Windows 7: Which Backup should I buy

I have Acronis 2010 which will not restore one of my computers. I went to amazon.com and Acronis and Ghost got bad reviews so I guess people are having trouble with them just like I am and they are the most popular. If I can buy a new backup software and get tech support for a month then I should be ok but I have a computer I can't backup now. Also what is the deal with a Backup family pack for 3 computers? When I backup I take my computers off line so I know I'm getting a good backup. Also how good is Windows 7 Home premium backup?

You could try Macrium Free. The link is in my signature.

There is no need to do the backup offline. Macrium uses VSS to lock the image at the start of the backup.

Follow Kado's advice. After trying the free ver you may want to purchase. I was a long time user of Acronis but expierenced a lot of bugs that could have been just particular to me and my hardware. Never the less I changed to Macrium (paid) and am trouble free.

Thank you for your post but Macrium is an online backup only with no phone support. Take a look at the link.

Acronis True Image Home 2012 vs Macrium Reflect

That's rubbish. Macrium images to disk. See this tutorial. Imaging with free Macrium

Sorry to hear that you have had some problems with Acronis. I personally use the 2010 product and it has been absolutely great for me, no disappointments.

The suggestion of the free Macrium Reflect is a good one. I've used that program at work. There is also Easeus Todo Backup..which is a pretty good free application as well. I've also used that one from time to time at work.

Man that link is really off base in their evaluation. It referred to Macrium Ver 4.xx which is out of date. But still is incorrect in its abilities. What ever you choose i would avoid ATI 2012. A trip to Acronis support forum might be an eye opener.

IMO, there are only two backup software worth considering.

Majority here go with Macrium Reflect but I go with Paragon.

Some comparison of various backup software here Paragon Backup & Restore Free vs Macrium Reflect Free vs EASEUS Todo Backup vs DriveImage XML vs Acronis True Image Home: Which one should you use? | Featured | dotTech

I agree with the others - it is not necessary to pay for any back-up systems and although I have never used the OS options I have used both Acronis (fortunately got a version free via a giveaway) and Macrium and other free software to cater for all my back-up needs. I have done many system images using Acronis and Macrium and have also restored many times too with both - no problems with either. They both use a bootable CD to restore images which has worked fine on my systems. I also prefer to back-up my data with software that doesn't compress the data since this tends to cause the least problems. I use SyncBack but there are several other good alternatives. Whatever options you use it is definitely best to have at least two back-ups and preferably on distinctly different hardware - I use a second internal drive and external USB drives.

You may want to give the Windows 7 backup utility a try in order to avoid incurring more cost unnecessarily.

This tutorial by Brink may be of use to you and I think it's worth giving it a try.

Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

You mention Windows Home Premium so it's worth remembering that you wouldn't be able to backup to a domain when using Windows backup software with HP. For that you would need the Professional or Ultimate versions.