opinion on best backup software??

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by zfactor, Dec 13, 2007.

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  1. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    i am using acronis right now but i have had a few issues and i have read here there are TONS of issues right now.. what else is out there as good or better than acronis 11.. what do you all use? thanks
     
  2. Jo Ann

    Jo Ann Registered Member

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    You will get lots of opinions, but all that really matters is what works best for you!

    I know that there are a lot of unhappy people posting on the Acronis forum, but forums exist for people with problems. I was a very satisfied ATI user for 3 years (v8 and v9) up unitl I installed Rollback Rx a year ago, at which time I discovered that ATI v9 could not create a sector-by-sector backup (necessary to capture Rollback's snapshots).

    As it turns out, ATI v11 now has that capability, so even though I since purchased Drive Snapshot to do my disk-image backups, I have to say that ATI is a very good program with an excellent user interface. But as I suggested at the start - try a few and buy whichever works best for you!
     
  3. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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    I have Paragon Hard Disk Manager but if you just want drive imaging, get their Drive Backup program.
     
  4. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    I heavily rely on PARAGON bar none with the only exception of DriveSnapshot as a very reliable secondary, although it's recently being used as my primary backup and restore imaging app right now.

    The benefits of Paragon are infinite.

    Not only can it, for most users including myself, backup and restore safely and efficiently, it's Hard Drive Manager has many other beneficial uses. I just recently completely lost 2 partitions after shorting something out on my mainboard last night.
    Whether their deletion was symptomatic of the short itself or after using XP Pro's CD to recover the main drive so i could boot again and access snapshots, PARAGON accurately identified the 2 missing partitions as *unformatted and deleted, and proceeded to Undelete them in their entirety which saved me a lot of frustration. This is the very first time i ever turned to any program to Undelete a deleted partition, let alone a pair of them. Everything returned again including NTFS file system and programs were not affected. This took only 52 minutes to undelete a 90Gb partition and the other was 20Gb.
     
  5. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    all i want is something i can make a full drive image of after an initial windows fresh install then incremental onces due to us running our company programs on our business system. i need something reliable we cant afford to loose our data. i have ati 11 now.. i made a backup and have it but i have not tried to restore it yet. it says it was a good backup but i dont feel like doing a full retore just to test it out.

    the only thing about paragon ive read is it will only let you make a full drive backup each time. is this correct. ati runs fine. but ive just been reading about so many issues everyone has had im kinda scared of using it now and when i need it it will give me a error or will not restore when i need it to..

    to add i did need something that will be A FULL image of the drive as i had it with everything exactly the way it was. this includes system files etc and everything in on a single partition on this pc. we use it for our cash register, schedule program which we have appts out almost 4 months, and quickbooks etc.. so i want to be able to do an initial backup with everything installed and then just be able to add the files from the programs we save backups of every day maybe once a week or even once a day. i was considering the snapshot idea but being we only use a single partition and it is around 80-100gb im not sure that would work. would it??


    after describing my needs what do you all think would be the best route for me?? i own acronis 11 now and just have never had to utilize it yet and i just dont want it to let me down when i need it

    or should i not worry and be content with ati11. do you think it will work when i need it to ?? without issue??
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2007
  6. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    Choosing the best backup software for your system is very important, but you also have to conquer the Restoration Fear. Backup is the easy part, restoration can be very exciting in the beginning.
    My suggestion is ShadowProtect Desktop v3 of StorageCraft. It has the same reliability as Notepad.
     
  7. Jo Ann

    Jo Ann Registered Member

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    Erik is correct - until you get over the fear of restoring your backup image, you'll never know if you can depend on any disk-imaging program in an emergency!

    You already have ATI v11 and Appster reported here that ATI v11 performed a successful restore (under difficult circumstances). So I say make a couple of backups with ATI and be sure they verify! Then suck it up and do a restore. ;)
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2007
  8. Chuck57

    Chuck57 Registered Member

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    I have Paragon Hard Disk Manager and have used it once to restore. From looking at screenshots, Acronis might be a bit easier, but I think Paragon HDM offers more. It's another thing I have on my computer that I really need to get to know better.
     
