Update on this (Todo backup)
 
I tried an experiment with an old XP computer and Todo 6.5 allows a clone from the external HD. Maybe only crippled for Win 8.  Don't know about Win 7 and not wanting to risk messing anything up trying.
 
John

Obviously too ... for external transfer, network speed/latency or USB3 vs 2 vs 1 will have a large bearing on completion times.

JohnKenn
Should not complain about a free product, but this is unethical at very least. Might have been warned somewhere in the fine print but didn't see any catches.
 
Beware Easeus Todo Free backup and recovery software. The new improved version has some not so good surprises you don’t want to find out when you need it.
 
I’ve used Todo for years and have been saved from several disc failures and crashes thru ver 4 and 5.
Now have ver 6 installed and have my drives cloned in case of disaster.
 
Beside the new annoying popups to buy the better stuff and the cloning going forward sometimes without a restart (was a flag), everything worked well.
 
Last night, my win 8.1 went down and I went for Todo. It started in the same manner and then a popup that cloning from an external disc is now only supported with the paid version. You can do a flawed job of cloning TO a disc, but can’t use the free version to recover from the disc any more. They give you the website hyperlink to start paying, now that they screwed you and you are in a vulnerable position.
 
I was able to use an Acronis boot disc which got me running, but could not recover maybe 10% of what it saw as corrupted files cloned by Todo. Don’t know if they’ve crippled the new improved Todo boot disc.
 
Have not tried the Win 8 cloning tool, which is supposed to work. Antbody tried this?
 
Will probably get Acronis paid up for an upgrade. I know the cloning softwares are continually improving.
 
What are folks using that seems to work rock solid for a complete disc clone.  Thanks.
 
John

 
Sorry to hear you are having problems John. I just got a new computer with Windows 8.1 on it, I tried TODO Backup pro and honestly I wasn't that impressed by it.  
 
I found a promotional giveaway if you or anyone are interested where you can get AOMEI Backerupper Pro right now for free until August 5th from the link below. It's what I have started using and so far so good. I like the fact that it lets you create recovery methods using either a USB stick or Disc. I've been using it for a week or so now and so far so good, I did use it to do a full backup and recovery just to test it out when I first tried it and had no problems. I backup to an external hard drive.   
 
Just thought I would mention this in case it might be helpful. This is the promotional giveaway link :
 
http://www.backup-utility.com/giveaway/cnet.html
 
 
Here's a link with information about what the program does : 
 
http://www.backup-utility.com/professional.html

Hey Serious,
 
Was looking for the AOMEI program and all the links were dead. Other products from the guys available but not the backup. Now they got the pro version free for a short window of time.
 
Many thanks for the link, and to others who have helped me wade through this mess. Good to get your feedback on the Todo pro version as well.
 
John

JohnKenn
Hey Serious,
 
Was looking for the AOMEI program and all the links were dead. Other products from the guys available but not the backup. Now they got the pro version free for a short window of time.
 
Many thanks for the link, and to others who have helped me wade through this mess. Good to get your feedback on the Todo pro version as well.
 
John

Something I should have mentioned John, they had a TODO PRO backup promotional giveaway a week or so ago and that's what I tried, but it didn't seem to have no incremental backup feature. To me that is important because I like to make ONE COMPLETE BACKUP and then from time to time if something is important do an Incremental backup saving only the changes instead of having to do a completely new full backup. The AOMEI seems to have it all. Just remember, this promotional giveaway, if you update it then you might lose your freebie license. So check your settings and make sure auto update isn't turned on unless you want it to be.
 
Just thought I would mention that. One good thing about this AOMEI Backupper Pro is it allows you to make either a Windows or Linux Recovery software USB or DISC setup, so depending on what type of PC you are using you don't have to bother with that new PC Windows Boot security feature.
 

Major education here...
 
Have only done one-time destructive backups to clone the hard drive every couple months or so. Never did nor understood the utility of incremental vs differential backups. Could have saved myself a lot of temporal grief. Looks like the AEOMI program pro offering does differential and incremental backups
 
Still learning if only at a vegetable level.
 
John

Gentlemen,
 
Could I pick some good brains amonst us.
 
I've been a bottom feeder on the backup front, and have just cloned discs. Has saved me several times.
 
Now looking at incremental and differential backups from images.
 
Reading thru the tutorials from Todo and AEOMI. Both come to opposite conclusions. AEOMI says the most stable and reliable backup is incremental. Todo says differential is the safest way to go.
 
Virgin paranoia turning over my hard core bit per bit clone to an image.
 
Was seeking advice about the reliability of an image versus clone in event of a meltdown needing BIOS boot, and what is happening with incremental versus differential backups.
 
Thanks in advance. Seems like even the experts can't agree.
 
John
 
Noted that Todo and Macrium do not allow differential/incremental backups in the free versions. AEOMI does, for what it is worth.

John
can only help so much - I use Acronis True image on all my systems - I do a full back up and then incremental - i think its set for 6 - 8 incremental back ups, then it does a full back up again - so far I've never had an issue with this regime in all the time I've been using Acronis, which I think is about 6 years now - I changed from a free back up program (can't remember the name) which seemed Ok, but one day I had a major crash and it didn't work properly and all was lost - so since then I have shied away from free back up programs as the grief this cost me (time and frustration mainly but grief all the same!!) I thought wasn't worth the small price of buying a decent proven product - and Acronis is not that expensive - I purchased a multi license package, 6 or 8 licenses I think it was, and this cost me around $75 at the time.
I have used Acronis for recovery, that worked well and I recently purchased a new Computer for my  studio in Cape Town - I cloned my system here in Barbados, took a USb external drive to Cape Town with me and gave it to my friend who was building the new system and he basically just copied this onto a new system, so I ended up with an exact copy - all I had to do was register a few programs etc - this was also where I realized what an advantage having iLoks can be!!!! 
Hope this helps
Nigel

Thanks Nigel,
 
This does help and looking back, amplifies what Serious recommended. Had downloaded the AEOMI Pro and it does incremental backups as well. Keeping Acronis on the one computer I have the old 2012 license for. Acronis is a great program. Like you said, cheap is great until something goes down and you find it doesn't work.
 
Cape Town... Must be a blessing to be near tropical waters.
 
John

john
Cape town's not tropical and the water is freezing as it comes straight up from the Antarctic!!!
Great beaches but freezing water unfortunately....also full of very large, hungry sharks!!!!
Now Barbados is tropical and I'm just off down the beach for a swim as we speak!
Cheers
Nigel