Less Updates Please

I make 2 Acronis full backups every weekend. I also make a Paragon Drive Backup image. But I have never restored a Paragon image. Acronis, I have used several times. Two images and validation take about 30-35 minutes with Acronis, and I just go on surfing while they are created. A Guy

Ever hear the old saying, "the Devil is in the Details" ???
I've been using the same Backup/Restore program since 1997. It's called simply "Ghost".
It's been updated a few times since then, but I'm still using the last DOS version, that came out about 2005. Amazingly, it works with every version of Windows since '98 and still works today, with version 8.1. My software Guru tells me it also works with Unix.

One of the worse things that often happens is someone makes a backup of their hard drive, but the backup/restore program is ON the hard drive and probably runs in Windows. When that drive totally crashes, both the backup and the restore program just went up in smoke.
So what to do? Well, the backup/restore program must be on some bootable media, like a CD or Bootable Flash Drive. It does you no good at all, to have it on the hard drive that may crash at any time. Several of the better Backup programs will offer to make a Rescue Boot CD for you.

I have my own Ghost program, on CD's, Flash Drives, and even one bootable SD Flash Memory CARD.

My actual backups are saved to an external 1TB hard drive or an internal 1TB hard drive.
Multiple backups in multiple places is just good business.

Happy Holidays Everyone!
TechnoMage

I used Ghost with XP, it did work. However, you had to boot to DOS, and the image creation and validation took about 1 HR 15 Min...Each! All that time you couldn't use the PC for anything else. After I got 7 and got Acronis...what a difference. It was fast, works in windows, and didn't even slow my PC while working. Acronis does create a bootable disc of course. I'd recommend Acronis to anyone. A Guy

You have my deepest sympathy. Because you certainly didn't run Ghost 11.5 the way I run it.
I can do a backup, Check and Restore in less than an hour.
There is nothing I need to do on my PC that's so important and I can't take the time to do my HD backup, at least once a week.

Oh and I run a series of batch files from my Ghost DOS boot disk to remove all the garbage off of my hard drive before Ghost ever runs. That takes 5 to 6 Gigabytes of junk out of my Backup Files. I've never met anyone who runs Ghost the way I do. But to each his own.

Happy Holidays Mates!
TM

LittleJay, post: 6240, member: 114 said:

+1 for Macrium Reflect. It does a very nice job for me. You can restore to different hardware with the paid version.

I use the paid version of EaseUS Todo Backup (Workstation 5.8) which will also restore to dissimilar hardware. You can mount the images and copy files/folders from it as well, which the built-in Windows one wouldn't.

You can run it from within Windows, or it gives you the option of booting from a basic Linux-based recovery CD, or a WinPE version.


Wenda.

I use Acronis on my 7 machine and my 8.1 Notebook plus I use the Windows Image program on both. I do of course back up to external drives.