Casper 7.0 reviews?

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I’ve read many good reviews about Casper backup software, but there are none available for the latest version, 7.0. After seeing the reviews for the latest version of Acronis, which are horrifying, I swore that I would never install any software before reading the reviews of the version I was installing. So, even though Casper has gotten excellent reviews, can anyone tell me whether the latest version is equally good?

Thanks,
Ellen

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Hi Ellen,
unfortunately its never been mentioned in the Lounge AFAIK. Is it possible to get a trial copy before deciding.

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I’ve never heard of Caspar before (except as a ghost!), but the usually suggested product is Macrium Reflect, if you don’t want ShadowProtect or Acronis TrueImage or EaseUS ToDo backup…

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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I have used Casper since Version 3. I’ve tried others, and nothing compares. It makes a full copy, file by file, and the best part: fully bootable. My laptop has two drives, and I use only C on the primary. Once a week, I make a Casper copy to the second drive, E. A few times a year, I change the boot sequence and boot to the second drive, just to make sure all is right. It has never failed.

Forgot to mention: I have V7, and yes, there is a trial version. http://www.fssdev.com/

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Thanks, robertpri. I just wanted to make sure that they hadn’t done something in the new version that made it worse, like Acronis has done. If you haven’t read the reviews, Acronis TrueImage Home 2012 is not just buggy and unreliable, but it also wrecks your computer. I imagine such catastrophic failures by a software company are extremely rare, but it really was disturbing to read about.

Unfortunately, unless there’s something I don’t understand (quite likely), I think I’m not going to be able to take advantage of the ability to boot from a Casper backup, because my computer is so old that the BIOS does not recognize additional hard drives or external drives. I am already using Acronis TrueImage Home 2009 to back up to an additional drive (F) I had installed in my computer, and it seems to be running OK, although I’ve never actually installed a new C drive and tested it. I want to run Casper because I’ve read enough to feel that Acronis is just not entirely reliable, and it can’t hurt to have a second, different backup.

Ellen

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I understand the inability to boot from a second drive. That is a drawback, but not impossible. If this is a tower, you can switch data cables, but then you have to change the hard drive jumpers. Not worth the effort. I dislike ghost backups! How do you know they worked? If you screw up a file in the C drive, how do you go fetch that one file from the backup?

This is another reason I like Casper 7. It’s a file by file, dynamic copy, using software that “closes” your operating file for a micro second, copies it, and then opens the file. This has a technical name, but I forgot it. “Shadow Services or something”. This enables windows files, even while in use, to be copied live. That is why other programs use ghosting images, but I refuse to use ghosting or images.

Yes, some swear by it, but I ask, “When was the last time you tested your backup to see if it worked”?

I can test Casper in a minute with no effort.

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Unfortunately, unless there’s something I don’t understand (quite likely), I think I’m not going to be able to take advantage of the ability to boot from a Casper backup, because my computer is so old that the BIOS does not recognize additional hard drives or external drives.

decibelle,
Hello ….. are you sure that your BIOS won’t (see) Boot from a CDDVD drive or External ? Doesn’t sound possible ….How would any OS get installed otherwise?…”Just Askin”. Also Acronis 2009 can be setup with a F-11 initiated recovery manager….so you could boot into Acronis in the event of some failure…As long as you have an Image stored someplace other than the failed HD :cheers: Regards Fred

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Ellen,
I too am a long time user of Casper software. I use Casper 7 a couple of times a week on my home computer, but my preference is to use the optional Casper boot CD which costs a few dollars extra. By booting to the CD, nothing else is running on the hard drive and I feel I get faster copies. It also works well installed, but my preference is the CD version. Casper also does incremental updates, so the second time you run it, it does not take very long at all since it only copies the changes from the last backup. I also have the Casper 6 Technician Edition license and have used it at least one hundred times while repairing other people’s computers. The program works great and their Tech Support is good as well. As robertpri mentioned below, it makes a full copy, not an image, so if you accidentally delete a file, you can connect your external hard drive backup and copy that one file back to your installed hard drive.

