Norton
Paragon
They both do the Job the same, use either one.
Often the tests turn out to be sponsored by the paid AV's. We go by real-world usage.
If any of them are better than the freeware all experts here agree is best - MS Security Essentials or Avast 5 with the Win7 firewall - then why has no one complained about MSE or Avast, yet we regularly fix problems here by having user remove bloated paid AV?
Have used most of the commercial Backup solutions on a lot of machines. I had lots and lots of trouble with Norton and would never use it unless forced to. ( Wouldn't use anything else from Norton either!).Once upon a time it was the only game in town, and I used Ghost for a long time, but the last version I bought and used regularly for personal use was version 9.0. Have used other versions on various machines. It has not improved noticeably! I think the present version is about 15.0 or something like that. Paragon stuff sometimes works well, ( wont run or boot recovery media on some machines),and sometimes it doesn't. If Macrium reflect runs on your machine, then it is pretty good. On a lot of machines the recovery media wont boot unless you engage in extensive manipulations with BartPE or similar.
I also bought the O&O Professional recovery suite, and it is reliable, but it is so slow that I eventually gave up on it. Shame I wasted the money!
Since I found this,
Best free data backup software. Hard drive backup and recovery freeware. Hard Disk image freeware.
<http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm>
I use it all the time and have recommended it to friends and associates. It is quick, easy, comfortable, very comprehensive, and very reliable. I have not yet found a machine which would not boot the recovery media, and all recoveries I have made to date using it, ( Which is quite a lot!), have been perfect.
I still use a scheduled backup from Windows internal backup as well, which runs once a week,( one can't have "Too Many" backups! :) )
Regards....Mike Connor
Mike:
I'm just testing out the Easeus app.
Do you have to use a boot CD to restore a partition? I did a test image and walked part way through the restore process and it looked like you could restore from within Windows. I came to a page that said something like "your system partition will be overwritten if you continue", so I stopped and didn't proceed.
I assume it would have shut down, rebooted, restored, and then taken me directly to a desktop, with no need for a boot CD?
First impression: it looks very promising. You can backup just data files or make an image in separate operations. You can drill into any image or file backup and restore any particular file. Took under 7 minutes to make a 12.9 gb image of a 27 gb C partition with "normal" compression.
The only anomaly I noted is that I was originally asked for a password when I tried to do a file backup (not an image). I don't use passwords and could not get past that screen. I then went into options and noticed a passwords section. I didn't make any changes in it, but for whatever reason was allowed to backup files on my second attempt.
I haven't looked at Todo for a little while.
I posted some test results ( on this forum, I think - no idea where they are now ).
I didn't get along with it then - very slow an inefficient .
It may have improved.
Eaeus do a good data recovery app also.
You can still get the Eaeus current PRO 5.01 Data Recovery free from here
Just chuck it on your winpe3 boot media ( has to be 32 bit of course)
http://www.megaleecher.net/Legal_Fre...ecovery_Wizard
Use the RS link they provide - the mediafire is apparently broken
Pargon new free backup and recovery is the best they have done so far - the only 3rd party app. to align partitions to nt6 rules during partition create/image restore.
The last version of the linux boot disc that came with free version was not the best.
I believe the new one that comes with this is better.
In any case you don't need it - you can easily add the Paragon app. to winpe3 media .
You can restore an image from within windows but not to the system partitions of course. For that you need the boot CD. ( Although it may try to do that, I have never tried it!).
You can restore files anywhere or mount an image as a virtual disc, and a lot of other stuff. You have to play around with it to really get to know all the options.
Very versatile software, the best backup software I have ever used, and I have used most of them, commercial and freeware.
I can also endorse the previous poster with regard to other Easeus software. All the freeware products I have tried from them are first class. Better than most comparable commercial software.
Regards....Mike Connor
Lots of apps. will flip into boot time mode in that situation.
It's not completely reliable - there are isolated cases of them getting stuck - often fixed by the boot disc.
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