AOMEI Backupper

I am a long time user of Image For Windows and Macrium Reflect, but in the past few months, I have been testing AOMEI Backupper. I think the main reasons that I started exploring other backup options are:

1. I am a data security freak, and love imaging applications.
2. Since Macrium Reflect 7, there have been some issues with it. Mainly CBT related. I also had my first failure about 6 months ago, but Image For Windows saved me.

I like the simple interface of AOMEI Backupper, and it loads fast in Windows. And so far, it hasn't let me down. It also uses a separate UEFI and Legacy boot media, depending on your system.

Incidentally, AOMEI Backupper 5.0 has just been released.

Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?

Just tried this "new one", CD booted fast , backup went well ( have to search , coz its a new UI ) , only verifying the backup took me a lot of time .............previous 4.6.3 went much faster.....!!

I've been having problems with MR too - unable to create rescue media for 7.2. Pressed for time I too resorted to AOMEI Backupper and have found it easy to navigate and quite fast. However I still have to prove that it does restore the MBR and boot files when restoring a disk image, as I have had a failure. I was messing about and the laptop became unbootable. No problem I thought, restore the last AOMEI image. However it still didn't boot and I ended up doing a clean install.

My backup strategy uses both Macrium & Aomei. Both products in my mind, are compatible and work as advertised. I have tested both products for recovery where I rip out my system drive and replace it with a blank drive. Both products have demonstrated successful system restoring. I tested both UEFI & MBR system both just worked. The only downside I have found with Aomei is that if you verify your backups they take 4 times longer than Macrium. It seems they(Aomei) actually verify not only the new incremental, but the entire volume.

I have not yet looked at their new Version (Since this is another problem with Aomei), it never tells you that a update is available. Maybe it because I run it in batch mode. ALso as far as problem reporting, the only vehicle is thru their forum. They never assign a ticket #, you are kind of walking around in a fog. I reported a problem last year. I did some testing and they finally agreed it was a bug. They fixed it within 3 weeks, which is good but not as fast as some problems that MR has responded with. Also they never got back to me on their Forum to tell me its fixed. Since I have never been able to find any comprehensive list of bug fixes with any of their releases (Just a summary), I never knew that they actually fixed my problem until I tried it again. Note I wasn't the only one with this problem.

Minor issues in most cases, but as I tested all of the imaging products, Aomei & Macrium Reflect came as the top 2.

A reliable , 100% secure , restore from backup is much more important then the speed of backup/restore…………..
Macrium saved my OS several times , though make backups with Aomei also ( second backup for safety) , for restore always using Macrium……..

It is very reliable, but I am still having problems working out how to schedule Full, Differential and Incremental backups with this program.

Hi there

Use whatever you prefer --the main thing is to TAKE RELIABLE BACKUPS -- and to those that do please test a RESTORE from time to time --it's no good thinking all your backups are OK until you find out at RESTORE time there's a problem / I/O error, corrupted image etc etc.

For system imaging I'd have at least 2 backups, while for DATA I back up to a NAS and every night changed files (data) get backed up again from NAS to an external drive. The chances of 2 sets of backups both failing are almost non existent -- however the level of backup depends on how much you value your data and time. I certainly wouldn't (and couldn't in any case) re-create several TB of Music files and other multi-media stuff. "Officy stuff" like spradsheets etc you can always store on a cloud server - especially if the volume of data is small.

That said I've found AOMEI not as good as Macrium - at least the Free version -- and it incorporates a thing I really HATE in Software -- "Sneakerware" -- which is when you try and use a feature it says "You have to Go Pro --i.e Pay" or something like that.

The software should make quite clear what it can and can't do without nagging you to go pro -- the functionality I was looking for was simply copying partitions to "Manually" make a Windows to Go on a USB disk.

I got round that problem by simply using Linux's DD command so thankyou (not) Aomei.

Incidentally the speed of backups shouldn't be the major issue in choosing a backup --reliability is or should be the overwhelming consideration.

BTW support from Macrium is usually excellent -- I'm sure people can remember when I think it was first editions of Windows version 1803 or was it 1809 came out and Macrium was broken --the guys worked on a weekend and fixed the problem even though at that time the Windows edition was a preview / skip ahead one so not even a standard general release edition.

Customer support almost non existant these days is excellent from Macrium.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

....That said I've found AOMEI not as good as Macrium - at least the Free version -- and it incorporates a thing I really HATE in Software -- "Sneakerware" -- which is when you try and use a feature it says "You have to Go Pro --i.e Pay" or something like that....
jimbo

I think that is a bit unfair tbh jimbo. The free version clearly states what it can and can not do when compared to the full featured Pro version in AOMEI's product comparator. I run both versions on different PC's and have never seen any 'nag' screens appear, although I would expect to see something along those lines if I deliberately clicked a locked Pro feature such as merging backups.

I've had good experience with Macrium as well, its just that I prefer the easy interface of AOMEI and also the way it all works in general.

Carry on