Windows 10: View Poll Results: What backup / imaging software you use?

I am certain everybody trusts you implicitly. You could do it offline and draw names from a hat on your own as far as I am concerned and I would still trust the results (by the way - what is your favourite scotch *Wink - just kidding of course *Smile).

 

I use AOMEI Pro as my backup software. Started using the free version of AOMEI a few years back, liked it and so bought the Pro version. It's never let me down.

 

I've found that on my Dell Venue 11 I have to use the Microsoft own System Image method because there are a few pendrive installation that would allow me to boot the UEFI PC in case of a disaster to catch back the backup and restore it. Macrium and AOMEI free installations don't offer a reliable way to do so, while the Window10 Installation media works wonderfully. I assume a paid licence of Macrium would bring a better result.

 

I am surprised you say Macrium does not offer a reliabe way to boot the uefi pc. I have use MRF on various tablest eg Linx 8, HP Stream 7, a cheapo chinese one, and it was the only tool I found that ever worked reliably.

 

The "lottery ticket list" has been updated just now, Macco26 (post #77) being the last entry at the moment with ticket #39.

It only takes one unsatisfied member to start a flow of complaints, that's why the draw must be as transparent as possible, that's why it will be done in TF Saturday Live Chat, that's why staff & team are excluded, that's why it will be recorded and posted here.

Anyway, I appreciate your kind words *Smile

 

Thanks for the updates about the post count and the changes of the rules @Kari *Smile

 

I use Acronis. Have paid version.

 

Using Macrium Reflect on 2 pc's and 1 laptop. Has saved me on all at least once. I use Acronis as a 2nd backup just in case -- guess I'm overly protective.

 

What's up with Norton?
Is it the "red headed stepchild" of image backer-uppers?

 

The poll option is badly named by me, should have called it Symantec or Ghost but anyway those using it know what to choose. At the moment no members seem to use it.

It also covers Norton Cloud Backup which if an honest opinion is allowed is pure robbery: €29.99 first year €39.99 subsequent years for just 25 GB of cloud backup storage (£39.99 per year in UK, $49.99 in US).

 

I used to use Norton Ghost years ago and it was actually very reliable but when UEFI pcs came out they stopped developing it, and it is no longer available, It was replaced with Symantec System Recovery but this was on a lease basis for the corporate market and was very buggy. It is probably ok now but not strictly (afaik) available for domestic users.

 

Ghost was pretty reliable in its day, but real buggy. It certainly wasn't intended for the average home user.

I don't know if they still have it, but Seagate had a little known program at one time named Replica. I used it for a while. It was slow and methodical, but it never failed to work. I know it saved my bacon several times.

 

Use Macrium Reflect -- have for years. Started out (like so many others) using Ghost, but then when I needed it the most, if failed (Murphy's Law?). So, I switched over to Acronis True Image -- and it worked fine for a few years, but then, it started getting buggy, so much so that their forums were full of complaints about it failing. When IT failed on me, I switched over to MR. And have been using it -- without failure -- ever since. Especially like the fact they made the WinRE boot option available on their free version.

 

After trying most of the options above Macrium Reflect was found to be in my opinion the most reliable and easy imaging software to use from the novice to the more experienced user. And not bloated like some have become.

 

I've been using Macrium Reflect for ~5 years now and haven't looked back. I've used Symantec, Acronis, Mozy, and a few others just to name a few. I remember the days when Macrium would take fever to start up, simply because it had to analyze the disks before reaching the GUI. That was a pain, but somewhere in the v6 release that issue was corrected and Macrium now starts up blazing fast!

I, too, have the pro edition. I run a single full backup against all my volumes and incrementals for life for every backup thereafter (synthetic fulls). This has it's advantages in helping me to preserve disk space on my backup volume. Also, backups are much quicker since Macrium is only fetching and looking for changed files during the incremental backups. Never have to worry about slamming my disks during weekly fulls like I had to back in previous versions which were pre-synthetic full days. Therefore, my disks life span is greatly increased due to less reads being performed.So, Synthetic Full backups it is for me! Incrementals for life!

I love the winPE integration. I've tested this feature many times with success and find that Macrium works great on boot and allows me to conditionally overwrite file restores. No more physical discs needed on boot.

