Macrium Reflect. I used and liked ShadowProtect too. MR is just what I'm using now, and no reason to change. Simple, very good featured free version. And I like the boot option in the Standard version.
Macrium Reflect, and proudly at that! I used Ghost for years pre-Symantec and even some after Symantec took them over. Until, that is, PowerQuest's Drive Image program was released. But it didn't take long for Symantec to get their fingers into THAT pie. I used post-Symantec Drive Image (now Ghost) for a long time before finally deciding I was tired of the constant errors and wanted all things Symantec GONE. I had been keeping an eye on Acronis True Image for quite some time and finally decided to jump in. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!! I have never seen so many bugs and issues in a program as I saw in ATIH 2011. This post could go on for days if I were to go on about them, so I'll just leave it at that. I decided to start looking in earnest for a replacement. I was determined not to make the wrong decision again. I was finally able to get ATIH running backup images ok, so long as I didn't try to change any settings, and this gave me about a year to read about and test other solutions. And I spent a LOT of time doing so. The home stretch, after testing and reading manuals and reviews for 10-15 products, included a top three of ShadowProtect, Paragon and Macrium Reflect. Though I truly wanted to like Paragon's product, it had a buggy interface and there were a few issues which raised a red flag. I did NOT want to go through my Acronis fiasco again, so I knocked them off the top three. I REALLY wanted to like ShadowProtect, but they don't support very many file systems and I don't really like how they monitor in real time to determine changes to the system. So, that left Macrium Reflect. I had bypassed Reflect as a possible solution for years becuase of their lack of a full-featured manual. How could I decide if their product was right for me if I couldn't read a 300 page manual? And a 30 day trial was not near enough time to figure out if they were worthy of my hard-earned dollars. And to boot, the free version was not robust enough for my needs. So I contacted them. Perhaps 20 polite and responsive emails later, with all my questions answered, I made my decision. I waited for a deal, and when one finally came up I jumped in. It's been about two months now and their forums receive a handful of posts per day, mostly from people who are unable to figure out how to use the software. They answer the questions quickly, patiently and thoroughly. This is a far cry from the forums at Acronis, laden with people complaining about bugs and horrible incidents due to some kind of a progression Acronis has made toward the abysmal depths. There have been about three instances, to include one from me, of reports to Macrium about small bugs which I've seen. Though truly only minor annoyances, Macrium jumped on top of these problems and fixed them immediately. I remember reading a post in their forums from the CEO indicating something to the effect that while some of these issues may be small, a bug in software code is a bug and is not acceptable. Though its smaller size (?) arguably may make it easier for Macrium to offer a stellar product with stellar service, I tend to believe as they grow to even greater heights they will continue in this tradition. It's only been two or so months for me, but I haven't regretted my decision for even one second. I started regretting my decision to purchase Acronis' software the very day I installed it. EDIT: Forgot a few key pionts... Macrium Reflect comes in native 64-bit flavor (not just compatible) as well as a 32-bit (separate installer) version. Macrium's KB articles, though they've been a bit hard for me to search, are AMAZING. So many great explanations. They even have blog posts through which their employees share incredibly useful and interesting information. Reflect uses Windows Scheduler. So users can use a tried and true, as well as extremely robust scheduler with all the bells and whistles without having to run a separate scheduing process. The option to create VBScript files from backup definition files provides the user with an endless array of options. It only requires a few simple changes to a script file to create some extremely personalized solutions. Want to run a SINGLE VBScript to decide whether to create a system of full, differential and incremental backups depending on a specified set of criteria? No problem! Their boot CD builder is the simplest creation method I've ever dealt with. No need to download a new .ISO file every time Reflect is updated. With a few clicks it'll download the necessary data from Microsoft to create a customized WinPE boot CD complete with Reflect which even allows access to image files over network locations. And the creation process allows you to inject drivers for anything that WinPE doesn't natively recognize. I've been happier with this piece of software than I've been with any software I've purchased in years. I use the Pro ($60 regular price USD) version, and it's worth every penny of that. And no, I don't work for them. Nor am I a paid spokesman. I just can't say enough positive comments about Macrium Reflect! My system runs Win7-64 and I am happy to have paid for Reflect Pro v5.x (native 64-bit edition). As most readers probably know, Reflect comes in a free version as well. http://www.macrium.com
What's the difference between Image for Windows and Windows Built-in? I use the built-in image for Windows. It has worked flawlessly for me on a few occasions.
