Poll on Backup software

Bree · Mar 10, 2023

kelper said:
O&O is for one PC, the MR license is for four.

No, both O&O and MR are a single licence for use on one PC. You're thinking of the MR 4-pack of licences.

O&O do a 5-pack licence deal.

kelper · Mar 10, 2023

trevo said:
4 licenses cost $140

I paid £50 for four licenses in Nov 22.

RD Mercer · Mar 10, 2023

JesseRBassett said:
@RD Mercer ,
Have you found Acronis is a little slow lately? For example I am cloning my ssd to my external hdd and it says it will take 4hr and 29 minutes.

I don't normally clone, I usually make back-ups, from my all my PC's to a internal HD in one of my PC's. I have 5 PC's all with easily removed ssd's bring them to one of my PC's with a large multi-terabyte HD and back those drives up. I do clone from my laptop internal ssd to an external ssd, I guess I've never paid much attention to the time it takes from laptop ssd to external ssd using a usb to ssd adapter, but from what I remember, it doesn't take very long. I would say if you're cloning from an internal ssd to an external conventional HD, using a usb adapter it's going to be slow, even with usb 3.0 or 3.1

cereberus · Mar 10, 2023

trevo said:
4 licenses cost $140

Unless you buy it on Black Friday when they traditionally give 50% off.

To anybody thinking of replacing free version coming out of support at end of year with the paid version, why not wait until Black Friday?

Worst case is they do not offer the traditional 50% off but it is a strong chance they will offer some Black Friday discount e.g. 20% as a minimum.

Assuming they do offer the 50% discount, you could buy one licence for $35 or 4 for $70 which makes it very attractive.

I am betting they do offer the 50% discount in expectation a lot of free users will decide to buy it before the Free Version EOL (which is a month later from Black Friday i.e. no need to rush now).

Megahertz · Mar 10, 2023

cereberus said:
Unless you buy it on Black Friday when they traditionally give 50% off.

To anybody thinking of replacing free version coming out of support at end of year with the paid version, why not wait until Black Friday?

Worst case is they do not offer the traditional 50% off but it is a strong chance they will offer some Black Friday discount e.g. 20% as a minimum.

Assuming they do offer the 50% discount, you could buy one licence for $35 or 4 for $70 which makes it very attractive.

I am betting they do offer the 50% discount in expectation a lot of free users will decide to buy it before the Free Version EOL (which is a month later from Black Friday i.e. no need to rush now).

I suppose you're talking about MR
I bought my MR on 2021 Black Friday for US$ 35 (half price). Although the free version would do almost everything the full version does, I wanted to have the file backup option.
Now that they are not offering the free version I doubt they will give any discount.

Fabler2 · Mar 10, 2023

cereberus said:
Unless you buy it on Black Friday when they traditionally give 50% off.

To anybody thinking of replacing free version coming out of support at end of year with the paid version, why not wait until Black Friday?

Worst case is they do not offer the traditional 50% off but it is a strong chance they will offer some Black Friday discount e.g. 20% as a minimum.

Assuming they do offer the 50% discount, you could buy one licence for $35 or 4 for $70 which makes it very attractive.

I am betting they do offer the 50% discount in expectation a lot of free users will decide to buy it before the Free Version EOL (which is a month later from Black Friday i.e. no need to rush now).

I think that they also offer a discount if you upgrade a paid version to the next version?

cereberus · Mar 10, 2023

Megahertz said:
Now that they are not offering the free version I doubt they will give any discount.

I think they will - nobody knows - we will see on Black Friday - I am sure they will offer at least 20% as they do quite frequently any way.

Nobody can be worse off by waiting really unless they offer 20% between now and Black Friday and no discount is offered on Black Friday (unlikely imo)

Simple risk - reward situation e.g. take 20% at next offering (if offered) or wait till Black Friday in hope of bigger discount (reward) vs no discount (risk).

hdmi · Mar 10, 2023

RD Mercer said:
Been using Acronis since 2009, it's been great, so I have no interest in changing something that's been working.

I have been using it since 2009 too, but I don't base my decision on the mere fact that it's been working. I am talking about knowledge about what exactly it is that could go wrong, about how it could go wrong, and about how big is the chance of that ever happening. Not claiming you don't, but some people understand that there exists such a thing called risk management. As a trained Enterprise Java software developer, it plays a central role in what I do for a living. But I always love it when someone asks whether you need fire insurance when the house isn't on fire. That one still cracks me up so much, it makes the job a whole lot less boring TBH.

RD Mercer · Mar 11, 2023

hdmi said:
I have been using it since 2009 too, but I don't base my decision on the mere fact that it's been working.

What do you base you decision on, that keeps you using it? Yes, I have had minimal issues in the past, but since I have been doing a disk check on the drive I'm backing up to before each back-up, the issues I was having seem to have gone away.

hdmi · Mar 11, 2023

RD Mercer said:
What do you base you decision on, that keeps you using it? Yes, I have had minimal issues in the past, but since I have been doing a disk check on the drive I'm backing up to before each back-up, the issues I was having seem to have gone away.

