I ran into an interesting situation the other day.
After the incident I reported about losing my W7 64 bit Windows Live Mail Address Book, which I mostly reconstructed, I thought I would look in my backups to see if I could extract a few more accounts.
I have been using Macrium Reflect Free for a few years doing a full backup image twice a week. When I first installed macrium on my computer I ran a test of the Linux based recovery disk you create for restores, and it worked perfectly.
The other night when I booted with the Recovery Disk it froze so I had no cursor control. There was no way to click on Next to continue a recovery. There had recently been a program update for Macrium, and thinking that may have been the problem I created a new recovery Disk, which also froze the same way.
My next move was to uninstall free Macrium and install a 30 day free trial of the paid version of Macrium. It installed without problems and even found the existing Backup files from the free version. I then created yet another new Recovery Disk and had the same freezing problem with it.
Time for tech support! There was no way to contact Macrium to support the free version, and I could not contact them for the paid version while on the 30 day trial. They did have a users forum, it had no posts addressing my problem and only paid users can post to the forum. They also have a knowledge base you can search, but again there was nothing in it addressing my problem. All this left me dead in the water, and all my faithfully done backups were a false worthless security.
I urge anyone using Macrium to test their recovery disk if they have not used it recently.
There are a couple I "Know" you already have. Use one of the Acronis programs you have. They never will let you down. The new one sucks but a couple of the older versions are some of the best for backing up even to this day. I use nothing else and I also have others using them. It just works.
QUOTE: The older ones didn't support Windows 7 though.
Bull shit Mark, I have been using an older TI with 7 here and at work. I just found a NEW older Version that is very sweet. I am beginning to think however that some backup stuff works better for some than others. Different Chipsets and Drivers could be why.
What Ver of Acronis did not work with seven? Just Curious
#12. "RE: System Backup" In response to jmc (Reply # 8) Tue Feb-22-11 06:32 PM by MSU
According to their knowlege base, anything before TI 2010 doesn't support Windows 7. The version that crapped out on my was TI Home 10 (not to be confused with TI Home 2010).
I do think you're right about the hardware. Because it did work on a couple of my older computers but crapped out on my newer ones. Also, it seemed to create the image just fine. It was the restore that failed. So maybe you just think that it's working and won't find out until you try a restore. Unless you've already done restores of Win7 with it.
For the longest time I made images with both Acronis and Macrium just in case. It was just recently that I stopped doing them with Acronis.
I do have a copy of TI 2011 that I haven't tried yet though. Maybe today. Because I did like TI before and I'd like to like it again.
QUOTE: According to their knowlege base, anything before TI 2010 doesn't support Windows 7. The version that crapped out on my was TI Home 10 (not to be confused with TI Home 2010).
I do think you're right about the hardware. Because it did work on a couple of my older computers but crapped out on my newer ones. Also, it seemed to create the image just fine. It was the restore that failed. So maybe you just think that it's working and won't find out until you try a restore. Unless you've already done restores of Win7 with it.
For the longest time I made images with both Acronis and Macrium just in case. It was just recently that I stopped doing them with Acronis.
I do have a copy of TI 2011 that I haven't tried yet though. Maybe today. Because I did like TI before and I'd like to like it again.
The 2011 sucks really bad use the 2010 version I "know" you have. It is sweet and I have used it many times. I tried the 2011 on a few machines and it craped out. It is very complicated and I dumped it. If you do try it let me know if it works good for you.
#14. "RE: System Backup" In response to jmc (Reply # 13) Tue Feb-22-11 07:13 PM by MSU
I forgot I had TI 2010. It's stored in a different folder. Guess I should install it and try it out. Also, I sent you an email with a little idea for a fairly time consuming project I may try.
That 2010 version is freaking Fantastic. I forgot I had it. I am now using that on all The 7's and Vista's. Got your emal and replied. Great Idea and will be helpful to all here to.
