Acronis True Image at Newegg

[robisc]

Acronis > Ghost IMO, I've had Ghost completely trash partitions before.

 

[furballi]

The people at Ghost and Acronis want you to think that you need a sophisticate software with boot CD to backup data. Bootit NG is a tiny application that can reside in its own partition. You can also install Bootit in windows. Simply reboot the PC to image ANY partition. NO NEED FOR BOOT CD.

As always, make sure that you can restore the image file at the time of creation. You need to do this at least once so you know that the software is working properly.

I would avoid an imaging software that requires .NET to function (like Ghost).

 

[Miramonti]

I just bought this and love it. It does hot imaging and can mount the images as a drive letter as well, and doesn't require a program to extract files from the image (like previous ghost's...not sure about latest.) It has a great interface and is easy to use, and the incremental backups are great as well.

Thx. OP.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: furballi
Bootit NG is a tiny application that can reside in its own partition. You can also install Bootit in windows. Simply reboot the PC to image ANY partition. NO NEED FOR BOOT CD.

I would avoid an imaging software that requires .NET to function (like Ghost).

Amen! to both of these statements.
.NET - M$'s hunting DOG! What other possible use can there be for it?

 

[sparhawk6]

Originally posted by: nealh
Acronis can be used over a LAN network at my home to backup any of my computers...I have used this for a couple yrs..love it..I have used the backups on my desktops several times..always works flawlessly(always check image to make it is ok)....I had Ghost at one time and verified the image went to use when needed and it failed to work

How do you suggest checking the image?

 

[RVN]

Originally posted by: sparhawk6


How do you suggest checking the image?

Re-image.

 

[sparhawk6]

Originally posted by: RVN

Originally posted by: sparhawk6


How do you suggest checking the image?

Re-image.

What does that mean?

 

[RVN]

Restore the image you made ...run the program ...boot and re-install the image you made.

 

[astranger]

We looked at BootIt NG, but eventually decided to work with Drive Snapshot http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm , as in testing it worked great with Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2003 Server image and re-image. Drive Snapshot can image while machine is running.
To reload from image we used the provided boot CD, and load the image from the network. Very very easy and works great.

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: astranger
We looked at BootIt NG, but eventually decided to work with Drive Snapshot http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm , as in testing it worked great with Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2003 Server image and re-image. Drive Snapshot can image while machine is running.
To reload from image we used the provided boot CD, and load the image from the network. Very very easy and works great.

This looks interesting. The command lines, while a bit more complex than the Ghost and True Image GUI's, seem simple enough.

And if I read it correctly, the system partition must be run from DOS but all others can be imaged while Windows is active.

But it has no scheduling feature, right?

 

[furballi]

Snapshot is okay, but you still have to work with a boot CD. Imaging in windows will ALWAYS represent a higher level of risk when compared to DOS. This program still has to fall back to DOS with some operations. Do it right the first time. Do everything in DOS!

Actually, all of these windows imaging programs will require the use of a boot CD or equivalent to EXIT windows with some operations. Why? Cause the software is unable to achieve a lock on the partition. When working is DOS, there is never a need to lock any partition.

There are many cases where one cannot properly update the BIOS in windows because there are many other variables running in the background.

 

[dbleoslow]

Originally posted by: furballi
Actually, all of these windows imaging programs will require the use of a boot CD or equivalent to EXIT windows with some operations. Why? Cause the software is unable to achieve a lock on the partition. When working is DOS, there is never a need to lock any partition.

I don't recall ever going leaving Windows while using Acronis to image Win2k Advanced Server while doing the image. It restored just fine to the RAID 5 array.

 

[dtanderson]

Originally posted by: furballi
Bootit NG is a tiny application that can reside in its own partition. You can also install Bootit in windows. Simply reboot the PC to image ANY partition. NO NEED FOR BOOT CD.

