backup options other than Macrium?

jimbo45 said:

Well said !!

But also -- PLEASE TEST RESTORE from time to time whatever method you use. It's no point having the best and most robust methodology on the planet if you restore and find it fails for whatever reason. !!!

Cheers
jimbo

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Macrium is pretty robust - If it did not notify me of a backup error, I would never have known my NVME was bust. It did take to the end to realise it.. perhaps it should test the disk beforehand.

Superfly said:

Macrium is pretty robust - If it did not notify me of a backup error, I would never have known my NVME was bust. It did take to the end to realise it.. perhaps it should test the disk beforehand.

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Most of them are pretty robust -- it's not even when the backup is taken -- you might get some hardware fail on the backup device AFTER backup is taken rendering the restore a failure. I'd still to be 100% certain make the odd test restore from time to time. Might be overkill but this depends on how valuable you regard your data. - I'd hate to have to re-rip loads of CD's - even if I had the originals any more !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

Ghot said:

@Goldengirl52
You might like AOMEI Backupper... better.

Check the pics, here...

How to Create System Backup in Windows 10 Easily (3 Steps)

Creating a system backup is the process of making an exact copy of system drive including the OS, drivers, configuration settings, and system files, etc.

www.ubackup.com

Click to expand...

I am considering getting AOMEI Backupper 6.9.2 Freeware for its ease to use, I have a very simple system (bare bones W11), Macrium is a bit complicated and too pushy for my taste. What do you think of this free basic Backupper version?
Frank

FrankW said:

I am considering getting AOMEI Backupper 6.9.2 Freeware for its ease to use, I have a very simple system (bare bones W11), Macrium is a bit complicated and too pushy for my taste. What do you think of this free basic Backupper version?
Frank

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Using Macrium ( number one , favorite ) and Aomei both .
If one fails , the other will succeed !
Making OS-backups with both , every 5 days ...........
This keeps my system solid and reliable !

FrankW said:

I am considering getting AOMEI Backupper 6.9.2 Freeware for its ease to use, I have a very simple system (bare bones W11), Macrium is a bit complicated and too pushy for my taste. What do you think of this free basic Backupper version?
Frank

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Some of the regulars on here, use AOMEI. I tried it back in May 2020, and then tried Macrium. I liked Macrium... better.
I too have a seriously cut and dry, Win 11 system.


I made Macrium... simple.
I make backups from within Windows and I restore from the bootable media.

I install Macrium, then do this.
Open the Registry editor (regedit.exe), and...
Go here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\macrium\reflect\Settings
And set: PrefixWithUniqueSetID ...to "0" (zero)


Then IN the Macrium program, I only change a couple things.
This is how I make a backup and the bootable rescue media.




And this is how I restore from a backup if I need to. I use the bootable rescue media for restores...








All this stuff can be found here...

FrankW said:

I am considering getting AOMEI Backupper 6.9.2 Freeware for its ease to use, I have a very simple system (bare bones W11), Macrium is a bit complicated and too pushy for my taste. What do you think of this free basic Backupper version?
Frank

Click to expand...

Aomei backupper does the job and is very straightforward and easy to use.

Any good cloning solutions that do not require a Windows install? Perhaps a portable program?

rick99 said:

Any good cloning solutions that do not require a Windows install? Perhaps a portable program?

Click to expand...

Clonezilla Live: Clonezilla live allows you to use CD/DVD or USB flash drive to boot and run clonezilla (Unicast only)

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But... both Macrium and AOMEI have bootable media that allows you to run those programs, outside of Windows.

Ghot said:

Clonezilla - About

But... both Macrium and AOMEI have bootable media that allows you to run those programs, outside of Windows.

Click to expand...

I've used Clonezilla before, thanks. I was hoping for a portable version of a Windows program. I use portable versions for everything I possibly can.

rick99 said:

I've used Clonezilla before, thanks. I was hoping for a portable version of a Windows program. I use portable versions for everything I possibly can.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure if this fits your definition of portable, but...