#10. "RE: System Backup" In response to jmc (Reply # 1) Tue Feb-22-11 05:27 PM by Allyn
I switched from Acronis to Macrium because of boot problems with the Acronis startup disk. Interesting that Shelly is having trouble with the Macrium disk. I will test mine shortly.
I have had trouble recently booting a laptop (not mine) from bootable disks.
Don't the newer versions allow you to "mount" the back-up image with a drive letter?
Not on the 30 day trial, and I have no intention of paying them to find out.
Easeus Todo Is one I am looking at. Their new version 2.0 appears to have eliminated all my previous reservations about it.
I also recently purchased an new Seagate 1.5 TB external hard drive on sale for $80 that comes with backup software. I have not installed it yet and i know nothing about the included software, but I know that Seagate had an arrangement with Acronis to use a version of their backup (probably watered down).
I have reservations about both Versions 2010 and 2011 of Acronis. They have a lot of user complaints about having trashed computers requiring total clean reinstalls to fix, and other complaints about causing damage to the OS if they are removed from the system. The high number of negative customer reviews on Amazon are revealing.
I appear to have made a mistake trusting Macrium, so I intend to proceed with caution.
Easeus Todo Is one I am looking at. Their new version 2.0 appears to have eliminated all my previous reservations about it.
I like the new version a lot. Many more options than 1.1.
I think it still takes (a little) longer to make images and the compression rate is (a little) less than Macrium but I've always contended that is not a problem for me. I have the same Seagate drive for my back-ups.
I also recently purchased an new Seagate 1.5 TB external hard drive on sale for $80 that comes with backup software. I have not installed it yet and i know nothing about the included software, but I know that Seagate had an arrangement with Acronis to use a version of their backup (probably watered down).
I too have a Seagate external drive, and I use their version of Acronis TrueImage. It works very good. I alternate making Images with that and Windows 7 built in Image maker. Both work fine.
I use W7 backup for scheduled Daily full backups, and I back up every Wednesday manually, A full back up using Macrium, these backups are done to 2 separate internal Hard drives as a precaution.
We Must Go Through The Storm to Appreciate the Sunshine!
I tried Macrium Reflect a couple of years ago and, although it worked, I was more familiar with Acronis True Image and have made TI my standard. I'm using Acronis® True Image Home® version 11.0 (build 8,101). I tried TI 9.0 but I didn't care for it's GUI, and reverted to Ver 11.0. Ver. 11.0 works well with XP Pro, Vista, and Win 7 (32 bit).
I had the opposite experience. I had been useing Acronis and the first time I had to restore an image it choked. Started using Macrium after that. Did a restore a couple weeks ago on a system I was doing some OS experimenting on and it worked perfectly. I can't remember, but aren't there two options when you run the disk? One to run it normaly and another to run it in "safe" mode?
As I recall, the only time I had a problem with TI was when my computer had one SATA HD and one ATA HD. TI just didn't like that combination. Once I set up with two SATA HDs, the problem disappeared and TI hasn't failed again.
Funny that! Only yesterday I decided to ditch Acronis TI (because it kept hanging on backups) and use Macrium Reflect. I created and tested the Macrium recovery CDs successfully; at least I got to the stage of it recognising the backups on my external drive. However I didn't do a restore which I'm intending to do this weekend.
I minimise my OS by using a number of logical drives. My C drive contains only my OS (Vista) and whatever else positively absolutely has to go there, and that is the only drive I image. Everything else I back up file by file using Karen's Replicator, scheduled jobs overnight so that everything is backed up at least once a week. One of those scheduled jobs specifically backs up all my Outlook files, so I can recover them in a few seconds using Windows Explorer should the need arise (and it has).
I minimise my OS by using a number of logical drives. My C drive contains only my OS (Vista) and whatever else positively absolutely has to go there, and that is the only drive I image. Everything else I back up file by file using Karen's Replicator, scheduled jobs overnight so that everything is backed up at least once a week. One of those scheduled jobs specifically backs up all my Outlook files, so I can recover them in a few seconds using Windows Explorer should the need arise (and it has).
Paul D
Can you clarify please.
