opinion on best backup software??

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

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Posts:
    20,590
    I used ATI, and I can say it wasn't that bad. They do need to improve their uninstaller. I just discovered I have the snapman.sys issue. grr.
     
  2. Huupi

    Huupi Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2006
    Posts:
    2,024
    Yes,Orphaned driver be extremely carefull what there can be done with it,just deleting brings the system to a halt.From what i grasp is to delete all reg. entries in the first place and then in safe mode rename and delete it.But the creator of SP has posted something to say about the issue in their forums
     
  3. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Posts:
    20,590
    Yeah. I know how to get rid of it. Just a pain.
     
  4. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2005
    Posts:
    986
    Location:
    Sydney
    I'm back to T.I. I trialled RollBack Rx but it didn't get on with my cleaner - CyberScrub. Those temp files that build up during a 'scrub' wouldn't go away 'cause RB kept 'snapshotting' the C:drive and I was always in a zero free space situation.
     
  5. Atkins

    Atkins Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2007
    Posts:
    1
    By far the best is Ventis BackupSuite 2008. Tried everything, and this is the easiest to use and it has all the backup options one can wish for. And it's very stable also.
     
  6. Huupi

    Huupi Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2006
    Posts:
    2,024
    Hi, Everything ? please your opinion on why is these better then the others.
     
  7. silver0066

    silver0066 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2004
    Posts:
    994
    No bare disk recovery.
     
  8. huntnyc

    huntnyc Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2004
    Posts:
    1,014
    Location:
    Brooklyn, USA
    For me shadowProtect remains tops. Although I have toyed with the idea of going back to TrueImage, I cannot see any reason to do so at this point unless it would be just for personal preference and running together Disk Director Suite with it.

    Why do I think ShasowProtect Desktop is tops.

    1. Ready made recovery CD that is compatable with the broadest range of hardware. Just download the ISO and burn to CD and you are off to the races. Acronis, Paragon and Terabyte recovery environments don't match up with my hardware and you have to wind up making Windows versions of these CD's if you want them to work.

    2. Best combination of GUI and broad feature set. Whatever SP leaves out, it makes up for with some high end features that you would have to pay a lot more for to get in some other products. One example HIR - hardware independent restore - restoring image to different computer.

    3. Speed and reliability - it just works and works fast. Don't worry about verifying just image and when restoring, it just works.

    I guess I could go on but maybe this will give you some idea of why I am staying with ShadowProtect for now and probably just using the BING CD or a free partitioning software if needed.

    Gary
     
  9. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Posts:
    20,590
    Couldn't have said it better Gary. Best part is it has become a stress free restore. I don't give it a bit of thought anymore, other than making sure I select the right options.

    Pete
     
  10. Huupi

    Huupi Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2006
    Posts:
    2,024
    A few years ago i trialed SP before there was any mention on Wilders but could'nt get it to work [hardware issues i guess]so i ditched at the time,with ATI same story,then i took Image for windows through its paces and yes it did the job but awfully slow. When Peter start talking about his new found baby and praising it to no end,i thought why should i not giving it a second chance so i downloaded the iso file,burned it on CD and did a backup/restore from the recovery environment [CD].........and man this was a difference,beautyfull GUI with choices you can't go wrong, and for my the backup/restore times were 5 to 6 times shorter then i was used to have with the other solutions.Up until now i did perhaps a hundred back/restores without any verify and without any problem.
     
  11. huntnyc

    huntnyc Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2004
    Posts:
    1,014
    Location:
    Brooklyn, USA
    Pete, my experience exactly - restores fast without a hitch. Wonderful program and its footprint is small. Until these other companies put out programs that you don't have to jump through hoops just to make a decent recovery CD, then I will stay with SP.

    Gary
     
  12. Hairy Coo

    Hairy Coo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2007
    Posts:
    1,486
    Location:
    Northern Beaches
    Despite all the alleged problems of ATI given as a reason to change to something else,True Image has been working satisfactorily for me since version 6.
    I'm not a fanatic and the glowing reports about SP certainly seemed interesting,as did the unique features such as the possibility of incremental backups every 15 minutes and HIR.
    Regrettably,I didnt get a chance to test the much vaunted reliability,as despite problem solving effort, intermittent BSOD's were unavoidable.
    You'd have to wonder whether the less number of reported problems with SP are because of the much smaller number of users.
    Also it seems the HIR feature isnt of great use,given the need to reinstall drivers or some of the software.
    The only real problem I've had with ATI is that using the Linux based disk,recovery can be somewhat slow under certain conditions,such as when there's a lot of incremental images to be considered.
    A win PE based Bart disk,which isn't a big deal to make,is faster.

    Once again,wonderful software for one person just doesn't work for another.
     
  13. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2005
    Posts:
    12,111
    Location:
    NSW, Australia
    Am I the only one who thinks Shadow Protect is extremely similar to Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery? Certainly more similarities than differences. And BESR is Ghost 12's big brother.
     
  14. huntnyc

    huntnyc Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2004
    Posts:
    1,014
    Location:
    Brooklyn, USA
    Completely agree and I may give TI 11 a shot and try to make the VistaPE disk because I would like to use the ocmbination of DDS 10 and TI 11 and have partitioning and imaging in one place. I already have a copy of DDS 10. I will see what happens in the new version of TI down the road and compare that with SP and see how it would do on my laptop.

    Gary
     
  15. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Posts:
    20,590
    Couple of things.

    1) If you don't completely uninstall ATI, there will be BSOD's with ShadowProtect. Problem is ATI, leave's behind the snapmon.sys driver, and if it's there it creates problems.