True image can create a hidden partition on your hard drive for storage your image and then it will give you the option to create a bootable partition. When your computer boots up it will give you the option to press "F11" to boot the true image boot partition. I hate that Symantec dropped Ghost for DriveImage (Ghost 9+) because Ghost was a much better product. Since Symantec made the switch, I made the switch to True Image.

 

[Netopia]

Originally posted by: boomerang
I've had lot's of problems with Ghost and SATA drives also.

Try starting Ghost with the -fni option and see if the problems go away.

Joe

 

[RideFree]

For those of you with Ghost 2003 that have had trouble...
The nexus of this thread on DSL Reports is that you need to turn "Verify" OFF.

 

[rvr2k3]

I have been a Drive Image user for the past couple of iterations. I like the True Image interface and ease of use, but man does it take a long time to backup and restore.

 

[furballi]

Hmmm...have an old version of Drive Image 5. Current system is an Abit AX8 with AMD 64 3000 overclocked to about 3600 speed. The MAX imaging speed is +1400MB/min. MAX restoration speed is +3000MB/min.

My Seagate 160GB HDD has a theoretical maximum speed of 3400MB/min as reported by HD TUNE.

 

[Matt L]

I have an older version of Acronis, v. 6.x used it for years and it does the basics very well. Making a back up is easy and incremental backups can be scheduled, and it has saved me a couple of times.

But, it killed me the one time I really wanted to use some of it's supposed capabilities. I wanted to migrate form a 13g drive to a 120g drive. Supposedly Acronis will do an exact copy and resize proportionately, which is exactly what I wanted to do --my system is set up exactly the way I want it. I plugged the new drive in and told Acronis to duplicate and expand, and it hosed my ORIGINAL drive, messed up the MBR! it took me a week to get things back running. I will admit to having an odd system, 3 OSs and I boot mostly from the H drive but still...

 

[11thHour]

As much as I'm loving the funtionality and interface of Acronis 8, every time I use it in windows, it leaves my system unstable and always blue-screens within a few hours if not sooner.

I have to resort to using it at bootup only, which isn't a major problem except hot imaging with scheduled incremental backups was a huge plus for the program. :thumbsdown:

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: Matt L
But, it killed me the one time I really wanted to use some of it's supposed capabilities. I wanted to migrate form a 13g drive to a 120g drive. Supposedly Acronis will do an exact copy and resize proportionately, which is exactly what I wanted to do --my system is set up exactly the way I want it. I plugged the new drive in and told Acronis to duplicate and expand, and it hosed my ORIGINAL drive, messed up the MBR! it took me a week to get things back running. I will admit to having an odd system, 3 OSs and I boot mostly from the H drive but still...

Maybe if you update to the version 8.0 certain features might be more reliable.

 

[boomerang]

For Acronis users having problems, I would suggest you have the latest build.

And although you can upgrade over the top of the previous build, it is suggested to uninstall, reboot and install fresh.

 

[Matt L]

Why should I upgrade to V. 8 when I'm not happy with V. 6? I should reward a software company for F***** up software? :shocked:

Hey -they aren't MS!

 

[stickx]

Any reason to get the boxed version over the download version? Other than the manual which I can get from the acronis web site. An earlier post indicated that the download will only install on one PC, but I would want to put it on a CD. Any one have experience with the download version?

 

[rvr2k3]

I installed on multiple pcs without an issue with the downloaded version.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: Wedge1

Originally posted by: MasterChef
Acronis can make a bootable CD that allows you to image drives without having Windows running. Making the Acronis backup in this manner would yield the stable image file you described. It also works great on non-Windows drives/partitions.

That sounds great. But does this mean that you can't schedule that type of backup?


Elixer, is the Image Integrity checker reliable for either product (ghost 9 and true image 8)?

Last I checked, I am not 100% confident that they are reliable.
I have now reverted to creating PAR2 files on multiple DVDs to make sure I can recover the data in the chance that it fails due to media error.

I still think the DOS based ghost is the best & is reliable if you do a verify after it is done.