If as in Shelley's case, the Macrium boot CD failed could he not boot from any other Linux CD or one such as the Avira rescue CD distributed recently? Then access the Macrium folder to run a backup file that way.
My point is that having to use an image to recover a few files (as opposed to reinstalling/recovering a failed OS) is time-consuming, grossly inefficient and prone to problems such as Shelly encountered, whereas all my backup system requires in that situation is to remount the external drive and use Windows Explorer file copy.
My point is that having to use an image to recover a few files (as opposed to reinstalling/recovering a failed OS) is time-consuming, grossly inefficient and prone to problems such as Shelly encountered, whereas all my backup system requires in that situation is to remount the external drive and use Windows Explorer file copy.
You don't have to restore the entire image you can mount the external drive using Macrium and access the contents using Windows Explorer just like any other drive.
In fact, to mount it all you have to do is click on the image.
I've just tried that on several backups and I always get the following message. I even tried it via Macrium and I still get it. I normally browse the backup immediately after doing the backup and before closing down Macrium and it always works then. So I'll have to look further into why I can't do this after Macrium has closed down. Very odd.
QUOTE: That option is not available in the Free version nor in the 30 day free trial of the paid version.
Yes it is. At least in Free Edition 4.2 you can. Click on the image file, you then get a box to choose which image you want to browse and what drive letter you want assigned to it. Click "ok" and you can now browse and copy individual files you need to your hearts content.
QUOTE: I ran into an interesting situation the other day.
After the incident I reported about losing my W7 64 bit Windows Live Mail Address Book, which I mostly reconstructed, I thought I would look in my backups to see if I could extract a few more accounts.
I have been using Macrium Reflect Free for a few years doing a full backup image twice a week. When I first installed macrium on my computer I ran a test of the Linux based recovery disk you create for restores, and it worked perfectly.
The other night when I booted with the Recovery Disk it froze so I had no cursor control. There was no way to click on Next to continue a recovery. There had recently been a program update for Macrium, and thinking that may have been the problem I created a new recovery Disk, which also froze the same way.
My next move was to uninstall free Macrium and install a 30 day free trial of the paid version of Macrium. It installed without problems and even found the existing Backup files from the free version. I then created yet another new Recovery Disk and had the same freezing problem with it.
Time for tech support! There was no way to contact Macrium to support the free version, and I could not contact them for the paid version while on the 30 day trial. They did have a users forum, it had no posts addressing my problem and only paid users can post to the forum. They also have a knowledge base you can search, but again there was nothing in it addressing my problem. All this left me dead in the water, and all my faithfully done backups were a false worthless security.
I urge anyone using Macrium to test their recovery disk if they have not used it recently.
As for me, I'm looking at other backup solutions.
Fortunately you didn't lose everything but replacing an address book can be a lot of time and work. In my humble opinion, trusting a "Recovery Disk" is trouble waiting to happen, my experience is the same as yours, it works until for some reason it doesn't work anylonger.
With drive prices so reasonable it just makes sense to make a direct copy using whatever program you choose, I like Casper ($50) not free but it works well and its easy, I can also easily test the backup too, whatever the backup program you go with I think its best to stay away from one using a recovery disk.
Why not use what you already have in Windows 7 64-bit, that is, Windows Backup, which includes making a Image? That's what I use, and it works very good.
QUOTE: Because we don't trust Microsoft for everything
In my opinion, the interface doesn't give me enough information and control over what I want to do.
Isn't this about making an Image of your boot drive? I find it does that very well. Recently I had to do a restoration, and everything went smoothly, and I was up and running quite fast.
I installed Easeus Todo Backup last night and ran an image with it scheduled for 3:00 AM It seemed to have worked fine when I checked this morning. The backup was about 5% larger in size than my image a few days ago with Macrium, and It backed everything up and verified. it in about 30 minutes.
I created an emergency disk with it but have not tested it yet because I wanted to create an image first.
It appears from what I read in the help files that you only need the disk in case of a complete meltdown.
So far I'm impressed with the program, its ease of use, speed, and clean interface are impressive.
