Acronis TI or ShadowProtect

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by samy, Aug 20, 2008.

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  1. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Huupi, there is no SP demo version. The trial download is just the desktop install, a full version of it. If you want to test the recovery, you can request a free evaluation copy, in which you get the total program.
     
  2. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Your not making sense here. The recovery media is windows, so how much data do you think you could get on it.

    You say restore time is insane. How big an image, what was it on, etc.

    Pete
     
  3. n8chavez

    n8chavez Registered Member

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    I apologize for being unclear. I meant that the recovery medium takes a very long time to load. I requested a 30 day trial and was sent a demo version of the bootable recovery software. I do not mean to include the windows version here. It usually take an hour to load the recovery software, before I can even use it. That being said, my problems are not the actual image but the load time of the boorable recovery software. However, the image I have used was made from a 2.2 gb active drive, considering a 300 meg swap.
     
  4. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Are we talking SP or ATI. SP only has a windows recovery CD and it only takes me a couple of minutes to load the old WINPE version. VistaPE version is even faster.
     
  5. Hugger

    Hugger Registered Member

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    Pete,
    I thought I was messing up again until I read this.
    My load time for SP is 15 to 20 minutes. The first time it was actually longer.
    Once I finally get to the part where I can start to restore the image, it goes quickly.
    Hugger
     
  6. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I guess the load time from the CD depends on the machines. All of mine are fairly, new and all are fairly high speed with lots of ram. That might make a difference.
     
  7. Huupi

    Huupi Registered Member

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    Yes another name ''Trial'' but you know what i mean,see my earlier post in perpective of the posters remarks where his compare and conclusions with both are a bit out of the ordinary.
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2008
  8. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    I had never given this any thought previously - so I just timed. From clicking the restart button to the point where I could backup or restore was 2 min 45 sec. I can't see normal factors such as memory, cpu being the only reason for such differences but can not begin to think why load time would be 15 mins - very strange.
     
  9. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I agree, the load time on my thinkpad x60 with dock is about the same as the desktop. Wonder if the cd drive might be the issue.
     
  10. Hugger

    Hugger Registered Member

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    I've gotten to the point where I'm sorry I bought SP.
    The only thing I like is that the Restore part works quickly when I finally get there.
    I've got 4G's of RAM in a machine that's only a few months old. The cpu is an E4600. Not powerful yet not all that weak.
    I think in my next life I'll go with Paragon.
    Hugger
     
  11. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    I did the same test and my time is 3 minutes (Vista SP1 - 2 GB RAM -). 15 seconds to 1-2 minutes time would probably justify different machines, but 15-20 minutes is far too long, something else must be affecting this loading time.
     
  12. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    I'll have to ask you: Didn't you test the program and recovery CD for the trial period before buying it?
     
  13. farmerlee

    farmerlee Registered Member

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    From my experience with backup programs you have to try before you buy. Some programs work really well on certain systems and some don't.
     
  14. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Hugger

    I have to guess there is an issue with your CD reader. Don't know what else it could be. Those times are not normal.

    Pete
     
  15. MustBackUp

    MustBackUp Registered Member

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    I used to use Drive Image until Symantec bought it and eliminated the ability to backup using a CD-R to run the program. I switched to True Image at that point. I was interested in Shadow Protect Backup because I would like to be able to do Hardware Independent Restore ( I have several hard drives of varying sizes and interfaces). Universal Restore seems to have some problems with the current version of True Image workstation.

    After having to get on my hands and knees to beg the "Activation Center" to allow me to use the version of DreamWeaver that I bought and paid for, and have a receipt for, every time I do a restore on one of my hard drives, I have decided I will never again buy any program that requires central server activation. If StorageCraft removes the central server activation requirement, I will buy it. If not, I will not.

    I understand the need to protect intellectual property from unauthorized copying, but that method punishes every valid purchaser and I will not subject myself to that with yet another program.
     
  16. Hugger

    Hugger Registered Member

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    Pete,
    I'm not sure that that is the problem.
    I have installed other programs from cds with no lag.
    What I am seeing is a slow down during initializing and also just getting to the actual gui.
    And after I click on 'Restore' it sits there for a few minutes before going to the next step. I know it's processing something because I can't click on another link until the program lets me.
    I've used this same optical drive to install other programs and listen to music and have no problem.
    However, I'm going to dig up another drive and check it off of that.
    Thanks.
    Hugger
     
  17. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    You aren't letting install the network stuff are you. That will slow it down, and you don't need it.
     
  18. Hugger

    Hugger Registered Member

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    Pete,
    No. No network stuff. I don't need it.
    I'll see if another optical drive makes a difference.
    Hugger
     
  19. grnxnm

    grnxnm Registered Member

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    The only thing that I know of that can cause such a slow boot of a WinPE environment (such as the ShadowProtect CD Recovery Envioronment) is if a floppy drive is enabled in your BIOS setup when there is actually no physical floppy attached to your machine. This is a WinPE issue. Just go into your BIOS settings and disable your floppies and your machine should boot the WinPE environment much faster.
     
  20. Hugger

    Hugger Registered Member

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    grnxnm,
    I just checked and the floppy drive was boot option #3. Not bad-I don't have a floppy drive.
    I've disabled it as a boot option though I was getting the SP boot screen quickly after hitting the power button. Then of course the wait was too long for the rest of the program to work.
    I also am buying another optical drive just in case. And it never hurts to have spare parts.
    Thanks.
    Hugger
     
  21. grnxnm

    grnxnm Registered Member

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    It's not sufficient to remove the floppy from the boot order. You must go into the BIOS and find the setting where you can disable the floppy drive itself. This is a separate setting from the boot order setting.
     
  22. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Hey ! GREAT news.

    I just now learned that StorageCraft is now offering a 3-user "ShadowProtect Desktop - Home User Bundle". $189

    It's apparently one serial number that will alow three activations. They also offer the "Annual Maintenance" for the Bundle for $40.

    So... you can get ShadowProtect Desktop with maintenance for 3 PC's for $230.

    According to the Storagecraft site, it's about a 20% discount ofer buying single user licenses.

    I wanted to get SP for my home computers but just couldn't bring myself to pay full price for 3 individual licenses AND 3 maintenance agreements.

    So this offer really fits the bill for me.

    THANK YOU StorageCraft. ( grnxnm/Nate ?)

    Tim
     
  23. starfish_001

    starfish_001 Registered Member

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    How do updates work - does the recovery disk download as part of a webupdate within an activated copy?
     
  24. grnxnm

    grnxnm Registered Member

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    I think you can download the new ISO (when it's available - the 3.3 ISO is not yet available) using your store user account. I'm not 100% sure of this. You can just contact support aht storagecraft doht com to find out for sure. I'm not really plugged into that stuff - I spend my time working on the code itself. As far as rights to updates go, we give our users free minor-version (the "minor" version is the "x" in a version like 3.x) upgrades. Users who have purchased maintenance get free major version upgrades if their maintenance is active. We don't increment our version numbers quite like our main competitors (Acronis and Symantec). They jump from one major version to the next, while we will typically have multiple minor version upgrades (3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3).
     
  25. starfish_001

    starfish_001 Registered Member

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    Thanks ..... when do you think 3.3 might ship?
     
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