Storagecraft Shadowprotect Desktop, any good?

So far I've trialled Paragon Drive Back up 10 Pro, and O&O Disk Image 5 Pro

Paragon Drive Back didn't last 5 minutes, the interface is just soooo Windows XP and makes me want to vomit . Now that may be a silly reason to some of you but in my opinion it's really slack and lazy to update and market products for Windows 7, using an interface that resembles a 10 year old Operating System. It also failed to initialise my DVDRW to make the bootable CD so I could not test full bare metal back up\restore functionality. Now this may be because of the fact no one seems to let us trial this fundamental feature because of license issues with Microsoft (well thats what O&O say!). Anyway off went Paragon, and on went O&O Disk Image 5 Pro which I asked about in a previous post.

Initial impression of the interface were great, but after hearing in here how slow it is, I think I'll walk away.

Now I've just created a full back up with the Storagecraft Shadowprotect v3.5.1 edition. Man, they still stuck with a Windows XP style interface, but at least it's not as bad as Paragons. The back up created fast and I liked the way the information was presented. Same old though; can't test full back up restore functionality.

So what are peoples thoughts on Shadow Protect, any good?

I understand there is a version 4 coming soon though? I wouldn't want to purchase 3.5 only to be denied an upgrade to a newer version.

Shadowprotect is also by far the most expensive of the three I mention, and thats only for one license

 

there is more to sw than the GUI. Shadow protect is is the best of the bunch for me.

I have lics for each of these and tend to use SP or paragon the most. Drive snapshot is an amazing program but I tend to use it for data rather than os

1. SP
2. Paragon
3. Acronis
4. Drive snapshot

 

heskey,

Shouldn't reliability be the major factor in choosing a backup software? A backup software should be able to reliably take an image and then reliably restore that image in case of disaster. Looks are only skin deep.

 

I agree with Raza, an imaging program is just a tool and most people don't use it everyday, the design of the GUI is really not the main issue. ShadowProtect Desktop is excellent for two reasons the way I use it: reliability and speed. If restoring your first image works on your system, you can rest assured it will ALWAYS work, 8 compressed GB restored in 7 minutes (fast laptop running Vista), 5 compressed GB restored in 4.5 minutes (netbook running XP).

I can only compare this performance with Acronis TI 9 which is also reliable but terribly slow.

 

If I remember correctly you can contact SP support for a key to test the full working product.
I bought it a couple of years ago after trying some of the others and have never regretted it.

 

my choices are sp and macrium reflect at this point. if you have not checked out macrium its def worth a try. both are EXCELLENT THOUGH

 

One thing about shadowprotect is that it can't restore a larger partition to a smaller partition. To me that is a very big problem. Macrium reflect also cannot restore a larger partition into a smaller partition.

As far as speed shadowprotect,macrium reflect,true image are the fastest.

For me true image is the best, if you can get it to work on your computer. As long as you only do the basic image backup it will work great. Once you start doing incrementals, try and decide (bloated features) you might run into problems. The linux bootcd has always worked for me (not one problem in all the computers I used it on) , also the latest version has a modern GUI. It also has no problem restoring a larger partition into a smaller partition and has proven to be 100 percent reliable for me (no corrupt backups).

If shadowprotect could restore a larger partition onto a smaller partition, I would rate it higher than true image because of it's reputation of working better on more computers. I would force myself to overlook it's outdated GUI.

 

I 2nd this, just trialed most of the suits and found SP to be the best, but for the money Macrium Reflect is very close, and you can get a 4 user license for the price of a single SP licence ~$80us

(I used acronis for about 8 years buying every new upgrade but the new one doesn't work with win7 for everyone yet)

 

I vote for SP as well, def the best of the bunch.

 

I, as do many others here, prefer SPD but, frankly, it is expensive, at least the initial purchase price is higher than competing products. One way to mitigate that, however, is to choose the "maintenance option" for an extra $16. Pretty good deal as that includes ALL updates/upgrades/new versions - whatever- for a one-year period and it can be renewed for subsequent years (which takes a lot of the sting off that initial purchase price).

 

but when you need it for multiple systems they are way more expensive than other products are for say 4 systems or more. if they had a better package deal or were a bit lower to start with i would be running it on all my systems without looking at anything else. just like the 16$ fee, that imo should atleast be included for the first year then added on the following year after that. i mean they make you buy it plus the mat thing at the same time so 96 per system. they do have a 3 user pack but its still way more than other products are.

 

I completely agree with you, after buying a second license from SP, I realized that for a third one in the future something like Image for Windows might be my choice, as it is moderately priced and has an excellent reputation. I find more and more irritating Storagecraft's indifference towards the private user, particularly at a time when backing up images is becoming quite popular.

 

i would be happy to pay for a product but they are priced at almost double that of anyone else. or more than double

 

Pete, I have spent a small fortune on applications that I don't use anymore. The only consolation is that the money might have helped the livelihood of the right people who have chosen this field. I tend to buy programs even when they have free versions, and I don't expect from Storagecraft to give me anything free.

On the other hand I have 1 license for ShadowUser (69 $), 2 licenses for ShadowProtect (180 $), and I don't run a business. I think they are underestimating the private market, as a result my next purchase is going to be another product (from memory Brian K said that Image for Windows can be used up to 3 computers for private use).

I think a discount for good customers wouldn't break the bank.

 

even macrium for 79.98 can be used on 4 pc's

 

Many good and valid points (if it works for you and you are happy with the product thats great) but sometimes you do get what you pay for. In the case of SP I feel this is the case.

And while we are complaining why not mention PhotoShop, or Illustrator, or VMWare, or,,,,,,, there are free and inexpensive products out there that more or less do the same thing. If the less expensive products did the same job no one would buy the expensive products. The fact that there is a viable business/market for the more expensive products must say something about them.

 

bgood dont get me wrong i LOVE SP and would be more than happy with it on every system i own i just cant afford to. if money is no object here i would of course recc shadow protect. tbh i wish i had the money to buy the amount of lic's i need. for me it has been the best i have used. and i also agree about the others mentioned. i think many of those are way overpriced for home use. i personally think companies should have both types of lic's for home and business at their respective prices

 

then offer a home user maybe online only help such as macrium does on their forums. they have no phone support. a company could save a lot of money i think to the end user by limiting the home user support to the forums or email. and maybe only use phone support is absolutely needed. dont know just the way i feel

 

In many cases this does occur, for example PhotoShop Elements or the different versions of Paragon and Macrium. But each co has to decide how they want to conduct their business, and they have the right to do so. If someone cannot afford PS or PSE then they can use The Gimp or some other freeware product. Its really good that folks have a choice.

 

I'm genuinely interested in what way is SP better than the competition to justify such a huge difference in price over similar products? Ok maybe they're doing the home user a favour by even selling to them but at the end of the day there needs to be some factor that makes it peerless for such a differential to be worthwhile.