Backup Programs

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I have used Ease US Todo Backup Home for many years to backup two pc’s. Two weeks ago the ultimate test came: both pc’s crashed after a reboot following updates. I had backed up disk 0 as well as System. I had created a WinPE recovery USB drive. But when it came to using this, although it appeared that a new disk 0 was being created, it did not do anything so I could not restart into the new disk 0. I tried this a couple of times without any success. Eventually I had to use the pc manufacturer’s recovery disk, which just gave me back an old version of W10, but nothing else, and I spent the last two weeks installing all apps and configuring all settings on one Lenovo pc. The other pc is still under warranty and I am fighting with the manufacturer (HP) to give me a W11 Pro recovery drive, since I had bought this pc with W11 Pro.

Now I need to find a different Backup program.   I read some reviews and ratings from various tech magazines:  Macrium, Acronis, NTI, iDrive, Paragon…. I am confused by it all.

I primarily need a program for backing up disk 0 and System so I can restore the OS, all apps and settings. I am not worried about my personal data and files because I have them on external drives and sync them using GoodSync. I assume the “System” backup would take care of all settings and files in the user folders? I use Gmail so all emails are online.

Any recommendations?

 

 

 

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I use both Macrium and an older version of ATI. Both have been fine in my use. I personally prefer ATI. On machines here I use the boot cd or usb to create and restore images and don’t install the programs on the machines. On remote systems I do install the program but only do manual backups except on maybe 3 or 4 that run scheduled backups.

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Ken

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I’ve been using Paragon for many years (currently using their free for non-commercial purposes Backup & Recovery Community Edition)

I do a “full” backup of my system disk (drive 0) each week on Sundays and have never had it fail to restore a backup using it’s recovery USB (boots into “their” version of WinPE)

My most recent restore was just last month after I messed up a setting in BCD and the system disk wouldn’t boot.

Takes less than 10 mins to backup a 500GB disk (only 60GB is in use) but takes about an hour to restore it.

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Ken

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I’ve been using EaseUS ToDo Backup for years, including (rare) total System restore, System Disk cloning (including to SSD), etc. ?Have you contacted EaseUS directly?? ?What version of ToDo were you using??

Zig

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Ken

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I have used the paid version of Todo Backup Home all along. I have been in touch frequently with them via Team Viewer, always at night since they are in China. Mostly they have been very good except this critical time. Essentially they just said “sorry” and eventually disconnected and left me in the lurch.  So I am now looking for a replacement.

(HP has agreed to refund me in full since they cannot bring the pc back to W11 Pro!!!! They sent me a W10 Pro recovery drive, they reinstalled W10 Pro expecting me to upgrade. I guess they cannot support what they sell.)

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Your problem isn’t you. There’s been abandonment across a wide spectrum — everything and everywhere.  (“It’s your misfortune and none of my own.”) It’s not you.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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You may want to look at the AskWoody topics:

World Backup Day on March 31st, AOMEI free backup app and more

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/world-backup-day-on-march-31st-aomei-free-backup-app-and-more/

Are you prepared?

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/are-you-prepared/

System/Data Recovery – Clone, Image, vs. Backup

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/system-data-recovery-clone-image-vs-backup/

 

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Coldheart9020, Ken

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For what it’s worth, We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do. We don’t all have to do the same things.  That being said, TeraByte Unlimited has been my go-to for partitioning and imaging for more than twenty years, and in my view they just keep getting better.

My latest restore (after some tinkerin’ and poochin’ my system) was three days ago, and completed without a hiccup.  I only had to restore my OS partition (100GB) and it took less than two minutes for the restoration.

THE preeminent test of drive imaging software is to restore an image.  Mounting as a drive letter may give some consolation, but it doesn’t put the rubber on the road like a restoration will.  The OP’s experience is the wrong time to find this out.

Ken wrote:

I had backed up disk 0 as well as System. I had created a WinPE recovery USB drive. But when it came to using this, although it appeared that a new disk 0 was being created, it did not do anything so I could not restart into the new disk 0. I tried this a couple of times without any success.