Gorkster, you're almost describing my own adventure to a T except I stayed around to experience this abomination called ATIH2012. It actually caused damage to my data and I will never trust Acronis again. And I joined the Macrium camp for the same reasons you described beyond just the software.
Image for Windows is a backup solution from Terabyte Unlimited. It's one of the best imaging software out there.
Well, I gave in and purchased an upgrade license 2011-2012 as well as a new 2012 license for both ATIH and Plus Pack because Acronis sent me an email containing a deal I couldn't refuse. This was back when 2012 was relatively new, and I still held a little hope that maybe Acronis could clean up 2012. BUT I NEVER INSTALLED 2012. About six months after the purchase I asked for and (after throwing a fit) received a refund. I guess one good thing about their mess of a copy protection scheme in ATIH 2012 is that they could tell I never did install the software and use those purchased licenses... OT: Just noticed ATIH 2013 beta is out. I'll be curious to see if Acronis learned their lesson after the 2011-2012 debacle...
ShadowProtect v 4.2.5.16175 on W7-64 Because it was recommended by Peter2150. I've recently purchased a 2 year maintenance renewal. I used it for recovery once after I'd installed PerfectDisk v12 which trashed my FD-ISR MBR setup, once when switching from an HDD to an SSD and once when an SSD failed (had to RMA it). I may never need it again, but, it's relatively inexpensive 'insurance' and by paying for the product, Softperfect will likely be around for a long time. I'm over 70 and don't have to worry about finding free apps.
Re: Macrium Reflect, and proudly at that! What do you mean by this "and I don't really like how they monitor in real time to determine changes to the system." ? How do they monitor?
I don't think it worked well for most people. Though I have had no major problem with the 2012 Home version, I miss the True Image Echo products, which were reliable without any bloat. It is a shame they discontinued it.
Re: Macrium Reflect, and proudly at that! They have a service in the background which monitors changes to the system real time. This is (at least part of) the reason their software is fast like it is. But there are problems with this approach I don't want to deal with. They talk about some of this in their manual.
Re: Macrium Reflect, and proudly at that! Is it possible to give a bit more explanation about the disadvantage you mean, and maybe a link so i can read this too? Active@disk image looks a bit like Shadowprotect. Do you know if this have the same service in the background you're talking about?
it is rock solid. it never failed in over a couple hundreds imaging and restore. pretty damn fast too. i am using IFW/IFD/IFL now but the built-in imager in Windows 7 is very good indeed. not a lot of options and features but very good nonetheless.
Re: Macrium Reflect, and proudly at that! The obvious disadvantages that jump right out at me are: 1) An extra process running in the background; and 2) The need to install a process on hard drives one images which are not installed in the system running ShadowProtect. As far as the link goes, the information is in their manual.
Well, does EaseUS Todo make hot images even if the vss of the system is not available as in broken? Like using another mechanism like Image for Windows of Terabyte Unlimited does with it's Phylock mechanism?
Using Norton Ghost 15 for several years now, never had any problems. Tried Symantec Ghost 11.5, extremely slow. Tried Shadow Protect some time ago. Immediately after Backup tried the restore and was told the partition is too small for a restore Never used SP again. Testing Active@ BootDisk Suite 6.0 now. Looks very promising And, I'm using Boot Disks only for backup and restore. Also have Norton Ghost and Active@ on a USB Key, but the loading times are about twice over the good old fashioned CD.
