CTM vs Acronis vs Macrium Free

advantages. disadvantages of the 3 in question?
which would you choose and why?

to run on: win 7 x64

 

Answer: none of the above.

Use either the Linux-based solution Clonezilla (http://clonezilla.org/) or DriveImage XML (http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm). Both are free.

 

quite a bold saying this is...

which version, the zipped exe or .ISO would you recommend?

 

For Clonezilla, you need to use the .ISO and boot the CD from it.

DriveImage XML is an installable .EXE that runs inside Windows.

 

so... what's the use of h**p://freefr.dl.sourceforge.net/project/clonezilla/clonezilla_live_stable/clonezilla-live-1.2.2-31.zip then?

+ why is it better than the 3 apps mentioned above?

snowdrift, appreciate the fast responses mate!

 

CTM is not a drive imaging program like the others.
It offers no remote storage, so it doesn't protect against drive failure.

 

You got a point here...

 

macrium is a great program. acronis is way to bloated and as said above ctm is not really a image program. also consider shadow protect

 

I installed ATI v11 and uninstalled it after burning the rescue CD.

The rescue CD can "cold image"; restore, of course; make incremental images, sector by sector images, images on USB storage, restore to partitions with a different size than the original - must fit, of course; check for image errors; and some other things I just can't remember now. It works flawlessly. All without the bloat of semi-useless things like Try&Decide and disk cleanup on your hard drive. No mess, no fuss, no foul.

SourMilk out

 

For me Macrium is the one to go for.It's stability and reliability have been outstanding on the many systems I've used it upon.I'm yet to experience a bad image restoration.

 

Abeit buggy, I use Acronis for disk imaging because I like the Try & Decide feature and the new Nonstop Backup feature that provides versioning of file changes.

 

Windows 7 built in backup....check out the features Microsoft added to backup with Win7.
It now can make and restore system images. And disk management now supports resizing.

 

Macrium is my favorite and I have used it for a long time both the free version and the paid. I also use CTM on a test machine but it should not be in the same category as the other two and in my opinion Acronis is useless. Acronis does have a lot of really great features and I have heard good things about older versions but for me on the new version not all of those features work correctly and some did not work at all for me. Of course they all have pros and cons but I think either Macrium or Paragon is the way to go

 

Makes me wonder if/how this will affect imaging software developers, albeit probably down the road. I mean, at the point when the predominant Windows OS is Win7, will there be a need for third party imaging software?

 

CTM is still to new to make a good recommedation as it's reliability. I have it installed in one computer and running tests, so far it has worked great. The only drawback so far is I had to uninstall returnil (which is one of my favorite software). But this software will still require a imaging software as a failsafe against hard drive failure.

Macrium reflect failed to restore a drive for me, that put that program on my unreliable list. I had tested the program with good results for about 3 months and was considering it as a replacement for true image. Also it won't restore a larger partition into a smaller partition, a major showstopper for me. It's inability to do a backup from the bootcd might be a problem for some people.

True image in it's flawed state is still a better software if you can get it to work on your computer. I consider it better than shadowprotect (which for it's hefty price can't restore a larger partition into a smaller partition). I'm always looking for a replacement for true image and tested many software, but I always go back to it.

 

I would suggest try O&O Drive Image Pro 4.x. It is VERY VERY solid. I have used it to restore 50-60 machines and never failed. It has to be one of the fastest out there for taking an image. They do not let you restore an image using their restore CD until you buy it but their money back guarrantee should put your mind to rest.

cheers
Hawk

 

I have tried some free editions (of full image backups)

Paragon Backup 10 Free - offers most repair options on rescue CD (e.g. for MBR))

Macrium Free - as good as paragon, only rescue CD offers a little less than Paragon

DriveImage - good, only required the saved and backup image to have same size (I once ran into a nasty rootkit when testing which changed partition size)

Clone Zilla - have not tried it

 

If you are using Windows 7 you do not need Acronis. You could use Windows 7 to create your image as well as a bootable disc. I have used CTM and it is quite reliable with the only checkdisk error from windows after taking a snapshot, otherwise it is a good software.

Now if Windows 7 can create a computer image and a bootable disc and Comodo provides for free CTM it goes without saying that Acronis is venturing within the realm of Internet Security with BitDefender as their anti-virus engine. Their core products are under threat or even destroyed by equivalent free products.

Thanks.