Good method to back up Win 10 system?

Another vote for Macrium Reflect Free here. They also added incremental backups. I haven't fully explored it yet, but it's imaging and restore functions have always worked 100% for me for years.

GamerwGlasses said:

EaseUS ToDo Backup Free is a good option. I used it on my dad's system to restore his 8.1 system due to a boot error. The restore function worked great. Though, it did take a few hours to restore to his SSD drive since you have to tick "Optimize for SSD" which of course takes longer to restore. It worked after this was done.

I have just spent a couple of days Trying to work out which Tool to use as the one I have used for years 'ShadowProtect desktop' has not been updated to work in Win10 yet.
I liked the look of easeUS and gave it a try. At every point I got errors That took a while to overcome. In the end when I finally made a backup image, I found that it will only restore an image to a drive where you have deleted the Volume, just reformatting it won't work. Most Backup programs will overwrite anything on the drive but easeUS is very fussy. Worse in my opinion it doesn't explain why it won't do it just gives a nonsensical error message.
When I restored an ssd to a normal HD it booted very slowly to a black screen with my cursor on it ! So I tried restoring to an identical SSD
It did exactly the same. YMMV but I gave up at that point after spending half a day mucking around with it.
I would not trust my data to it. This was the paid for home version BTW.

I have just tried to do exactly the same two drives in Macrium reflect free version. The normal HD takes over 9 minutes to boot on my 8 processor system! but at least it booted and seemed to work fine as well! I tried rebooting to see if it sped up but it didn't.
I then tried the identical SSD as before and it booted in 50 seconds which is the same as I am getting on the original.
I have backed up over the network as well which easeUS won't do and I must say I can't complain for a free version..

The only thing is I will need the paid for version for two PC's and the price is a bit steep.

I am now going to give the free trial of NovaBackup 17 a go as that's a bit cheaper lol

Mike

Hi there

I have a BIG issues with Macrium Free -- Note the LATEST release and the FREE not the PRO (Paid for) version.

1) To create BOOTABLE restore / backup system (IMO if you can't do a "Bare Metal Restore" then the system isn't worth having --if your system becomes Unbootable then you are stuck-- how do you restore !!).

2) The latest version of Macrium Free doesn't have the old Linux ISO (don't panic -- stand alone bootable backup programs are usually Linux based - they bring you straight into a decent like Windows GUI so no Windows user needs to know anything about the underlying OS). You need to create a WINPE type of system -- IMO far too complex to do for a typical novice. Just give the user a bootable ISO.

3) Macrium Free relies on VSS - this can cause problems if you are running out of space on the drive you are backing up.

4) You can't MOUNT the backup image to restore say a file or a selection of individual files.

So I chose Acronis -- OK it went through a couple of HIDEOUS releases but the latest one (2015) is fine and very reliable. Creates bootable USB media too (and if you WANT a WINPE system you can create one too).


Here's the documentation about Macrium Free (V6) not supplying the Linux based bootable ISO any more.

V6 for bootable ISO -- this shows that the latest release of Macrium Free no longer has the Linux boot ISO. V5 had it OK so upgraders - your bootable ISO won't be the same.

Linux ISO download


Sometimes - especially for important things like Backup it's better to pay a small amount of money for a robust commercial version -- a lot of companies now are really squeezing out a lot of functionality in their FREE offerings to make them not worth having.

@mpooley -- With Acronis you are licensed on ONE machine but the bootable media can be used on any machine you care to use - so backup / restore from a bootable media. !!!


Cheers
jimbo

Jimbo
Just for the record you CAN mount an image with Macrium reflect free ! it was one of the first things I tried.
The only limitation seems to be only one image can be mounted at a time.

Mike

I use windows to backup image

Thanks for the info. I’ve recently spent a lot of time trying Win. 10 own “built in” backup and restore operation because I’m a back up freak with too many hard drive partitions with drive images of different drives. I also keep “C” partition less than 75G and keep video photos and MP3s in separate partitions on separate drives. With XP and 7 I’ve used True Image 10 with VG results. Reading their forum I’m staying clear of their latest release, perhaps TI13 would be worth a try.

I’m not geekish but have been around awhile and try to follow directions with good results if written correctly. I’ve read articles explaining the virtual of using Windows backup and restore built in operation. The backup seemed to chug along but I could not seem to get restore to work. It couldn’t seem to find the backup which was on another drive and if more than one BU is on the partition there is no option of choosing which one I want to use as I make a image every 8-10 days and save too many.
This older than dirt brain will continue trying as I have enough time on my hands, but the frustration gets wearing and I need breaks to think it out.

mpooley said:

Jimbo
Just for the record you CAN mount an image with Macrium reflect free ! it was one of the first things I tried.
The only limitation seems to be only one image can be mounted at a time.

Mike

Hi there

are you using V5 or V6 -- V6 seems to have a lot of functionality removed. Also can you still get the fast bootable ISO (The Linux version) or do you have to go through the hassle of creating a WINPE bootable system --this also takes a LOT longer to boot than the old Linux based ISO's which start in a few seconds.

The problem also with a WINPE configuration is that this is created from a RUNNING system so if you want to to a backup / restore on ANOTHER system the WINPE disk won't necessarily have all the drivers in it - Video etc for performing the operation on the alternate system. You might find booting the rescue CD / ISO system on the alternate system gives you unreadable video etc.

The other nasty with V6 is that you can only RESTORE an image from the boot system - I often use a boot system to take a backup too -- that way I don't need partition locking with VSS etc. as I'm not running Windows while backing up.

The Acronis system works ideal for me --I've a load of different systems with hugely different hardware. !!

The Linux stuff just loaded all the hardware at boot -- very fast too and could run on almost any system without problems.





Cheers
jimbo

Another vote for Acronis here.

+1 for Macrium Reflect. I find it easy to use and it works great with Windows 10.

I upgraded Windows 10 with Acronis 2014 already installed. Has worked fine and more importantly I have used it twice with no problems to restore my Windows 10. Was very nervous the first time but absolutely no issues. Tried it once using an image created within Windows and another time using an image created via the bootable USB.