Solved AOMEI Backupper (Free Standard Edition) Review

TairikuOkami · May 27, 2022

I stopped using AOMEI Backupper. At first they removed PreOS and version 6.9.2 is unable to create a recovery USB and what is the point of a backup, if I can not restore it, lol. Macrium still does not work, so I switched to EaseUS Todo, it has got a terrible scripted GUI now and creating a backup takes forever, but at least it is straightforward unlike others asking too many questions.

Dch48 · May 27, 2022

TairikuOkami said:
I stopped using AOMEI Backupper. At first they removed PreOS and version 6.9.2 is unable to create a recovery USB and what is the point of a backup, if I can not restore it, lol. Macrium still does not work, so I switched to EaseUS Todo, it has got a terrible scripted GUI now and creating a backup takes forever, but at least it is straightforward unlike others asking too many questions.

I just updated to 6.9.2 and created a boot USB with no problem.

Zardoc · May 27, 2022

@TairikuOkami Macrium still does not work

????. I really like my old Acronis but Macrium does work. I used it on about 10 machines so far.

GCG1000 · May 27, 2022

So, you might be interested Hasleo's free backup suite at: Hasleo provides Windows Backup & Clone, Data Recovery, Windows To Go Creator, and more.. There are some nice options in this app.

cereberus · May 27, 2022

Dch48 said:
I just updated to 6.9.2 and created a boot USB with no problem.

Issue is not creating usb drive, but about creating a pre-os dual boot entry. You can do that from Pro version (which I have) but it seems not from standard version.

blued · May 27, 2022

If you have a dual boot system, you wont need a boot USB. Much more convenient in troubleshooting whichever OS is down from the other.

Dch48 · May 27, 2022

cereberus said:
Issue is not creating usb drive, but about creating a pre-os dual boot entry. You can do that from Pro version (which I have) but it seems not from standard version.

He said he could not create a recovery USB in 6.9.2. You can. The pre-os boot option was never available in the free version so they removed nothing.

However, they have removed the ability to mount an image and browse through it to recover certain files. That now is only in the paid version and that concerns me.

cereberus · May 28, 2022

Dch48 said:
He said he could not create a recovery USB in 6.9.2. You can. The pre-os boot option was never available in the free version so they removed nothing.

However, they have removed the ability to mount an image and browse through it to recover certain files. That now is only in the paid version and that concerns me.

Yeah misread post. Not being able to mount image now is a big limitation (so is lack of pre OS).

There is a trend in the market to offer great free tools (particularly partition tools) to get people on board, and get a good reputation then remove features so people have to buy paid version.

Another bizarre limitation on AOMEI is they only allow differential backups on paid version but do allow incrementals on free version.

This is very strange as incrementals are more space efficient. I cannot remember if AOMEI Free was always like this.

With Macriun Reflect Free, it is other way round i.e. diffs only on free version.

Here's hoping Paramount do not start removing features from free version of Macrium Reflect.

Dch48 · May 28, 2022

cereberus said:
Yeah misread post. Not being able to mount image now is a big limitation (so is lack of pre OS).

There is a trend in the market to offer great free tools (particularly partition tools) to get people on board, and get a good reputation then remove features so people have to buy paid version.

Another bizarre limitation on AOMEI is they only allow differential backups on paid version but do allow incrementals on free version.

This is very strange as incrementals are more space efficient. I cannot remember if AOMEI Free was always like this.

With Macriun Reflect Free, it is other way round i.e. diffs only on free version.

Here's hoping Paramount do not start removing features from free version of Macrium Reflect.

I switched to EaseUS Todo Backup Free. It has all those options in the free version. Pre-OS, mounting images, scheduled backups, incremental backups, all are available in the free version. I had it on my 2 in 1 device because it has an eMMC drive that AOMEI does not recognize. Its not as simple as AOMEI but its pretty nice.

ish4d0w · Jun 2, 2022

TairikuOkami said:
I stopped using AOMEI Backupper. At first they removed PreOS and version 6.9.2 is unable to create a recovery USB and what is the point of a backup, if I can not restore it, lol. Macrium still does not work, so I switched to EaseUS Todo, it has got a terrible scripted GUI now and creating a backup takes forever, but at least it is straightforward unlike others asking too many questions.

