Acronis or Paragon???

I had terrible luck with Acronis on Windows 7, 64 bit.  I could never get it to work.  Even when Tech Support logged onto my machine (several times), they couldn't get it working either.  Although there is a 30 day money back gaurantee with them, they will make you work for it to get it back.  I finally did though.

I can't comment on the other one as I have no experience with it.

HTH

Kurrykid: Is it possible that you had an older version? Supposedly they only recently added 64 bit support in True Imagae 2011

kurrykid: What exactly was the problem? Can you be more specific about why it didnt work or what was wrong?

I've used True Image countless times...
Paragon is also an excellent tool.
Can't make a bad decision either way... 

Isn't anyone familiar with that particular Pragon software (Drive Copy 11 Professional)?

I guess not.

There are other contenders, 'considering MY specific setup (XP SP2), and that I primarily want it for 'clone backup' (O/S, Drivers, Settings, Activations)!

  Other Backup Software:

. NovaBackup (apparently rated #1 for ease of use and reliability)
. DT Utilities PC Backup
. Genie Backup Management
. Acronis True Image (no need to install (portable) but there's been a few negative reviews)!
. Easeus Backup Tool
. NTI Backup
. Norton Ghost (no need to install (portable) can backup entire system but a little more complicated to setup/configure correctly)
. Power Backup
. Turbo Backup
. Paragon Hard Disk Manager
. Paragon Drive Copy 11 Professional
. DriveImage Free for personal use but no support, or from $100 for 5 licenses - for commercial use + support.

From Acronis website > requirements > supported O/S:

Windows 7 all Editions

Windows Vista all Editions SP2

Windows XP Home Edition (X32, SP3)

Windows XP Professional (X32/X64, SP2) 



    QUOTE:  considering MY specific setup (XP SP2)

Has anyone using XP Home 32, SP2 had any success with the current version of Acronis?

If I were to purchase TIH 2011, Acronis probably wouldn't support me as I wouldn't be using an approved OS.  I might be stuck with a piece of useless software.  How can I 'confirm' for sure that a successful backup and recovery will absolutely work by trying out the demo?    If I knew what particular update(s) was in SP3 that is required for TIH 2011 to work successfully then I might give it a go.


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post edited by SongCraft - 2011/03/26 14:48:09

JonD


Songcraft,
 
If you can try the Acronis demo (and are comfortable editing the registry), here's a way to "trick" an XP-SP2 system into thinking it's SP3:
 
 http://www.tricksnhacking.com/converting-windows-xp-sp2-to-sp3-with-no-installation-simple-trick/
 
Just to be safe, though, make a backup (export) of the registry before you do anything.
 
Good luck.
 

Thanks Jon,

I'll look into that reg hack (Bookmarked), and yeah I will most definitely backup the registry before I attempt that reg tweak, but I'm not sure if that will be OK with my older software's which requires specifically SP2 or works best with SP2.

Anyway at the very least, worse case scenario I have backups of my audio and midi projects.

Eventually (by late 2011 or early 2012) I'm going to have to bite the bullet and upgrade my O/S (Windows 7, Professional) along with upgrades to various programs (Sonar, Sony Vegas, Photoshop, DreamWeaver and others)!! Costly, but worth it, but oh boy I'm going need to start save, save, saving money.

Free version of Paragon

Wow Jon, great find :)

Funny, I did go to that site last week and did not see it. Now I just downloaded it and noticed it has quite a lot of neat features which is excellent for a freebie.

I'm unfamiliar with how to run the backup and recovery, I guess it's not difficult!?! Anyway, I also downloaded the manual.

I use & like Acronis. The one problem I had with it (and it was a major one) was when I used "Try & Decide", which is supposed to let you try out software and return to the previous state or accept the changes it makes to your system. I ended up having to modify my MBR to get my system back -- I couldn't even boot up with the Acronis recovery CD. An Acronis tech talked me through the procedure, and he was clearly reading from a script -- that told me I wasn't the first to experience this.

Other than that, it's great. I think I'm still on v.10, so maybe they've fixed it.

-Susan

Update: So i went with Acronis and i could not be happier... Set up was a breeze and everything worked as expectedon my Win7X64 machine....

Only thing that bothered me was that in 2011 true image you cant leave coments about the backup until after the backup is complete... Not a big deal at...

So thanx for all your input guys...

If you make a mistake and delete a file or mess up your entire system, Acronis Nonstop Backup is your savior.

 
If you actually knew what you were talking about... your advice might be useful. 
FYI: You don't want any "non-stop" backup routine running in the background on a DAW!
 
The weather is nice when it's sunny.
You should enjoy the warm temperature.
If the temperature gets too hot, an air-conditioner is your savior.
Both your car and house probably have air-conditioning units.    
 

The weather is nice when it's sunny.
You should enjoy the warm temperature.
If the temperature gets too hot, an air-conditioner is your savior.
Both your car and house probably have air-conditioning units.

Jim Roseberry: Zen Master

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.

Paragon include disk management utilities acronis true image doesn't, you have to buy disk director in addition to manage your drive, check this article for detailed comparison http://www.acroniscoupon....hard-disk-manager.html