Acronis True Image alternative

No problem my friend.

 

I am now into this Acronis TI method
Since 2012's newest version doesn't always start up when initiated ....gets to be a pain really
I uninstalled all the TI application(took quite a hunt & time, even in safe mode i checked)
I just boot off the 2012 TI Boot CD now and go from there.
Seems to be really quick at imaging half the time as when actually in windows 7 -+
Its not as handy mind you to as having TI loaded in windows but it sure seems to introduce less problems
Its not that hard to load the Boot TI CD, restart, hit F8, then select the DVD

 

Can you say how long does it take, for what occupied size of system partition?

Thank you.

 

Is there any good reason why people are not using the windows built in imaging software.?.

I use this myself and have restored half a dozen images with no problems at all and all done fairly quickly.

To be paying ludicrous amounts of monet for products which to all intents and purposes are no different from the windows tool seems rather silly in my opinion.

Regards.

 

Macrium Free is good but I do not know if the issue with the external drive not being seen has been resolved yet. Incidentally since you are asking an alternative you may wanna take a look at O&O DiskImage 5 which has a promo free for the Pro version. Check HERE

 

Beethoven1770,

Although it works for NTFS partitions it has minimal features.

It doesn't image FAT/FAT32/Linux partitions. Since most (? all) Dell computers have a OEM Diagnostic partition (FAT16) this won't be included in the image and if you have to restore the image to a new HD (due to HD failure), the Dell Diagnostic partition will be missing.

The images aren't compressed and are roughly double the size of images created by other imaging software.

It can create differential or incremental images but no-one is sure of which type. Probably incremental. The extra image is added automatically to the base image and you only find out about it when you try to restore as you see a series of dates.

There is no option for scheduling image creation. Images must be created manually.

There is no option for resizing the restored partition.

You can't restore into a smaller partition (eg if you want to transfer your OS to a SSD).

The images can't be Validated/Verified.

 

Thank you Brian for this clarification.

 

Way less than 2 minutes making the image
Takes longer to get the TI boot cd to load up with Acronis loader to get go
Using on Intel SSD with 111GB total 68GB free
Basically after the TI boot CD loads you get a bit of graininess of screen compared to a full windows environment for Acronis Application if you will but still quite good to your backups.
You can verify image,clone, change from full to incremental, vary speed and compression etc, etc.

The plus is no Acronis services on the go and no other hassles that it is famous for
I have been hot and cold about it but this last while its hard to start it from the desktop icon so now its this way.
You give up a touch of convenience not in direct use thru windows environment but hopefully its worth it.

 

For live imaging, Macrium Reflect is okay, but I've found its Linux restore CD to be decidedly unreliable. Still, it works on most computiers, and I don't believe it adds any background services.

There's also DriveImage XML, but that doesn't have a live medium; you need to put it on a BartPE disk to restore from outside the installed OS.

IMO the best way to handle Windows backups is to abandon live backups entirely, and use a Linux live medium and some form of offline imaging software (along with a separate data partition). Clonezilla is probably the easiest option, since it handles the boot sector and partition alignment for you; you can also use fsarchiver, ntfsclone, or (if you have plenty of GB to waste, and know exactly what you are doing) dd. Partimage works okay for XP, but not for Vista or 7.

Also be warned that partition alignment is a major gotcha. If the new Windows partition does not begin in exactly the same place as the old one, Windows will not boot.

 

ifw or active@ arw what i use.

 

I used to use Acronis TI method for all my backups
but when I replaced my system with a more up to date
one, Acronis TI will no longer run comes up with a error
code, of course I believe this was Version 6 anything
newer than that is just bloatware

Now I use Clonezilla, it does images at a much deeper level
and far more reliable

 

The Clonezilla web page lists these Limitations....

 

Thanx, I see Acronis True Image is really cool.

 

All the Limitations of Clonezilla is something I would never use anyhow
but for someone who needed those functions I can see where it might
not work for them

 

I need to work with almost all those limitations. I think the most useful aspect of imaging software is the ability to use scheduled online imaging. You can image your OS partition several times daily (if you desire) and it happens in the background without any input from the user. In addition, if you want to install potentially troublesome software, such as Windows Updates, you can manually initiate an online image backup, and as soon as the backup commences you can start installing the potentially troublesome software. You don't have to wait until the image has completed. It's much more convenient and time saving than shutting down the computer to do an image backup.