Macrium is very light, not needing much disk space, comes with excellent support, and continuous updates on a bi-weekly basis.

The logging is detailed and very easy to read and analyze. Provides an event viewer type interface with verbose logging to help troubleshoot without going into a debug mode.

The GUI is very organized and provides a simplistic approach to managing and administering the environment.

Indexing works great and is extremely fast in allowing for an image mount and granular browsing of files for restores.

Allowing the user to select the encrypting level works great and provides peace of mind for protecting the backup images.

Compression is very efficient and provides on average ~40% compression rate. This helps reduce the backup image size and helps save disk space.

Scheduling is efficient and provides a robust interface which seamlessly integrated with Windows Task Scheduler.

Restores are very easy to do through mounting the image and simply dragging and dropping the file.

Backups are extremely fast and uses an amazing algorithm to take advantage of all the latest technologies Windows has to offer without jeopardizing performance.

The email integration works flawlessly for sending notifications on successful and failed backups. A great feature that is fully customizable and works amazing. One of the best I've ever worked with and seen in the data backup and disaster recovery field.

Disk cloning is very efficient and accurate which provides redundancy to keep you going throughout production hours so you don't have any interruptions throughout your workday.

Settings are specified and written into an XML file, which can be modified ad-hoc to accommodate any changes that need to be made on the fly.

Pre and Post backup scripts can be created for automation tasks and purposes before and after a back runs or completes. This feature works amazing and can help save tons of time through automation.

Updates are automatic and connects to an FTP server to automate the install for the latest updates and upgrades for the product. Very intuitive!

Finally, the licensing is very legitimate. That's how you can tell how reputable a company is, through its licensing. You cannot torrent or crack it's licensing methodology. There's a lot to be said about a company that believes in its product so much to have integrated such a strict licensing model and activation method. Kuddos to Macrium for that! When I first saw the software that's how I knew this company was legit and not some small time, let me make a few bucks, kind of company.

I mean I can go on and on with the features included into the professional version, which is a cheap price to pay for data backup and disaster recovery. Just today, I modified a file incorrectly which synchronized with OneDrive. I had to delete the file, but recovered it through Macrium. I didn't use the software often for restores, maybe once or twice per year, but when I do need to do a file recovery I know I can depend on the reliability of Macrium Reflect!

Honestly, I've worked with CommVault, Data Protector, Storage Optimizer, LiveVault, Connected Backup, Veame, Acronis, VM Explorer, Symantec Backup Exec, Symantec Ghost, EMC Avamar, IBM Tivoli, Mozy Pro, Carbonite, OneDrive, CMX (Connected MX), Google Drive, Drop Box, Windows Backup, and few other products. I have to tell you... for the price of Macrium Reflect Pro Home Edition you get an enriched backup platform that other companies charge hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars for the SAME exact features. I don't think most of you understand the product offering at it's price punt compared to other home backup solutions, but even moreso Enterprise level backup solutions. Trust me! This software offers Enterprise level backup and disaster recovery but tied directly to an individual machine.

I'm a Senior Technical Consulting Engineer IV for the largest technology company in the world. I'm in the BIG Data field and over a dozen of Enterprise level data backup and disaster recovery software. Trust me, I get Not For Resale (NFR) licensing that is activated for infinity and never expires, which means I can choose and use any one of the above mentioned products to backup my machine. But I don't! You know why?? Because I LOVE Macrium Reflect fur my own backup and recovery solution. It's a software that just works! It's that simple!

I'm a lifer with Macrium and always promote this product to customers, friends, colleagues, and fault for their own personal machines. Trust me, to all you non-technical people out there looking for a backup solution. Get Macrium and know that it's feature rich platform provides the same features similar to hundred thousand dollar and million dollar software solutions!

The only features I would ask Macrium to add is to provide a sign in before having access to the GUI. This can certainly help with security measures and make it much harder for people to get a hold of and recover the backed up data. Especially if computers are stolen and images are NOT encrypted.

Finally, the only other feature I would request is to add a Dedup engine for duplicate data betting backed up daily that might only have a simple attribute change.

Thanks for reading and keep on enjoying Macrium and their creative development! Can't wait for future releases!