Macrium Reflect or Shadow Protect Win 8

Since you work for them, maybe you can explain the draconian activation policies. Seriously, it's a huge turnoff and has made me say "never again."

 

I second the activation nightmare experience...

 

You are joking, aren't you. The biggest difference is the COST.

Shadow Protect v5: 3 x 3 Home User Bundle = 3 x $210 = $630 for 9 machines.

Macrium Reflect PRO v5 : Household 4 Pack = $120, allows to be installed on 8 machines.

A family of four, husband, wife and two children, usually own 8 computers, each one has two machines.

Wake up and smell the roses.

Either Shadow Protect is six times better than Macrium Reflect or the employees of Shadow Protect are paid six times more than the employees of Macrium Reflect.

OR, simply Shadow Protect is a very, very greedy company!

Best regards,

 

And, Macruim Reflect has a FREE version with almost most of the features, including WinPE.

Does Shadow Protect has a FREE version?

Best regards,

 

No FREE version

 

lol, how true. And, it costs an arm and a leg too!

Best regards,

 

Their main customers are commerical customers, not home customers

As there are many free imaging software, users can choose the free one if it can meet users' requirements.

Active@ Disk Image Lite and AOMEI Data Backuper are quite good free imaging software.

 

Dearest Andylau,

I own almost all imaging programs besides Shadow Protect. My two favorites ones are Image For Windows (IFW) and Macrium Reflect PRO PRO v5 : Household 4 Pack. I purchased the Macrium Reflect PRO v4, and the company was very kind enough to give a FREE upgrade to v5, past the upgrade period.

Seems like we ran off stevesnyder.

Best regards,

 

Wow... the families where I live sure have a different computer base than you guys

Are these working children and are you referring to each having a work and home machine? If it's just home, I guess I don't know what the 2nd machines are for... curious.

 

lol. No working children. The house if full of desktops, laptops, tablets, phones and so forth. See my signature for Nexus 10, Nexus 7, Samsung Note II and Samsung S3. Retirements has its own virtues and vices. In Oman we have to buy these devices, not like the good ole' USA where they are given free by MaBell.

Best regards,

 

aladdin,

Generally, I will try first before I buy.
I just threw Image For Windows away
Macrium Reflect in WinPE seems will create a log file on C:\, isn't it?

I am now testing Active@ Disk Image Lite and AOMEI Data Backuper. The first impression is quite good.

 

Dear Andylau,

I am not sure what you mean about Macrium Reflect log file? Can you tell me more about it?

Just checking out AOMEI Data Backuper.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

When running Macrium Reflect on WinPE, it will create a log file on C:\rescuepe.log (Macrium Reflect Boot Log)

I do not know why it needs to create this file on C:\

You have used Active@ Disk Image before?

 

I have used ShadowProtect for a long time on two computers, version 3.52 and version 4.01. I only do cold images as I'm not interested in incrementals. It has always worked (about 200 restores). I sometimes use it as rollback software as it is pretty fast. SP is great, but too expensive.

I don't know anything about Macrium but its reputation at Wilders is excellent therefore I agree with the general consensus that SP is too expensive for home users and activations are a great pain in the back (I have abandoned Rollback Rx because of their silly activations policies).

 

Osaban,

If you do not need incrementals, there are many free imaging software can do full backup/image. You need not to waste money on ShadowProtect.

 

I have been using Shadowprotect for several years and currently am trying Macrium Reflect Pro and it is winning. At least with Macium Reflect, we can decide how much we backup from 1 file to a full backup. With Shadowprotect, it's full or incremental and that's it plus being bothered with the activation issues and the price.

 

Macrium Reflect creates a log file in "My Documents" folder while doing HOT imaging. This can be created anywhere, but the default is "My Documents". This is for support to analyses problems if one contacts the support and for the need be.

In COLD imaging and restore, Windows messes up the drive order, therefore in my opinion, it makes sense to keep the log file in the root directory of the OS system.

As far as Active@ DiskImage is concerned, it requires the BootDisk.Key in the root of restore CD/DVD/ISO/Drive to check for legality of the software, which is a pain. Image For Windows, Macrium Reflect and other do have this, but in their respective directories and not in the root.

Best regards,

 

I do not like it create a log file on C:\

As for Active@ DiskImage, it can store both user name and key on SETTINGS.INI which is on the same path of its program.
I run it as a portable software.

 

Quite true, but when I first bought SP I wasn't sure how I was going to use it, all I was concerned with was to get a reliable product (that was back in 2007). It is good though to have the incremental functionality on demand if I ever need it, although I have made up my mind and I will never buy another SP license unless the price is reasonable.

 

Excuses schmexcuses.. When crunch time comes I don't want the hassle of online licensing and validations. Having heard this about Shadow Protect is enough to make me steer clear.

 

I think I am not sure if we are talking about the same thing. I was referring to the WinPE component and I believe you are referring to the program itself.

Best regards,

 

aladdin,

I have tried to delete the BootDisk.Key in the root. Then, I put SETTINGS.ini to ActiveBootDisk.ISO\SOURCES\BOOT.WIM\Program Files\BOOTDISK\. It is still worked.

Of course, if you want to do this, you need to edit boot.wim by yourself.
SETTINGS.ini is on C:\Program Files\LSoft Technologies\Active@ Disk Image, you can edit this file to change to your own user name and key.

I know why Active@ put the BootDisk.Key in the root, because as it with a pre-built WinPE it is the fastest way to generate a new ISO file/write to CD/DVD/USB without editing boot.wim.

 

Thank you for the tweak. The above proves that if Active@ doesn't itself take time to generate a proper ISO like all the imaging companies, then it is not ready for Prime Time.

The above and other problems while building the proper ISO, turned me away from Active@

Best regards,

 

This is very good point. Shadowprotect cannot do file and folder backups, it strictly a disk imaging software. Macrium on the other hand can do file and folder backups. For example, I like to backup my documents, my pictures and my videos folders on a monthly bases. I will not be able to do that with Shadowprotect. So this functionality, which is important in a home environment, has to be taken into account while comparing price vs benefits of both.

 

As what I have said Active@ DiskImage is a portable software, you can simply put it into any boot.wim(WinPE) or put it outside WinPE(boot.wim).
I have a custom WinPE, therefore I do not create seperate WinPE for each software. Also, I do not mind if it can create WinPE or not.
I think Active@ DiskImage is better than Image for Windows, and it has a free version provided but no WinPE creation functionality. Its speed is closed to Acronis.
Also, I think it is more user-friendly than Macrium Reflect.
If Active@ DiskImage can have full command line parameters support will be better.

Maybe you can give advices for Active@ to create a WinPE likes other companies if you like.