Currently I am using Macrium Reflect Free. I was using the same before Aomei but wanted to use some extra features Aomei offers in pro version and one can find lot of giveaways for Aomei.
Acronis True Image 2021
- Thread starter sepik
- Start date
- Apr 17, 2020
- 542
For me on Aoemi it was the infamous error message that is vague when trying to restore. And if you google you will find it!
- May 16, 2013
- 844
They use Bitdefender as antivirus engine.
Bonorex
Level 1
- Jun 12, 2020
- 39
I agree that ransomware protection is a good addition to a backup software. And this is also the reason why I purchased the paid license of Macrium, when it was on sale. I like Macrium's approach, because its Image Guardian technology simply protects backup files from being modified by any application, and it doesn't add real-time layers, that could conflict with antivirus' modules.
This complements very well my KIS protection. Although I save backup images on two external drives, I like having a system copy saved on the internal HDD, for faster image restoring. The system images are saved in a folder locked by KIS, together with some useless jpg files. Even if ransomware attack would get past KIS folder protection, it would first start encrypting the jpgs, being system images protected from modification by Macrium's Image Guardian. I guess that KIS behaviour blocker would notice these jpg massive changes and stop the attack.
Of course, no defense is 100% unbreakable, but I love this triple-protection, because it's also light on RAM and CPU resources. Acronis's solution would simply not do for me, because it would probably interfere with KIS and I would never replace KIS real time modules for Acronis'.
- Jul 27, 2015
- 5,458
Since it's possible to turn ON and OFF Acronis Protection/AV scan feature, I doubt it would be any issues.
- May 26, 2014
- 1,130
I keep hearing good things about Macrium,but the price of 69 dollars has kept me from buying and I do not want to use the free version,anyone have a dark horse to recommend?
- Apr 17, 2020
- 542
I have tested quite a few backup solutions over the last few days and going to test more and will show and compare my results soon!
- Apr 17, 2020
- 542
WOW well the results are in. I have about 180 GB space used on c: drive for windows and keep in mind that I also have a backup of all my videos/MP3's and photos on the windows partition also. (I know they are compressed and can't be again!) That is taking up about 50 GB of space. My logic for this? I do keep my image/videos/music on another separate drive that I install my games on and use for backups. And then I got to thinking... well what if THAT drive dies? I don't have a backup of my backup. LOL. So... I keep a redundant copy of those videos etc on the c: drive and of course they get backed up with the system. (I have had my secondary drive act flaky before and that got me panicked and paranoid about ONLY keep those files on that drive.) And no point in saying well partition the c: drive and keep the video/audio files there... because if the drive dies the drive dies... ALL partitions! That is my logic.
Ok enough rambling and back to the test results:
Window 10 c: 180 GB used of 931 GB
backup size: backup time: (estimated)
Acronis 128 gb 100 mins +
Terabyte 130 gb 90 mins
Ashampoo 116 gb 55 mins
Redo Backup 141 gb 50 mins (yes I even tried this freebie which was just released with a new version)
Easus Todo 149 gb 30 mins (fast compression) *** 2nd place ***
138 gb 2 hrs (high compresion)
Macrium 119 gb 24.42 mins (medium compression)/intellisector (default) **** WINNER!!! ****
Acronis sadly seemed to take forever. (I didn't check the exact time when I started but it does the type of estimate based on per file so it will set there for an hour saying 28 mins. remaining) Which is what it did. (I was like it has been over an hour and still saying this!?) I ran this from an ISO * I know Acronis has their built in ransomware and antivirus too but did not want to install this unless I was impressed with the backup since I heard it is pretty big program and a resource hog with alot of features and programs running!
Terabyte Image for Windows has been my go to for awhile and it does make an image file you can mount also but it was pretty slow.
(Terabyte and Acronis were used with the ISO booted) * Which you would think no overhead, no windows running, it should go faster!?
Now Ashampoo and Redo both were reasonably fast but they split up the files and not an image you can mount. (Which I prefer) Ashampoo also runs within windows and has some neat features such as if you bring up anything full screen or that needs resources it will auto pause the backup and it's very light on the system)
It's too bad that it breaks up the files into 4 GB segments and you have a huge directory full of them. And you can not restore individual files or folders.
Redo Backup is a bootable linux iso and uses a zip format so the image is not mountable but pretty fast,decent,simple and straight to the point.
Easus To Do on default is very fast and does make an image file you can mount/explore but doesn't compress very much. ( I was shocked at how well and fast it does)
I was really rooting for this and wanted it to win but it was just not the best with compression but pretty fast none the less!) It also tells you an estimate and time
it took to complete if I remember correctly! But I was also watching the clock. This program was running within windows.
Macrium was the clear winner by far in speed and size of the compression even though I had around 50 gb of image/mp3/video files!! (And one of the most accurate since it tells you in time stamp when it starts and when finished and time it took!) And this was also running within windows. And it's a mountable image file and you can go and extract and drag drop and copy any individual file or folder back if you need it and not just the whole image! (Terabyte and Easus To Do also has this feature)
And as a plus, Macrium has an image guardian that just protects the backups from ransomware and doesn't bog your system down with other unnecessary processes.
I have had enough fun and I am tired of making backups now. LOL. Hope this gives you guys some insight and helpful information! (Sorry I tried every which way and my alignment would not work for the backup size and backup time. It would show fine before I saved but I eventually gave up.)