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Good stuff, dagar7,
I also have an ext ESATA drive, so while having dinner, Casper copies my C to E, and then E to G. The very first copy can take awhile, over an hour, but after that, it rarely takes over five minutes. Assuming this is done weekly or so.

Like you, I have the Casper boot CD and only ran it once to ensure it worked. It worked perfectly, so I set it aside in case of a future emergency.

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Hello… Macrium Reflect , EaseUS TODO Backup …both are available with “Free software Downloads” They both have the ability to “Burn” a “Rescue Recovery Disk” as well as a “Clone Function” ( also many Tools) …”Just Sayin”…Regards Fred

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Fred,
A couple of the reasons I use Casper:
1. Their Tech Support was willing to add a specific Etron USB 3 driver to Casper 7, that I requested to be added to the CD, since I needed that driver for my newest computer build last year. This is what I call outstanding Tech Support.
2. I use it to store multiple computer backups on one 1 TB external HDD. For a company that I do work for, all 9 of their system hard drives are backed up to separate partitions and it is done easily and quickly, building a new partition in unpartitioned space as I do a backup. I doubt that it would be as easy to do with freeware.
3. Before starting the backup, you can load a specific driver in Casper, if needed for a unique external hard drive provided by a customer.
The ones you mention are probably perfectly OK for an individual user, but just thought I would explain a few of Casper’s features that I think make it worth the money.

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dagar,
Hello….Thanks for posting back with your information ..As i and probably many others have no experience with “Casper 7”. For the average “PC” the two that i have mentioned along with the native Windows Backup (which i dislike) are more than adequate…With both of the “Freebies” (Macrium EaseUS) you can burn a simple “Linux” recovery disk , or a “WinPE” disk that lets you utilize all of the programs tools at boot time. They also are able to use “External” media for backups (HD’s or Flash, DVDs etc.) I have tried them both along with Acronis 2010 V 7046.. Like The Macrium flavor over the EaseUS but that’s just personal preference.. and use Acronis as my main backup… Guess the important part is that you “Backup” (full OS Image ) at the very least…. weekly…:cheers: Regards Fred

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robertpri and dagar7,

OK, I ran my first backup with Casper last night, to an external drive. It seems to have gone smoothly.

When I looked it over, I was a little startled to see that it had slightly changed the name of certain folders, changing every “My” to “Ellen’s” (as in “My Documents” to “Ellen’s Documents” and so on). Is that normal? Also, considering that it makes an identical copy (or does it?) of whatever it is copying (my C drive in this case), does it normally compress the data, because in my case the resulting backup is somewhat smaller than the original.

thanks,
Ellen

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Hi Ellen,
It sounds like all is good, if Casper says copy was successful at the completion, you are good. If anything is wrong, it will tell you. For an explanation as to why the copy is smaller, please go to the following Casper Knowledge Base links. I included a partial quote for Win7/Vista.
http://support.fssdev.com/KB/search.aspx?categoryid=0&search=copy+is+smaller&type=0
Casper > General

Understanding the difference in expected space utilization between source and destination drives on Windows 7/Vista
Partial Quote: “Casper actually excludes the Windows swap file (pagefile.sys) and hibernation file (hiberfil.sys) as an optimization when cloning a drive on which Windows is running. The swap file is a temporary file used by Windows to manage virtual memory and is created on demand when needed. Likewise, the hibernation file is also a temporary file used by Windows to hibernate the computer and is created on demand when needed. Depending on the amount of RAM installed in the computer, both of these files can be extremely large. The size of a hibernation file is typically equal to the amount of RAM installed. The size of a swap file is typically much greater than the amount of RAM installed (2 or 3 times the size is not atypical)”.

