Acronis or Macrium Reflect

Fiery

Fiery

Member
Gday

I have been having trouble of late backing up my entire PC with Vista Ultimate, getting various errors ranging from catastrophic failure 0x8000ffff to I/O error 0x8007042D. I have tried everything from Chkdsk to erasing the shadow copies then restarting the whole process again.
Now I have heard of two good backup programmes Acronis and Macrium Reflect, both are free. However I don't mind putting my hand in my pocket and paying for the full version. (more so with Macriumm it offers a lot more for the paid version).
So I am after some opinions, which is better bang for the buck? which is easier to use etc. etc. etc.

 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x 4 965
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P
    Memory
    4GB DDR3
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 TI
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Phillips 19"
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 1024
    Hard Drives
    1 x 128GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD 1 x 1TB Sata 1 x 160GB IDE 1 x 2Tb WD External My Book Elite 1 x 1TB WD External My Book Elite 1 x 4TB WD External My Book
    PSU
    Thermaltake 850W XT
    Case
    Coolermaster Storm Sniper Black Edition
    Cooling
    AC-ALPINE-64PRO ARTIC COOLING
    Mouse
    Microflacid Sterile
    Keyboard
    12 year old Compaq, cant see any of the letters anymore :)
    Internet Speed
    ADSL2+
    Other Info
    My husband and I divorced over religious differences.. He thought he was God and I didn't.
I tried Acronis and Paragon Backup utilities (which recently gave a way a free FULL version online) both seemed a little more bloated Macrium and are at a cost.

Macrium is simple and easy to use. I truly love Macrium, but I use the free version. I too thought about paying for the full version, but from what I read and for my purposes, it doesn't serve me any point.

Macrium has SAVED me the nightmares of reinstalling Vista. If I have any problems and need to reinstall, I just used the recovery CD and replace the OS with my initial image of Vista which includes all updates, drivers up to SP2.

Secondly, I created a separate partition for User Date/Programs and created an image of those once I installed all my necessary programs and user files. These system images created on a monthly basis.

I think the paid version allows you to backup individual files and folders and also has something called "Integrated VBScript generator" which I can't answer whether its necessary or not.

Here's a great tutorial on how to use Macrium and the features the free version offers.
Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Forums

Good Luck and Happy Imaging!
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    AMD/GIGABYTE
    CPU
    AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (2 CPUs), ~3.
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 (rev. 2.0)
    Memory
    2048MB RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster T220/T220G,SyncMaster Magic T220/T220G(Digital)
    Screen Resolution
    1680 by 1050 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST310003 40AS SCSI Disk Device Western Digital WDC WD50 00AAJS-00YFA SCSI Disk Device
    PSU
    Thermaltake 500W
    Internet Speed
    VERY FAST>>>>!!!!
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD RW AD-7191S SCSI CdRom Device
+1 for Macrium Reflect Free.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad T400
    CPU
    Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    LENOVO 64734VM
    Memory
    2.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    1x 180GB Intel 530 series SSD 1 x 120GB Hitachi 5400rmp 1 x 650GB Western Digital Elements 5400rpm 1x 1Tb Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    Internet Speed
    Medium for New Zealand
    Other Info
    Weakest part of my computer is the graphics chipset. Only ever used a laptop. Also use USB Freeview TV Card Lenovo Docking Station External Speakers Other bits a pieces as needed
Acronis or Macrium Reflect
I purchased Acronis but I found that after running it for a while it difficult to understand. Very confusing instructions. They are also wanting you to upgrade to the next version for more money.
I downloaded the free version of Macrium Reflect and it seems to be much easier to understand and run.
My vote is for Reflect
 

My Computer

System One

The most important thing is which will reliably easily restore on your PC. If you have vanilla hardware, esp. as regards disk drives and controllers, you have the most choices. But you should determine first which products will have a problem if you boot the restore CD, and exclude them. It's no fun doing a restore only to find out you are stuck with "compatibility mode" meaning instead of 45 minutes the restore will take 9 hours!! I've been there. That software was fine on a different machine. But the different machine had a different disk controller.

Rule of thumb, if the free version restore works, you should be good if you get the paid. If not and you like that program, if they have a full-featured trial version that actually lets you restore from the boot CD, try that.

If you don't want to risk doing an actual test restore, at least boot the restore CD and go into the restore program. By then you should know if you can see the HD on the machine. Some programs, like the paid Macrium Reflect(which I have) give you a licensed WinPE when you buy the paid version. Worst case you can create a boot restore CD using the Windows driver for your HD controller.

The free version of Macrium has caught up quite a bit with the paid version afa the Linux restore CD goes. It may be all you need. But don't just assume the restore will work with your HD. It's best to check the stuff out before you're in distress. :)

Once you have several programs you are sure will do the job, then you can choose based on features/ease of use/pretty buttons/cool zap sounds/whatever. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G 2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
MilesAhead said:
The most important thing is which will reliably easily restore on your PC. If you have vanilla hardware, esp. as regards disk drives and controllers, you have the most choices. But you should determine first which products will have a problem if you boot the restore CD, and exclude them. It's no fun doing a restore only to find out you are stuck with "compatibility mode" meaning instead of 45 minutes the restore will take 9 hours!! I've been there. That software was fine on a different machine. But the different machine had a different disk controller.

