Drive backup software: My tests

Several days ago I downloaded all backup programs I could find (mostly off MG), installed them on a virtual computer, and used them to make on- and offline backups of my system partition. For offline backups I used BartPE CD or USB stick if a plugin was available, and I also tried the program's boot CD/USB/ISO if one was available. Several of them I tested on 2 actual computers. All machines were running Windows XP Pro SP2/3.

The tests were for my own benefit and not strictly controlled, but I decided to post the backup size and backup creation time here as a data point for others:

Machine 1: HP laptop, 4GB ram, 1.8Ghz CPU, Win XP Pro/Sp3 with Acronis installed:

Acronis True Image BartPE plugin [1]: 17.3 GB in 32 min (1937 s)
Active@ Disk Image 3.3 [3]: 17.6 GB in 29 min (1741 s)
Macrium Reflect 4.2 BartPE plugin [2]: 20.1 GB in 27 min (1649 s)

Machine 2: Dell desktop, 512 MB Ram, 2.5 GHz CPU, Win XP Pro/Sp3 with Macrium Reflect Free installed:

From BartPE/XPE Boot CD (offline):
Acronis True Image 2010 [1]: 10.6 GB in 8 min (473 s)
Macrium Reflect 4.2 [2]: 11.4 GB in 8 min (509 s)
Image for Windows 2.52: 10.7 GB in 12 min (705 s)

From boot USB Flash created by program itself (offline):
Acronis True Image 2010 [1]: 10.7 GB in 14 min (816 s)
Active@ Disk Image 3.3 [3]: 10.6 GB in 12 min (708 s)
Paragon Backup 10 [4]: 11.6 GB in 21 min (1252 s)

Machine 3: Virtual machine running on physical machine 1. Assigned 512 MB RAM. All backup softwares were installed on this machines (simultaenously) for testing purposes:

From BartPE/XPE Boot CD (offline backup):
Acronis True Image 2010 [1]: 1.2 GB in 4 min (260 s)
DriveImage XML 2.13: 1.8 GB in 5 min (280 s)
DrvImagerXP 2.2: aborted (really slow and crap)
Image for Windows 2.52: 1.2 GB in 3 min (185 s)
Image Maker 1.1: 8 GB in 11 min (652 s) - no compression
Macrium Reflect 4.2 [2]: 1.3 GB in 4 min (241 s)
Paragon Backup 10 [4]: 1.4 GB in 7 min (396 s)
SelfImage 1.2: 1.2 GB in 6 min (333 s)

From boot ISO created by program itself (offline backup):
Acronis True Image 2010 [1]: 1.2 GB in 3 min (170 s)
Active@ Disk Image 3.3 [3]: 1.2 GB in 5 min (278 s)
O&O DiskImage Pro 4.1.47: 2.8 GB in 13 min (781 s)
Paragon Backup 10 [4]: 1.4 GB in 15 min (893 s)

Online backups on virtual machine after I installed more programs to it (I added Acronis 13.0.6053 to test the newest build, and Reatogo and other programs that I wanted to make into BartPE plugins):
Acronis True Image 2010 [1]: 1.7 GB in 7 min (423 s)
Active@ Disk Image 3.3 [3]: 1.8 GB in 7 min (440 s)
DriveImage XML 2.13: 3 GB in 8 min (509 s)
EASEUS Todo Backup 1.1: 2.9 GB in 9 min (537 s)
Image for Windows 2.52: 1.8 GB in 6 min (345 s)
Image Maker 1.1: 8 GB in 13 min (756 s) - no compression
Macrium Reflect 4.2 [2]: 1.8 GB in 7 min (427 s)
O&O DiskImage Pro 4.1.47: 1.9 GB in 9 min (516 s)
Paragon Backup 10 [4]: 1.9 GB in 11 min (674 s)
SelfImage 1.2: 1.7 GB in 6 min (360 s)