Understanding the difference in expected space utilization between source and destination drives on Windows XP (see this if you have XP)

As to the question of changing the My Documents name, I don’t think it actually changed anything, but if it did, I have never seen it happen. On my Windows 7 Pro computer, if I open Windows Explorer and click on”Libraries”, the folder is named “My Documents”, if I open “Users” folder, there is the Documents folder with my name (same files as shown in Libraries), plus “All Users”, “Default User”. The folder with my name on it (or Ellen in your case) has the same file listing as in My Documents assuming that “Ellen” is the logged in user. The Windows 7 Library can be a bit confusing until you google it. Your post didn’t mention what Windows version you have, but the My Documents situation is probably similar.

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>Hello ….. are you sure that your BIOS won’t (see) Boot from a CDDVD drive or External ? Doesn’t sound possible ….How would any OS get installed otherwise?… Regards Fred <

Fred,

Yes, it will boot from a CD/DVD drive, but it will not boot from an external drive or even from the additional hard drive that was installed in it. Those last two are not included on the boot list in the BIOS.

Ellen

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Yes, it will boot from a CD/DVD drive, but it will not boot from an external drive or even from the additional hard drive that was installed in it. Those last two are not included on the boot list in the BIOS.

“db”,
Hello… To boot from an “External HD” It must have a “OS” installed on it…In other words you can’t boot a “Data” HD…Also you would have to configure your system to “Dual” or Multi Boot”.. I think we have a confusion of terms….I will explain what I’m trying to say

1. An “Image” (as is) Thats copied to a Data HD is not bootable …you would need to “Recover the Image” to the Hard Drive.

2. You can “Clone” ( exact copy) a Hard Drive that will be boot-able.

3. The “Recovery Disk ” runs the Imaging software before your system boots up (runs the program from a CD that you have made) You then can access any Image and Recover that you have stored somewhere.

Hope this helps ….:cheers: Regards Fred

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Thanks for the link to that article dagar7. That explains everything.

I’m amazed at the simplicity and clarity of this program.

Ellen

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I have used Casper, several editions including version 7. I can confirm the following:

1. Technical support is first class. Same day or less (depending on time zones). Replies begin with a simple adequate paragraph, then there is further explanation for the curious. Sometimes the backed up HD, if it has a different architecture to the original, will not boot first time. But there are advanced features which can be enabled to solve this problem when instructed.

2. I have set this up on a friend’s computer in a few minutes, accepting the defaults. I did the first backup, then the program asked if I wanted to save that (successful) backup to a screen icon. This friend now has one click backups.

3. Backups are full and not compressed, therefore I can easily access the HD from another computer without further software.

4. I love the ability to boot from the backup as a way of testing it! This also means that I can set up my own virtual computer on a spare hard drive.

5. My habit with a new computer is to do the updates and install essential software, then to back up this “first good” installation. I did that for XP on a SATA internal drive, to an old, small, IDE drive. Four years later I bought and installed a new and larger internal SATA, booted from the Boot CD, and copied over the IDE to SATA, rebooted, and in a magic moment I saw my first good! It was sooo easy.

6. The program allows you to backup the whole drive, or to backup partitions. It will work in the background, though, just to be safe, I usually disconnect the internet, and unload firewall and antivirus. I have NEVER had activation problems for any program at all. After a reboot on the copied drive my antivirus just searched for updates as if nothing had happened.

7. Be aware that Win7 requires the whole drive to be backed up in order to have a working bootable solution (because Win7 boots from a small hidden partition). This requirement though applies to other backup programs.

8. If you have huge numbers of small files (a million or more) for instance from websites stored on disk, then the backup can take a long time, and sometimes a clean backup is better than allowing the program to search for changed files. That is why I personally supplement whole partition data backup with bat files, where I can selectively backup only the directories known to have been used recently. This probably applies to other backup programs.

9. Sometimes under XP, with one partitioned drive, the program gave up. The solution was to do one partition at a time. I do not know if this is a problem under Win7 since I have two drives: system and data, and backup to two external disks, with no problems at all.

10. The site offers good rates on multiple licenses so you can cheaply cover your whole family.

So, I highly recommend this program, for use with ordinary people, and for myself.