First and foremost, by choosing to use ONLY the bootable ISO file that it also comes with (i.e., as opposed to installing the program on Windows), I don't have to worry about any reliability issues, exactly BECAUSE it lets me check the Verify image checkbox that I talked about earlier (in my reply to @kado897 ). So, what's so special about this checkbox then? Simple, it performs the verification BEFORE Windows boots up again and starts to alter the data on the Windows partition. How do you verify data AFTER the data in question has already been altered? That's right... you can't. Not unless you use a fully transactional (sub)system with a foolproof rollback strategy, you can't. (Before anyone should ask, no, Windows Home/Pro/Enterprise/Education isn't a fully transactional system.) What can be learned here is that a validity check is not the same as data verification. A validity check only checks that the data contained in the image file can be correctly restored. It says nothing about whether errors may have crept in at the time when the process that created this image file was still busy capturing the data. After I boot into the aforementiond bootable ISO file of Acronis, I can be 150% certain that no data will be written to my Windows partition, that I am about to create an image file of. It also means that, secondly, my collection of memes that I have stolen from the internet will be better protected than Fort Knox─and that really makes me feel like this:

kelper · Mar 11, 2023

As an engineer, I object to an expression such as 150% certainty! Why not 200%? Any figure over 100% is impossible. It is what arts graduates might write. Sorry, but that's just my opinion.

RD Mercer · Mar 11, 2023

hdmi said:
First and foremost, by choosing to use ONLY the bootable ISO file that it also comes with (i.e., as opposed to installing the program on Windows), .

The bootable ISO is what I use.

hdmi · Mar 11, 2023

kelper said:
Why not 200%?

https://y.yarn.co/884fefc9-accc-4c65-ba6b-4685c589dfea.mp4

ElizabethW · Mar 11, 2023

Stigg said:
I'm starting to tire of all the numerous "What's the best backup software" threads, as the OP can easily look through all the existing threads.

But I'll say this instead.
Most people don't care about backing up until after they've lost stuff. And even after data loss, I don't think they're too concerned with backing up. They see it as an annoyance. I've preached "Backup" for years, and they never listen and act. I think for most people, it's probably best to set a backup schedule for them.

I've seen some people devastated by the loss of data, and in particular, family photos. And some just don't care at all. One guy I know had a hard drive failure and lost his family photos. I told him that his photos were gone, and he said, "It doesn't matter, I'll just take new ones."

Blessed are the pessimists, for they do make backups.

Haydon · Mar 12, 2023

ElizabethW said:
Blessed are the pessimists, for they do make backups.

Pray for blessings for the optimists, for they do the restores.

cereberus · Mar 12, 2023

Haydon said:
Pray for blessings for the optimists, for they do the restores.

Thank God I am an Atheist.

john1955 · Apr 24, 2023

Stormforce said:
Free File Sync

I like and still use FileSync. I wonder if there are more than one that are named this.
Ive tried a few more sophisticated programs but keep returning to FileSync

john1955 · Apr 24, 2023

I started out with Colorado Backup that worked to disk or to a tape drive. I think Windows 95 included it but then dropped it in XP. Then I switched to Powerquest Drive Image until it became Norton Ghost and dumped it for Acronis True Image and have been using that for a long time. I dont like how Acronis TI keeps changing the GUI but I get use to it eventually and then they change it so I only just recently upgraded to TI 2012 from 2014. Ive been trying out AOMEI but I dont really like it but occasionally I use the File Sync feature. I've never used Macrium, I'm surprised it's so popular in the forum. Is it the price? It has fewer features looking at a comparison but that review did not even talk about what it was like doing a restore. Acronis has been doing differentials after a full disk backup even though I never asked it to do that. I do full disk images two or three times a year and then use FileSync and AOMEI in-between for my user files.

rumplestiltskin · Apr 24, 2023

Casper from FSSDev.com will create (and maintain) a bootable backup (even with a USB drive!). Earlier versions of the app did not provide a history of the last successful backup (would always fail to show any backups) even though they were successful. I worked with them to fix this (my contribution was mostly screenshots and suggestions where they would find the problem). They've fixed the problem and it's the closest thing to Bombich Software's CarbonCopyCloner (you know what this is if you've ever been a Mac person). Excellent software.

FreeFileSync is also an excellent app. Shareware. Will not create a bootable backup; apparently Windows users expect and accept that a re-installation of Windows is needed followed up by a restoration of "user files". Okay; I can handle that.

Regardless of which one you choose (or any other reliable app that creates a copy of your files on something other than C drive), do it. (And I'm probably preaching to the choir.)

simrick · Apr 24, 2023

#1 Macrium hands down
#2 Robocopy

Poll on Backup software

Which imaging program do you use for backups?

Macrium

EaseUS todo

Aomei

Windows 7 system imaging in Windows 10 or 11

Acronis

Ashampoo

Paragon

Cloud based

Other (please post to explain)

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