I am in no way associated with TeraByte Unlimited, I get nothing from them in any way.  Their products are not free, but they do offer a fully functional 30 free-trial, so that one can give it a go without cost.  A home-use license is good for installation on 5 PC’s, and upgrades within the same series (now 3.xx, currently v3.53) are free for registered owners.

I’ve never had a restoration failure with Image for Windows in over twenty years, and I’ve probably done hundreds, as much as I thinker in Windows guts.  It will abort when creating an image if it comes across bad sectors.  Chkdsk /r will generally correct this and an image can then be completed.

Again, we all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do. We don’t all have to do the same things.  But if you’re in the market for a new imaging software experience, a fully functional 30-day free trial is just a few clicks away.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Ken

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The one way you can test your backup without taking a chance of destroying what is currently on your hard drive is to get a second hard drive that is the same size as your primary hard drive:
1. Do a backup of your primary hard drive.
2. Shut the computer down, remove and store your primary hard drive, and install your secondary hard drive.
3. Do a restore to your secondary hard drive.

If everything works as it is supposed to, your computer will be fully operational, and you are ready in case an emergency comes along. If not, then all you lost was some time; and you know in advance that you aren’t yet prepared for that emergency.

A second benefit of the above is that you have a fully functional backup on the other hard drive. In case of emergency, you can install the stored hard drive and be immediately up and running.

Also, you will be putting a lot less wear and tear on your hard drives, since you will use them only half as much as if you had only one hard drive.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Ken

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Ken wrote:

I primarily need a program for backing up disk 0 and System

ATI will do exactly that.

Without more information about what happened what you tried to restore it’s hard to suggest a resolution, but it may be that the ATI boot USB does not have a (correct) disk driver for your PC and that is why it won’t restore.

Given you already have a backup, persevere with ATI until you manage a restore. You will learn more doing that than changing to another program and hoping it will restore.

cheers, Paul

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Ken

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Thank you to all for your feedback and suggestions.

I am perhaps more confused now: I don’t understand the difference between “clone”, “image”, and “backup”.

On clone and image, when do I do one or the other or both? I had thought they were the same thing with a different name.

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Ken wrote:

On clone and image, when do I do one or the other or both? I had thought they were the same thing with a different name.

“Backup” is a generic term meaning to preserve the contents of a partition or drive.

A “clone” is an exact duplication of a drive onto another drive of the same capacity.  This “backup” is the same size as the original drive, and the drive clone can be swapped out for the original drive, or ‘cloned’ back to the original drive.

An “image” is a compressed file that preserves the contents (data only, no free space) of a partition or drive at ~50% the original size.  This image can be restored to the original drive or to another drive.

I have never used cloning; in my view the hardware requirements are not worth the effort or expense.  I have never, ever had an image restoration fail using Image for Windows for over twenty years.  I have never, ever had an issue with the recovery USB for Image for Windows.

Ken wrote:

I had created a WinPE recovery USB drive. But when it came to using this, although it appeared that a new disk 0 was being created, it did not do anything so I could not restart into the new disk 0.

Had you previously tested this WinPE recovery USB drive?  Had you previously restored a drive image to confirm that the software was doing what it was supposed to be doing?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

2 users thanked author for this post.

Ken, geekdom

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Thank you, now I understand image vs. clone.

No, I had not tested the WinPE drive. How do I test it without erasing everything on my pc? Onto another external drive?

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Ken wrote:

No, I had not tested the WinPE drive. How do I test it without erasing everything on my pc? Onto another external drive?

The only true test of any “backup” software is a restoration of the backup.  There is no other way to be absolutely certain that your backup is truly a backup.  Your experience as expressed in the OP indicates that yours was not truly a backup, because it did not restore correctly.

You could restore your backup to an external drive, then swap that drive into your PC and see if it boots.  I’ve been using TeraByte Unlimited‘s imaging software for so long that I have no doubts whatsoever that it will restore correctly.

