I have True Image 2015 (just upgraded from 2011) but before I make a Clone drive to try to boot off of, I read some negative reviews. So I purchased NovaBACKUP 16.5 Professional (cause it was 50% off) for $24.97. I heard good things about it as well, but since then I believe Paragon and/or Macrium reflect v5 professional would be a better choice between the others. I have a computer I use for recording and have spent MONTHS setting up 100's of programs on my OS drive. I want a reliable program that WORKS where Macrium Reflect seems to not have any negative reviews that I can find. I also have about 4TB worth of data to archive. My plan is get about 4 - 3TB drives and use 2 to backup data and 2 to work off of. Also, my OS drive is about 500 gigs and I use about 350 gigs. I have a couple of SATA drives (WD 7200 RPM) that I want to Clone the OS drive with. Does Paragon offer superior cloning to the ones mentioned above? Also what about booting off of an external drive I used to Clone the OS drive with? Has anyone done this before with 100% success? What features does Paragon have that are a "Must Have" vs. the others? Also speed and reliably, flexibility etc. Can you boot off of a thumb drive or DVD only? And is Backup & recovery Home good enough or are there some great features one would want in hard Disk Manager 15 Professional. Any wisdom would be MOST appreciated! SEA
I have used Paragon for many years. I think the basic engine for creating and restoring images is very reliable, but I have found many rough spots in the 14/15 versions (15 is better), and there are problems with general information, support and documentation. The advantage of Paragon Hard Disk Manager is that it combines many tools, including a partition manager, in one program. Also, if you use virtualization, Paragon can be a good choice. I haven´t used Acronis in a long time.
I'm running Win 7 64bit. I also just picked up Macrium Reflect v5 Professional when it was on sale Cyber Monday. Still might consider Paragon Professional but it is $99 so.... SEA
Are you using: Backup & Recovery 15 Home or Hard Disk Manager 15 Professional The home is like $39 vs. the pro is like $99. Do you REALLY need the pro? Like what are you missing with it? Thanks!
I use mainly HDM Suite. I´m a basic user, this version satisfies my needs. After I had many problems with HDM 14, I´m using Paragon less frequently then before. HDM 15 is better and faster than HDM 14 (at least for me), although problems and bugs remain.
I don't believe that newer is always better. If all you want to do is image a Windows 7 partition, Macrium free 5.0.4522.0 (2012 release) or Paragon (free edition) Backup and Recovery 12 will absolutely do the job. I have used both to Image Windows 7 32 bit on partitioned and unpartitioned hard drives and both are also fully compatible with 64 bit W-7. Perhaps newer versions can do something better, but if you want simple and effective, either of the above will be all you really need.
I also want to make a few clone drives of my OS and then disconnect my OS drive and see if I can run my system off it with the Clones with no problem. THAT to me is the #1 reason I wanted these programs. With that in mind I have: 1. True Image 2015 2. Macrium Reflect v5 Professional 3. NovaBACKUP 16.5 Professional (it was on sale for like $24.95 so the they heck). LOL Currently I made an Image disk of my OS with Macrium. Now going to do the same with True Image 15. I then need to learn how to make a bootable DVD and I'll also pick up some Thumb drives as well. After that, I'll make 2 clone drives from my removable HD and then disconnect my OS drive and see if both True Image and Reflect work. Now that's the "acid test" on a clone... but how do you test and Image to see if it will actually work like... it seems to me you'd have to ACTUALLY wait for your OS NOT to boot to try it out. SEAS
Paragon "12" programs aren´t compatible with Windows 8.1. [Issue] Windows 8.1 not bootable after restoring or copying with HDM 12
Windows 8.1 has nothing to do with the OP. Post 6 of this thread; "I'm running Win 7 64bit" Not everyone uses or wants W-8/8.1
Not sure what you mean. When I started cloning my drives (similar to imaging, now I image). I wondered how to tell if the resultant OS was the image or the original. So to tell them apart after imaging I added a txt file to my soon to be overwritten OS "Original OS.txt". If it was missing & OS worked I knew.
I don't test each backup I make (I do daily incremental backups) but they are all verified. Few times I had to restore an image all went well. I use Macrium Reflect Standard.