The belief that online imaging is less reliable than cold imaging is a delusion. They are equally reliable. That's been well demonstrated for years.

 

It depends on the imaging app. You can restore a Win7 image and put it anywhere you like on the same or on another HD and it will boot normally if you use IFW, IFD or IFL. I can't speak for other apps.

Edit... Ghost 15 works too.

 

of free alternatives, Macrium Reflect is probably the best.

Clonezilla is supposed to be good but my laptop failed to boot from the iso, so not sure (fwiw, I was using EasyBCD for the boot menu and I tried all versions of Clonezilla available).

Other free alternatives I'm aware of include DriveImage XML and SelfImage.

YMMV.

Non-free:
Personally I prefer Acronis Backup & Recovery Workstation with Universal Restore to Acronis True Image, but it's also bloated as hell so I only run it from the WinPE rescue disk. However, mostly I use Drive Snapshot.

 

Thank you pajenn. In regards to the Clonezilla EasyBCD boot menu issue, remember that not all bootable ISO files can be properly booted via EasyBCD. Some ISO files you need to actually extract from them either the source folder of the program or other files in order to get the ISO to boot properly. EasyBCD also states the same in regards to *some* bootable ISO files that simply will not boot unless other data is available in the path, etc.

I ran into this with several ISO files, then tried them in various methods such as 'run from disk' or 'load from memory' and then figured out it was an issue with not being able to properly read all the data of some ISO files on boot. It can be tricky, but for the most part, EasyBCD does a great job. Keriver Image bootcd ISO will NOT boot properly using EasyBCD for example, I finally figured out how to get the console running by doing it manually, and that was placing the actual 'Flcrecoveryconsole' folder on the same path as the boot drive or flash drive, which ever one you have access to, and then manually I had to type in a command prompt the path to the recovery console folder, then run 'Flcdesktop.exe' It loaded, and worked, but it really is not the best method to use it. In this case for example, it would simply be best to create a bootable flashdrive/bootcd via the Windows interface of Keriver Image.

In your case, with Clonezilla, I suspect a similar problem arose trying to boot from menu using EasyBCD. Maybe Aladdin will stop by and offer some good points as he has a lot of experience with EasyBCD and some work arounds.

Most Linux based bootable ISO files do work with EasyBCD, as well as some Winpe ISO bootable files, I have found the Linux based to work the best with EasyBCD personally. In your case, Clonezilla is one of the exceptions it appears.

 

Thanks. I found a way to make it work using a guide here: http://www.reaper-x.com/2011/10/22/how-to-boot-clonezilla-and-gparted-from-hdd-on-windows/

I haven't tried a backup yet, but at least clonezilla boots fine now and seems to work ok.

 

For the first time Clonezilla refused to create an image on one my comp. I tried several times, ran CHKDSK. Anyway it consistently said "Something wrong".

I tried Paragon free and found it really up to what I need:
- it doesn't bloat RAM with any process when I don't use it
- it creates bootable CD and flesh drives
- I find hot imaging more convenient then cold as it with Clonezilla
- Several time I asked Paragon's support and their responses was rather quick though I use only freebie.

Though I've never happen to restore Paragon image of system partition yet. I think it won't be of any problem.

 

You can use the old WinPE application from V9 Workstation in Windows if you like. The command line utility can be used to create images on a schedule with Task Scheduler. Total size about 25Mb with no running processes.

 

This is a problem a friend has. He wants to put his 40GB Win 7 CDrive currently in a 200GB partition, into a 100GB partition.

Is their a solution?

 

Resize the 200 GB partition to 100 GB and then create an image.

 

You just need an imaging software that can restore to smaller partition likes Acronis and Paragon.

Or #48

 

Problem i had with macrium free was it would not see my external hard drive when i tried to use a restore.
Im using windows built in imaging at the moment and it restores everytime without fail.