Can I safely use AyRecovery + a Drive Imaging program?

I installed AyRecovery in my old pc at last and found it to be a terrific software!
(I wonder if the paid newer editions are even better or not)
When installed I fed the provided code,but I was reminded that this software would
expire in 7 days if not paid: is it a useless warning i can forget about or the free one year
trial already expired before 12/31/08?

I am planning to install it in a new pc, but I would like to try it alongside a drive
imaging program, be it Paragon,Terabyte IFW or Acronis.

My idea is to make a few basic images of the HD right after install to go back to if needed,then to make a good working image every now and then , at the same time I take AyRecovery snapshots at leisure.

I am prepared to use Paragon,for instance,only sporadically to insure a better protection in case of failure, and AyRecovery for the day-to-day duties.
My worry is the Imaging program and AyRecovery might interfere in some way,especially
in the MBR or at boot. But is that so?

Will version 6 work in Vista as well?
Has anybody successfully used one of the afore mentioned imaging progs with
AyRecovery ?

 

Trueimage works fine alongside ayrecovery. If you want to be able to backup all snapshots you will need to use the sector by sector backup option which is only available in version 11 or the newer 2009 version. The sector by sector method takes longer than a regular backup and the backup file size will be larger.

The latest version of ayrecovery works fine on my vista ultimate 64-bit and also on vista home basic 32-bit.

 

Using the drives snapshot with normal options will not work.shadow protect works fine.

 

farmerlee, thanks for this one and for all the info you provided lately on a variety of topics.

I am still uncertain whether to accept Acronis offer to update my old version 8 program (which,incidentally,was always perfect during 4 years) or go elsewhere.
Your testimony in favour of Trueimage is relevant,though.

The length in time of the backup is no worry as it can take place only once in a while, Ayrecovery can take care of the day to day operations.
Possibly,you might exclude a few of the Ay snapshots from the Trueimage backup ,if they are too many, or choose the basic ones,isnt it?

The fact you mention the connection Vista-Ayrecovery latest version means that trial version 6 might not work properly in Vista?

@raakii, could you please elaborate just a bit on

can you please let me know which options are relevant?
In order to put aside Acronis or Paragon,which would cost me much less
than Shadow Protect,(its upgrade vs buyout) I must have a good reason.

 

drive snapshot mbr restore facility is not turned on by default and the sector by sector backup is necessary , otherwise the pre-os of the ayrecovery loads , but the os itself is restored from the backup image itself , thus becoming impossible to boot.

Shadow protect has an option of saving the mbr too , and it works very fine .I would say if u are goin to use instant recovery software , first thing is to goto a stable state and uninstall the software b4 using imaging software.

I dont have any idea of acronis TI or paragon

 

There is something wrong if you are getting a 7-day expiration warning. Sounds as if you didn't activate/register the software.

Any of those will do the job (as will Drive Snapshot and Shadow Protect) - as long as when you boot the recovery disk it recognizes your system drive and your backup drive!

That's not a problem as long as you do not enable Acronis' Secure Zone or the like from Paragon and others.

Aaron

 

I know for sure that ATI v11 provides the sector-by-sector option, but when I trialed the v12 (2009) version I didn't see that option (it looked to me as if Acronis removed it)!

 

DS does backup the MBR by default. It just does not restore the MBR unless requested. Imho that is the way it should be. Btw, DS backs-up and restores my system partition (with EF installed) perfectly every time!

 

For me , EF caused such a great problem with DS , the pre-os was loading even though the whole partition has been restored and restoring MBR ,it shows this message
"All data on this harddisk will be deleted".

 

Does 'pre-os' mean the EF subconsole that loads on every boot, or are you referring to something else?

In order to fully (and safely) backup a system drive or partition with EF you have to first boot from an external OS and then you must do a 'sector-by-sector' mode backup ('maintenance mode' in DS). That's a requirement with any disk-imaging program in order to properly backup a system with AY or EF or RB!

 

@Aaron Here, thanks for reminding me to register (and all the rest,too), I had simply forgotten to do it, now
the program shows its promised one year limit.

Fine then, this will be my first task with any program I use, and thanks to Raaki and you for mentioning Drive Snapshot, I had forgotten about its existence. Its a fine program, worth all the attention. At first glance looks to have enormous possibilities with a very neat look and behaviour.

There is no problem by all means, I always disliked creating any 'Secure Zone' with Acronis
for a number of reasons.

This sounds as the definitive method.
In order to implement this strategy is it enough the following?:

1-Have DS,Acronis,Paragon (or others) installed and a boot disk created.

2-Have AY (or others) installed and working.

3-See if the emergency boot disk can see/recognize both system and backup drives.

4-if 3 is yes, make a complete 'sector-by-sector' mode backup,including whole disk (MBR).

I just wonder how long a sector-by-sector backup of a whole disk could last, but this is not
a reason to give it up, as such an image back up can take place only sporadically as a
further guarantee against disk failure ,mainly.

 

I'm glad to hear that solved your 7-days trial problem.

Yes to your items 1-4 (but it's not required to keep the imaging program installed - you can just use the Recovery CD for everything); also I'm not sure what you meant by your last remark?

Here's how I use EF and DS (you may very well have different needs depending on the way you use your PC). First of all, I chose to only protect my system partition with EF. I have it set to automatically take a snapshot at the first bootup every day and before restoring a snapshot. In addition to that I take snapshots before installing/updating any other programs. I also use the EF default setting to automatically remove unlocked snapshots after 7-days (to keep it's snapshot database from growing too big). Once a week, I create a 'full' image of my C-partition (with DS) onto my external USB drive. I typically keep a month's-worth of full disk-images, deleting the oldest image (i.e., only keeping the most current four).

Hth (it works great for me)!
Aaron

 

Thanks Aaron, your schedule is fine for me,too,and just ignore my last remark.

Rather,what do you think about letting the Imaging program installed, but disabled in startup instead of completely uninstalled,so that it might not be 'active', even though you can boot and execute a new image by boot disk only?

 

That's fine. Actually, if you want to backup a partition or drive other than C: it's easier (and faster) to run your imaging app from within Windows. However, you do have to use a boot disk in order to fully backup C: (including AY and its snapshots).