comparing backup programs
Perhaps the Acronis staff will delete this post but I hope not. I've been a paying customer for years but my disatisfaction with Acronis is growing to the point I'm now looking at alternatives. In one post I read this morning- somebody mentioned another program- I searched for that and came up with a "top 10 reviews" site on backup programs: http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
Acronis is rated #2 but it's topped by NovaBackup. I realize that what one reviewer says isn't gosple but it's enough to make me question continued use of Acronis. Acronis has worked for me but not without difficulties and some failures so I'm not fully satisfied.
Just a few of my problems with Acronis:
- the user interface is unacceptable to me- my previous ATI 2013 UI was vastly superior- having to go look for log files to see what happened is inexcusable, the fact that I can't read the full name of backups on the backup screen is absurd, the older program showed a calender so you can pick the date to recover from, etc., etc.- many people have complained about the UI- overall, it looks Mickey Mouse (I don't like being such a critic, but I should think Acronis would like to know what some customers think- though of course, some have no problem with the program and really like it)
- ATI 2015 cannot produce a bootable media on a flash drive on my old Dell Dim 9200 from 2007, though it can create a bootable CD. The program will produce a bootable flash drive on my Dell XPS desktop.
- when I tried to update on my older Dell- a larger SSD from the one I installed a year or so ago- it was quite an ordeal- cloning via a USB cable (which came from Crucial with the older SSD) failed to produce a bootable drive---- I then put the new SSD where the old one was- and tried restoring from a full disk backup file. Because the old Dell had a hidden partion and a seperate Restore partition- though I followed the instructions in the manual, I had no luck- though ATI claimed the restore was successful, it wasn't. Part of the problem was that because of the hidden and Dell Restore partition- I followed the instruction in the manual to size them as they were originally. Then, the boot partion would hopefull be able to use all the rest of the new drive- the unallocated space- but for the life of me, I couldn't get the recovery process to "see" that unallocated space. In the manual, it says I could simply stretch the image of the partitions- that is for the C drive- expand it to the right to use all the unallocated space- but I simply couldn't find a way to do this- and when I tried entering the numbers in the chart to size the C drive- if I raised the number, all the numbers on the hidden and Restore partion changed. The only way to proceed was for me to NOT restore that hidden partion and Dell Restore partition- which at this point I don't need, but I'm not happy about this.
- I'm now going to update my new Dell- from the original mSATA SSD to a larger one but this new Dell has even more hidden partions- several in fact- I have no idea what they are- but it's just as likely I'll have the same problem with sizing those as they are now- while the boot partition should make use of all unallocated space- maybe it'll work on the new Dell and maybe not- as I had better luck getting a bootable flash drive on the new Dell and not on the old.
- I've now read hundreds of messages in this forum with all sorts of problems and I do understand that the people with no problems seldom if ever come to the forum- but nonetheless, it's something to worry about.
- Looking at the web sites of some of the competition- I can see that their UI look more "normal" and unlike the Win 10 overly simplistic UI designed for people with fat fingers on a touch screen.
So, I have been loyal for severeral years and I don't like dissing any company but my business is on these computers- I'm not just a guy surfing the net- I've got to have a dependable backup program. I'm curious if any of you have tried the other backup programs.
As I said at the top- I hope Acronis doesn't delete this. An open discussion is a good thing.
Joe
I agree with Steve about submitting feedback to Acronis. We can all put our two cents in the forum, but ultimately, we're just telling each other what we think is best based on our preferences. Unless Acronis gets this input through their feedback, they don't have metric to determine what features are being requested and need attention.
Going back to your clone issues. A clone is designed to be used when upgrading drives in a specific system, not poriting from one to another. It has its purpose and I can see why people use it. However, I personally never have. Instead, I always take a full system image of my disk and then push that image back to the new one. It essentially does the same thing, but seems to work better in many cases. The upside, is you also have a backup to revert to down the road if you need to. You also won't have to extend partiions or anything - it gives you the option to leave partitions the same size or expand them automatically during the recovery - but usually only messes with the primary partiion (for instance C: drive) and leaves the recovery partiion and other hidden ones alone (except for whatever it may need to do to take the image and restore it).
In regards to considering other backup solutions - do what works best for you. I have used Acronis for years and it's still my go-to. I've also used Retrospect, Macrium, Ghost, CrashPlan Windows Backup, AOEMI and others. Honestly, none of them is perfect and I've experienced database corruption in all of them through the Windows Applications at some point. Acronis has always saved my butt with the offline bootable media and full system images and that's why I still recommend it over the others. To each their own though - do what is best for your situation. I can show you a ton of forums that say Acronis is the best and a ton where people hate it. I can do the same for any of these other applications as well though. Take reviews with a grain of salt - most people who take the time to review or post, or those that are disgruntled or having trouble. It's very rare thta you'll find a happy post just "because".
Steve, you're probably right that Acronis do check out the forums to some extent but not thoroughly- though any software firm should. With a large staff - if they assigned sections to different people, they could easily at least read through the messages.
