Acronis vs Paragon backup software.

[7ntn]

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

 

[jimbo45]

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

 

[A320]

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.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
W7 backup is better than nothing -- but it will only create an IMAGE of W7.

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

 

[A320]

ok I'm a bit confused, I used Win7 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.

 

[SIW2]

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.

 

[SIW2]

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

 

[SIW2]

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

 

[SIW2]

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

 

[manhunter2826]

and the Universal restore feature means you can restore an image to UNLIKE hardware and load drivers

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.

 

[SIW2]

Hi manhunter,

I haven't tried the Acronis variation - but I have used Paragon Adaptive Restore - which they have had for quite a while.

It works beautifully. Takes 2 seconds to apply.

Windows on the new machine , boots up, loading the appropriate drivers as it does.

I have this Paragon product Paragon Drive Backup Server - Overview

Adaptive Restore is also included in the less expensive products.

 

[manhunter2826]

Hi manhunter,

I haven't tried the Acronis variation - but I have used Paragon Adaptive Restore - which they have had for quite a while.

It works beautifully. Takes 2 seconds to apply.

Windows on the new machine , boots up, loading the appropriate drivers as it does.

I have this Paragon product Paragon Drive Backup Server - Overview

Adaptive Restore is also included in the less expensive products.

Thanks for that SI and just to be clear does this mean you can restore an image to UNLIKE hardware and load drivers. Thanks.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
with Acronis -- YES -- I haven't tried the paragon version but another poster seems to imply that it works as well.

I'm using Acronis Workstation True Image.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[ryan7]

I've tried

• ATI 11 (Western Digital)
• ATI 2010
• Macrium Reflect
• Paragon
• Windows 7 built-in

• ATI 2010 I had too many issues with
• Macrium worked quite well. I just don't like booting with the CD to restore all the time,
• Paragon I found too confusing, but did seem to do a good job although images were larger than MacRe or ATI
• Windows 7 is good, but you can't specify a folder to put image in and the images are too large.
• ATI 11 WD is what I went back to. Basic, easy and fast...Only con is you have to have a WD hard drive.

 

[SIW2]

Hi manhunter,

Yes , that's what it is for:

Paragon Adaptive Restore is a complete solution for migrating a Windows based system (any edition since Win2K) to a different hardware environment, either physical (P2P) or virtual (P2V). This operation will be as easy and seamless as never before.


Paragon Adaptive Restore will help you recover the operating system’s startup ability, even after an unsuccessful system virtualization by a 3-rd party utility. It also enables you to make a physical Windows-based system bootable on different hardware.


Hope it helps

Hi manhunter,

I haven't tried the Acronis variation - but I have used Paragon Adaptive Restore - which they have had for quite a while.

It works beautifully. Takes 2 seconds to apply.

Windows on the new machine , boots up, loading the appropriate drivers as it does.

I have this Paragon product Paragon Drive Backup Server - Overview

Adaptive Restore is also included in the less expensive products.

Thanks for that SI and just to be clear does this mean you can restore an image to UNLIKE hardware and load drivers. Thanks.

 

[manhunter2826]

Hi manhunter,

Yes , that's what it is for:

Paragon Adaptive Restore is a complete solution for migrating a Windows based system (any edition since Win2K) to a different hardware environment, either physical (P2P) or virtual (P2V). This operation will be as easy and seamless as never before.


Paragon Adaptive Restore will help you recover the operating system’s startup ability, even after an unsuccessful system virtualization by a 3-rd party utility. It also enables you to make a physical Windows-based system bootable on different hardware.


Hope it helps

Hi manhunter,

I haven't tried the Acronis variation - but I have used Paragon Adaptive Restore - which they have had for quite a while.

It works beautifully. Takes 2 seconds to apply.

Windows on the new machine , boots up, loading the appropriate drivers as it does.

I have this Paragon product Paragon Drive Backup Server - Overview

Adaptive Restore is also included in the less expensive products.

Thanks for that SI and just to be clear does this mean you can restore an image to UNLIKE hardware and load drivers. Thanks.

Thanks SI and jim

 

[jagooch]

So the winner is Paragon?

 

[Ponmayilal]

Since Paragon software is being discussed here, it is appropriate for me to share my experience with Paragon Backup. ( I use the licensed version of Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2010 Suite and I always do the backup and restore from the recovery CD rather than from within Windows)

When I groomed my Zotac Zbox HD-ID11 Mini-PC (with a new Seagate Momentus 2.5" 500GB HDD installed by me) in June/July this year, I took backups using both my ShadowProtect Recovery CD as well as Paragon Recovery CD. No problems.

A month back I again tried to take the backups as a routine. This time Paragon declined saying that there are errors in the disk and I should run the appropriate tools from the manufacturer and check it.

Now ShadowProtect Recovery CD. It reported that there are some non-fatal errors but went on to create the backup.

The HDD failed the Seatools for Windows test, whereupon I downloaded and burnt the SeatoolsDOS (hmmmm...that's gonnabe the last time I burnt a CD. No more burning CDs. Only USB pendrives )

Seatools DOS did find errors in 8 blocks and repaired it. Thereafter Paragon successfully backed up the system partition.

I also have to report that I did not experience any problems in running the PC with those errors and so was unaware of it till reported by Paragon. (The system partition has only the OS and program files. Data and Media are stored in other partitions.)

Now what is the verdict? Is Shadowprotect which went on with the backup because the errors were non-fatal better or Paragon which insisted that I correct them before it could?

 

[jagooch]

Good question. I'd rather have the backup happen than not happen. Since I am not home very ofter, and very busy when I am home, I tend to run maintenance actions at night in an unattended mode.

Which means its best if the process doesn't prompt me for anything except at the very beginning when I present, so that when I get back hours ( days ) later, I find the process is done, and check the report to see if there were any problems that I should know about. If I came home only to find "hey, non-fatal error here. Want me to continue? Click OK to continue" on the screen, I would uninstall the application and try a different one..


PS. My trial of Paragon did not go well. It tried to backup my C: drive and failed. Then I let my Netbook run out of power to test the hibernate function, and it would not boot back up. It displayed "Press F6 to start Paragon Recovery Tools" , whether I pressed it or not, the screen would go blank with just a flashing curson. I booted Windows recovery disk and ran bootrec.exe /fixmbr to get rid of Paragon, and my system started up normally.

As you may have guessed , I uninstalled Paragon first thing after I booted up.

I'm going with Acronis 2010

 

[viruzth]

I'm using with Acronis and it's working.
So I'm fine with it.

Dunno about Paragon.