Never had an issue myself with incrementals. Maybe a decade ago when the software wasn't that good. I find if a backup takes too long I tend to do less backups.

Mesh, restoring a full image is usually a piece of cake (no pun intended). Slap a new HD in the box and a few clicks.
The best feature, IMHO, of full images is having the ability to restore an image to a completely new computer if your motherboard dies. I suppose you could do that with incrementals, but not as smooth. Acronis and Ghost have a feature that allows the image to be restored to different hardware. It then resets Windows HAL into setup mode to load the new drivers. Very sweet.
You do have an Acronis boot disk don't you? I don't use the Acronis application or service. When I want an image, I boot to the CD and create the image without Windows loading.
PM me if you need anymore advice.
 

jatoth
Acronis and Ghost have a feature that allows the image to be restored to different hardware. It then resets Windows HAL into setup mode to load the new drivers. Very sweet.

Only time I would do that is when I have no choice. Would not do that when moving machines. Def a good facility though and only present in newer versions.

Ghost is out of support from Windows 8 and does not work.

Cheers.

Thanks John for the info and offer.....I do appreciate it and just may take you up on that offer (if/when needed).
 
Yes, I do have an Acronis Boot Disk.....always a good thing to have in addition to the backup. 

I have moved servers, workstations, and DAWs. Two to three hours sure beats the crap out of 2-3 days worth of installs. If you have a stable system, there is no need to re-install everything. Especially when moving a complex system, there is always the risk of missing something. A driver, utility, tweak, etc.
If you have a good clean stable system, just move it. On the other hand, if your system is a mess, installs/uninstalls/demos/crashes/malware/flakey drivers, then by all means start fresh.

Doc A,
Yes Ghost 2.5 had some hardware limitations. Mostly due to the WinPE version though.
If you use a boot disk, OS version is not an issue.
Ghost 3.0 works with 7,8, and 8.1.
If you use the WinPE5 AIK you should be able to go to Win 10!