  9. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    okay ill try it tomm i just dont want to loose what we have now.. im sure ati 11 is great i just hope it doesnt fail me but at least i know of a few other options if i need them i simply CANT AFFORD to loose our data
     
  10. LockBox

    LockBox Registered Member

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    No, ATI is not any easier than Paragon's Hard Disk Manager. Also, you are right, under the hood you can do so much more.
     
  11. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    with what you mean paragon or ati you can do more?? i dont need all the stuff that disk manager comes with.
     
  12. Franklin

    Franklin Registered Member

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    Well the easiest, simplest and with no install for me is a Ghost 2003 boot floppy.

    Even with my Vista installs.

    Prefer to cold image backup as it just seems more sensible when everything is inactive.

    But then again I've used Ghost 2003 for a long time and am probably biased.
     
  13. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    I worked with ATIv9 during one year and it never failed on me.
    If ATI likes your system, you can depend on it, but use an external HDD as backup medium, if you choose ATI.
     
  14. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    yeah we have 2 500gb external usb drives. why (just curious) not use dual layer dvd's or even normal dvd's? does it have issue with them?
     
  15. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Same problem as with Ghost 2003. Time. and in the case of DVD's, switching them.
     
  16. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    I never use DVD's as main backup, only as second backup.
    CD's and DVD's fail more than HDD's and I will never put my precious data on them.
    I use DVD's for graphical files : photos, movies, ... because they take too much space on my HDD's.
     
  17. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    so then acronis 11 is pretty okay stability wise?

    generally what is the largest "snapshot" that is recc to create.. im afraid it is much smaller than what im looking for..
     
  18. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    Acronis v11 is only OK, when it passed your tests : backup and above all restore. If it fails, try another Image Backup software.
    Keep in mind that a successful backup, including a verification, doesn't mean that your restore will be successful as well. So test both : backup and restore.

    Some users at Wilders don't even verify their backup, they restore their image immediately after backup, which is the very best verification.
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2007
  19. LockBox

    LockBox Registered Member

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    I agree - 100%.
     
  20. nexstar

    nexstar Registered Member

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    I hate to be contentious but, I think that this is a bad idea for the ordinary user. If the only method of verification you are using is to try restoring an image over the data you have just lovingly backed up then, what if the image turns out to be corrupt? :eek: . This results in no working backup and now no data to re-image from.

    Mounting it as a virtual drive is good and restoring to another spare partition to test it would also be good but otherwise, the phrase "burning your bridges" comes to mind :) .

    Graham
     
  21. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    For the ordinary user who has only one partition with everything on it and has no separate backup of his personal data, you are right. I can afford this because I don't have such a setup and I don't need a spare partition either.
     
  22. Huupi

    Huupi Registered Member

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    Look over at Acronis forums as you can see that with even verifying can end in disaster.its no guaranty for a smooth restore later on.Sure for most of us better first a verification for some peace of mind but for real peace of mind or at least knowing where you are up to, a restore has to be done.
     
  23. nexstar

    nexstar Registered Member

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    I'm not saying don't restore. I seem to be doing it on a daily basis :eek: . I'm just saying that, if you have the option of verification or mounting as a virtual drive then do that first, before wiping out your prime data from which there's no turning back.

    Graham
     
  24. lodore

    lodore Registered Member

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    paragon or shadow protect desktop.
    both work great.
    try both and see what you prefer.
    havent had a restore failure with eiether program.
    lodore
     
  25. Huupi

    Huupi Registered Member

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    I can see mounting as a virt. drive seems reasonable,in most current packages verifications is an option but don't trust too hard,like you do a restore is the ultimate truth in imaging,shows all the weakness in the chain.Afterall for newbees and advanced alike you have to rely on your choosen solution at time of disaster. Knowing beforehand that you can restore will also give me the opp. to test my systems to their limits in whatever way i like.
     
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