Looking for recommendations for hard drive imaging / backup software

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DblClipTite

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
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I'm looking for a good drive imaging application. I've ruled out Symantec Ghost and Acronis True Image (read too many negative things about both). At this point I've narrowed it down to Macrium Reflect, Paragon Drive Backup, or ShadowProtect Desktop Edition. They all seem pretty comparable, and seem to have good reputations, so it's hard to know which one to go with, short of trying them all.

I'm asking if anyone has experience with these apps and can offer any compelling pros or cons of any of them relative to the others. The paramount concern for me is reliability. If a product satisfies that requirement, then I'm interested in additional details like feature richness, speed, ease of use, etc.

I know there are other apps that I haven't mentioned, but I'm less interested in hearing about those, and I'm not looking to just hear people's votes for one product or another. What would really help me is insight into why any of the 3 products I'm focusing on would be more or less appealing than the others, so that I can narrow 3 down to 1.
 
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Paragon would be my recommendation.
After getting fed up with True Image I found Paragon and tried their freeware version and I was impressed that it did exactly what I wanted, which was make images and restore them with no fuss. The interface is not the prettiest to look at but Paragon just works and thats what I wanted. Its been a very solid program for me with no issues over the last year. It takes about 20 minutes on my quad core to backup and verify 40 gig. And it works fine with the rescue cd if you have a total crash.

I tried a demo of Shadow Protect and I almost bought it but the demo would not let me restore my backup but it was incredibly fast very easy to use. I don't know much about Macrium until recently but if I have to switch in the future I will look into that.

Give the freeware version of Paragon a try and see what you think.
 
I can vouch for Paragons support being good and responsive, at least when I had some e-mails going back 'n forth with them over some of their server products.
 
Well I just tried Macrium today on an XP machine and it crashed twice. Once while imaging to CD and once while imaging to a network share.

A really cool program I used though today is Active @ Win Boot CD. It's a Vista PE and has a ton of tools including multiple backup solutions.
 
Have zero complaints with Acronis True Image, I've backed up and restored many images in the last year without problems. I actually backup my work laptop every 2-3 weeks.

With all imaging software, split your partitions so your OS image can be backed up/restored in 10 minutes.
 
acronis true image.. as far as pricing goes it can be pricey depending on how u look at it, but you get a great product for that price and a product that u know will not let u down...( at least has never let me down) so it was the best 29.99 I spent for software in my opinion.. Just to add on a side note I have both ghost and acronis software and had more problems out of ghost and never went back with it.. started using acronis products and never had problem since..as far as other softwares out there I cannot vouch for them but as for ghost or acronis.. I have went wth acronis and never looked back at ghost.. jm2c...
 
Thanks everyone for the feedback, especially QcGuy, YeOldeStonecat, and bigdogchris. Paragon sounds very promising, but I'm already getting irritated with them because I sent a question to their sales department and so far it's just been a hassle and I haven't received an answer to the question.

bigdogchris' experience with Macrium is troubling.

For all the Acronis people, I'm glad it's working well for you, but I've read too many complaints on the internet about things like reliability and service / support for me to be willing to give it a shot right now, even though I have 2 Western Digital hard drives and apparently could get it for free.

Paully's5.0 said:
With all imaging software, split your partitions so your OS image can be backed up/restored in 10 minutes.
Click to expand...

I didn't do that the last time, but I'm going to try to in the future.

I haven't purchased anything yet, so I'd still be happy to hear more feedback.
 
Have you lookat at BootIt NG? Using it for years and years here...today even (twice)
while upgrading _7 to _8 (freebsd)...
 
DblClipTite said:
Paragon sounds very promising, but I'm already getting irritated with them because I sent a question to their sales department and so far it's just been a hassle and I haven't received an answer to the question.
Click to expand...

That's a bummer, their immediate and thorough response was made me switch to them, when I first tried them out I sent a few questions about a backup setup for some servers, I exchanged probably 15x or so e-mails with the sales guy..and a few with their main tech guy.

Naturally server products will get more attention from sales guys than a single desktop product.
 
It's too bad about the reliability comments you've heard about Acronis. I've been using it for a few years with no trouble. I've never had any issues myself and have found it quick and responsive for my uses.
 
@YeOldeStonecat -- I ended up hearing from them and my initial irritation is smoothed over. Now I'm eager to try the product as soon as I get the chance.

@RTucker -- It is interesting that I read enough things that concerned me that I decided to steer clear and there have been a number of positive comments about it in this thread. QcGuy did say he got ged up with it though.

Paragon Drive Backup sounds really promising, and I believe the Pro version is currently on sale for $39.95, so Acronis just doesn't appeal to me right now.
 
Good luck with the hunt, I would at least download the Acronis 30 trail and evaluate it,along with the others.

I picked up Acronis during the holiday season last year for $25, if you are on the fence and evaluating various software you might come across a similar deal for Acronis when you are ready to buy. At $50 I was hesitant to pick it up, at $25 it was a no-brainer especialy after using the trial.

I also read negative comments last year, I think many had to do with users not understanding the best way to efficiently backup a hard disk. Of course imaging a 320+ gig hard drive that has gobs of mp3s/videos will take an extremely long time. Various compression settings/backup settings could also cause extreme backup/restore times.
Not saying that is what you have read, but it is what I remember reading as the big negatives to the software. In reality imagining the hard drive is really for the ease of restoring the OS, programs and settings for your computer, I don't think many users understand how easy it really is (regardless of the software you use).

I would suggest that you find software that can be booted from a cd, which contains USB/ESATA drivers to support external hard drives for imagining too.
 
If you're using Windows 7, you could try using the built in imaging in the Backup and Restore section of the control panel.
 
I use Acronis 11, since the subsequent version actually increased the number of steps I had to go through to get the same thing done. Each successive version of Acronis has annoyed me in that respect.

I will look into Paragon.
 
I've used Acronis twice now and really like it. Its also free for Seagate drive owners, which is where I got my copy.
 
I don't trust commercial software, so I just use free programs like dd or cat to do my backups.
 
Snowknight26 said:
If you're using Windows 7, you could try using the built in imaging in the Backup and Restore section of the control panel.
Click to expand...

Currently I'm trying these apps on a Windows XP system, but I'd ideally like something that can handle Windows XP, Windows 7, and Mac systems.

I've started using the Paragon Drive Backup 9 Professional trial and I'm running into problems right off the bat.

I've also started using the ShadowProtect Desktop trial and it seems to have fewer frills, but so far no problems.

I haven't tried a restore with either product yet -- just imaging (and file backup in the case of Paragon) and mounting the images.
 
I know you have heard or read bad things about acronis but havent you heard someone saying or read something bad to some extent on any software you buy.. I have never bought a software that was 100% perfect. all I am saying is they off you a trial version you can get free versions with I think western digital drives and maybe another brand not sure.. why not give it a try and if you just want to buy it its not gonna break the bank.. whats it cost 29.99 or 39.99 .. I know when I bought my version after many questions and review readings mine was only 29.99 but it was on sale. But I have ghost and acronis and as I have said I will nver look back at ghost I may have even thrown it out cause it was a waste of money I did spend on it... Acronis all the way home version and business as well used it both business enviroments and home enviroments with no probs what so ever..they have great support a forum with a representative thats there surfing the forums to awnser any questions or offer suggestions after speakig with there tech staff.. not to mention all the great info you can get from the users of this product on that forum as well...
 
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