abacab
 
I always make two system images monthly.  One before, and one after, any Windows or Cakewalk update. 

which tools are you using? windows build-in backup, acronis true image, ...???

Rob[atSound-Rehab]

abacab
 
I always make two system images monthly.  One before, and one after, any Windows or Cakewalk update. 

which tools are you using? windows build-in backup, acronis true image, ...???

I used Norton Ghost and Acronis on Windows XP.
 
I have Macrium Reflect Free, but I haven't gotten around to switching to it yet.  That's because since Windows 7, I have used the Windows built-in image backup.  It's free, but a little bit fiddly.  If you enjoy learning and consider yourself techy, it gets the job done. Making an image is one thing, but doing a bare metal recovery is another.  You need to test that your image procedure and recovery tools work both ways.
 
I have looked at Macrium, Paragon, and Acronis.  The first two offer free editions that don't do anything fancy, but just make images.  You would need to find a separate way to backup files/folders for projects and documents.  Drag n drop to an external drive, or the cloud works fine.  This should be done anyway.  In my mind, the image is just for recovering the entire system, not for backing up files.
 
If I was going to switch now, I would choose Macrium Reflect Free.  http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
 
Two reasons:
 
1. the user manual is complete, friendly, and doesn't seem to skip over important steps that a beginner may need to know. 
 
2. the Rescue Media Wizard!  The recovery environment is Windows PE. The recovery part that I highlighted in bold below is one thing you must be comfortable doing on your own with just the Windows repair disk, if you go the built-in Windows route.
 
Explanation from the Macrium Reflect v6 manual:
 
"If you lose your Windows operating system, you can start your PC using Macrium Reflect rescue media on CD,
DVD, or USB stick. This makes creating rescue media the first thing you need to do with Macrium Reflect. It contains a bootable, lightweight version of Windows and a full version of Macrium Reflect.
 
This lightweight version of Windows is called Windows Pre-installation Environment (also known as Windows PE or
WinPE) and is provided by Microsoft. When you create rescue media, Macrium Reflect downloads Windows PE automatically for you and writes it to your media. It downloads just those components you need to rescue your system."

Ha ha I also have a Win XP computer along with 2 Win 10 computers in my network. I use it only for a few small things, rarely go online. I use Acronis on it.  If it ain't broke don't fix it.
 
I use Macrium Free on my internet computer and it's pretty much as good as any Acronis. I'd highly recommend it. Acronis 2015 is very quirky unlike any other good Acronis product I used. I have 2011 and 2009. Maybe 2016 is ok, but Macrium is free, so I'd look into that one.
 
I've used Macrium's boot CD to restore and it works fine. Restore has to be done with the boot CD, not in Windows like Acronis. I've never done a full system backup on any of my computers, only my C drive since I have about 6T of data, I instead do a nightly backup of 3 computers using Vice Versa. I keep my C drive as lean as possible (60 gig) My images are about 24 gig with Acronis. With an SSD HD I can revert to an image in 7 min time total.
 
Vice Versa has a very cool feature during backup of not erasing files with the same name, it instead copies those files to a Delete folder I've specified. This is very handy if you're working on a song and don't save it with a new name when you make some changes. Later if you wished you had, you can find the original file in the Delete folder. Every month or so I clean out some big files sin my delete folder, just so it doesn't get bloated.

Vice Versa sounds handy!  Thanks for the tip.  Will have to look into that one.

ViceVersa is pretty cool. Used that a while ago.
 
Nowadays I use SyncToy to mirror audio project data to 2 alternating external drives (easy and quick enough to be done during a short break in a recording session) ... it has fewer options than Vice Versa but got the most important one: a detailed preview list of files and drives where it's going to add/replace/delete for QC before you commit.
 
For drive backups I have Acronis 2013 (which did some sort of auto-upgrade when going win10); I think I'll stick to do it as it seems to work fine.
 
BTW, anything wrong with doing incremental drive backups? So far I have been doing like 5 incremental ones and then gone for a fresh full backup (which with monthly images on alternating drives gives one full backup per year) ...

I would say for project backups, use anything that works for you, but just do it!
 
I have never trusted incremental backups, nor used them.  In my mind it's just another potential point of failure.  It adds complexity to the process.  My motto is always to keep it simple, and then you are less likely to overlook something, and Murphy is less likely to bite you.  I've got my complete image in one file, just grab it and restore, bang I'm back in business!  Disks are fast enough now, and space is cheap enough, to justify only complete system images.
 