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7. Be aware that Win7 requires the whole drive to be backed up in order to have a working bootable solution (because Win7 boots from a small hidden partition). This requirement though applies to other backup programs.

True Image and Macrium Reflect by default back up this “System” Partition alongside the main Windows Partition. This is a non-issue. And Windows 7 64-bit boots just fine when correctly restored when this small, hidden partition is old or missing entirely. It is recreated as Windows runs, and has little or no effect on Windows booting. I have twice restored my Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installation on my Toshiba Satellite using True Image Home without ever backing up the entire disk. Ten minutes, and I was back up and booting.

8. If you have huge numbers of small files (a million or more) for instance from websites stored on disk, then the backup can take a long time, and sometimes a clean backup is better than allowing the program to search for changed files. That is why I personally supplement whole partition data backup with bat files, where I can selectively backup only the directories known to have been used recently. This probably applies to other backup programs.

Why are you backing up or even storing these web pages? And why are you including data files in system backups? The two functional areas should be physically separated into different partitions for backup and restoration efficiency and reliability. Data backups should not be taking very long, and there should never be “millions of little files” on a well-maintained data drive. You should learn to store web pages as offline documents, in the .mht format. It’s a single file, and eliminates most of those little cluttery files.

-- rc primak

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I was advised by Casper technical help when I discussed my backup strategy with them before buying a new computer, for Win7 to backup the whole system drive, because of this hidden drive. That was the advice from Casper TechHelp. Unlike XP, for Win7 I could not just partition one hard drive, and one day backup the system partition, and one day backup the data partitions. A bootable copy needed the whole drive copied.

As I said in point nine that I have two drives: system and data. I do back them up separately.

As for downloading and storing web pages. Four reasons:
a) Pages and sites go out of existence. This is common enough to be more than an irritation. For instance, a University Lecturer has their page on part of their employer’s website, they move, and their website material disappears which means I can no longer cross check my lecture notes. I sometimes use Internet Researcher, and Teleport Ultra to download sites to various levels, selectively, depending on file type desired.
b) A slow internet connection means that it is better to Web Whack, then access the files locally.
c) For my professional research I use Wordsmith Tools and other programs to analyse text.
d) I regularly download large zipfiles of raw data, and unzip them providing thousands of files.

When there are large numbers of files, I have observed that Casper takes a long time to work out which files have changed — remember, it is not merely updating and refreshing, it is also mirroring the file deletions — and this time can be longer than a clean copy. Hence I use bat files for backup as an interim step. This is a limitation of the program which few may ever notice, but it is still there.

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I was advised by Casper technical help when I discussed my backup strategy with them before buying a new computer, for Win7 to backup the whole system drive, because of this hidden drive. That was the advice from Casper TechHelp. Unlike XP, for Win7 I could not just partition one hard drive, and one day backup the system partition, and one day backup the data partitions. A bootable copy needed the whole drive copied.

As I said in point nine that I have two drives: system and data. I do back them up separately.

As for downloading and storing web pages. Four reasons:
a) Pages and sites go out of existence. This is common enough to be more than an irritation. For instance, a University Lecturer has their page on part of their employer’s website, they move, and their website material disappears which means I can no longer cross check my lecture notes. I sometimes use Internet Researcher, and Teleport Ultra to download sites to various levels, selectively, depending on file type desired.
b) A slow internet connection means that it is better to Web Whack, then access the files locally.
c) For my professional research I use Wordsmith Tools and other programs to analyse text.
d) I regularly download large zipfiles of raw data, and unzip them providing thousands of files.

When there are large numbers of files, I have observed that Casper takes a long time to work out which files have changed — remember, it is not merely updating and refreshing, it is also mirroring the file deletions — and this time can be longer than a clean copy. Hence I use bat files for backup as an interim step. This is a limitation of the program which few may ever notice, but it is still there.