Rule of thumb, if the free version restore works the you should be good if you get the paid. If not and you like that program, if the have a full featured trial version that actually lets you restore from the boot CD, try that.

If you don't want to risk doing an actual test restore, at least boot the restore CD and go into the restore program. By then you should know if you can see the HD on the machine or not. Some programs, like the paid Macrium Reflect(which I have) give you a licensed WinPE when you buy the paid version. So in worst case you can create a boot restore CD using the Windows driver for you HD controller.
Click to expand...

WOW you did a great job of complicating things. I just did a recovery because I was messing around with some audio drivers and for some reason, they would not re-install.

I pop in my Recovery CD, restarted PC, and the PC booted into the recovery program. After a few seconds it ejects disk and then asked me to locate the image I created. I located image, tell it what partition I want to replace it with [C DRIVE] and it does its thing, took no more than 12 minutes.

Click Cancel when done, PC rebooted and problem solved. Piece of cake.

I think you reference this WinPE before, I tried to find out exactly what this does and would I need it. I don't believe so since I'm working without it.:confused:
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    AMD/GIGABYTE
    CPU
    AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (2 CPUs), ~3.
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 (rev. 2.0)
    Memory
    2048MB RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster T220/T220G,SyncMaster Magic T220/T220G(Digital)
    Screen Resolution
    1680 by 1050 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST310003 40AS SCSI Disk Device Western Digital WDC WD50 00AAJS-00YFA SCSI Disk Device
    PSU
    Thermaltake 500W
    Internet Speed
    VERY FAST>>>>!!!!
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD RW AD-7191S SCSI CdRom Device
eldinv said:
MilesAhead said:
The most important thing is which will reliably easily restore on your PC. If you have vanilla hardware, esp. as regards disk drives and controllers, you have the most choices. But you should determine first which products will have a problem if you boot the restore CD, and exclude them. It's no fun doing a restore only to find out you are stuck with "compatibility mode" meaning instead of 45 minutes the restore will take 9 hours!! I've been there. That software was fine on a different machine. But the different machine had a different disk controller.

Rule of thumb, if the free version restore works the you should be good if you get the paid. If not and you like that program, if the have a full featured trial version that actually lets you restore from the boot CD, try that.

If you don't want to risk doing an actual test restore, at least boot the restore CD and go into the restore program. By then you should know if you can see the HD on the machine or not. Some programs, like the paid Macrium Reflect(which I have) give you a licensed WinPE when you buy the paid version. So in worst case you can create a boot restore CD using the Windows driver for you HD controller.
Click to expand...

WOW you did a great job of complicating things. I just did a recovery because I was messing around with some audio drivers and for some reason, they would not re-install.

I pop in my Recovery CD, restarted PC, and the PC booted into the recovery program. After a few seconds it ejects disk and then asked me to locate the image I created. I located image, tell it what partition I want to replace it with [C DRIVE] and it does its thing, took no more than 12 minutes.

Click Cancel when done, PC rebooted and problem solved. Piece of cake.

I think you reference this WinPE before, I tried to find out exactly what this does and would I need it. I don't believe so since I'm working without it.:confused:
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's simple when the software supports your hardware. If you had an exotic unsupported Raid controller, the cake would be crumbs. The only way to know is to do it. Also even on Vista systems where the boot CD works fine, I've had Paragon Drive Backup hose my partition table when creating the "backup capsule." This is on 2 different Vista PCs and using 2 different versions of the program where the bug was supposed to be fixed. I don't do capsules anymore. I use external drives.

Assuming everything will go smoothly is the way to unpleasant surprises at a time when you can do the least about it(like you don't have a working PC.)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G 2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
Go for Macrium Reflect, easy to use. Many PC Magazines; for example.... PC World (NZ PC Magazine Company) said that they highly recommend Macrium Reflect in their Vista Installation Guide.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Nirv Pro SLI (shipped to NZ)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 Extreme 980X (Six-Core) 3.33GHz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte X58A-UD5 - SLI, Crossfire, SATA 6Gbps & USB 3.0
    Memory
    12GB G.Skill Ripjaws High Performance Low-Latency DDR3
    Graphics card(s)
    2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 3GB GGDR5
    Sound Card
    N/A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" Samsung XL2370 Monitor and 23" Benq V2410 Monitor (extended monitor)
    Screen Resolution
    1,920 x 1,080 (on both monitors)
    Hard Drives
    2TB Western Digital Caviar SATA (7200rpm) 600GB VelociRaptor SATA (10000rpm)
    PSU
    Silverstone Strider Plus Modular 750-Watt SLI
    Case
    Corsair Obsidian 800D System Chassis
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2
    Mouse
    Razer Mamba Gaming Mouse
    Keyboard
    Logitech G19 Gaming USB Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    Max - 1.8MB/Sec (DSL) provided by Telecom NZ
    Other Info
    iPhone 4 Black 16GB, iPad 32GB WiFi+3G, iPod Touch 2nd generation
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