Details about program versions and builds used:
[1] Acronis True Image Home 2010 (v13 b5055) BartPE plugin: BartPE_TD10.tib (*v13 b6053 was used for online backups and Acronis own boot USB, acronisUsb.tib)
[2] Macrium Reflect PE Edition (v2.1 b200) from Macrium Reflect 4.2.2093 (trial version): 30BE214A088D5BCB-00-00.mrimg (*Macrium Reflect Free was used for online builds)
[3] Active@ Disk Image v3.3.8 from Active@ Boot Disk v5.0.5: DiskImage.adi
[4] Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Suite: For BartPE plugin used semi-official instructions from here: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=257771

Attached are pics of the backups showing size and relevant time stamps. (I moved out the smaller auxiliary files for an easier comparison).

Note: Reliability is the most important feature of backup software, but that's harder to test so I started off with the time and size of backups.

 

Subjective comments:

Acronis: Still the king of backup software, but only for newer computers with 1GB or more ram. It has all the bells and whistles of any other backup program and more. For example, it has a Try & Decide feature that let's you run the computer in virtual mode similar to Returnil or Shadow Defender, but also works across reboots unlike other virtualizers I've tried. I've probably used Acronis for over 50 recoveries over the years (since version 10) on multiple computers, and I trust it to work about 95% of the time. Currently I keep it on my main computer, but removed it from several older machines with 512 ram or less.

Active@ Disk Image: Their boot disk is impressive, but the program does not include some of the advanced features of other similarly priced backup programs. For example, there's no option for incremental backups. Also, they don't offer a BartPE plugin that users can add to their custom BartPE boot disks.

DriveImage XML 2.13: Free program that's tiny, actively developed, doesn't add any extra services to your system and offers a BartPE plugin. Both backup and restore worked fine on my virtual machine. However, backups are significantly bigger than with Acronis, Macrium, etc.

DrvImagerXP 2.2: Didn't like. I think this one has lived its time.

EASEUS Toto Backup 1.1: I like the interface, but backup sizes were huge and their BartPE plugin didn't work for me.

Image for Windows 2.52: I was very impressed. Clean interface. Backup and recovery worked great on my virtual computer. Fast with compact backup sizes. Good first impression.

Image Maker 1.1: No compression so forget it.

Macrium Reflect 4.2: I use Macrium on my older machines because it less resource hungry than Acronis. The free version is the best freeware backup tool I know. For the BartPE plugin I use the non-free (trial) version though because it let's you create backups (free version only allows recoveries from the boot disk). The trial will expire, but I'm hoping the BartPE plugin from the trial version won't. I've only used this program for about 4 or 5 recoveries on real and virtual computers, but they all went fine.

O&O DiskImage Professional Edition v4: There's a new version out, so my experience my already be dated. Fwiw, I didn't like this program. It seems cluttered, added crap to startups/services/tray, and the installation CD was the only available rescue CD I'm aware of. (No BartPE plugin as far as I know). YMMV.

Paragon Backup & Restore 10: Didn't like. Slow and complicated. I thought Paragon was supposed to be one of the top backup programs, so I was surprised. YMMV.

SelfImage 1.2: Tiny freeware program. Super simple to use. Backup and recovery worked great on my virtual computer with backup times and sizes comparable to top commercial programs. Of course there are no bells and no whistles, but for offline backups this program might be just the ticket. Hidden gem?

 

I made two more backups on the Dell Desktop (in blue below). For the record, these are images of a 30 GB system partition (C: drive) that is half full.

DriveImage XML is a bit slower and produces bigger backup files than Acronis or Macrium, but it's not bad for a free backup program. However, the change in SelfImage's performance from the virtual results was a surprise to me - it dominated the image size category, but was also significantly slower.

I ran both DriveImage and SelfImage in fast compression mode. They also have options for greater compression of backups at the cost of more time, as do Macrium, Acronis and most other backup programs.

 

I made two more backups on the Dell Desktop (in blue below):

*Storagecraft, the company behind ShadowProtect, let's you download a recovery disk iso (same procedure as with Active@ DiskImage) that you can then burn to CD or put on a USB flash drive. I think it's WinPE based.

