A simple reliable backup app.

To follow-up on Pete's statement above... the AX64 Devs have currently documented design flaws in all aspects of their current imaging tools (HOT and WARM Delta restorations) except their full COLD restoration (WinRE-based restore).

I would wait a bit before you invest too much time into their current application. Additional BETAs are due out shortly... they're still trying to work out the kinks in their DELTA restoration techniques.

 

It still have not cold imaging(Imaging on WinPE)?

 

Andylau... the WinPE-based FULL COLD restoration in AX64 has been proven to be just fine. The Windows-based HOT restoration and the WinPE-based WARM restoration are the operations that are flawed by design.

The Devs know where they are... they're just trying to move forward with a solid design but that has proven to be a bit difficult for them.

 

still no cold disk imaging/backup. The WinPE version could only be used for restore.

 

I'm looking to add another tool to my recommended list. This is for small home systems and laptops. I was considering putting AX64 on the list there due to the 10,000+ responses, must be damned popular..!! But I understand it's all beta?!?! Still?

How is AOEMI Backupper free edition? Can the free edition do cold imaging and cold restoration? And if so, is it reliable?

 

The pro does, AFAIR, and is proposed in various giveaways on a regular basis. Don't know about the free version.

 

AX64 is still a work in (tortoise-like) progress and I could not rely on it to restore images! Oth I find AB 2.5 to be totally reliable (and pretty fast)! AB's Linux boot disk (free or paid) only does restores. AB's WinPE boot disk does backups as well.

 

Ok if we can agree AB is reliable then I'll spend some time to test it out.

Currently I like Acronis and Macrium and just want to add a few more options for when I recommend these types of things.

 

Well, I'm not sure who you mean by 'we' but imho I believe the two best free disk imagers are EaseUS Todo and AOMEI Backupper, based on their versatilility (full/differential/incremental imaging + scheduling) and reliability. Choosing between the two is more a matter of GUI preference than anything else.

 

Just did some tests with the latest AOMEI Backupper v. 2.5 free, and the results are not too different compared to the earlier versions:

Pros:
Nice and uncluttered GUI, easy to use, no nags to buy the commercial version.
Incremental and differential backups supported.
Under Win7 and Win8 easy creation of PE based rescue media.
Good speed for full backups.
Reliable in my tests.

Cons:
Incremental backups are very slow compared to Acronis (different algorithm).
Restoring incrementals also quite slow.
Not really working with older systems (WinXP, FAT32 partitions).


I would not recommend using AOMEI for backing up older systems (like my main desktop computer) for several reasons:

The Linux based recovery disk does not recognize FAT 32 partitions.
Creating the PE based recovery disk is time consuming (download and install the full Windows AIK).
When backing up a FAT32 partition, you have to manually disable VSS. There is no automatic fallback to the alternative snapshot routine.
After restoring to a wiped HDD the restored HDD will not boot if the system drive was FAT32 with the older (Win9.x) MBR format. Looks like the original MBR is not restored, instead a newly generated MBR in the new format is used.


If you have a current system then AOMEI for me is the nicest of the free image backuppers. Easeus is slow and all the nagging to buy the paid version turns me off. And for Paragon the user interface is just too cluttered. The current Macrium free version 5 only does full backups, but maybe the upcoming version 6 will be different...?


Cheers
manolito

 

Just a comment : AOMEI Pro works nicely on my XP SP3 (ran from NTFS partitions), I have done dozen of restorations without a glitch, and incrementals are pretty fast on this old Dell system. Actually the same AOMEI is much slower on my new Lenovo G505 (an entry level low budget PC). But data volume is bigger so this may explain that. But the most important is that the pro version works very well on my XP system.

 

For me there is a clear choice : AOMEI is usable on my Lenovo whereas Easeus is not, it take 10 hours to perform half of the image then it stops due to some error. AOMEI works everytime in a finite time.

 

Well then.. Seems AB is worth some evaluation time to determine if I add it to my list of recommendations.

 

Whenever my students ask me to recommend a FREE system backup program AB is it. Although I wouldn't argue with manolita's comment about AB not supporting FAT-formatted volumes, I have used it successfully lots of times on WinXP with XP's native NTFS volumes.

