Back-up Software

[Squid_uk]

Heys guys!

I was wondering is there is software that backs up literally EVERYTHING on a hard disk, for example music, images, drivers, software setting etc!

If there is such software could you guys recommend any that you have experience with both back up and restoring?

[johns0]

Macrium makes a free edition that backs up everthing while still in windows,i tried it and it works good.

[dessieclive]

DriveClone Pro 6.0 is the best but you have to buy it

[freebird73717]

Norton ghost. very rarely will I ever suggest a norton product but ghost is good.

[pepegot1]

Acronis is one of the best out there-better than Norton's Ghost. Glad to see you realize the absolute need of a full image backup-saves lots of headaches and gives you freedom to try things. Forget the free ones-you get what you pay for in the end.

[mattman1968]

I agree with johnsO. I used to use Iomega's Automatic Pro backup but recently found Macrium Reflect and use it exclusively now. It works flawlessly in XP and Vista. I even use it with W7 RC (64 bit). It can be scheduled for all different backup needs and I've used it to restore systems plenty of times (messing with new OS's, dual-booting, etc..) Also, if you google for Macrium Reflect tutorials, you'll discover some very interesting things you can do. For instance, I backed up the entire system from a virtual PC running XP. I then took that virtual PC image and loaded it to a home built Quad PC. I needed to mess with the HAL settings to get all 4 cores working with ACPI but it works like a charm. You may be able to perform these same tasks with the other software but I know for a fact it works with the free Macrium product.

[Jim44]

A couple of years ago I bought Acronis TI and have been happy with it on the main system. For the laptop & 2nd PC I'm using Macrium free edition and am pleased with it as well (kinda wish I had known about it before buying Acronis - oh well ).

[johns0]

Acronis doesnt work on newer amd motherboards i found so i dumped it.

[Jim44]

It works just fine on my AMD-based system (computer specs are current). I don't have it run automatically, I'm a "manual backup" kind of person. Also, I'm at least one rev behind, running TI 10, IIRC.

(My system is now just over 1-year old - I guess that doesn't qualify as "new" anymore. )

[Squid_uk]

Have any of you ever had to use the software you have recommended to restore information onto a new system after a hardware fault? And how good were the results?

[guns1inger]

I use Acronis and have used it to rescue systems with failing system drives successfully several times. We also use it as work pretty much every day.

I have stayed with Version 9 for home use because of some issues with newer versions, and at work we get special builds from Acronis if we find a new model of PC isn't supported. I have found them to be very responsive, with new builds being available nightly on occasion when there have been issues supporting new motherboards. The current public build has handled everything we have thrown at it so far.

[Squid_uk]

guns1inger is it true image that you use?

[hech54]

All of my pictures and music are kept on my (external) storage drive....not on my C: drive.....they are never on my C: drive.
All of my video is kept on my (internal) storage drive....never on my C: drive.

I do have two Norton backups of my C: drive. One from when Windows was first installed....and another from after I installed my basic "must have" programs. I no longer have Norton Ghost installed on the computer....I just have the Ghost images stored to my internal storage drive.

Having said that.....I just downloaded Macrium Reflect planning on backing up my C: drive but thought about what I just said above....Why? All of my important stuff is backed up....much of it backed up at least twice(some I also back up to DVD-R....especially family photos).

[Poppa_Meth]

I used Acronis for a long time. I still use version 9 at work. It works great. Newer releases have gotten worse over time. Acronis was great for backups but sucked at the restoration process. It seemed to work fine on PATA drives but I always had to edit the boot.ini after restoring to a SATA drive and running a repair to get the SATA drivers reloaded.

I use Paragon Drive Backup at home now. I also tried Clonezilla on my new Vista 64 laptop. It's very good if you can handle the Linux environment. I'm thinking of trying Macrium Reflect as well. Also Image for Windows is suppose to be quite good. Shadow Protect is another one that is suppose to be one of the best out there, but also one of the pricier ones.

[usta]

Some years ago I have replace Norton Ghost with Acronis True Image 8 and never looked back.
Currently using Acronis 10 at home without any problem. I've already used the recover feature a few times. You can do this both from local and external storage. In addition, you can chose to use a secure partition on HDD for backup/restore of images.
I can mess up my PC as much as I like (mostly by installing bunch of new software), knowing I'll be able to restore it back to the last good backup (this I do once per quarter).

