Storagecraft Shadowprotect Desktop, any good?

macrium is not only a free product many people such as myself PAY FOR IT to get the extra features which while it takes a bit more work to do some of them it can do pretty much anything sp can minus the image manager but i was told they are looking into this for a future release but it will NOT be in the free version just as incrementals and scheduling are not in the free one.

 

same thing can be done with macrium peter with a vbscript and the response i got from macrium is this should be added to a future release of macrium to work like that.

 

andyman35,

ShadowProtect Desktop Edition has a forum. That is a good way to get a feeling for the product.

http://forum.storagecraft.com/Community/forums/8.aspx

 

That's a nice functionality for power users yes and would justify the outlay for them.

 

I shall have a look at that thanks.

The reason I'm curious is that I got a free licence for SPD a few weeks ago,but haven't used it since I'm cautious of switching from Macrium which has worked flawlessly for me.

 

with vbscript you can take them literally anytime you want and as often as you want to. at this time as i said they dont have the image manager but like i said they told me they are planning on this in a upcoming release. so other than the folding down right now it can do the same thing. vbscript allows full control over literally any schedule you want to run. on my system incrementals take maybe 10-15 seconds.

 

I just bought one of those h/drive enclosures bundled with a 750 GB drive, and I can't see the eSata connection from the recovery disk environment. It's fine in Windows and Linux. Does anyone know if this is an issue with SP RE?

 

IMHO, unless you really dig the extra functions, do not switch any software of such cruciality which has "worked flawlessly" - even for SP which has great reputation

 

Exactly my thinking.I've used Macrium hundreds of times without any issues so I'm perfectly happy with it of course.SPD does appear to be a great product but I can't really see an over-riding reason for me to switch at present.

 

agreed i have used macrium more times than i even remember and not once had a bad restore... it just simply works. i actually bought a 4pack lic today for my family members to use

 

an interesting comparision

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives...-features-and-backuprestore-speed-comparison/

 

Yes ! SP is be far the fastest both backup/recovery as that is no secret here on wilders.

 

that i agree on it is the fastest i ever used. macrium is a bit slower not by to much but sp is def the fastest out imo

 

Must say that I'm in total agreement with this observation.

About to set-up a new Win 7 system and have been trying to decide on a BU product. Had pretty well settled on SPDT until I tried downloading their user manual -- although labeled for SPDT, it was the manual for their SP Server Edition and wasn't useful to my evaluation. This discrepancy had been brought to their attention over 7 months ago by a poster on their Forum yet SC had made no correction -- not even a response or explanation. My query to their Forum about the issue proved fruitless

SC may well be focused on serving the business community, but it isn't good business for SC to market a product [especially at this price] and not provide a level of support that reflects their respect for their own product and for the customer for whom it is intended -- why in the world would they put up a User Guide that is incorrect and leave it there?? All you do is undermine your credibility with the market segment to whom you wish to sell.

Considering my 'home use in retirement' level of need [which is to be able to recover from a major catastrophe -- I've had one and it wasn't any fun] and after reading many of the relevant entries on Wilders, I've pretty well decided that I'm not willing to take the chance that SPDT support will match the indifference to the SPDT product that they display on their website -- especially for their $80 product +$16 maintenance pricing.

This thread has been most helpful -- appreciate the many insights and experience reported by other users with products that compete with SPDT.

Bob

 

for me SP was a bad experience, its doesnt bot (always) my pc after i restore using it , so i dump it.

i may recommended on drive snap shot (version 1.4). 100% restore , fast backup , i use it more time than i can remember always was there for me

 

too bad that but as SP is more oriented to corporate clients their solution MUST be reliable and polished and fast because there is big money involved so to speak.
We as home users can be thankfull for that as they supply us with the desktop SP which is basically the same a their corporate solutions.

What they tell you on their forums about your experience ?

 

i don't care what they have to say , i know what i am doing so its not my personal problem , i just switch to drive snap shot and all is ok for many restores i made

 

I see you can buy a "Three Pack" license of Shadow Protect.

It's called the "Home User Bundle" for $189.

http://store.storagecraft.com/acb/s...op-Edition-32---Home-User-Bundle---P89C8.aspx

It was a decent discount to get that 3 pack.

 

It is good to know it exists. This was my original criticism: I spent more than 190 $ for 2 licenses buying them one after the other, and it is more then the offer for 3 in in one single purchase. As a home user I think I should be entitled to have a third license for free. Their offer for the 'Home User Bundle' is not advertised on the same page of the single offer (which obviously will be missed by a lot of people).

This doesn't imply any wrong doing from an excellent company producing IMO a great product.

 

I agree that their products are not easy to search for, even on their own website.

I found it hard to navigate and even though I have some products bookmarked, I still seem tohave a hard time getting to them to make a link or check the price again.

Seems like they are shooting themselves in the foot by not showing that Bundle along with the Single License version.

 

i have given up on sp. i have now just had it with the lic system. its just that much of a pain in the neck. i have a system that the mb failed on. i had to replace and because this was a vista system i said while im at it ill update it to win7. went to install sp and got the lic message. i have now emailed them to try to get this fixed but man this is just a royal pain in the neck to say the least. i have now switched all systems over to macrium and im not looking back. sad for me to say since sp and macrium were always my go to progams and the ones i highly recc to anyone with sp being my first pick tbh. but this is not the first time to have these issues and im sure would not be the last. dont mean to rant but i just had it this time.

 

I have shadowprotect on my laptop and macrium on an upstairs computer ,and both perform well but i prefer shadowprotect.However i too have forgotten to "delicense" shadowprotect when installing a new OS and have had to contact support.Infairness they have responded quickly but i too dislike the license activation.That is one of the reasons im tempted to try image for windows which apparently can be used on 3 home workstations ,and doesnt need the online activation and is currently on offer at bits du jour.Any one know how image for windows compares with macrium and sp?
ellison

 

sad , i did not know it

really ?
i bought sp 3.5.1
i did not know it
i had always used true image 9 and it has not problem to restore a large partition to a smaller

but is there a tip to do it with sp 3.5.1?