Windows 7: Acronis vs Paragon backup software.

I have used Acronis for years. But with 7, I'm considering using Paragon.
Have any of you used both? What is the difference?
I mean, Paragon is FREE! It appears to be about the same thing really but free.
Mine is for home use, no server.
One thing I love about Acronis is that you can click the image it has made and it mounts it as a virtual drive. And on that virtual drive you can open and move files to your c drive without restoring the whole c if you want to do it that way. Just move files and folders between real and virtual drives.
Is that possible in Paragon?
Thanks!
Mark

Hi there
Acronis runs like greased lightning compared with paragon.
System of Incremental backups seems easier to manage.
Individual file restore can be done even from "Image" backups.

Backups can be made to networked devices .

Paragon *might* have improved since I last tried it -- all I can say that I've been using ACRONIS for at least 5 years now with never a hiccup either.

Acronis will even backup and restore LINUX partitions - and the Universal restore feature means you can restore an image to UNLIKE hardware and load drivers -- I use this quite frequently in creating Virtual Machines from an existing windows image.

For things like backups its worth paying - even though I like using opensource or free software when I can get hold of it.

Just think how much it would cost to replace a music library if you didn't have backup.

I'd go for Acronis. It doesn't cost a fortune -- you can get a free trial to see if you like it anyway.

I think the FREE version of paragon is quite hobbled compared with a paid for version in any case.

Cheers
jimbo

Just curious, what, if any, advantages are there to using Windows7 own backup module? I ask because I just setup my external HD finally for backup purposes and have started doing regular scheduled backups and am interested.

Hi there
Windows 7 backup is better than nothing -- but it will only create an IMAGE of Windows 7.

Usually it's a good idea to separate the OS from DATA such as music, pictures, email etc etc.

With a commercial product you can backup and restore these separately, you can backup / restore selected directories or even files and you can manage "incremental" backups -- that is backups where only data that has CHANGED since the last backup is backed up again.

Cheers
jimbo

ok I'm a bit confused, I used Windows 7 backup to manually select all my data folders (music, pictures, software, etc) to backup PLUS create a system image of my OS. Currently, I keep them separated partition wise on my computer and now I am backing them up both on the external drive.

Hi,

I have used many of these products and done comparative testing ( on my own systems - yours may be different).

You cannot compare FREE products with PAID products.

Paid products will always have more features.

However, depending on you requirements, the FREE products may be all you need.

For example - the Macrium and Paragon FREE versions will allow you to back up and restore any combination of partitions/drives , and they allow you to schedule.

They also allow you to access the contents of the backup images and retrieve any files/folders , instead of restoring the entire image.

Windows System image is included free, of course. It is not especially quick , and because it produces .vhd files - the image is much larger than the other FREE offerings. You can access individual files and folders from an image if you like.

The limitation with the Windows app. is the difficulty of selecting which partitions or combinations you want to back up - and selecting which you want to restore to where. It is very inflexible in that regard. You can get some additional control using the command line.

The Macrium FREE can be made to go very fast - the fastest in the business - and it is low on resource usage ( on my system - at top speed and medium compression - Macrium averages 22% cpu use). The program itself is also very small , and so is the boot disc , which loads very quickly.

MACRIUM:

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

How to create a disk image with Macrium Reflect

How to create the Macrium Linux rescue CD

How to recover your PC using the Linux rescue CD

Paragon FREE does not have a high speed setting. That is deliberate. Paragon concentrate on low resource usage - they figure you don't want to sit and watch your regular scheduled backups - you want to work over the top as easily as possible.

Nevertheless, Paragon is a bit faster than Windows own backup - and produces much smaller images. CPU usage on my system averages 9%. There are also no paragon services running constantly.

PARAGON:

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Free Edition

How to Create an Image with Paragon B&R 10

How to Restore Data with Paragon B&R 10

There are a couple of "FREE" versions of Acronis. If you have a WD, or a Seagate Drive - they are available to d/l from the manufacturers sites.

They are the same as the paid versions, with fewer functions.

Like the Macrium and Paragon , the "FREE" Acronis versions allow you to image and restore any partitions you like, and allow you to access the image to retrieve individual files and folders.

They also include a clone ( disk copy ) function - which you don't get in the other two. However , you do not get a scheduling function in the "FREE" Acronis.

Acronis can go quite fast on the High setting - 30% faster than Paragon ( which has no high speed setting). BUT the cpu usage averages 25% which is 3 times the Paragon cpu use.

Macrium is much faster than Acronis ( if that's important to you) and lower in cpu use.

You can see they fulfill broadly similar functions - but vary in the implementation and efficiency. Acronis is much higher in resource use than the others - that may not bother you.


Seagate DiskWizard

Maxtor MaxBlast

Acronis True Image WD Edition

It's that feature that I find really exciting and useful, especially across a domain network say. Mind if I ask which version of Acronis this would need to be? Also, what of Ghost; anyone have any thoughts, is it as easy to use as Acronis. Thanks all.