When I first started using it more than twenty years ago, it was bundled into BootIt Next Generation, their partitioning tool.  TeraByte later spun it off into a more feature-rich standalone suite, Image For Windows, which also bundled some extra features.  As I said earlier, I have literally done hundreds of partition/drive restorations without a single failure.

I’ll be doing several today, trusting it completely to do just what it says it will do.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Ken

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We had a catastrophic C drive failure earlier in the year and needed to replace the SSD.

Fortunately, we had cloned the damaged drive to an external SSD that we used to replace the nonfunctioning SSD.

Recovery involved installing the cloned external SSD in the computer, booting the computer, making a few tweaks to the system, and recovering files created after the clone was created from an external hard drive.

It is our practice to backup our C drives daily using Acronis True Image for Western Digital, creating a new clone of the C drives on Fridays using Acronis True Image for Western Digital, and copying our data files to external hard drives on Wednesdays using Windows 10 File Explorer.

Our procedure may be overkill – but our computers are the foundation of our business and we have to be able to recover a down machine ASAP.

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Correction:

We clone our SSD C drive to an identical external SSD just prior to installing monthly Windows 10 updates.

The C drive is backed up daily to an internal D drive using Acronis.

The C drive is backed up Fridays to an external HHD using Acronis.

The data files stored on the computer’s C drive are copied to an external drive on Wensdays.

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Ken wrote:

How do I test it without erasing everything on my pc?

Boot from the USB.
Select a backup.
Browse it to find a file you know, like a document.
Restore the file to a different location on your hard disk from the original file.
Shut down and boot from the internal disk.
Go to the location where you restored the document.
Try to open it.

If you can open the document then all is well with your backup.
Delete the restored document after testing.

cheers, Paul

2 users thanked author for this post.

Coldheart9020, Ken

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Paul T wrote:

Boot from the USB. Select a backup. Browse it to find a file you know, like a document. Restore the file to a different location on your hard disk from the original file. Shut down and boot from the internal disk. Go to the location where you restored the document. Try to open it. If you can open the document then all is well with your backup. Delete the restored document after testing.

At the risk of sounding argumentative (which I am most definitely trying NOT to do), what is being described above is in fact copying a file from a virtual disk to a physical disk, it is not the same as restoring an image, nor does it guarantee that an actual full restore operation will succeed.

“Recovering a file”

Ken wrote:

I had backed up disk 0 as well as System. I had created a WinPE recovery USB drive. But when it came to using this, although it appeared that a new disk 0 was being created, it did not do anything so I could not restart into the new disk 0. I tried this a couple of times without any success.

An actual full restore operation is the only true test of imaging software.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

2 users thanked author for this post.

Ken, JohnW

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bbearren wrote:

it is not the same as restoring an image, nor does it guarantee that an actual full restore operation will succeed

What it does is test the USB boot and drivers on your system. If these are OK then an image restore should work without issue.

As always, a full restore does require some knowledge by the user on what to restore and where.

cheers, Paul

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JohnW

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Thank you Paul. The question referred to the WinPE boot disk and the disk 0 and System backups, not the file backups.

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You my not be able to select individual files if you’ve booted from the USB.

To get around this limitation, make a file backup of a few files, then boot from USB and attempt to restore.

cheers, Paul

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bbearen: with Terabyte, what size external drives would  I need? My C drive is 252Gb of which I use just over 80. This drive contains the OS and System and apps. Everything else is in external drives: one is 1Tb of which 873 Gb is free. The other is 2Tb with 1.55Tb free. Can  I use these external drives for the images without affecting the rest of the data on the drive? My idea is to create images alternately, always keeping one intact.

Or do I need new separate drives for the images? What size? Or should I get 128 Gb flash drives for this?

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Ken wrote:

Or do I need new separate drives for the images?

