help me decide on best pc backup software

ok iam running hasleo backup suite now. in the first dialog it chose the 3 sections to backup but i really wanted to just backup (C) theres no way to uncheck them

Helmuuth said:

ok iam running hasleo backup suite now. in the first dialog it chose the 3 sections to backup but i really wanted to just backup (C) theres no way to uncheck them

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You have chosen to do a 'System Backup'. All the selected partitions are required if you want to restore a working system.

SYSTEM_DRV (Fat32) is your EFI partition without which you cannot boot to the C: partition. The 16Mb (Other) is the MSR partition that all GPT drives should have. The WINRE_DRV (NTFS) is your Recovery partition.

If you really must have a free choice of partitions then you could choose 'Disk/Partition Backup'. But if you only back up the C: partition, on it's own it's not enough to be able to restore a working system.

@antspants has put together a useful set of instructions here:

oreyro said:

The Macrium 8.1 program deletes files during Backup, and when Restoring from Backup, the Macrium 8.1 program "reconstructs" or "recreates" these deleted files "out of thin air" using some algorithm.
I am not sure that such a "reconstruction" of deleted files will be correct for Windows XP / 7 / 8 / 10 / 11

I'm not willing to take the risk, so I won't use Macrium 8.1.
I have an alternative (Macrium ver. 7.3, 8.0), there are also other Backup programs.

Why does Macrium 8.1 delete files? It's just marketing.
"Our Backup is the smallest"! "Our Backup is the fastest" is a silly slogan for consumers.

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For the pagefile.sys and Hiberfil.sys, I see no point in including their in a backup. If Windows chokes on that, it's not the backup app that needs to be updated.

It is possible to do individual partition backup.

If you don't know what you are doing choose system backup. That is what it is there for.

thx ill investigate the latest replies , cheers!

Helmuuth said:

thx ill investigate the latest replies , cheers!

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As Bree mentioned above; I made a tutorial as simply as I could to help those who may not have experience with creating a system image.
The point is to create the system image before anything goes wrong or something changes that you’re not happy with and cannot undo.
This is for the backup process only, it’s important to get the system image first and worry about restoring the image, later.

Tutorial links for restoring an image and other very useful Hasleo functions are included in the second post. Also, members here will be willing to help you at any point you may need it.

i may not be as smart as the rest of you lot...so please bear with me if i seem kind of lost, perplexed even for simple things that a 5 year old can decipher

Helmuuth said:

i may not be as smart as the rest of you lot...so please bear with me if i seem kind of lost, perplexed even for simple things that a 5 year old can decipher

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I wouldn’t stress too much, like I said, members are here to help.

A Windows 11 system image, is a comprehensive backup of your entire computer, including the operating system, installed programs, system settings, and personal files. It's essentially a snapshot of your system at a specific point in time, allowing you to restore your computer to that state if something goes wrong, like a hard drive failure or a major system issue.

I have stopped using Macrium Reflect as you need to pay a subscription fee annually.

Presently, I am using R-Drive Image Technician edition for a gaming laptop running on Windows 8.1 Pro.
Acronis True Image 2021 one another and Terabytes Image for Windows on my third, both having a Windows 10 Pro platform.

And for my brand new laptop running on Windows on arm, I have Drive Snapshot 1.50 server edition as it supports the arm edition of Windows. I have to create my own MSDos rescue disk though.

All the backup software is good and reliable and I don’t have any special preference.

i will stick with hasleo for now. and backup once a month. maybe down the road i will upgrade the external save..sandisk 1TB usb..saw on amazon around 90.00

Never tried it but it has received a lot of rave reviews. So I am sure it is good.

Another top-notch backup software is O&O Diskimage 19 Pro. It was available as a giveaway some time back.

Helmuuth said:

i will stick with hasleo for now. and backup once a month. maybe down the road i will upgrade the external save..sandisk 1TB usb..saw on amazon around 90.00

View attachment 138646

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That's a 400MB/sec read speed, I'm guessing the write speed is MUCH slower if all my other Sandisk USB FLASH drives are any indication. From the on-line reviews, write speed is a fraction of the rated speed. Also note that the write speed is not mentioned anywhere in the Amazon ad, that's a red flag for me. Write speed is all important for backups, that's what you're doing a vast majority of the time.

OTOH, you can consider this PNY 1TB drive for the same price, and have real backup write performance!


Copying a 42GB file to it from my computer clocks in at around 320MB/sec, I'm guessing that's much faster than that Sandisk will ever do writing a big file. It's a physically bigger drive, but it has much bigger performance, so I can live with that.

BTW, Mine is a 256GB drive, the 1TB drive has twice the write speed claimed, probably because they have a parallel path to the FLASH. So, this write speed would probably be even faster for the 1TB model.

i use 0&0 disk imagine 21 it works well and dont cost that much

oreyro said:

the program does not change the Registry, but incorrectly specifies the drive letters during Backup, so before backup, you must manually assign the correct letters to all drives(You can assign the correct letters in the program settings)

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Never had to do that backing up within windows or booting from recovery media and backing up so your are either using an old version or maybe using simple interface.

