Tell me the Best backup softwares for Windows 7

Discussion in 'Application Software' started by Wonder.Wonder.Wonder, Jun 2, 2010.

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Which Backup Tool(s) are you using?

  1. Windows 7 inbuilt Backup and Restore

    16.2%
  2. Acronis True Image Home 2010

    54.3%
  3. Macrium Reflect paid (or Free)

    3.0%
  4. Norton Ghost 14 or 15 (or Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 )

    18.5%
  5. Shadow Protect

    3.4%
  6. O&O DiskImage

    2.3%
  7. Paragon disk image

    2.3%
  8. Image for Windows

    1.9%
  9. DriveClone 7.0.3 (Farstone)

    1.5%
  10. Others, Please post it

    10.2%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. acyuta

    acyuta MDL Expert

    Mar 8, 2010
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    Try acronis free edition for wdc or seagate hard drives. Have been using that since early-nov and it has none of the `full' features of paid version. As a backup and restore, it is fully reliable. Plus, one can delete from the hdd like a normal file and also right click on any image to mount/recover/validate and then acronis opens up. No need to open the program to hunt for the image.
     
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  2. Deb_Rider

    Deb_Rider MDL Senior Member

    Aug 21, 2010
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    actually I don't use back up and restore proccesses......
    though I polled to win 7 inbuilt..........
     
  3. Wonder.Wonder.Wonder

    Jun 2, 2010
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    Hi, how can you reach 19GB? I have an university account, but my space is just 2GB+250MB+8GB now. Is there any special trick?
     
  4. xiezhoupeng351_

    xiezhoupeng351_ MDL Junior Member

    Jun 2, 2010
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    Dropbox never remind you about additional bonus, you have to get the information from the internet or dropbox forum. Now here is some hint.

    1. Go to dropbox.com/edu to prove your university account. Then you will see all the bonuses are doubled. Hence, you get 2GB+16GB+250MB
    2. Go to dropbox.com/free to get the other 768MB. Until here, you will get 19GB in total.

    Again, though dropbox can also be used for online storage, its main function is syncing, to replace USB flash disk. So actually you do not need that much space.
    I have a 2GB account in my office and only used 22.2% of it until now.
     
  5. Phazor

    Phazor MDL Expert

    Sep 1, 2009
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    Huge fan of the Windows Backup here, cannot confirm the problems that have been mentioned at all.

    Never had it not recognize a backup, never had it mess one up, never had a failed restore.

    In fact so far i didnt have any problems with it at all.

    (Which is extremely rare for a Microsoft product, but in this case i really cannot complain.)


    Backing up my 50GB C:\ partition (30GB used / 20GB free) takes about 20 minutes.

    Restoring is way faster, i would estimate a little more than half of the backup time.

    Extremely positive: This applies even if a backup is stored on and restored from the same physical drive as C:\

    (Give or take a minute, which i find an excellent performance. Drive = 320GB WD Black @ IDE/UDMA5.)

    Reliability thus far: 100%



    Pros
    ----
    • Built into the OS; no 3rd party drivers, DLLs, autorunning background services, etcetera

    • 4K-Sector aware; will not mess up the alignment of Advanced Format drives upon restore

    • Automatically backs up the hidden System Reserved partition (if user has one) along with C:\

    • Extremely easy backup process via simple no-frills user-interface

    • Extremely easy restore process via Win7 DVD (or USB-Flashdrive) and similar no-frills user-interface

    • Speedy backup and restore


    Cons
    -----
    • Does not support incremental backups (every backup has to be a full backup)

    • Requires special preparations if a new backup is not to overwrite a previous backup

    • Contents of backups can be viewed but not edited (at least not officially)


    Things with a Pro and a Con side
    -------------------------------
    • Issue: Application does not compress the backups

    • Pro side (speed): Shorter restore process since no extra time goes into file-decompression

    • Pro side (reliability): Guaranteed no errors due to archive corruption and the consequent inability to decompress

    • Con side: An uncompressed backup of a rather large volume requires considerably more harddrive space than a compressed backup*

    (*Of course this is a very relative con in times where 1TB and 2TB drives are more and more common. Owners of large HDDs are probably glad to trade a few GBs for better speed and reliability.)


    Conclusion
    ----------
    In my experience Windows Backup appears to be a solid and reliable application, which makes it one of the few Microsoft apps that do an all around good job.

    I for one have no reason to change, especially since i really like how Microsofts solution is so nicely integrated into the OS itself and its installation medium. :)
     
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  6. talatruong

    talatruong MDL Novice

    Dec 2, 2010
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    I never knew such backup should select which one! :(
     
  7. pr101

    pr101 MDL Novice

    Nov 25, 2010
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    Hi all,
    Im new here - great reading and an eye opener re: OS's.
    Ive been using R-Drive image to take snapshots of my partitions periodically.
    I originally used to use norton ghost but it changed a few years ago and I no longer like it.
    I sometimes use acronis for its automated features but R-Drive image is great - straight forward which is great for me as im easily confused :)
     
  8. Annasui

    Annasui MDL Novice

    Dec 6, 2010
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    there is another good softwareTuneup360
     
  9. MrG

    MrG MDL Expert

    May 31, 2010
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    WHS v1 or WHS Vail beta, they will restore ones whole OS, apps, etc. quick & easy.
     
  10. xiezhoupeng351_

    xiezhoupeng351_ MDL Junior Member

    Jun 2, 2010
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    I recently found a good backup tool called Dmailer Backup, totally free.
     
  11. KrazdKiller

    KrazdKiller Guest

    now with acronis true image home 2010 if i have dual boot win 7 32bit and 64bit can i do the entire drive in one image file?
     
  12. xiezhoupeng351_

    xiezhoupeng351_ MDL Junior Member

    Jun 2, 2010
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    It actually depends if your dual systems are in ONE partition, if not, I think you should make two separate backups.
     
  13. Wonder.Wonder.Wonder

    Jun 2, 2010
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    Seems Acronis and Norton are the best choices
     
  14. mrthuvi

    mrthuvi MDL Member

    Apr 2, 2008
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    I used Acronis for 3 years but recent versions (2010, 2011) disappointed me. I recently "discovered" Ghost 11 and a nice tool called Onekey Ghost (coded by Chinese). It is fast, simple, straight-to-point type. Just a few click and i got what i need. o_O
     
  15. xiezhoupeng351_

    xiezhoupeng351_ MDL Junior Member

    Jun 2, 2010
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    I have heard about that, but seems it's not compatible with Windows 7, right?
    Or maybe I have got the wrong version?
     
  16. xiezhoupeng351_

    xiezhoupeng351_ MDL Junior Member

    Jun 2, 2010
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    A lot of updating is available now, it seems good to discuss again about the new version of these tools, isn't right?
     
  17. kdo2milger

    kdo2milger MDL Senior Member

    Jan 5, 2010
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    if i could vote again i would vote ATIH2011
     
  18. Wonder.Wonder.Wonder

    Jun 2, 2010
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    Well, You can just vote ATIH2010 to show your opinion.