EASEUS ToDoBackup 1.1: The ToDoBackup BartPE plugin works as long I don't also enable the XPE plugin, which I would normally use. The size of the backup was excellent on an actual computer, but the backup time took about 3 times as long as with Acronis BartPE plugin. I emailed the company about the plugin because I could not get it to work initially, and they responded quickly, so I like their customer support, but this particular program needs a lot of work.

Storagecraft ShadowProtect Desktop Edition 3.5: Good performance. Lots of features. Good first impression, though I'd like the option of an independent BartPE plugin in addition to the custom iso. (Macrium and Acronis give you both options, though with the latter you may need to buy an additional addons- or pluspack).

 

sorry - clicked post by accident while still writing... updating now...

 

crap - i just typed a long detailed concluding message, but my session had expired so when i clicked to post there was an error message and my post was lost. here's a mini summary:

macrium reflect full: great design, fast, relatively low resource use, uses fast method for incremental backups. limited command line support.

drive snapshot: tiny (~282 KB), portable and very fast. uses slow method for differential backups, but it can make them without the original full backup image, which is great convenient, for example, when traveling without your full backups. excellent command line support. latest builds have had some bugs (maybe fixed now?) and author doesn't publish proper change logs and sometime doesn't update build number.

shadowprotect: reliable (most trusted on my list) - has worked for me during two hard disk upgrades i.e. restoring the image to a different hard drive. (i initially tried acronis with universal restore option for the first upgrade and it failed - restored drive didn't boot). fastest restore speed i've experienced. limited command line support. uses slow method for differential backups.

image for windows/dos: only one i know that can create backups from a bootable floppy (as well as windows of course). excellent command line support. lots of options, but they can be complicated to understand and may involve either clicking through lots of option screens, or editing the ini file with your default preferences. uses slow method differential backups. backup speed from dos floppy is slow on my newer laptops, but ymmv.

others: some people like active@ disk image and paragon backup programs - i'm not one of them, but ymmv. i also stopped using acronis for now, but they offer many excellent features as well.

 

Hi On Edge!

I found this post looking for good FREE (like GNU free and not personal use only) imaging software. I like your testing and results, thanks for posting them!

I already used DriveImage XML and liked it a lot but the 'personal use' doesn't fill my need.

What I need is a free (GNU) software that will create a bootable floppy/CD/DVD that I can then give my clients. I like DriveImage XML for my own puters but because of the license can't go handing out PE boot CD's with images created (licensing and also learning curve) for my clients.

Now I'm looking at SelfImage (because it's GNU) but can't find any info about making a bootable FDD/CD/DVD (It seems like the authors website is being renewed… maybe?).

What I would like to do is offer my clients an option (small charge for the work, but not for the software) to have a restore DVD without any kind of licensing (as in MONEY) required. I've got no problem displaying GNU and even hosting source code etc... The restore CD/DVD MUST be very easy to use (by non-technical clients) or at least have the ability to batch/script so that I can automate each CD/DVD on a case-by-case basis to minimize any chance of user error.

As mentioned, a PE environment is pretty much not an option.
It must be small (not the over 200MB for the UBCD4win image)
It must be fool proof (client proof).
I’d like something like the old Ghost DOS floppy’s (that FDD boot image can be used for CD and DVD as well).
Of course, it must recognize SATA drives (SATA killed my old copy of Ghost 7.5 I’ve been using almost 10 years!)

It must NOT contain multiple licenses (like UBCD4win).
It should not have a gazillion options to make non-technical people cry, I simply require a portable, offline imaging solution that can restore the image.

In fact, I’d have to say that until recently, Ghost 7.5 boot Floppy’s were the best thing I’ve used. No extra anything, just ghost and your image! I’d love something just like that but free and with support for modern hardware.


Do you know of a way to make SelfImage portable (preferably FDD size) or of another GNU software that can do what I want?

TIA
BK

 

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