I've never tried Hasleo, but I don't recommend AOMEI or EaseUS.
When I installed them, some files were added that I could barely delete
I don't remember which one did it exactly, since I was testing both at the time.
You can also check out MultiDrive - it's a free tool, sector-by-sector backup.

oreyro said:

- v.8.1 does not copy files C:\pagefile.sys and C:\hiberfil.sys

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It does if you backup and select ""Forensic Copy"" instead of intelligent sector copy... and edit the Shadow Copy exclusions.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshotMacriumImage

This would also be important for you if wanting exact restores:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\BackupRestore\KeysNotToRestore

Personally, you are not after backup software. Backup software makes changes to images to make it EASIER to restore.
You require "CLONING" software. I suggest you save your time and focus on Cloning Software which will make an exact copy (a clone).
This will be great for forensic recovery, forensic analysis, and especially inspecting hibernation file and other temporary files for computer activity, if required etc.

oreyro said:

What is Backup?
The Original and the Copy must be equal in checksum.
Your Operating System is constantly performing copy operations, and each time it checks the Original and the Copy against the checksum.
If you don't check the equality of the original and the copy, then your Operating System will crumble like a house of cards.…
The Macrium Reflect program (as well as many other Backup programs) modifies the Registry files that are located here:
C:\Windows\System32\config\
and here:
C:\Users \[Your User]\NTUSER.DAT
... therefore, strictly speaking, the Macrium Reflect program (like most others) is not a 100% backup program
... by the way, I do not know of any program that can do 100% backup.

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Again, you are confusing Cloning with Backup. You can use Imaging software from bootable USB/CD that performs cloning functionality. Usually this is Secter-by-Sector / RAW / Forensic Copy, which retains all ACTIVE data and any previously deleted data or lost clusters / chains etc. This is VERY different to a standard backup or snapshot (designed for speed).

Bree said:

Well of course the checksums for pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys will be different - but it does not matter one iota!

Let me repeat, not what I think, but what Macrium state clearly in their documentation.

​

The data blocks in Pagefile (pagefile.sys) and hibernation (hiberfil.sys) files will be excluded from images. Data blocks in these files are temporary and not required when Windows starts. ​

​

The image will contain the MFT entries for these files, ie. their file names and the sectors in use, but none of the data from those two files has been saved or will be restored. And why doesn't this matter? Because the data in these files was only relevant to the OS while it was running at the time of the image. On a restart all this data is rendered obsolete and invalid, the OS will immediately overwrite it with current data for its new session.

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In my line of work, they are required for forensic analysis. So with zero information "why" the users require an exact copy, they are barking up the wrong tree by insisting on backup software to somehow clone their computer. Just like other posts where users insist on using Cloning software to restore to dissimilar hardware!!! People just don't understand and want to jam a piece of the puzzle as hard as they can!

Helmuuth said:

It's essentially a snapshot of your sy

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Backups / Snapshots
vs
Cloning / Sector-by-sector / Raw / Forensic backup

Unfortunately few developers give users the complete freedom to dictate exactly what should be retained and what should be removed during backup. I really miss S/W vendors that produced software platforms in the 2000's and 2010's. I grew up on Restrospect backup - these days no one even seems to know about them! The same with ShadowProtect (we're a partner) which I rarely see mentioned as people seem to persist with Macrium or Hasleo etc. There are MUCH better solutions out there!

This is the same debate I have had with Macrium over email, and then asking for help on here, as they were VERY obtuse about making changes for licences already purchased. I had hoped others would help on the forums, but many users seem to have their own agenda or simply no real-world experience (eg. in commercial / enterprise / education / government environments). Such an uphill battle for clients loyal to a business that turns around after MANY years and says "just upgrade to v10"... NOPE!!

Have a look through your registry and blame Microsoft's settings instead of Macrium and other software using Microsoft's snapshot tech.
Or just say "Bloody Microsoft!"
See all folders on the LHS too.

Topic title is totally wrong for this discussion. Should be "Best software to make identical copy of my drive, w/o any changes".

Anica said:

I've never tried Hasleo, but I don't recommend AOMEI or EaseUS.
When I installed them, some files were added that I could barely delete
I don't remember which one did it exactly, since I was testing both at the time.
You can also check out MultiDrive - it's a free tool, sector-by-sector backup.

Click to expand...

That used to be a problem with AOMEI Backupper. I experienced it myself and was a common issue on their forums. Uninstalling it even rendered some systems unbootable. I remember having to use another image backup application to restore an image after attempting to uninstall AOMEI Backupper.

But I would have thought that it would be fixed by now.

Flipmode said:

Unfortunately few developers give users the complete freedom to dictate exactly what should be retained and what should be removed during backup.

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I use only Bootable(BOOT CD/DVD) versions of backup programs, i.e. "backup from the outside"
Unfortunately, there is only one(!) The program makes an "almost perfect" Backup of all Windows System partitions
This is the "TeraByte" program.
The "incomplete ideality" of the "TeraByte" program is that one(!) byte in the header of a small(66Kb) file is changed. C:\Windows\bootstat.dat (the 16-bit address of byte 000000B(16)).
If there is a need for a "perfect backup", then this file can be archived before backup, and after Recovery from Backup, the original file can be restored.
Although, this is not necessary, because the system is constantly changing this file.
Problems with the "TeraByte" program:
- complex interface
- the program is designed for trained users
- The BOOT CD version of the program incorrectly indicates the drive letters(this is due to the fact that the program does not use the Registry to display the drive letters correctly), therefore, you must manually assign the correct letters to all the partitions of your disk in the program interface.

All other Backup programs modify the Registry.
The Macrium program (BOOT-CD) modifies the binary files of the Windows Registry before the Backup operation begins, so this program cannot create an exact backup copy even in sector copy mode...

oreyro said:

The BOOT CD version of the program incorrectly indicates the drive letters(this is due to the fact that the program does not use the Registry to display the drive letters correctly), therefore, you must manually assign the correct letters to all the partitions of your disk in the program interface.

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Not sure what you are using but it must be old.
Never has an issue related to the bootstat.dat file.
Latest version of the WinRE media builder has the option to match what windows shows.
I have never had this issue with drive letters and feel you are spreading misinformation.
I highlighted the option.