My final thoughts, if you haven't already done so, you should run a complete restore with bootable recovery media to ensure that your recovery environment actually works.  And that you do know how to do it.  Use a spare hard drive, if you don't want to risk overwriting your real system drive.  Unplug your real boot drive to ensure that you select the right one to restore to.
 
Or at least boot to the point that you can access your recovery image from the recovery environment.  Better to find out when you have some free time, just in case it doesn't work, or that you are missing drivers, etc.  But this still doesn't guarantee that you won't have trouble with the image file.  An actual restore is the only way to be 100% sure!

Great advice, abacab! Actually we share the same view of this. Like you, I'm a firm believer in Murphy's Law. Disaster recovery should be tested like a fire drill. Don't' ever assume anything. I have never trusted incremental backups either.
 
When I do my nightly 3 computer backups using Vice Versa i also do a total backup of my C drive. Even though I have many images, there may be just one file that I regret losing when I revert to a previous image.
 
Most nights I check after Vice Versa to make sure it did it's job by opening a shortcut to my Sonar CWP file location backup, since that's the most important folder to backup. Many times I've found problems and determined how to prevent them from happening again.
 
You're right it's always very good to test your recovery boot CD, not only to see if it works but also to learn how to use it, so when you're in a hurry trying to recover from a disaster you aren't slowed down by something puzzling.
 
Also sometimes an image file is corrupt for some reason and won't work, so I also have a log that lists all the little changes to my C drive I make in case I need to backtrack. Sometimes I list changes and before I can make an image file I have to revert and then I know to make those changes to get back up to speed.
 
My system has worked really well for years until this strange Dec. bug, where even my image file restorations ended up being corrupted by, I assume, MS making some changes over the internet. This will be just another experience to add to my bag of tricks when something goes haywire.

gmp
Great advice, abacab! Actually we share the same view of this. Like you, I'm a firm believer in Murphy's Law. Disaster recovery should be tested like a fire drill. Don't' ever assume anything. I have never trusted incremental backups either.
 
When I do my nightly 3 computer backups using Vice Versa i also do a total backup of my C drive. Even though I have many images, there may be just one file that I regret losing when I revert to a previous image.
 
Most nights I check after Vice Versa to make sure it did it's job by opening a shortcut to my Sonar CWP file location backup, since that's the most important folder to backup. Many times I've found problems and determined how to prevent them from happening again.
 
You're right it's always very good to test your recovery boot CD, not only to see if it works but also to learn how to use it, so when you're in a hurry trying to recover from a disaster you aren't slowed down by something puzzling.
 
Also sometimes an image file is corrupt for some reason and won't work, so I also have a log that lists all the little changes to my C drive I make in case I need to backtrack. Sometimes I list changes and before I can make an image file I have to revert and then I know to make those changes to get back up to speed.
 
My system has worked really well for years until this strange Dec. bug, where even my image file restorations ended up being corrupted by, I assume, MS making some changes over the internet. This will be just another experience to add to my bag of tricks when something goes haywire.

Yup!  On the same page for sure.  When you first started reporting about your recent issue, I didn't doubt it, because you sounded very knowledgeable about your system and where you stood.  I kept looking for clues as well.
 
It was certainly a mystery, and maybe we'll never know the answer.  But I sure wish we had one, LOL!  Things that mysteriously fix themselves leave me with an uneasy feeling.  I have been working with computers for 40 years ...

Hey abacab I have Avira installed and was curious what you have disabled in the Start up items?  I had Avira system speedup do it's thing, bu tit keeps bugging me to do it again. It does some kind of fast scan once a week by default, which is ok. So what things do you have disabled? Since I don't do any surfing or email on this computer and only go to websites related to Sonar, what do you suggest?
 
Thanks,

Uninstall all of the extras.  You just need the main AV program.  As I recall, you can go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Avira Antivirus, and click on "Change".  You will get a custom installer where you can un-select the extras that you don't want or need.
 
The only parts that won't uninstall is the Avira Connect, and the Avira system tray application.  These function as a launcher and status for your protection.  It's not really necessary, because it was designed for folks with two or more of their apps.  But you can disable them in Task Manager startup tab if they bug you.