    2) Shadowprotect certainly has less users, with respect to home users. In the IT community, that may be a different story. For example I don't think ATI has anything comparable to the IT edition, which would only really fit a large company operation. Finally most Shadow Protect users with problems don't come here, they go to the Storagecraft forums.

    3) Finally HIR, as the similiar ATI product is probably very misunderstood. You aren't going to get a perfectly functioning machine. It is indeed only to actually be able to boot the machine into windows. Then yes you need to install the drivers to make things work right. When I tested HIR, I was able to do some cross restores that amazed me the machines even booted and were usable. Sure to get them right would have meant driver installs, but that they even booted was amazing.

    Pete
     
  16. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2007
    Posts:
    11,126
    Location:
    U.S.A. (South)
    Same issue here.

    BUT, i got those filler up the HD surprise from EAZ-FIX which i by now assume is a Rollback clone.

    I have something of a gripe about Rollback AND Eaz-Fix. First of all when i first tried Rx i did like it, but it soon trashed out and posters came in droves with their own complaints. Have they progressed beyond those issues at all?
    Dunno.

    I also like EAZ-FIX but you don't dare run RESTORATION or many other third party useful tools with it installed or you end up with no space at all. Serious setback for them both IMO.

    FD-ISR continues to shine, at least for those fortunate to have gotten in on it early enough to enjoy ALL features.

    I DEPEND highly on Paragon Drive BackUp 8.51 for imaging/restore but also lately have taken confidence in DriveSnapshot which is so tiny but does a Mammoth job at imaging and have yet to experience a single setback from it after many images/restores. It's even faster, IN WINDOWS, across partitions anyway then Paragon which won my devotion.

    But, ShadowProtect is likely the one you want. All the reports made from it's results have been very uplifting and encouraging.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2007
  17. Hairy Coo

    Hairy Coo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2007
    Posts:
    1,486
    Location:
    Northern Beaches
    Pete,
    Thanks for your help-,but I specifically checked for that-no signs.Also was careful with the ATI uninstall.
    The BSOD is caused by the 0x000000B8 Error and seems to occur only whilst working within Windows,not when using the SP disk.

    EDit-hold everything-found snapMAN using Runscanner and deleted-will try again!
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2007
  18. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2004
    Posts:
    2,295
    Location:
    Cromwell Country

    I use Acronis going back to version 6 and it has never let me down. Others will disagree but I think there are advantages to keeping OS/System and data on separate drives. A simple file comparison program ( I like Beyond Compare www.scootersoftware.com) can be used to ensure that data has been backed up correctly. OS and Programs don't really matter as they can always be re-installed but Data is different and any backup needs to be far more secure.

    An imaging program that isn't used regularly is next to useless in my view. If loss of data is a major concern then buy a cheap external drive and copy and paste ALL data before trying Acronis, Paragon or Powershadow.

    I'm surprised to read that so many have had trouble removing Acronis. As I have never had a need to remove this has not been a problem. However on all systems I am able to go back to a pre Acronis system. All systems are initially imaged using a CD so that Acronis is only installed after a base image has been made. I would have thought those who use FD-ISR would have simply made a snapshot for Acronis so as to not let it contaminate the primary
     
  19. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Posts:
    20,590
    Yeah, but if you use it for a year, and then go to uninstall it......
     
  20. Hairy Coo

    Hairy Coo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2007
    Posts:
    1,486
    Location:
    Northern Beaches
    No problem at all uninstalling,completely straightforward-but it does leave behind a few reg entries and the dreaded SNAPMAN.
    Apart from this conflicting with SP,there seem to be no other conflicts whatsoever.
     
  21. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2004
    Posts:
    2,295
    Location:
    Cromwell Country
    I still go back to basic OS every 6 months or so and on some machines more often. There is no way that real working systems can avoid that job I'm afraid.
    The most important thing is to have images of all systems with no junk added and then at least a new clean system Plus programs takes what 2 or 3 hours - not like years ago when it took 12 hours or more.

    Im assuming that no one really wants the accumulated junk that comes with updates ( windows, firefox, programs). all those updates add up and going back is the only way of really getting a clean install
     
  22. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Posts:
    20,590
    I am pretty careful about cleanup as I go. But going back to a clean windows install would just be to time consuming for me.
     
  23. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2004
    Posts:
    2,295
    Location:
    Cromwell Country
    Then don't sit around and watch while the computer gets re-installed :D
    Its called multi-tasking. You click a mouse on one machine and then work on another. Using a Lindy KVM I can work on 4 machines at the same time - not at all time consuming to restore a base image - windows update, load latest program versions. Of course the data drives remain the same.

    anyway sorry to drift so far off topic
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 22, 2007
  24. Hairy Coo

    Hairy Coo Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2007
    Posts:
    1,486
    Location:
    Northern Beaches
    Wrong,you fool!

    Have just spent a whole afternoon trying to properly uninstall-still no luck.

    Am now convinced SP is more versatile,stable and faster,but until all ATI remnants,services,reg entries,etc are gone and Snapman is the easiest bit,there is a fatal conflict,which already has caused me about 5 fatal error BSODs.

    ATI wouldnt reinstall its image as C drive had been wiped out.

    Luckily,working from the disk only,SP managed easily,thanks mainly to the Disk Map feature,which enabled me to activate and format C and reinstall.

    SP also saved me after the other fatal errors.

    Looks as if once ATI is installed, its "til death do us part",but I'm not giving up without a fight :mad: :mad:
     
  25. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2005
    Posts:
    9,455
    Sounds like Norton's softwares. ;)
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.