Backup Software

I have a client who is basically a total noob (he's had and used a PC for at least 8 years and I was VERY surprised at how little he has learned in this time; he does not even know about copy-n-paste or drag-n-drop or right-click-send-to :eek ). He has a 1tb external HD and he tried to return it because "backing up my stuff to it is too complicated". Hmmmm... plug in the drive, wait 15 seconds, right click and send your stuff there... that's too complicated. OK. Whatever. He wants a FULL back up: the OS, programs, everything. So I have Comodo Backup installed (it's the only freeware program I could find here at MG that will backup the ENTIRE drive C: to a folder as an image on the external drive F: ). However, Comodo will only restore these images from within itself. This means that if drive C: crashes, you'd have to install the new hard drive, then reinstall your OS and Comodo Backup to restore the image. Comodo backup does not appear to have a "build a boot CD" option so you could boot to a live CD and restore the backed up image to a brand new blank drive C:. Kind of lame, but it's free and other than the lack of a boot CD feature, the software is quite cool. As a previous Acronis user, I know it has a boot CD building option. Is there any freeware that works more-or-less exactly like Acronis? Or did I overlook something in Comodo?

THANKS!

 

http://majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Todo_Backup_d6195.html

 

http://majorgeeks.com/Macrium_Reflect_FREE_Edition_d6034.html. However, I believe it does not meet your requirement to "build a boot CD". But, I don't believe http://majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Todo_Backup_d6195.html (suggested in preceding post) does that either.

 

Hi,

I just tested ToDo a couple of weeks ago and it does let you create a bootable disc under the tools menu. I cloned a small HD to a larger one using the boot disc and it worked fine. Took about an hour or so for a 40GB drive.

I can't remember now if you had the option of changing partition sizes during the clone but I didn't use that option. I just put two partitions totaling 40gb, using the clone disk option, on a 500gb drive as a test and it booted up fine exactly like the original.

I would definitely recommend it as a free alternative to Ghost or Acronis for a full HD clone.

 

Another thumbs up here for both Easeus Todo and for Macrium Reflect. Think of Acronis stripped of all the (largely useless) bells and whistles and you have a simple imaging system for whole disks or individual partitions which can image a drive while in Windows or when booted to the bootable CD. I've tested both and sometimes wonder why I stay with Acronis, which I have to pay for.

 

Hello,
I have used Macrium Free: Very fast but the boot CD you create is not as robust as the Todo boot CD created. I had it fail on two computers. You can create a BARTPE disk for recovery but that requires an XP install CD. I have not tried the new version of Todo (only V1.1) but it will do scheduled backups which is a very nice feature and also does incremental file backups.

Paragon also has a freeware version of their backup software, "Backup & Recovery 2010 Free Advanced". I have used something similar to this from Paragon and it also works well.

I would first make sure that the bootable recovery cd that is created can see the external hard drive.

Edit: If the drive is a Seagate or Western Digital, they have their own versions of Acronis True Image which are somewhat stripped.

 

Yes, absolutely key, and not just the external either. The CD has to see both source and target disks. The first release of Acronis 2009 could not see my SATA!

 

:dood The members here at MajorGeeks are truly THE BEST!!! Thanks for all the info everyone. I'm going to remove Comodo Backup and check out the Easeus Todo Backup. I've used other Easeus software in the past with excellent results, so I'm sure this app will meet the same level of awesomeness. Thanks again everyone!!!

:-D

(BTW - how is "Easeus" pronounced? Is it like "eez us" where it rhymes with "Jesus"? Or is it "ays us"? Or maybe "eez ay us"? Just curious LOL )

 

Just to add to the "fun" of all this, Comodo Backup refused to uninstall via normal methods. So I've spent the past 20min or so manually removing its files, services, registry entries, etc. Too much fun.

 

That would have been a good job for Revo Uninstaller. http://majorgeeks.com/Revo_Uninstaller_d5706.html

 

I'm a bit wary of saying this again because I have previously been accused of advertising when all I am trying to do is get across the message that imaging programs have rather been put in the shade over the last year or so by system restore type programs which can revert your system in its entirety to any of hundreds of previous states in no more than a minute or two. Creating a new 'snapshot' is literally a matter of five seconds or so, and reverting to any previous snapshot is also just a few seconds plus a reboot - say a couple of minutes. But the real icing on the cake is that none of this has any discernible effect on disk usage at all, and does not require an external drive. It all works even if you are unable to boot to Windows, and does not need a boot CD.

Since acquiring one of these programs last March I have done dozens of restores and not had a problem of any description. In fact the only circumstance I can envisage in which I would need to restore an Acronis type image is if my hard drive failed and I had to install a new one. Because of that possibility I still take Acronis images once a month. All restores though are through this software and had you had this capability dlb you could have reverted to the pre-Comodo situation in a minute or two.

We are talking roughly $50 and if any one wants more info then PM me for the source (with which I have no connection whatsoever other than as a user).

 

I love Acronis TI, but will check out ToDo.

Another free option for regular file backups is SyncBack. I've been using it for years. There is a freeware version. SyncBack Freeware V3.2.26.0. Just set it up with a preferred profile (or task) and run it as often as you want to the same backup destination. I backup files to a USB HD in addition to my monthly images with TI.

MG lists a shareware version, but this is free: :major

http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html

 

Nahhh.... I spaced using Revo. I normally do use Revo for these types of scenarios, but I wasn't thinking clearly so I just did it manually. No big deal.

On a brighter note: Easeus Todo Backup is excellent. Top notch and VERY easy to configure and understand (even for my noob client LOL ). Comodo's backup program was a bit cumbersome to get to the scheduler and I could easily see how a novice PC user would be intimidated and confused by the Comodo program, but the Easeus backup program is great, plus it has the emergency restore/boot CD creator which is a huge plus.

 

A few years ago, I prepared a boot CD with UBCD4Win: Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
and I do Not have an XP install CD, only a separate recovery partition and a CD
with some pre-installed software.

Don't remember much about the actual process.
It's been quite a while.

 

btw, I overlooked mentioning that there is a 30 day fully functional free trial, so the seemingly impossible claims made for the program in #11 can be put to the test, and if you aren't convinced, it could be entirely removed via restoring a Todo disk image