About having to back up Windows 7 as a Whole Disk Backup: This all may be true of Casper, but it is not generally true of all Windows Backup Software. I see this behavior as a deep flaw in Casper.

More general points about data backups: I do see your point about web pages which can change or go out of existence. I have lost track of many tech articles this way. Not being a fan of ZIP Archives, I have not had the issue with file multiplications which you do experience. That explains the large numbers of small files on your data drive. No backup routine I know of handles this situation very well.

-- rc primak

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Its interesting to see comments from folk who have never used Casper…

I have used Casper (and now Casper 7) for many years now, and its has worked faultlessly over 100’s of backups…I do important work, and I have Casper doing Incremental backups each 2 hours alternating on 2 seperate drives…I have had occasion to use the backups twice recently…and as I said it was faultless…

Just pop the drive from the dock, and put in laptop and boot the Laptop up to date at a Max of 2 hours old …thats it..the incremental takes less than 2 minutes and I dont even notice it working except for the successful email I get when done……I could easily do each hour but I dont need that frequency…I use two drives in case of a destroying virus…and then I have 4 hours to realise…I get notified of any virus’s intrusion by AVG and Zone Alarm

No matter what, the incremental never takes longer than 10 mins if large files are deleted or added.and it works in the background and is un-noticeable….and nearly always less than 2 minutes…

fosss

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Admittedly, I have not read every word in this thread, but let me cut to the chase.

I Googled “Casper Backup Software” which I would assume anyone would do, looking for information on the topic.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5207&review=Casper+5.0+Review

The review, indicates that the program is indeed a ‘knock off of Ghost’. But does not do compression and several
other very important things that Ghost does. Now I’m not talking about the latest versions of Ghost that will only
run in windows.
I only talk about the DOS versions of Ghost, that runs exclusively from a DOS boot disk or Flash Drive.
I can even boot it from a bootable SD Flash Memory card, like are used in digital cameras.

Ghost originally fit on a single 3.5″ floppy disk. That version, 2002, 2003, etc., would backup any OS up through Windows XP.
However something changed with Vista and a newer version of Ghost was required to both backup and restore Vista.
Enter the last DOS version of Ghost (Ghost 11.5). It will not fit on a single floppy disk but runs great from even a very small Flash Drive. It will back up and restore every version of MS Windows from ’98 to Win-8/DP.

I use it every week to back up my own system to a backup hard drive with FAST Compression and when backing up to DVD, I use HIGH compression, to cut down the number of disks required.
I’ve never had it fail, when backing up a HD with NO ERRORS. That’s important.

Symantec has disavowed any knowledge of Ghost 11.5, in fact one Symantec employee, that helped in the original writing of Ghost in New Zealand, back in the mid 90’s, openly posted to one forum that Ghost 11.5 does not exist.

If it doesn’t exist, would that mean it’s FREE to share? Hmmmm!
How could it be illegal to share something that doesn’t exist? Hmmmmm, again.

Sorry, just a random thought and certainly not advocating anything illegal. :rolleyes:

The Doctor 😎

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Casper works great for me, too. I don’t see a single fault with it, and I’m thankful to the people who convinced me to get it.

Ellen

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I have asked many people how can they be certain their backup worked. Do they test it?
Most don’t, and many don’t even know how. They just pray it will never be necessary.
With Casper, you simply boot to that backup drive.
I have a second HD in my laptop, and an ESATA second backup that I keep offsite.

About once a month or so, I enter BIOS, change the boot sequence, and boot to either the second HD or the ESATA.
Never fails to boot perfectly.

That is just one of the primary strengths of Casper. And Tech Support is fast and effective.