I only wish AOMEI would make AB's screens larger!

 

My casual testing of AB seems to be going well so far.

 

I see no one has mentioned Drive Snapshot, which I consider it to be an amazing tool especially when using batch scripts, like for example I personally use the below batch script to image the Windows partition to another partition / disk which contains a folder called "Images".

Code:

for %%f in (C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S) do if exist %%f:\Windows\System32\ set OSPARTITION=%%f:
for %%g in (C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S) do if exist %%g:\Images\ set DESTINATION=%%g:
SNAPSHOT64 %OSPARTITION% %DESTINATION%\Images\OS-Partition.sna -L0 -o -T -W

In a PE it automatic runs the below batch script to restore the image to the partition that contains the Windows\System32 folder. So its automated.

Code:

for %%f in (C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S) do if exist %%f:\Images\ set SOURCE=%%f:
for %%f in (C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S) do if exist %%f:\Windows\System32\ set DESTINATION=%%f:
SNAPSHOT64 %SOURCE%\Images\OS-Partition.sna %DESTINATION% -W

 

Wat?

Probably not in this thread because scripts like so would intimidate a newbie.

 

Gaddster,

That's nice. Which OS are you using? MBR or UEFI mode?

 

With XP I've used sector by sector backup and restore with AOMEI. In its normal mode, I've had some instances where the Xp boot sector wasn't backed up or restored correctly. This was with older versions. I haven't tried it with version 2.0 or newer. Since sector by sector worked, I've kept using it. I haven't tried it on anything with Fat32. The only thing I have that uses fat32 these days are a few thumb drives. The legacy systems I've got have older imaging software that is compatible with them and whatever file system they use.

I recommend using Aomei's PE builder to create recovery disks. You get a very nice working environment that includes Backupper, Partition Assistant, Windows 7 recovery and a nice selection of freeware low level utilities. It does require Windows 7 or later.

 

Thanks and how do you use them ? Could you give an example of the parameters and how you trigger/launch them ?

 

General SECURITY question concerning AOMEI, EaseUS ToDo, and any other disk image software from Mainland China: Since disk image software, by nature, has complete access to ALL files on your computer, is anyone worried about Chinese disk image software? I hate this, because I recently installed AOMEI Backupper on a new Win7 install and I LOVE AOMEI! It is simple, elegant, effective and reliable. It simply beats the pants off Acronis for the basic tasks I need it to do. I keep wondering how the heck they could develop such nice little package, with so many features, for free. I had no problems creating boot disks on CD, DVD, and two old USB flash drives. I created disk images on a 32GB microSD card in a USB adaptor, on a 1.5TB external USB drive, and on a 2TB USB external drive. I then did a total of 4 full system restores with combinations of these. I had 100% success every time! It just seemed too good to be true. Then I watched the evening news. I saw yet another story alleging State supported cyber-attacks from China. Hummmmm, I did some more research and realized that AOMEI (and EaseUS) are Chinese software. No, I don't believe everything I see on TV or the internet. But I do all my banking on my computer. I just can't take any chances with my family's wellbeing. I am thinking about doing a "bare metal" wipe of my new SSD and starting over again with different disk image software. I'm looking at Macrium (made in England). So, am I crazy?

 

Well, regarding AOEMI and EASEUS.. I don't have a problem with information theft or one of those programs planting a virus or malware or sending back data to some mystery server as builds the backup image. I do however use boot disc versions. Not because of nefariousness, but because of simplicity. And I just prefer off-line imaging. Always have, always will. Chalk it up to my learning experiences about backup operations when I was a toddler. For real!

As for it being free. Well, it's good word-of-mouth advertising for their higher end products - as you just just demonstrated.

How do they develop something small and elegant for free? You get the basic core that is part of a much larger package which is payware. Also, some companies aren't interested in bloat and have more competent programmers.

Acronis is way overbloated now. It's become too cloud-oriented and too heavy on extraneous features and too inconsistent from version to version. I don't like that. It sinks the fail boat!

One more thing, the way modern media tries so hard to draw attention to itself I just take it in with a bag of salt. So much sensationalism. So much effort put into getting clicks and hits and likes.. And with the internet, anybody can say anything and sound like an expert on any subject.