I use older versions of them both. They are reliable.
The caveat about True Image is that the new version which is sold each year invariably has problems with it initially. It usually takes several program updates to make them reliable.
The idea of operating without a full backup these days is quite misguided & usually causes premature baldness from tearing it out from poor program updates, fouled up programs or viruses/spyware. It's a warm fuzzy to know you can restore your whole system in under half an hour if you must.
I also use both programs. I use Ghost at work and on my XP machine at home. I purchased Acronis for my Vista machine at home because they were the first on the market with a Vista compatible image program.
Both programs are excellent, and everyone should own and use one of them.
I am using: 1) Acronis True Image Echo Workstation 9.5.0.8115 with the Universal Restore add-on, and 2) Vista CompletePC Backup. True Image is fabulous and it has never failed me. This version allows "bare metal" restores (restore the image to ANY PC regardless of hardware). I've used True Image Home, all versions up to v. 11 and had no problems with corrupt image files, etc., which some experience. The CompletePC Backup that comes with Vista Ultimate has also worked flawlessly (both creating images and restoring images). It too allegedly can do "bare metal" restores.
Another backup application I would highly recommend is "ShadowProtect". It also has the ability to do "bare metal" restores and is about $10 cheaper than True Image Home which cannot do "bare metal" restores. I used that for several months and it was very nice although it couldn't restore an image on my system due to some "glitch", which according to Tech Support was because I was trying to restore the image on a dual-boot machine. They have since corrected this issue in the latest release.
#4. "RE: Imaging Software" In response to oxygenmaker (Reply # 0) Sat Jan-31-09 09:49 AM by Ianw
Macrium Reflect. As I said in similar posts I have tried a lot of imaging programs including all those mentioned and Macrium is easily the best, especially over Acronis. Just too many problems with Acronis. See their forum. I do not have a problem with Macrium, and no, I am not connected in any way with them, I'm simply a very satisfied customer and their support is as it should be, with Acronis you can wait for weeks as users have done.
Corrupt images. This is really the biggest problem with it. Getting a Recovery media to work. et al.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoy life while you can, don't try when you can't 'cos you won't, then it will be too late.
I just ditched Macrium (free version) because it made 4 consecutive corrupt images. I just downloaded a 30 trial of the pro. version but have not tried it yet.
In the meantime I made a backup image with Acronis TI 11. I had bought that about a year ago when it was on sale at Staples. It always seems to work for me. How ever it is a heavier load on the computer than Macrium.
I would prefer to use Macrium if it works properly.
I would also recommend Erunt to back up your registry every day. It saved my butt twice this week after downloading some freeware games that changed some of my settings.
Shadow Protect is actually supposed to be the best backup program there is. I read a review a few months ago on imaging programs and Shadow Protect was rated at the top.
