Backup vs. clone ...favorite backup program?

Generally, the image is smaller than the data it contains, because there is some compression done.
 
A drive image is a very bad way to backup your data for one very important reason. An image is a single gigantic file that can be used to restore the state of the drive/partition. Like any file it is subject to corruption due to media failure etc. If it is corrupted then your data is all gone. Less important reasons include the fact that most images are in a proprietary format, and in the future you may not be able to restore or extract data without access to the same program that you used to create it. You may have lost that program, or it may not be compatible with your new hardware/operating system etc. It is also not easy to extract a single file, although most commercial imaging software will let you view and copy the files within the image. But if you change a file and want to backup a copy of the new file, you do not want to have to image the whole drive again to do that. Backups of a file are ideally the file itself copied in its native format. An image is useful to copy a working system (OS programs settings etc.).
 
Backup programs (and to my knowledge Acronis includes a backup feature) copy single files, and typically can compare versions of files to see if the file has changed since the last backup. That saves time and storage space since each version is stored only once. Most also store the backups in proprietary compressed format by default. Large file backup storage and proprietary formats are vulnerable for the same reason that a drive image is a bad way to back things up. Given the huge amount of storage available now, it is foolish to committ your data to proprietary compression to save a couple of gigabytes on your backup drive.
 
I use Cobian Backup without compression.
I use

 Programs like Acronis make images that are much smaller than the original drive size. Acronis True Image offers cloud backup in addition to the regular imager although for an extra fee. Maybe this is an added reason to buy it or maybe not.

 Sorry slartabartfast but I have gone over to the dark side lol. I decided that in the interest of simplicity and time savings I would back up using Acronis True Image.

 I remember the post you mention Paul. It is no problem to make a startup disk. Having said that I had already loaded the program onto my computer and I haven't noticed any real cpu hogs. The footprint seems small and unobtrusive. I can use one single 500 gb. drive to image both C and D drives with plenty of space left over.

 Any file has the possibility of corruption later on. Maybe the chances are greater with an image? I'm not sure. To be safe there is nothing stopping you from making the same image on different drives. Then you have redundancy built in . Backing up to a cloud means that if a tornado comes along and wipes out your computer and all of your drives, you still have the cloud image. There is risk with any method I suppose. Who knows where the cloud has it backed up? In this case though, there is likely also redundancy.

Cloning takes a little longer but is simpler. I clone the entire drive. Use Syntor every evening to keep data up to date and re-clone maybe once a month depending on how many new programs I've installed.

Every so often I boot off the clone drive and update windows files.

The good news with this is that if your drive fails you are two minutes from being up and running again on the clone.

John