You didn't make or try the WPE disk? They sort of guide you to using that one if I recall. I had a common problem (apparently, by all the hits for it in a search) of "bootmgr is missing" error on reboot after restore. But it restored fine, and maybe deleting that hidden partition on W7 got rid of the bootmgr problem (it's easily repaired so I'm not sweating it.)
I agree with jkite windows 7 backup and restore works well for me. Its free. I have my computer backed up weekly. I have had to restore the image ounce and it worked great.
QUOTE: I agree with jkite windows 7 backup and restore works well for me. Its free. I have my computer backed up weekly. I have had to restore the image ounce and it worked great.
Yes...I just discovered this little gem myself. Funny thing is, Win7 Action Center has been bugging me for a year to " Make a backup ". I've always ignored it since I backup with other means.
So I just tried the Windows 7 backup feature, and I must say I was very impressed.
The " other method " that I was using was Acronis True Image WD Edition ( version 11.0 ). I've never had to do a restoration from this, but the Image was created easily and I can browse all the folders and files no problem.
Edit: I see that WD has a new version of Acronis True Image available ( version 14.010 ). I'm going to download that and give it a try.
When you do a restore with Acronis in W7, can you start it in Windows (like you could with XP) or do you have to use the rescue disk?
Wondering, because I always liked starting in Windows and continuing on reboot (what always happened with Acronis in XP for me) but with Macrium in W7, I have to use the rescue disk. Don't know if it's a Macrium thing, or a W7(64) thing.
When you do a restore with Acronis in W7, can you start it in Windows (like you could with XP) or do you have to use the rescue disk?
You can do it either way. If you start in W7, it will ask you to restart. After restarting, it will then commence to do the restore. The rescue disk works as usual.
Thanks bobbo, although I was hoping for a different answer You do backups to feel safe and I'm having a hard time feeling safe when everything depends on that flimsy little piece of polycarb.
Maybe I wasn't clear, Bob. You can start a restore with TI while in Win 7, selecting the image you want to restore, THEN it will ask you to reboot, at which time TI starts up and continues the restore you selected. When you re-start, the image you restored will be in effect. If you use the emergency rescue disk, you re-start with the disk in the CD/DVD drive and then select the image you want to restore. I find that starting a restore from within Windows is the most convenient, as you don't have to bother with the rescue disk.
I bought a copy of Acronis Home 2011 a few days ago. Thought I'd just install it and it would create a backup to use in case my hard drive fubarred. Silly me for thinking it would be simple. The user manual is over 200 pages and is not a printed booklet. I have a problem reading long winded stuff on my computer as I keep losing my place and my eyes start to go haywire.
I still haven't figured this thing out as there are bunches of some pretty techy options. As best I can determine, the Acronis install disk also functions as a rescue disk. I have what the icon in my sys tray says is "nonstop backup" going to a dedicated internal hard drive. Haven't tried it yet but hopefully this thing is constantly backing up my hard drive and if necessary I can boot from the Acronis disk and it will find and install the backup.
I urge anyone using Macrium to test their recovery disk if they have not used it recently.
Tested mine on three machines with no problems. I tested them with an older rescue disk I made a few months ago and then again with a new one I made today after getting the latest update to Macrium and they both worked fine on all machines. Macrium Free 64bit vers. 4.2 build 3141
Quote:
In fact, to mount it all you have to do is click on the image
Mark, I can mount and browse any image whether on an internal hard drive partition or on my external Seagate drive. just give it a drive letter and that's it.
On the two times I tried Acronis TI free addition, I couldn't even get it to create an image without gagging in the middle of the process.
A picture is worth a thousand words. I just described that to Shelly in a post above because he said that option wasn't available in the free version or the trial version.
I know that's what we were originally talking about. But Pcqandaman mentioned accessing the contents of the image with Macrium and you said that option wasn't available in the free or trial versions. Then I indicated that it indeed was available. Then Horatio posted a screen shot of what I was talking about.