Ok enough rambling and back to the test results:
Window 10 c: 180 GB used of 931 GB
backup size: backup time: (estimated)
Acronis 128 gb 100 mins +
Terabyte 130 gb 90 mins
Ashampoo 116 gb 55 mins
Redo Backup 141 gb 50 mins (yes I even tried this freebie which was just released with a new version)
Easus Todo 149 gb 30 mins (fast compression) *** 2nd place ***
138 gb 2 hrs (high compresion)
Macrium 119 gb 24.42 mins (medium compression)/intellisector (default) **** WINNER!!! ****
Acronis sadly seemed to take forever. (I didn't check the exact time when I started but it does the type of estimate based on per file so it will set there for an hour saying 28 mins. remaining) Which is what it did. (I was like it has been over an hour and still saying this!?) I ran this from an ISO * I know Acronis has their built in ransomware and antivirus too but did not want to install this unless I was impressed with the backup since I heard it is pretty big program and a resource hog with alot of features and programs running!
Terabyte Image for Windows has been my go to for awhile and it does make an image file you can mount also but it was pretty slow.
(Terabyte and Acronis were used with the ISO booted) * Which you would think no overhead, no windows running, it should go faster!?
Now Ashampoo and Redo both were reasonably fast but they split up the files and not an image you can mount. (Which I prefer) Ashampoo also runs within windows and has some neat features such as if you bring up anything full screen or that needs resources it will auto pause the backup and it's very light on the system)
It's too bad that it breaks up the files into 4 GB segments and you have a huge directory full of them. And you can not restore individual files or folders.
Redo Backup is a bootable linux iso and uses a zip format so the image is not mountable but pretty fast,decent,simple and straight to the point.
Easus To Do on default is very fast and does make an image file you can mount/explore but doesn't compress very much. ( I was shocked at how well and fast it does)
I was really rooting for this and wanted it to win but it was just not the best with compression but pretty fast none the less!) It also tells you an estimate and time
it took to complete if I remember correctly! But I was also watching the clock. This program was running within windows.
Macrium was the clear winner by far in speed and size of the compression even though I had around 50 gb of image/mp3/video files!! (And one of the most accurate since it tells you in time stamp when it starts and when finished and time it took!) And this was also running within windows. And it's a mountable image file and you can go and extract and drag drop and copy any individual file or folder back if you need it and not just the whole image! (Terabyte and Easus To Do also has this feature)
And as a plus, Macrium has an image guardian that just protects the backups from ransomware and doesn't bog your system down with other unnecessary processes.
I have had enough fun and I am tired of making backups now. LOL. Hope this gives you guys some insight and helpful information! (Sorry I tried every which way and my alignment would not work for the backup size and backup time. It would show fine before I saved but I eventually gave up.)
Last edited:
- Jan 27, 2018
- 1,410
- Apr 17, 2020
- 542
I was using Aomei for a few years and it failed on restore. It does have the mount image feature but was in the middle of the road as far as speed. I don't trust it or recommend it anymore. It has one job to do and it didn't do it.Care to try Aomei and Drive Snapshot?
Drive Snapshot I started to install and test also but it hasn't been updated since last year and I know it's not the prettiest. I think that was the reason I decided against it.
Because I don't think it would be the easiest or as user friendly for my wife and daughter to also use. (Or myself even lol) See example:
I also tried Iperius Backup and it was saying over 2 hours and I just gave up on it also lol. Now Iperius makes a FANTASTIC remote tool which i used last week to help a friend in another part of the state from me and doesn't even install. Just a stand alone exe and runs and you use the other persons generated id and pw and can log in and remote and control the system/transfer files/ has a chat window etc. But their backup software.. meh.
On my SSD drive, I have 78.2 G of data ( Windows and my apps). With Macrium Reflect Free, it takes 8 minutes to make a backup and about the same time to restore. Never had a problem in the last 3 years.
I keep a minimum of data on my C: for instance, just 100 pictures. I have 10000 photos on my E drive. And more on Google Photos.It's the same for music, videos....So I mostly use Macrium to backup Windows.
I keep a minimum of data on my C: for instance, just 100 pictures. I have 10000 photos on my E drive. And more on Google Photos.It's the same for music, videos....So I mostly use Macrium to backup Windows.
Last edited:
- Apr 17, 2020
- 542
Wow that is fast. I am pondering what to do with my video/mp3/pictures backup. It would lower my c: drive size and make my backup way faster and compress more for sure! How big is the backup file?
It's big: between 65065699 and 72198019...I keep 5 backups. But my E is 2T so no problem at all... My compression ratio is set at medium.
Last edited:
- Aug 4, 2016
- 1,465
I use Aomei Pro several times a week, as I installed Windows a few weeks ago & to set all my programs etc up takes around 20 hours - I also have taken an image using Macrium, if the worst came to the worst I would think one imager would work? - I'm going to do that every month or so - I can deal with losing a few weeks on Windows as the rest of the PC including docs etc is backed up separately - My images are just over 9 GIG so no problem.
- Jan 27, 2018
- 1,410
Thanks Tutman, if I remember correctly you don't have to install Snapshot, you can download the snapshot.exe file and just use it like a portable application.
- Apr 19, 2017
- 249
- Apr 17, 2020
- 542
You're welcome, and yes you are correct!
Installation
Specifically in a corporate environment, where dozens or hundreds of computers must be backed up, the need to install software (and usually reboot it after installation), can be annoying.
Drive Snapshot does not require an installation. Drive Snapshot - Download evaluation Software
- Apr 17, 2020
- 542
- Aug 4, 2016
- 1,465
There is often a pretty cheap Macriuum offer on the interface of Macrium free, assuming all is visible on 'view' The last offer I got was £20 UK Pounds ($26) as I remember, worth keeping a look out.
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