Which disk imaging program?

After much research, I think disk imaging is the way I want to go with my back up strategy. I considered a disk imaging plus instant recovery type set up as beinbg trhe gold standard, but probably only need a disk imaging program.

I am a newbie to Disk Imaging and a newbie to Windows Vista. My new PC is AMD Athlon 64X2, Dual Core Processor 4000+, 2G memory, 250 G hard drive.
My OS is Windows Vista Home Premium.

I want a reliable (most important), easy to use(very important), relatively fast (not that important) disk imaging solution. I would like to be able to save images directly to DVD (making somewhat of a bootbale DVD in case of disaster). I don't want the program to bog down my PC (very important). It would be neat to be able to boot the image to a different PC if needed, but not a requirement.

I have read a little bit about:

1. Paragon Drive Backup 8.5
2. ATI 10
3. Shadow Protect

Which would you suggest and why? On amazon, ATI has gotten a lot of great reviews but also a lot of negative reviews. The latter scares me. It seems like people either love it or hate it.

 

Hello besafe,
imho its got to be eiether paragon or shadow protect desktop.
shadow protect desktop version 3 is out in a few weeks.
so I would surgest trialing both and then make a verdict.
both uninstall cleanly if you dont like them.
both paragon and shadow protect desktop are both lean mean and very reliable.
paragon supports burning the images to dvd.
ATI 10 is bloated IMO.
you dont need it to backup indivitial application settings.
lodore

 

Well from my experience using ATI 10 on 3 different systems i can highly recommend it. However theres some people who have had a horrible time using it.
I haven't tried paragon drive backup but i do have paragon hard disk manager which not only allows me to image my system but do a whole lot more with the hard drive. I've used this on a couple of systems and i can highly recommend it.
The best thing to do is trial each one to see which best suits you and your system.

 

Hello,
I'm using ATI and have never had any problems with it.
It works great, it's fast and reliable.
Mrk

 

ATI works great for me but I dont backup to DVD. As has been said, its best to trial the applications yourself.

 

Read several posts in ATI's support forum

Then

Read several posts in IFD/IFW's support forum

Then...

Decide which group you would rather join.

 

Yes trialing is the way,don,t depend too much on what others recommend.though here at wilders most softwares are thoroughly tested so it can guide you in the right direction.

 

A timely thread as I too am looking for a backup solution, my shortlist at the moment is:
Paragon.
TeraByte.
Acronis.

 

Watch out for Image Backup softwares with activation, avoid them as long it is possible.

 

Yes, that is the sole reason my shortlist does not contain SP, as I do not consider it wise for me to consider this program at this time, however I should say that this is due to specific circumstances, and were those circumstances different I don't think I would have omitted it. Whilst certain activation practices are, at best a pain, knowing of their quirks in advance can allow you to accomodate them I think. But of course that would probably put even more emphasis on good customer service so issues could be resolved promptly.

 

So I asked my buddy who is an IT person at the Library of Congress for his thoughts. He was more inlcined to go with Paragon because:

1. He had heard of them before
2. They also target corporate sales, so they are definitely more than one person operating out of their house
3. He liked the features (though he liked the features of all of them).

However, he suggested getting the Hard Disk Manager (HDM) version to manage the partitions as well. I noted that the 2 products are the same price. You obviously gain partition management functionality with HDM. Do you lose any functionality with the Hard Disk Manager version?

 

The personal editions of
Drive Backup 8.5 is $49.95
Hard Disk Manager 8.5 is $79.95 so you pay $30 to gain the partition functionality.
http://www.paragon-software.com/home.htm

 

Not sure if you have seen this thread, started by bellgamin a while ago
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=139716
Lots of interesting reading on image backup.

 

The Terabyte program looks good. My concern with Terabyte is company size. They look a little mom an popish from the website. Do you have any idea how many employees? Usually support is really good from tiny companies...but you worry if they will be here today and gone tomorrow.

So you like their product?

 

Know what you mean, no idea about employee numbers, I suspect it is a small outfit though as you can see here this company has been around for 15 years, so it would appear to have stood the test of time.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/company.html

 

According my readings Terabyte has an excellent reputation. Unfortunately, it's less userfriendly than more recent Image Backup softwares, like Paragon, Acronis, StorageCraft, ...
I tried it as my very first Image Backup software and couldn't figure it out by myself.
If you get a quick explanation from an experienced user, you won't have a problem.

 

Yes I'm reading a rather lengthy thread that has a lot of Terabyte stuff, posted above, definitely does not sound userfriendly.

One question for you, did you ever get round to trying Paragon, you mentioned in that thread, I think, that you were considering it. If so what was your thoughts?

 

Paragon has overloaded screens. Paragon wants to display too many things on one screen and that makes it more confusing than clear for a beginner.
Of course once you know the meaning and purpose of everything, it can be an advantage for an experienced user.
That was my first impression when I saw Paragon the first time.

Terabyte is more an unorganized collection of different programs, there is no real menu system and it's a bit hard to find out what you need for doing what.
Terabyte doesn't explain itself and is in my opinion a typical programmer's product without any consideration for average users.

 

Thanx Erik, as always I appreciate your thoughts / experiences. Will probably give the IFW/IFD a try first as although it seems rather user unfriendly it does seem very reliable and support seems prompt also.

 

I am not an advanced user. I think I am one step above novice.

I use BING (BootIt Next Generation) from Terabyte as an image tool and as a partition tool. When I first read the manual it scared me But it was not hard to understand. Just try. I downloaded the tutorial videos from heffy.com and watched them before I started imaging.

You find videos for BING, IFD and IFW:

http://www.bootitng.com/support.html

http://www.heffy.com/image.htm

I think Terabyte support is good (but I only contacted them once)

@ ERIK - You have more computer knowledge than me, so you should not find Terabyte tools hard to use

 

I used Acronis True Image and later ShadowProtect without reading or watching anything. That's the difference with Terabyte.

 

i didnt read the manual for acronis,shadow protect desktop or paragon.
all very logical.
lodore

 

Personally, I like IFD (Terabyte's Image for DOS).
Spartan functionality.
Relatively bulletproof.
Substance over style.

 

Been using PARAGON excellent materials for years now after experiencing total meltdown failures with other so-called popular imaging programs. Never looked backed.

Am 100% satisfied with Paragon then, and still even now. In fact they have got better! I don't feel just because another imaging program might save some minutes that it's any real advantage and as far as i been reading that's one of the main selling points made by trial users of ShadowProtect. I was encouraged early on to MAYBE taking it on and having "2" image duplicators but since StorageCraft seems to be making some rough waves in the wrong direction with members here i'm convinced my money is better spent sticking with PARAGON.

Besides, i found ShadowSurfer/User not up to basic expectations compared to Power Shadow (More Stable/Reliable) which rapidly overtook them.

StorageCraft IMO had better get off the pot and ALSO accommadate Home interests too as a Target Market and in a manner expected when it comes to support & satisfaction or else they stand a chance of losing that potential profit for good, as well as planning on footing some attractive bills for their sales staff trips reaching for "only" Corporate customers who may just prove to be in limited supply for just that single new program they wanna offer.