Out of curiosity, I used Win 7 Backup/Restore to create a backup (image) of my C: drive. When completed, it's size was 6.5 GB, while TI's image is 13 GB, double that of the Win 7. Did it miss something, or is it more efficient than TI?
Odd, on my system with Macrium Reflect, EASUS Todo Backup or Acronis TrueImage, the are pretty close to the same size. Around 183GB (lots of home movies and I haven't gotten around to juggling partitions to make room elsewhere yet). With the Windows 7 backup it's considerably bigger, 201GB.
Did the Windows backup include the operating system?
Normally only image programs back up the operating system (Windows) which allows an image to restore everything. File by File backup systems usually do not back up the OS, and for a full restore you need to install Windows from the original disk(s) first, and then you can restore your programs and data from the backup files.
Not having used the Microsoft backup program in W7, I don't know if it is really an Image. all previous versions of Windows included a file by file backup, if anything, not an imaging backup.
I didn't do it that way. That looks like it will do a file by file backup in addition to the system image. When I opened Backup & Restore, on the left side there's an option that states simply "Create a system image" instead of the "Set up backup" that's on the right.
Yes, what I did was an image just like Macrium, Acronis, EASUS, etc. However it's buried under several subdirectories with a crap load of extraneous files. You have to hunt to find it in explorer. It's much larger too as I mentioned. And it leaves a lot to be desired for customizing what and how you want your image made. I ran it simply for a test. I didn't restore the image...just deleted the whole kit and kaboodle after it was done. I'll stick with a dedicated image progam. You can also do a simple file by file backup, I didn't mess with that though. I use SyncBack for that and I'm very happy with it.
#56. "RE: System Backup" In response to Shelly (Reply # 47) Fri Feb-25-11 03:12 AM by bobbo
Quote:
Did the Windows backup include the operating system?
I honestly don't know, as I have never attempted a restore using Window Backup. There doesn't seem to be a way to look at the files in the backup, as you can by mounting a TI image.
Quote:
Not having used the Microsoft backup program in W7, I don't know if it is really an Image. all previous versions of Windows included a file by file backup, if anything, not an imaging backup.
All I can say is that Win 7 refers to the backup as an "Image". I only tried the Win Backup/Restore ap to see how it would perform. My standard is TI which performs perfectly for me, although I did have some minor problems at one time which TI tech support helped me to correct.
I have restored an image using Windows 7 with no problem, in fact I just put Vista 32 image back on an another HD so again have a dual boot system along with my Windows 7 OS.
We Must Go Through The Storm to Appreciate the Sunshine!
Nothing I have seen in this thread has convinced me that for recovering individual files as opposed to restoring after a crash, an imaging program (any imaging program) is better than a file by file backup.
#60. "RE: System Backup" In response to Paul D (Reply # 59) Tue Mar-01-11 06:26 PM by MSU
Quote:
Nothing I have seen in this thread has convinced me that for recovering individual files as opposed to restoring after a crash, an imaging program (any imaging program) is better than a file by file backup.
And that's what the thread was originally about.
No, it was originally about imageing programs.
I do both just because I don't want to trust everything to one option. In fact I do two seperate images with two seperate programs and have two seperate file by file backups.
I agree that if all you want to do is restore some individual files that something like Karens Replicator is perfect. However, in the event of a crashed HD or corrupted OS, with an imageing program you can be up and running with all your original programs, settings, files, etc. within minutes. With only a file by file backup, you'd have to reinstallinstal all the programs, reconfigure any customizations you've done, and transfer all the files you've backed up file by file. That can take several hours.
Well yeah, there's that too. But I guess with my backup strategy I'm not too worried about disc space. The total of everything I do comes out to about 778GB All on separate drives.
I forgot I had TI 2010. It's stored in a different folder. Guess I should install it and try it out. Also, I sent you an email with a little idea for a fairly time consuming project I may try.
You do backups to feel safe and I'm having a hard time feeling safe when everything depends on that flimsy little piece of polycarb.
The total of everything I do comes out to about 778GB