stay away from win 7

[soulfood]

hi i heard someone said on these forums to stay away from windows 7 backups which only does incremental backups, he uses norton or macreum or something, ? what is a good back up software program? help please, thanks

 

[Wishmaster]

Many different opionions on whats best. The best depends on exactlly what/how you want to backup and what features you need or want.

Personally, I like Acronis. macrium Reflect is another favorite around here.
Windows built in backup works OK, but it just doesnt have as much flexibility and options as some of the other 3rd party solutions do (even the free ones). Some are fine with it, other need more.

 

[ganjiry]

+1 to the above suggestions plus EaseUS Todo backup is a good free backup prog
Free download EaseUS Todo Backup Freeware to complete backup & restore Windows system - EaseUS Todo Backup Free

 

[Night Hawk]

Here after numerous full system image backups I found the built-in option for creating a full image reliable. I would generally use that option over scheduling incremental backups since I store all files needed on other drives backing things up from the host as I go along.

The extras in Acronis True Image were worth the investment there since you can take a full system image and mount it as a second C drive to add or remove files from the image itself as if it was seccond drive of it's own. That also has the option for one click backup once you select the files and folders frrom specific partitions.

With any backup one thing to note is testing the backup to see if all went well. Having a second OS drive here to test a full image backup for example shows whether or not the image made will work in case it is needed at some point to restore the main drive.

 

[marsmimar]

I've been using Windows 7 since it was released to the public in Oct 2009. I've also been using the native imaging tool since that time and I haven't had any issues. With an eSata connection the images are fast and reliable. But because of the info and horror stories I've read at Seven Forums, I also use Macrium Free. And I use two external hard drives to store the images.

You probably won't know an image failed until you try to use it. And then it's too late. So I'm thinking if a 7 image fails chances are the Macrium image will be good. And if external drive 2 fails, external drive 1 will probably be good. It's called redundancy. ( Or being anal if you talk to some folks who know me. )

 

[Night Hawk]

Here I can test any image simply by having a second OS drive I had planned to have following testing 7 plus upgrading into a newer build. I can wipe the second drive at any time once I have verified the integrity of an image created by the Windows backup option or with any 3rd party program.

Initially back in the spring of 2009 I gave the Macruim Reflect a lookover but a simply change in drive letter Reflect labeled the image as invalid when browsing to the folder it was being stored in. With Windows or Acronis on the other hand you may see a drive letter change especially with an external drive you unplug and replug at some point and need to browse to a folder where an image is kept and suddenly either option goes to work.

Here I would be using two options anyways since the images tend to grow in size like 347gb justt seen once all the programs were bakc on the lates clean install of 7! Previously the last one was about 421gb after cleaning up from another 497gb image.

The important thing to remember with any program being used is not to be busy with other apps not just av and other security programs while seeing an image made. Other programs can clash and disrupt the process where then you are more likely to see fails.