[redwudz]

I've used Acronis True Image 9 for a couple of years with no problems. Though I have only had to restore a system a couple of times, it paid for itself then. I haven't used Ghost in probably 4 or so years, but it worked well enough then.

For me, the most important backup is after I have the OS and most of my bigger programs added, ones that are a pain to reinstall. Then I back up to one of my servers and I have it for emergencies. I don't keep important data on hard drives, it's backed up to DVD disc and on the servers, so it's redundant.

I haven't had a serious trojan/virus/malware problem in quite some time. But I do have a good AV and firewall. Usually it's a HDD or MB failure that wipes out my boot drive and then I need my BU.

[guns1inger]

guns1inger is it true image that you use?

Yes, TrueImage. We used to use Ghost at work, but found it to be too slow and unreliable.

We restore to SATA based drives regularly (600+ laptops in a school - probably restore two HDD a day because the kids have trashed them) and have never had any issues with booting afterwards.

That said, I don't see imaging as a practical method for backing up regularly. I build a machine and get all the software installed, then image it. That is the baseline. After that, data should be backed up regularly to a different drive, so you can get it back quickly without having to revert to either restoring a full image, or extracting files form an image.

Comodo has a free backup tool which appears to work.

[sumeshkri]

there happens to be a xplivecd through which we can make image of the c drive. it need not be installed on the computer to get the image. it seems that all the programmes referred in this thread are to be installed on the system. am i right? anybody kindly suggest a better programme through which i can make an image of the c drive without installing the imaging software on the system.

[DarrellS]

there happens to be a xplivecd through which we can make image of the c drive. it need not be installed on the computer to get the image. it seems that all the programmes referred in this thread are to be installed on the system. am i right? anybody kindly suggest a better programme through which i can make an image of the c drive without installing the imaging software on the system.

With Acronis, you create a boot CD and insert it and restart the computer. You use the boot CD to access the drive where your backup is stored since you can't restore C:\ from Windows.

[lordsmurf]

Acronis.

[TimA-C]

Acronis is probably the best around at the moment for most people, Macrium is probably second on my list, and yes, I have used both to restore a complete system from an earlier backup. Several of the earlier favourites, such as some versions of Ghost, would back everything up but wouldn't restore a bootable Vista or Windows 7, both Acronis and Macrum do. Acronis and Macrium are also pretty darned quick as well.

[stiltman]

I might as well add to the year old thread

Ghost 32bit running on BartPE
I can backup anything I want RAID and all. If I can't see a drive, I just update my BartPE with the drivers.

[TimA-C]

I might as well add to the year old thread

Ghost 32bit running on BartPE
I can backup anything I want RAID and all. If I can't see a drive, I just update my BartPE with the drivers.

My trusty Ghost 2003 won't restore a Vista or Windows 7 system that boots without a bit of fiddling with the boot record, Acronis and Macrium do.

[stiltman]

I might as well add to the year old thread

Ghost 32bit running on BartPE
I can backup anything I want RAID and all. If I can't see a drive, I just update my BartPE with the drivers.

My trusty Ghost 2003 won't restore a Vista or Windows 7 system that boots without a bit of fiddling with the boot record, Acronis and Macrium do.

Does Ghost 2003 come with the 32bit exe "Ghost32.exe"?
It also looks like 2003 (version 8) is out of date, like from 2002... They are at version 15 now

I've never used the home versions before.
I use ghost32.exe version 11.5 (GSS 2.5) and have no problems imaging/restoring Windows any version or Linux

[handyguy]

For automatic I use a Seagate Free Agent HD as it backs things up as they change without any prompting.
There is a new one out,


Seagate® Replica™ | Seagate
Never forget to back up your files ever again. Now it’s easy and automatic.
www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/replica

Acronis for full disks.

[pirej]

I only use Acronis True Image 2009, and i make backup's every 1-2 months. And it has saved me of hours of reinstaling system 2 times, it only takes 10-15 min for the backup to be restored, and everything works like a charm.