What software is best to clone the C Drive? Fed-up with Acronis "support".

What cloning problems do you have?  I've cloned my Windows 7 hard drive to a new drive with Acronis 2012 and didn't have any problems.

How much is there spare space on the HDD? I guess that if defragging  requires a minimum of something like 10-15% of free space, cloning would require more. But as said, I'm only guessing, and might be totally wrong. 

I recently cloned three HDDs with Acronis (older version, though) without problems, but I moved from 250 Gb HDDs to 500 Gb, so there was no space issues.

Hey Ludwig,
 
I've been an avid Acronis user for a long time. The newest version does an online activation they don't tell you about, one license one computer limit. Screw them from here out. They offer a no brainer after the fact to fork out 20 more bucks to use on 2 more computers. They invade to disable any second computer.
 
Note for users, they allow a trial and a continuation of restore functions after the trial is disabled. Means that a boot disc you may elect to create can't be disabled. 
 
Anyone doing a clone operation should be proceeding with a boot disc below the windows interference anyway. The 2012 Acronis boot disc works well forever as long as they got CD drives. Thanks guys.
 
There is a good replacement however. It is elegant, moral and free. I've tested it under acid conditions and it works solid. EaseUS Todo. Also check out EaseUS Partition Master. These are free and do a bit per bit clone of your drive. EaseUS initiates the clone process from inside windows which makes me uneasy even if it works. You can create a solid boot disc and clone from there beneath windows. For cloning, Acronis is cool but not needed.
 
Download and install EaseUS Todo backup. This will safely do what you need without spending on software that now imposes invasive activation monitoring.
 
http://www.todo-backup.co...ee-backup-software.htm/
 
John K
 
and again, thank you to Cakewalk for doing a simple serial and non-restrictive response activation. Just for the hell of it, it took less than 5 minutes to grab a crack for the Acronis software I paid for. I won't use it, because Acronis has the right to strangle whatever they make. Just to prove to myself I could install the thing on a million computers and what a waste these protection schemes are. I also got the right to move on to better options. EaseUS will cover your bases.

Thanks for the heads-up John K, I'm heading over there now!

Jonbuoy, thanks for your tip also

Yes, John it's the same thing you mention is true with the solution I use too.

I just use the boot disk for these kinds of operations I don't even use the main product and removed it from my hard disk awhile back, my boot disk is a few years old now and works flawlessly.

I totally agree that these things should be done below the OS whichever product gets chosen to do the job.

I also share your views about software companies that are arrogant enough to believe they can override your express wishes on your own machine just because you installed a product of theirs on your system.

There seem to be plenty of those these days not to single out one of them.

For every 'must have' software app. that behaves badly this way there is an alternative that plays nicely.

In fact just today I've had to re-deploy a recent image, not because I've been lurking in some seedy corner of the internet, not because I've been trying out pirated software, but because a 'respectable' supplier isn't being transparent about what gets installed with their product which is covered here in pretty much the next thread.

 http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=2510301

Hello Ludwig, My name is Yana, and I'm writing you on behalf of Acronis Customer Central. I'm sincerely sorry for any inconvenience you've faced with support and the product. One of the reasons for such behavior is errors on one of the drives. I'd suggest you to run chkdsk /f /r on both drives, and trying again. If it doesn't help, shot, don't hesitate to contact me directly via Forum PM: http://forum.acronis.com/messages/new/76. I will entirely understand should you decide not to proceed with the investigation, but will be glad to assist should you decide to give it a shot. Hello JohnKenn, Actually according to the License Policy of Acronis Company you need 1 license per 1 computer you are going to backup or restore, and it was never different, so I assume there's been some misunderstanding. Using 1 license for restoring or backing up more than 1 computer is illegal. But online activation was designed for activating the trial installation instead of reinstalling the whole software, which is less convenient. From now on there's one installer with the built-in activator, which registeres the full license. Which allows to use the product without any trial limitations. Please accept our apologies if this change caused any confusion. Please let us know if you have any additional questions, we will be glad to help you. If you're out of 30-days-after purchase support, you can leave us a comment on our Forum: http://forum.acronis.com/, - any time you like. Thank you for understanding and patience. Regards, Yana

Jonbouy


Well that's some admirable interaction at least ACC (Yana), nice to see.

And does it also mean people OUTSIDE of our little hive read these forums? or did he do a search and this tread popped up? interesting, either way.
 
I havent used my Acronis in a while, I was going to search  for  and perform any updates on it soon,
I know the licensing was a brief PITA for me in that I have a poaid full icense version that had lost its authorization.

Friends, Yana,

Hope all are well.

Yana, thanks for replying. I can take my gripe directly to you and the company.

