Windows 7 x64? I hate BartPE discs with a passions.

 

Macrium Free only performs full backup, incremental & differential ones are for the paid version only.

The archives can be mounted from either the GUI or by double clicking on any image file, you unmount them either by the GUI or right-clicking on virtual folder in Windows File Explorer.

Booting the recovery CD has less to do with the installed system than with the hardware. I have the paid version and only use the WinPE CD, which works very well.

The only gripe I have with Reflect is that it doesn't natively handle the creation of a bootable USB key.

The paid version is really great and I really recommend it.

 

Macrium must not be the fastest one

I think Acronis is faster than it. Or Drive Snapshot...etc

 

I cannot compare with Acronis I stopped using back in 2000, too many unresolved issues and huge upgrade fees.

DS and Macrium both use a checksum mechanism to speed up incremental/diff backups. On every PC where I used both, speeds were really comparable, Macrium being easier to use and having a real recovery media, among other benefits. DS has a unique feature, the ability to exclude files (folder, masks) from the image, which is very handy in some situations. Oh, BTW, snapshot works from the Macrium Recovery Media Environment (Win PE2), so I can use both...

 

FDISR no longer available. Sadly.

whitedragon..do a search...
IFW, BING, macrium, Terabyte, BootitNG etc, Shadowprotect...
Thousands of posts herein.

Many detailed discussion across many aspects of HD imaging+restore and pros and cons of the different tools.

Current forum faves: Macrium, IFW/Terabyte, Shadowprotect.

 

If you do not need the "Universal Restore" function of Acronis and you are using Seagate or Western Digital's hard disk, you can download a free OEM version of Acronis TrueImage from their website(the name in their websites may not call Acronis TrueImage, e.g. Seagate calls DiscWizard).

The latest version of Acronis has a high compression level and fast speed in my PC compare to Macrium(Free edition). The compression level and speed of DS near to Acronis on my PC configs.

 

I use acronis, it's pretty good. I don't really have experience using any other imaging service. The work It department use norton ghost, and I heard good things about clonezilla.

 

I just saw there is a new player : Easeus, well known for its recovery & partitioning software. They propose a free ToDoBackup V2 (still beta) that offers full & incremental imaging. Worth trying maybe ?

 

With incremental imaging easus todo backup will be a very good option...right now m using macrium and m very satisfied with it...linux boot cd has worked for me on 7 x64 .. and creating a backup image completes fast...and its the easiest one to use

 

Just tried the Easeus TodoBackup Linux Boot CD : won't load on my PC ! I'll wait for the WinPE version...

 

is Todobackup any good?
whats its speed like?

 

Hi, there is a bartpe plugin http://www.todo-backup.com/download/todobackup.cab
hope this helps

 

Seagate, Maxtor and Western Digital have cutdown (read: less bloat) versions of Acronis True Image v.11 called by different names such as DiscWizard for Seagate's program. You can make a linux based restore disk with these programs that will not only restore an image but also write an image from the restore CD before Windows loads ("cold imaging"). I found that the linux configuration used by these program's restore CD works well with most motherboards. These programs will also make images within Windows using VSS plus they are free with the only proviso that you have their brand hard drive either in your computer or their brand hard drive in an external case plugged into your computer. It's a win-win imho.

SourMilk out

 

No tried yet, sorry, but I got the beta version with the WinPE recovery disk and I really intend to try it thoroughly, hopefully this WE...

 

ah ok.
I might try out Macrium soon.
I tried to do that invite 3 people to install the demo of Oopsbackup but they not sent me a key or even replied to emails so I may just uninstall oops as I cant afford anything atm have to use free tools.

 

I am not sure if this still works but came across this supplied by Seagate Technical support.

http://forums.seagate.com/t5/DiscWi...o-back-up-non-Seagate-internal-hard/m-p/25406

Edit: It looks like DiskWizard is no longer available. Clicking the link sends you to a login page.

 

As an user of Acronis since 2002, I never had any troubles with it. I am now using 2011 home version. Speed is not really important for me since my PC's are on 24 hours and backups are scheduled to start at 1 AM. But recently, let's say in the last three months, Acronis failed to restore an image stating "failed to load image"...so f....it. I tested bunch of other softwares. What I'm looking for is an image backup software (full OS backup), not only files and folders. So I tested Macrium, Paragon, Norton Ghost v15, Easeus, Keriver etc. I stopped my choice on Norton Ghost v 15 and Macrium. On top of that, I'm using Eaz-fix. So at 12:30 AM, PC is rebooting and creates a snapshot with Eaz-fix, at 1 AM, Ghost is doing an incremental on an external hard drive and at 3 AM, Macrium is doing a full on another drive. I'm using disc management in Macrium to keep 6 full backup (the most recent). Plenty of options in Macrium, I strongly suggest this one.

 

@ Whitedragon

I just done 42gig image with ShadowProtect 4.0 and it took 15 minutes. It has never failed me in the last 4 years I've been using it.

 

1. Do they have a free version. I have three laptops and desktop, that just belongs to me. Not to family, wife, children.....

2. To pay $90 per computer is very steep for me. Keeping in mind that physically, I use one of these four computers at a time. So, would be allowed to use them on all my four computers....

Best regards,

KOR!

 

I have been using Image for Windows/Image for DOS/Image for Linux for some time, and they has never failed me. The licensing says for "non-business-use" you may use one license on up to two additional PC's (3 PC's total).

I usually make my System Partition Images with Image for Windows and Restore the System Partition Images with either Image for DOS or Image for Linux bootable CD's. If you Image to DVD(s) the first DVD is bootable, making it very easy to do a Restore.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-windows.htm

 

Thank you for the information.

I have bought a new HD for one of my laptops, and from this laptop I will put the HD to another laptop and then to the third laptop. Basically, changing the HD for three laptops.

I guess I will be needing to clone these HDs. What is the best thing to handle such things?

Best regards,

KOR!