How about Acronis True Image? That is a professional solution, has never let me down. I have been using it for over 10 years now. (Since 2008)
If you have an external SEAGATE or Western Digital hard drive or SSD then you can get it for free.

However, if you just want PreOS then create it with an older version of AOMEI then update to the latest. It is still able to create a recovery USB medium, you're doing something wrong. But you're right, there are cases when AOMEI fails to restore the backup it creates, I experienced this recently, and it was very painful. It showed an error message like the "partition it in the backup is very fragmented", I mean, who cares if it is fragmented? Just restore it. And it didn't give me an option for that. I had to use an backup-backup image created by ACRONIS. That just restored just fine, with the same data.

I don't have much experience with Easeus Todo Backup as of yet but maybe I'll try. Macrium is fine, but I hate them for denying school/business free usage in version 8, we have to stick with v7 or find a competitor...

cereberus · Jun 2, 2022

ish4d0w said:
How about Acronis True Image?

Been discussed a zillion times. The main issue is expensive unless you have qualifying hardware.

Re. Reflect, you are overstating things. You can still use it for business etc, but only for a limited number of users.

cereberus · Jun 4, 2022

TairikuOkami said:
I stopped using AOMEI Backupper. At first they removed PreOS and version 6.9.2 is unable to create a recovery USB and what is the point of a backup, if I can not restore it, lol. Macrium still does not work, so I switched to EaseUS Todo, it has got a terrible scripted GUI now and creating a backup takes forever, but at least it is straightforward unlike others asking too many questions.

It is very easy to create your own pre-OS by copying all files from usb to a partition on hard drive and then creating a boot entry. Easiest way to create boot entry is to use easbcd.

ish4d0w · Jun 10, 2022

cereberus said:
Reflect, you are overstating things. You can still use it for business etc, but only for a limited number of users.

Overstating things? They are ruining the concept of non-profit corporate usage. I mean, what kind of business has only like 5 computers or users? That is a definition for home computers, not business usage.

At my workplace (a public middle school) we have 450+ users and more than 100 computers. We're sticking to the old version of Macrium Reflect that did not have this, quote, "overstated" (rather underlooked) change...

I undestand many users here wish to defend Macrium as it is a reliable piece of software. Yes, it is very reliable, but you should not defend them. What they did was a cheap move, they essentially excluded nonprofit users from their free tier. It is not like they would gain any profits here, we cannot buy it.

cereberus said:
Acronis True Image

cereberus said:
Been discussed a zillion times. The main issue is expensive unless you have qualifying hardware.

Re. Reflect, you are overstating things. You can still use it for business etc, but only for a limited number of users.

Yes it is not free, but for the purpose the OP needs it for, it could be a better choice than AOMEI, which has let me down multiple times. Qualifying hardware? I mean, they include Acronis True Image with almost everything now. I got it with my WD and Seagate external hard drives (for ALL of them) , for a Kingston NVMe SSD that wasn't even expensive and the list goes on.

cereberus · Jun 11, 2022

ish4d0w said:
Overstating things? They are ruining the concept of non-profit corporate usage. I mean, what kind of business has only like 5 computers or users? That is a definition for home computers, not business usage.

At my workplace (a public middle school) we have 450+ users and more than 100 computers. We're sticking to the old version of Macrium Reflect that did not have this, quote, "overstated" (rather underlooked) change...

I undestand many users here wish to defend Macrium as it is a reliable piece of software. Yes, it is very reliable, but you should not defend them. What they did was a cheap move, they essentially excluded nonprofit users from their free tier. It is not like they would gain any profits here, we cannot buy it.