Ghot said:

I'm not sure if this fits your definition of portable, but...

Best Portable Disk Cloning Software for Windows 11, 10, 8, 7

AOMEI Backupper is the best portable disk cloning software for hard drive migration on one or multiple computers. No installation and activation again and again!

www.ubackup.com

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That's close. Thank you.

You could get a large USB stick, then make the backup software's bootable media, on the USB stick.
Then run the backup software from within Windows or from the USB stick, and STORE the backup on that same USB stick.

Then you would end up with the backup software (bootable) and the backup, on the same USB stick.
You could then put the USB stick in any computer and boot to the backup software that's on the USB stick, and just restore the backup that's also stored on that USB stick to whatever computer you... stuck that stick in.

You could also do the same with a small USB stick and an External drive (to store the backup(s))... I think.

Ghot said:

You could get a large USB stick, then make the backup software's bootable media, on the USB stick.
Then run the backup software from within Windows or from the USB stick, and STORE the backup on that same USB stick.

Then you would end up with the backup software (bootable) and the backup, on the same USB stick.
You could then put the USB stick in any computer and boot to the backup software that's on the USB stick, and just restore the backup that's also stored on that USB stick to whatever computer you... stuck that stick in.

You could also do the same with a small USB stick and an External drive (to store the backup(s))... I think.

Click to expand...

I'm sure that would work, however, I see that the Portable version of AOMEI is $699.00. Many, many years ago I use to do this manually. I'd attach the destination drive to the PC and then just boot the PC to a command prompt. Then I used COPY (or XCOPY) to copy every folder and file (except for one file... can't remember which one) to the destination. Then just set the new drive in the BIOS to boot. This worked... back then. Might have been Win 95 or Win XP.

rick99 said:

I've used Clonezilla before, thanks. I was hoping for a portable version of a Windows program. I use portable versions for everything I possibly can.

Click to expand...

diskgenius portable. There is a free version.

Goldengirl52 said:

Ok, I have no external backup method, only a 128 gb flashdrive. Is that big enough?

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The thing about flashdrive, they are slow.
Other than that, it should work.
You should invest on another hard drive.

SIW2 said:

diskgenius portable. There is a free version.

Free Download DiskGenius Online

Free download DiskGenius to recover lost data & partition, manage disk capacity, backup Windows and personal data and fix disk issues on PC and Servers.

www.diskgenius.com

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This looks promising.

Josey Wales said:

You only have to buy Macrium Reflect once. The Support expires after one year but the Updates keep coming, It is quite worth it.

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And if you do come across a problem Paramount will often help you outside of the support period through their forum.

Ghot said:

There is no other backup, there is only Zuul, er... Macrium.

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Yeah well with Macrium dropping the free version it's going to be increasingly difficult to recommend them.

aomei backupper pro giveaway. I think it is the full version apparently need to activate before 24-05-23

AOMEI Backupper 7 (7.1.2) Professional kostenlos fur euch (Aktion bis 24.05.2023) - Deskmodder.de

https://www.deskmodder.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ab-pro-712-deskmodder-de.zip

just checked - according to the included readme it is a 1yr license.

Still monthly backing up my 1GB mechanical HDD with EaseUS Todo, full disk BU (free) and Windows7 in W11 22H2 (create an image of your disk only) both take 30 minutes to backup (3 volumes) to an external SSD and 20-40 minutes to restore to an new internal HDD with the USB flash drives (120 GB data). Both methods work flawlessly and are 100% free, I prefer Windows7 as Windows RE recognizes the 2 system volumes correctly while EaseUS does not (only the C:/ volume is labeled correctly, a bit confusing). Another issue I have with Todo is that the EaseUS Agent service runs permanently at the background even if you seldom use the program, I always disable that service and start it manually just before opening EaseUS for a backup job. You may need the paid version to mount the backup pdb file for viewing in Explorer.
I once tried AOMEI free last year but the restore job failed, (the backup file was verified OK).