Windows 10: Best backup program?

You are absolutely correct on this. Lots of people don't realize that Acronis modified the Master Boot Record and no software will be able to uninstall it unless going thru the manual procedure like you did. The 2 drivers (forgot the names) are loaded after POST and prior to Windows startup so if you delete the 2's .sys drivers in C:\windows\system32, Windows will crash. Software such as Revo Uninstaller removed everything related to Acronis but still could not remove the drivers.

 

FOLLOWUP:
Thank you all for the excellent advice and help. And especially thanks for continuing to help.

I took the easy way out. I had a computer chat with Acronis support and explained the situation. I usually have poor luck with tech support who often know less than I do. But this time, the tech (in India based on his name and accent), was a wiz! Surprise!

He connected via TeamViewer (which I already had installed because I use it to support some of my friends) and went through
- standard uninstall
- Acronis cleaner tool, which took out a bunch of registry entries.
- then opened regedit and deleted several more.
- did a few more checks
- rebooted the laptop, which rebooted normally! Yeah!
- and then made a few more checks and declared me free of Acronis.

It is unconscionable that a purchased program would take all this to uninstall - leave alone modify the customer's mbr! I too have purchased many succesive versions of ATI in the past but no more. Why they decided to destroy their reputation this way is unfathomable.

Anyway, I'm finally rid of them. I may purchase Reflect just to support the good guys.

I hope this helps someone else, and thank you all again

Funny thing, I have Revo on this laptop and just didn't think to use it. Dummy me!

 

Don't matter now about Revo, Very glad that Acronis Support helped you solve your issue!!! Great Job Curious *Smile *Thumbs*Thumbs

 

No, thank you!
(This phone browser does not give me the option to click on a thank icon so I used up some bandwidth to do it).

 

@Curious, I'd suggest you try the free version and check how it works for you before paying for a license.

Macrium Reflect Free

Backup software is coupled tightly with the OS and there can be incompatibilities with some installed applications. Just make sure you do not have any continuous backup or imaging software installed. They use VSS. If you do, temporarily disable any currently running or scheduled backup tasks before taking MR for a test drive.

Good luck! *Smile

 

You are right Beaupeep. I downloaded and installed the latest free version of Macrium Reflect (v6) and made a "system backup" to an external drive. It seemed to work correctly and I can see the backed up files on the ext drive, but at the end Reflect free froze and I was forced to close it manually. So, I restarted Reflect and the log was empty for this backup. I decided to try another system backup which is running right now and this is the error it put up at the start (see attached).
I frankly don't know what the error about VSS is because I am not sure how to turn VSS off or on. Could you help?

I also would like to contact Macrium to ask about why the program froze but I cannot access their support or register on their forum till I provide an order number (that is after purchase) since they apparently don't provide support for the free version.

 

Hi,

Macrium Reflect has a menu in the top taskbar just to the left of the Help menu that lets you view the VSS events and also, just underneath, Fix VSS problems.

This is why I wanted you to check with Windows Event Viewer to see if there are any related errors there such CAPI2 warnings etc.
Further to that please also check if Volume Shadow Copy service is running : Run : services.msc > Volume Shadow Copy when Macrium is launched. Per default it is set to manual. Try to start it.

Also from an elevated command prompt run the following command : VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS

For every output you should see : NO ERROR.



Cheers, *Wink

 

The VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) runs on demand and can be stopped/started in the Services panel. Press the Windows key + R, type in 'services.msc' in the box and press enter. Scroll down to the VSS entry, right click for a context menu then clock on Start. Does the service start successfully? If not, in the Macrium Reflect window click on Other Tasks ---> Fix VSS Problems.

This is the issue:

Troubleshooting Microsoft VSS errors - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

VSS Error:0x8000ffff - Backup aborted! - Failed To Create Volume Snapshot. - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Hope this helps.

 

It does. Thank you. I'll take care of it.

 

Thank you. Greatly appreciated.

 

Hi there

The Best backup program is the one that WORKS for you.
However with all these programs DO TEST A RESTORE - it's no good getting what you think is an error free backup and then it fails to restore when you need it.

Too many people just assume because the backup gave a message completed successfully that it will restore OK. In general it will but you should always TEST - especially if it's a program you haven't used before.

As to recommendations - there's enough info in the thread --I just wanted to add the bit about TESTING THE RESTORE !!!.

Try it either on a spare computer or to an HDD that you can swap in / out so you've still got the original if the restore fails.

Cheers
jimbo

 

These are wise words. I'm an old experienced computer user myself, so I agree with you.

I always check the restore. That is why I gave up on Acronis. That is also why I use at least 2 backup tools, Reflect and another. One never knows. Before I started this thread, I updated a firewall program that crashed on this very W10 laptop and totally corrupted the system partition. I used an EasyUS Todo backup to restore and it restored everything (system and data) with no problems. That is why I am keeping EasyUS Todo for second backups in addition to Reflect.

After the vss repair, I made a system backup with Reflect, and restored, and all went well. So, now I am all set, with dual backup systems, Reflect and EasyUS Todo, on 3 external hard drives. Enough redundancy for me.

And I of course have rescue media.

Thanks for your comment. This is an excellent group and I hope this thread helps others. I am new to W10 and wanted to learn if there were some related backup novelties I needed to learn more about.

 

Of course Windows 10 does have its own tool (daftly called 'window backup and restore (windows 7)').

Your advice is good about using two versions but tbh, I have found MRF to be so good, I don't personally bother as I always keep valuable data on on another drive, backing that up with just file explorer. So in worst case, I have to reinstall OS plus progs.

The only time I have had to do that (as MRF has never let me down) was when my main laptop mobo decided to go to the bit bucket in the sky. I could have tried to reinstate OS on new laptop using MRF but that is never a great idea due to driver issues.

 

Have faced issues with folder backup programs including Goodsync, Memeo and Genie9, here's a Swiss utility/program for real time backups or folder syncs:

Bvckup 2 | Simple fast backup

Been using it for over a year now. It is very fast & works beautifully just like, well, a Swiss watch *Biggrin

 

Veeam offers a free solution called Veeam Endpoint backup. Great for workstation level backups while they also offer enterprise level solutions.