My concern is not that you have adopted the activation scheme but that you didn't make it known to those upgrading. If you are searching forums, you know there are a lot of people out there far more upset than I am about not being up front about the "new" licensing.

Activation is like hardware dongles. Some love, some hate, some indifferent and accept as a necessary evil.

I've been with Acronis from the start, paying for every upgrade but 2012 is my last. There are excellent programs available that do what Acronis does for free without the activation invasion.

Reaction to company controlled activation is likely influenced by past experiences. I tinker and crash a lot of computers and have been dragged through degrading hell on many occasions, having to beg and convince some company that I'm not stealing their software and worthy of another activation. I've had companies either go out from under me or even change policies and shut down activation centers. I have a good bit of cash invested in software that is now useless because it can't be transferred.

Some time ago, the absurd impact of the activation disgrace hit home hard. Please share this with your company.

A beautiful west African couple had saved for 2 years to come to the US for a 3 day recording session. The couple were respected poets and musicians in their culture. The husband brought a shipment of rare ethnic instruments that he wanted to record. We had a tight but upbeat schedule planned to get the material recorded.

Unfortunately we used a recording software with one computer one activation. A day into the session, the project expanded in a nice way getting more complex but using more CPU than originally anticipated. We had to move to a more powerful computer.

No problem though, online transfer available 24/7. We saved the session and did the transfer. The transfer froze for a half hour and we had to reboot. It did succeed in disabling the software but did not allow transfer to the second computer. Contacted the company who said they had to do a research project that would take several days.

The CD was never published and the couple went back to Africa with a hasty slop job. Vacation and plans ruined.

The company finished their investigation a week later and said they would allow me a one time only transfer, complete with a long email about the evils of software piracy.

That was it. Out of principle, I don't buy anything that needs more than a serial number unless I have a solid, virus-free crack or kegen to take my investment out of the hands of companies that can bring you down on a whim.

These activation schemes either directly punish the end user or have the capability to punish.

Are they effective. As stated, just for the irony of it, I downloaded multiple torrent files of full versions of Acronis 2012. All kinds of variants, some having registry entries to block invasion that would take the program out by Acronis. I deleted them except for one backup in case Acronis goes down or you change your mind.
.
Again, this is an opinion and approach that is only as valid as the next person who says I'm completely wrong, sinner, etc.

While on this forum though, Acronis should take a look and learn from Sonar, one of the best known, respected, established programs on the planet. And it's not inexpensive. Serial activation only, when they could have also implemented a Fort Knox activation failure. Another minor point is that someone has to be paid for the activation development and setup. Cost for a miserable experience is passed on to the consumer.

If and when Acronis goes back to a serial number, I'll think of sending more cash for an upgrade. Until then, I'll stick with one license, one computer and keep the keygen stored safely in case I need it. Don't speak for everybody, but I'm not alone in this.

Thanks for listening.

John K

Friends,
 
Comparing Acronis and EaseUS, not considering Acronis cost and activation schemes. There is a powerful cloning feature in EaseUS that is absent in Acronis or at least not obvious (Correct me if I’m wrong. Don’t want to cut Acronis short out of my ignorance). Software choice a no brainer in favor of EaseUS if Acronis can’t pull this off. 

"Partition cloning” under the clone option on the EaseUS home screen.. 

Acronis is cool but clones the whole disc onto the target disc. There is some control over the size of the target partitioning but not the ability to take one partition from a source and clone to one partition on the destination disc. 

There may be some way to pull off selective partition to partition cloning with Acronis but haven’t found it yet if it exists.
 
This would be a working scenario. Say you have 300 GB archived software programs, project files somewhere. In addition  you have your computer’s C drive a couple bytes separated from a meltdown you hope will never happens.  Both need to be backed up. 

You get a 1 TB external drive from your friendly local Walmart. Use EaseUS Partition Master to set up two 500 GB partitions on the external drive. Label them X and Y or whatever doesn't interfere with established drive labels.
 
http://www.partition-tool...28uj3a4cfrgahwodt0fzoa/
 
Copy all your archived software, sessions etc to external partition Y. Use EaseUS Todo to clone the C drive to external partition X. 

http://www.todo-backup.co...ee-backup-software.htm/
 
This gets more miles out of an external drive and makes life/digital security easier. You can then update the software archive on Y but clone the C drive operating partition to X without wiping out your archive stash on Y every time you clone the operating drive.
 
Makes sense, I think… sorta makes sense…
 
Pollostar, appreciate the tip on Paragon. EaseUS does it all from here but can never have enough tools.
 
Peacefull stuff, creativivity, prosperity to all of you warriors,
 
John K
 
(cut and paste out of MS word don't work too well without editing out all the debris)