craigb
I was going to suggest you check out the comments about Paragon in the Computer forum (or whatever it used to be called) but, apparently, it's gone...
 
Too bad because there was a LOT of really good information in that forum!
 
Note that if it's just been moved or renamed, that I was unable to find it.

the computer forum on cakewalk?  it's not gone!  you must have your filter set to not show it.
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Computers-f84.aspx

Hmm...  Weird.  Ok, well, anyway, check there for comments about Paragon from the guys that build DAW's!

Hi,
 
I do not "build" my own computers, my friend does.
 
But the whole software setup is all mine. I can not figure out why an "image" would be that important ... that you have to redo the whole machine. If it was setup correctly, Windows first, then the Firewal/AV (etc), and then the Updates, then you are (conceivably) properly protected, and in the last 8 years I have had only one problem with one of those rotorooter kits, and F-Secure log'd in and cleaned it and voila ... fixed. By that time I had removed all software in the computer, and only had Windows and F-Secure to ensure that the smallest number of files was in trouble.
 
Since then, I do things manually, and I will NOT (EVER) by a named computer, because of the crap that is added to it that creates more connections than you can ever conceive or expect. Those named computers would be tough on most musicians that use them for their creations. One more slight detail ... I do not use "Home" editions. I have used Professional Editions ONLY, for the past 10 years, and in fact went immediately to 64bit on W8 when the silly setup would lose the Name Resolution Information and kill the home network information. The 64 bit does not "lose" it, but it is very sluggish when the other computer comes up or went to take a nap. You have to go to the other computer and tap a link this way, and then it wakes up so you can go that way. Talk about sloppy merde!
 
My experience has been, that if folks get infected and hurt like that, there is something not necessarily good that you are doing on that computer ... thus, I only do email/browsing on Cymbaline, and never on the other computers, for example, which, so far, has cut down the problems considerably!

sharke
Anyone have any opinions or experience with Macrium? 

I've used Macrium Reflect for years and been very happy with it.
 
I haven't had cause to restore on Win8, but have used it for complete image restore scenarios under Vista and selective restore under Win7. That's one of the good things about it - you can open any image to drive letter and browse at will (and simply copy files/trees). Historically, and still, there are BARTPE or Linux Boot Recovery CD/DVDs - nowadays USB flash might be more suitable (which it also caters for).
 
I've only ever used the free version - here's the edition comparison. Yes, I should do backups more regularly and use schedules / incrementals. It would be high on my review list if I was looking to purchase.

I'm interested too. I was about to buy Acronis 2015 but the reviews scared me. I need a disk cloning solution. I am getting a USB3 drive bay to use. I have 1 500G drive for the OS and programs, and 2 2TB drives, one for samples and one for projects. I'm getting either three duplicate SATA drives or one 3TB drive and put partitions on it but I'll probably get three drives because I am a dummy and don't know how to partition, I prefer a button that says "Clone".
I'm just not sure about Acronis but a lot of people seem to use it with no trouble. I want something that works and is EASY to use. Does three backup drives sound OK or dumb?
Note, I am not interested in backup but in drive cloning and then maybe once a week making sure it is up to date, can I do that or am I asking for trouble. In the past I've used Norton default set and a USB HD for backing up my laptop but it would still be a PITA if I crashed and had to restore. I want to drive clone on my DAW so I can just swap out a drive if it crashes.
I'm still on W-8.1 too, I'm not sure if I should update it. I guess I'll ask Jim about that but what do you think? Any opinion?
J

The free version of Macrium Reflect 'clones' too - an easy to find icon. I assume the pay version would allow you to top that up every week or so (?)
 
Have you considered / looked into RAID solutions for real-time redundany (RAID 1 - mirroring). In this case your source/destination drives should be the same. Capability may be built into your pc motherboard already (?)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2849289/supercharge-your-pcs-storage-with-a-raid-setup-everything-you-need-to-know.html
 
Otherwise 3 drives should be OK but may be more expensive. The destination sizing will have to be the same or larger of course. This goes for a single drive too + you'd probably want to look into partitioning software / methods first.
 
[EDIT]: Incremental cloning is supported with Home Edition (retail price $69.95) as seen on the comparison link in my previous post. Don't forget to create your recovery boot media (CD/DVD/USB Flash).

Just downloaded Macrium free, it's easy to use and I've made images of my 2 boot drives on a 3rd external usb3 drive...time will tell if it works but all reports seem positive.

I've used this since 2005, it's never put a foot wrong so I've never considered any thing else.
 
I boot it from a USB drive and backup off line and backup and restore OS images in a matter of minutes.  It's not even installed on my computer so it takes up zero resources.
 
Suspect a malware invasion never mind trying to locate and clean it off just restore to a last clean image,  you've made significant changes to your OS or Windows update has, just restore yesterday's back up, yada, yada...
 
I wouldn't be without it.
 
http://www.disk-image.com/

I'm going to try Macrium I think. 
 
However, there is a way to get Windows to schedule regular image backups with its inbuilt System Image Backup tool. It used to have a backup scheduling feature but for some reason Microsoft removed it for Windows 8.  But you can create a task in the Task Scheduler using Windows PowerShell like so: 
 
http://pureinfotech.com/2013/10/24/schedule-windows-81-system-image-backup/
 
Info on how to restore from a backup here:
 
http://winsupersite.com/w...se-system-image-backup