I think you're also right about the best way to deal with hidden partitions- and that's probably what I'll do. I didn't know about Easeus Partition Manager - that's a good tip. On this issue- I came across one backup program- Macrium Reflect- that appears to allow easy adjustment of partition sizes as part of the restore proceedure. And they have a free trial version. A few people in this forum mentioned it. I'll first see if I have success with Acronis- if not, I'll try Macrium.
thanks,
Joe
Bobbo-
you said, "You also won't have to extend partiions or anything - it gives you the option to leave partitions the same size or expand them automatically during the recovery - but usually only messes with the primary partiion (for instance C: drive) and leaves the recovery partiion and other hidden ones alone (except for whatever it may need to do to take the image and restore it)."
hmmm... if there are hidden partions and, as on the Dell, a few others such as a Dell Restore partion- and I don't want those changed when doing a recovery to a larger drive- if I choose Automatic, I thought that all the partions- even hidden ones would be enlarged to fill up the space- are you saying that the automatic choice will only expand the primary partion, in my case - Drive C, the boot drive? If that's the case, I really goofed by trying the "manual" and then trying to keep the hidden partion(s) the same while changing the Drive C to use all the remaining unallocated space- and I couldn't get it to work. It would be really nice if Acronis was smart enough to do this- though in the manual, it explained that it is important to make note of the size of any hidden partitions- in order to be sure they don't change when choosing manual- by adjusting the numbers. Yuh, maybe I overthought this. When I tried manual I simply was unable to change the numbers for Drive C- it wouldn't let me- or I just did something stupid. But, a great program would be more bullet proof. As Steve said, I could also choose to use a disk editing program to expand the boot partition- but I'd hope I don't have to go that route.
Joe
Just to clarify what's on my newer Dell's original boot drive- a 256 GB Samsung eSATA drive- as described by Acronis- when I choose to make a new disk backup.
ESP .1 GB of .5 GB
DIAGS .1 GB of .5 GB
WINRETOOLS .3 GB of .7 GB
PBR image 10.1 GB of 10.8 GB
OS(C:) 106.2 GB of 226.3 GB
I was told in the Dell community forum that the first one has something to do with the UEFI which I know exists as a replacement of BIOS so that must be retained. I don't know the purpose of the 2nd, other than something to do with diagnostics. The 3rd is what it describes. The 4th must be the original image of my Win 8.1 plus installed programs- such as MS Office.
I'm going to upgrade to a bigger SSD. it would be so nice if the automatic choice- when recovering from the Acronis boot media and a full disc backup- would copy over the first 4 without expanding them, then expand the C drive to fill all remaining space. Having to tinker with the numbers is a pain.
Joe
So, I've decided to review other backup programs, beginning with Macrium Reflect. So far, I like it a lot! After installing it- up came an option to produce a boot media- and it's not a Linux but a WinPE. It examined my old Dell for drivers and it couldn't find a disk drive controler- giving me the name of what it was looking for. I then checked in Device Drivers and found it. I then pointed the program to that location- and, voila- a WinPE! With Acronis, it's much more complicated- with a need for us to download files, blah, blah- Macrium made it almost effortless.
So far, Acronis is unable to make a Linux boot media on my old Dell to a flash drive, despite numerous attempts. But, Macrium Reflect did so on the first try.
And, I like very much their user interface- a traditional UI, easy to see what's going on. I quickly did a full backup and its clock was right on regarding how much time was left to finish the backup and validation.
I'm also going to try NovaBACKUP. Both Macrium and NovaBACKUP have trial versions.
Even Dell offers a backup program!
I just remembered how I fixed the problem noted above- after I couldn't get Acronis to recover (on my old Dell) to a new SSD without updating the boot partition to use all of the unallocated space on the new drive, I was able to fix it by going into Disk Management (still running Vista on the old Dell).
But, when I update my new Dell- to a larger SSD, if Acronis can't do it- and I have to resort to one of the other backup programs since I'll have backups from all of these programs, I'll dump Acronis for good.
Joe
Joseph, glad Macrium is working for you! If it's easier to use in your setup than Acronis, I'd say use it to. Not sure if you are using the free version or the paid version, but be aware that the free version does not allow for file/folder backup (only full images), encryption is not available, incrementals are not available, recovery to different hardware is not available, and there are a few other limitations.
I have posted other comments about the comparison of both and they each have positive and negative issues. Particularly ther reliability and/or speed fo the bootable recovery media seems to vary from system to system and sometimes one is faster than the other.
As for Acronis default bootable recovery being Linux, it is true that the drivers are not always there and updates have been slower to be added. Acronis is working on updating the drivers for newer hardware and we are hoping to see more frequent updates as well However, Acronis also has the WinPE builder capability and that is the recomended method of creating bootable media if the default Linux one is not working. Acronis will have no problem backing up and restoring your new Dell as long as the correct drivers are in your WinPE.
I've used , and still use, various backup programs - even Macrium free. However, for me, personally, Acronis offline bootable media (when built correctly) has resulted in 100% backup and recovery if pushing an image back to the same PC. Recovery to other systems is also very good, but you have to know the limitations of your sytem BIOS and/or how to configure them so that images built on different hardware are compatible with other hardware bios.
The default Acronis WinPE, if created with the Windows 10ADK will work on almost any system out of the box with no need for any additional drivers. Earlier versions of the ADK (say if you build it on a Win7/8/8.1) system are more limited, but that is because Windows ADK doesn't have all of the latest drivers and that's a limitation of Microsoft ADK.
In some cases, you may still need to add custom drivers manually using Windows ADK commands or third party tools like DISMGUI, but those instances are far fewer (usually only with newer or third party RAID controllerss). In my work enviornment we primarily use Dell and have just about every Latitude Model and Precision Model (desktop and laptop) available right now. ATIH and SNAP Deploy 5 work flawlessly on them for back and recovery, so long as your bootable media has the correct drivers, and WinPE is the way to go if the Linux resuce media builder doesn't recognize the device. I've never used the paid version of Macrium for bare metal restores to different hardware so can't speak to how reliable that is, but in the case of Acronis products, it is phenomenal (in my opinion). ATIH is a bit more limited as a home product, requiring univesal restore to be run after an image push in that case, but Snap Deploye and Acronis Workstation 11.5/11.7 have this built in diretly to the deployment process and works great too.