You have plenty of room on the drives you already have.  I suggest that you make a backup folder on each drive (since you want to alternate drives—that’s what I do as well) as a target for your drive images.

I put a tutorial on the Backup > Backup software – Image for Windows Forum Creating a drive image with Image for Windows (1)

There is also a Part 2 post.  Hopefully that will help you get started.  I would keep about three sets of images, deleting the oldest one after you have created the newest one.  I store them on my NAS and have 3 months worth, but then I have plenty of room there.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Ken

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Ken,

Some more resources:
Cloning & Imaging Explained

My Backup Setup

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Coldheart9020, Ken

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Ken,

Please don’t take this as criticism, but perhaps your confusion among “image,” “clone” and “backup” is the cause of your initial problems with EaseUS. Also, I’m unclear as to why you backed up “disk 0” as well as “System.”

In answer to your question to bbearen about drive sizes, you should be good to go, as long as you don’t perform a “sector-by-sector” backup, which would back up the entire drive in question, including the free space. The backup files won’t interfere with the files on your external drives unless you back up these drives as well , which , of course would lead to a continually-enlarging series of “backups of your backups.”

Zig

 

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Ken

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Zig wrote:

Also, I’m unclear as to why you backed up “disk 0” as well as “System.”

I’ll admit that I was a bit unclear on that point as well. On my system disk “0” is the “System” disk where the “(C:)” partition lives.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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John,

That was my assumption, also. Backing up both Disk 0 and System is redundant, unless, I guess, if you have a lot of data files on C: (even then I’m not sure it’s necessary).

Zig

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bbearen:

Is there a way to schedule the images? Considering I will create two or three images at different times on different drives, I am thinking of naming them imageA, B, C,. I would like to schedule all late at night and not have to be in front of the pc.  I went through your IFW tutorials, do not remember reading this.

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Ken wrote:

Is there a way to schedule the images?

You are correct in that that procedure is not in my tutorials here on AskWoody, however it is on my web site.  There are no ads or trackers on my site.

Scheduling Backup gives step-by-step instructions.

I guess I need to update my tutorials.  I’ll try to get that done soon.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Ken

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I just read that section of your website. I am the only user on my pc. I don’t have an “admin” password, unless that is just the pw I used when logging into Windows.

I am the user “kenny”, so would I indicate the user as “kenny/admin”?

Since I am the only user, how do I switch to Admin user?

 

PS: is this all the same for Windows 11?

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Ken wrote:

I am the only user on my pc. I don’t have an “admin” password, unless that is just the pw I used when logging into Windows.

If that is the user account from when you setup Windows on your PC, then it is most likely an Admin account.

Ken wrote:

I am the user “kenny”, so would I indicate the user as “kenny/admin”? Since I am the only user, how do I switch to Admin user?

Go through the process and see if “kenny” is the username in the popup password box.  If it is, put in your  password and see if it is accepted.  If Task Scheduler accepts that User ID and password, then your account is an Admin account.

Ken wrote:

PS: is this all the same for Windows 11?

Yes, I’m running Windows 11, and it works exactly the same way as Windows 10.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Ken

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I’m not sure “kenny” is an admin account: recently I had to delete some .tmp files, it would only do this with admin account… I had to go into safe mode to do this!

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Ken wrote:

I’m not sure “kenny” is an admin account: recently I had to delete some .tmp files, it would only do this with admin account… I had to go into safe mode to do this!

That doesn’t necessarily mean that “kenny” is not an admin account.  Some files/folders actually belong to System, and an account in the Administrators group can’t get access.

I suggest going through the procedure with Image for Windows to create a schedule, and once it opens Task Scheduler, follow the steps and see what happens.  That will tell you for sure whether “kenny” is a member of the Administrators group.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Ken

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Ken wrote:

I’m not sure “kenny” is an admin account

To determine your account type, Press Win + R, enter netplwiz and press enter.

The User Accounts popup window will show all your users and, if “Kenny” is an Administrator, the Group column will contain “Administrators“.

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Ken

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