Newbie needs the best Win bare metal back-up software...

Hi,

I put together a new Vista 64bit machine and before I make a move want to put a drive imaging program on there so that I can do roll-backs or restorations (including the OS and registry) after who knows what happens.

I'm just not comfortable with remote data storage. I just like to have my data at my fingertips.

This is a hard topic to research, but from what I've found, I don't think Acronis is the way to go. I seem to be leaning towards Drive Clone Pro 6 , then ShadowProtect,then Genie Backup Manager.

Can anyone give me some direction and thoughts? I'm ready to buy, but want to make the right choice.

Thanks guys!

 

Shadow protect desktop would probaly be best for you then.
for data backup i reccomend karen's replicator.

 

try the free macrium reflect, it is 64bit capable. I was using true image but have moved over to macrium reflect and it has been reliable for me with several restorations that I have done. It's just as fast as true image in backing up a hard drive.

I would try macrium reflect first before using the other software. The best (as per many users) is shadowprotect but it has a price to back it up.

I don't think there is really a "best" imaging software. They all have strong or weak points. All the software that I tried where able to restore my hard drive (no failures). Some where faster than others.

 

Drive Snapshot or Image for windows.

 

Genie backup manager is't an imaging program AFAIK.

 

Out of those two the op should get image for windows.
only due to the fact you need to create your own recovery disc for drive snapshot

 

I suggest u take Drive snapshot because any windows based recovery cd can work with DS , because its portable.

 

Paragon Drive Backup Pro

Excellent program, excellent support!

 

IMO trying out Acronis isn't a bad idea. For some it works, for some it don't. Just try it out yourself.
And I only tried out and currently use ShadowProtect out of the three products you have mentioned. It's fast, reliable and has a recovery CD. Only downside is that it's expensive. Just try out the trial and don't forget requesting a CD. I am confident you will love it.

 

I have 4 licenses for ATI. Got a good deal a few years back. I use it on my laptops and fun computers. Nothing that needs uber reliability. For my work box I use ShadowProtect. IMO, it's worth the price. But I would try a free app first like jonyjoe81 suggested. You've got nothing to loose except your data. hehe. No seriously, if you want a reliable, indestructible imaging app, give SP 3 a trial. You've got 30days to mess w/ it. During that time you can try more than one app. Especially if you have two machines.

I also have a license for Genie BackUp Manager 8. I no longer use it. It fell out of favor when I discovered SyncBack SE. I've got one profile set up to "Mirror" My Documents to a separate HDD, and another profile set to Back-Up my online stuff like FF bookmarks, profile, scrapbook snapshots. Basically, the junk I collect during the day. With both of these apps, support is excellent. Don't forget about support. There's nothing like it when you're in a jam.

hope I shed some light...


...screamer

 

Then again i wouldnt reccomend trialing acronis since it leaves quite alot of services and drives behind after uninstall.

I have had success with the following
image for windows
paragon drive backup
norton ghost 12
drive snapshot
shadow protect desktop

I can reccomend any of the above
I have had no success with the following:
acronis

 

well thats true but im happy with image for windows atm and as i said above there is quite programs i can reccomend.
I still have paragon as well.

thing is its probaly easier for the op to have a pre made recovery cd that can be burned using eiether a wizard that comes with the program or a simple burning app. no fiddling around with building windows recovery cd's

 

I find Image for windows slightly slower in speed than Drive snapshot, but has a slighly better compression ratio.Both of them individualy will cater to the needs of everyone(most probably).
I used the following with success:
Drive snapshot (portable and works fastest for me).
Image for windows(very good).
Shadow Protect(Bloated but reliable).

I had nightmare with acronis true image two years ago, donno how the latest version works.Is the newbie listening

 

And for data recovery I recommend TeraCopy. It even has a portable version.
Link: http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php
If there is one thing I like it has to be portable apps.

Here we also have FastCopy:
http://www.ipmsg.org/tools/fastcopy.html.en

Just heard of it and it's also portable.
I am going to do some benchmarks to see which one is the fastest.

 

AFAIK they'r just copy engines !?! Recovery is what mentioned in earlier posts. SP,Acronis,Paragon and such.

 

Yes, but the most people who image their drives but their data on a seperate HD or partition. These copy engines are really handy for those operations.

 

Yes but for these operations its better to get something like Syncback or Karens Replicator. They make incrementals to archives and are generally by way of principle much faster.

With Teracopy and the likes it can be done but then the whole bunch again get copied over,popup if you will overwrite the destination file but again its not a timesaver.

 

Bloated in what way?

 

Check out TeraByte Unlimited. Image for DOS and Image for Linux will both work on your system. Best of all... there is nothing to install.

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

 

Bloated when compared to Drive snapshot.Is Image for DOS portable and same as IFW?

 

Like I said, bloated in what way?

 

Image for Windows allows you to make backups from within Windows.

Image for DOS is run from a CD, nothing to install. You can't, however, make backups from within Windows. You have to boot from the CD in order to backup. Doesn't bother me, but some people don't like that.

 

The "boot file" is always included in the image that was created on Cd's/DVDs or external drive. Once the image has been made.... there's no need to use the CD again. By personal preference, I would rather boot from CD than install the entire program.

 

I might as well through in my opinion. I too use and recommend Drive Snapshot. I have used both DS and Terabyte products (Image for Windows, Image for Dos, and Image for Linux) but I kept coming back to DS. Why? Drive Snapshot is roughly 250kb. It is a single executable file, meaning that it is portable. I am able to create an image of my active partition and verify it in five minutes total, it takes nearly eighteen minutes to do the same with IFW. With DS I am able to create images of all partitions of my system, with the exception of my 40 gig mp3 partition, (c:\, d:\ and h:\) and place them all on one single DVD. While it is true that IFW create bootable images natively, the resulting images with IFW are far too large to allow for this. I use Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, with a directory that contains the DS executable, and my three separate images. With that I have a bootable disc. It is true that it is more work then if the disc were created for me but having everything I need on a single bootable disc is important for me, not to mention the piece of mind it provides.

There is also, I believe, a vast difference, in how files from within the images can be looked at and/or extracted. DS uses Windows Explorer, mounting the images as a virtual drive then opening it. Terabyte does not do this. They use another program called TBI View. In this case the images are not mounted then opened, which results in longer opening and transfer times. I have had issues in the passed with .tbi files and the TBI View program.

I prefer Drive Snapshot.

 

I am almost completely ignorant on imaging software as well, so I have a newbie question to ask. I was going to use Macrium Reflect (free) and create the BartPE rescue disc for it but I got a warning during the rescue disc creation process that OEM installs can cause problems, or something to that effect. I only have the Dell Restore disc not a standalone XP install disc. I read several long drawn out methods to try to get around the problems in creating the rescue disc but finally gave up on the idea.

Is there an imaging app that has a rescue disc, etc. that can work in my situation?