Yes it is not free, but for the purpose the OP needs it for, it could be a better choice than AOMEI, which has let me down multiple times. Qualifying hardware? I mean, they include Acronis True Image with almost everything now. I got it with my WD and Seagate external hard drives (for ALL of them) , for a Kingston NVMe SSD that wasn't even expensive and the list goes on.

For crying out loud. Macrium Reflect Free was never available to business users but they did a concession to make it available to business users but people started taking the piddle using it for corporations harming their sales. So they quite justifiably put a restriction for small businesses. I am with Paramount on this.

Do you expect to get free electricity, free computers etc?

You just think Paramount should give it free to schools all round the world?
Stop whinging and be grateful you can use V7 which is still a reliable tool.

FrankW · Aug 11, 2022

Dch48 said:
He said he could not create a recovery USB in 6.9.2. You can. The pre-os boot option was never available in the free version so they removed nothing.

However, they have removed the ability to mount an image and browse through it to recover certain files. That now is only in the paid version and that concerns me.

I just made a full backup with AOMEI Standard freeware version and it took 7 hours for only 120 GB data to complete plus another whopping 4 hours to check the image file. It takes 1 hour to make the same backup with Window7 BU. I also was disappointed that I could not explore the image file (mount on a virtual drive) in the free version so probably will resort to my W7 backups to extract/find individual files or start using File History in Windows11. I believe the differential BU with AOMEI will go a lot faster than full BUs so I will try that next. To fully restore just select the diferential backup (no need to restore the full backup)? I will use both W7 and AOMEI for my backups.
Frank

Fabler2 · Aug 11, 2022

FrankW said:
I just made a full backup with AOMEI Standard freeware version and it took 7 hours for only 120 GB data to complete plus another whopping 4 hours to check the image file. It takes 1 hour to make the same backup with Window7 BU. I also was disappointed that I could not explore the image file (mount on a virtual drive) in the free version so probably will resort to my W7 backups to extract/find individual files or start using File History in Windows11. I believe the differential BU with AOMEI will go a lot faster than full BUs so I will try that next. To fully restore just select the diferential backup (no need to restore the full backup)? I will use both W7 and AOMEI for my backups.
Frank

Wow something's wrong somewhere. Macrium takes14 min to do a full backup and verify 213 GB.

FrankW · Aug 11, 2022

Fabler2 said:
Wow something's wrong somewhere. Macrium takes14 min to do a full backup and verify 213 GB.

A lot of factors involved, what type USB port, what kind of cable to the external drive, SSD or HDD, what processor/ram speed. I am investigating why it took so long, may well be a VSS issue as I had dozens of event errors (insufficient authorization) during the backup, AOMEI has their own Snapshot Services but they still recommend to use VSS.
Frank

Fabler2 · Aug 11, 2022

FrankW said:
A lot of factors involved, what type USB port, what kind of cable to the external drive, SSD or HDD, what processor/ram speed. I am investigating why it took so long, may well be a VSS issue as I had dozens of event errors (insufficient authorization) during the backup, AOMEI has their own Snapshot Services but they still recommend to use VSS.
Frank

I know that there are factors involved but still .....

jimbo45 · Aug 11, 2022

FrankW said:
A lot of factors involved, what type USB port, what kind of cable to the external drive, SSD or HDD, what processor/ram speed. I am investigating why it took so long, may well be a VSS issue as I had dozens of event errors (insufficient authorization) during the backup, AOMEI has their own Snapshot Services but they still recommend to use VSS.
Frank

I'd have given up after 10 mins if progress was that slow and tried another application -- that at least will show you whether its the application or the hardware. Macrium Free easy to test -- if you don't want to install it use the stand alone bootable version.

GPARTED on a stand alone device can copy and verify partitions etc -- also very fast and 100% free.

With problems of these sorts it's always worth checking if there's another app that does the same thing - then you can concentrate on finding the error - as you can easily determine if it's hardware or the software.

Cheers
jimbo