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About once a month or so, I enter BIOS, change the boot sequence, and boot to either the second HD or the ESATA.
Never fails to boot perfectly.

robertpri,
Hello…Question ..as i have no experience with “Casper”. When you say “Boot to a second HD “, is the HD a “Clone” or does Casper somehow “Boot” one of the the Image’s stored on It?:cheers: Regards Fred

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robertpri,
Hello…Question ..as i have no experience with “Casper”. When you say “Boot to a second HD “, is the HD a “Clone” or does Casper somehow “Boot” one of the the Image’s stored on It?:cheers: Regards Fred

That is the beauty of Casper. It is not a ghost or image, but a file by file, folder by folder, exact copy of the source. It uses volume shadow copy that “stops” anything running, like a critical Windows file, for a split second, makes the copy, and releases the file. It is so fast you will never see this happen, or suffer any kind of delay.

If my primary ever fails completely, I can remove it or leave it, and boot to the second drive or the backup drive. I could then replace the defective drive, boot to the backup, and use Casper to copy the entire drive back to the new drive. No messing with clones or ghosts or images. A perfect file by file copy.

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That is the beauty of Casper. It is not a ghost or image, but a file by file, folder by folder, exact copy of the source. It uses volume shadow copy that “stops” anything running, like a critical Windows file, for a split second, makes the copy, and releases the file. It is so fast you will never see this happen, or suffer any kind of delay.

Hi robertpri,

Thanks for the reply…But I’m still sort of confused ( Normal state :wacko: ) …This is where i fall of the “rail’s”

1. “Clone” is an exact copy of the source, placed on a “Target HD”… and is boot-able.

2. If i click on any of my Images …(either Acronis or Macrium, Easus, Paragon, etc.) i can “Mount” ( sort of a VM ) it and see’s all of the files folders, etc. just as it were a real HD …Even copy them out …

3. My question is can you boot to an Image, made by Casper? In other words can you choose the Image at boot time and run the Image without actually wiping the Partition HD and installing the Image?

3. As far as i know all Imaging programs use “Volume Shadow Copy” and stop things for a split sec, and then makes a copy.

:cheers: Regards Fred

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I don’t fully understand your questions, but #3: Casper does not make an image. So, there is no image to select or boot from. After Casper makes it’s copy, you have two complete copies, one on each drive. Or more, depending on how many drives you use to backup. You don’t wipe any partitions or wipe anything.

If I make a copy from “C” to “E” [assuming the DVD drive is “D”] then I can shutdown, remove “C” completely, and then boot to “E”. However, since C has been removed, E would become the new C.

Yes, VSC works in other backups, but the difference seems to be the bootable aspect. Casper is fully bootable immediately, with no extra steps or keystrokes or mounting, etc.

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I don’t fully understand your questions, but #3: Casper does not make an image. So, there is no image to select or boot from. After Casper makes it’s copy, you have two complete copies, one on each drive. Or more, depending on how many drives you use to backup. You don’t wipe any partitions or wipe anything.

robertpri,
Hello… What your describing is a “Cloning” function Where the backup program places ( in your words ) a copy of the original (source) on to another drive (target) that now is a boot-able copy of the original …At this point you could use Windows Explorer to look at the new copy .

1. A “Image” is a complete copy (compressed) and stored in a folder to be “Recovered” from at a later time. Not boot-able at this point , the Image is only able to be opened (Mounted) and explored .

If this is the case both the programs that i use Acronis true Image Home , and Macrium Reflect both can do the same thing….I will explore “Casper’s” website for further information…:cheers: Regards Fred

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If “clone” means “copy”, then yes, Casper clones C to E. The clone can be viewed and opened with Explorer. Every file can be opened directly.

In my interpretation, you need software to both create an backup image and later to retrieve it.
In that regard, Casper does not create an image.

I have used Acronis true image and removed it for that reason. To me, an image is not a good backup. IMHO, of course.
I also have tried Partition Magic backup, Windows 7 backup, and Nortons Security Suite backup, and deleted them for the same reason.
They create images that cannot be used until you run some kind of recovery program.
To me, having to run another program to utilize your backup or even test your backup deteriorates the value of your backup method.

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If “clone” means “copy”, then yes, Casper clones C to E. The clone can be viewed and opened with Explorer. Every file can be opened directly.

In my interpretation, you need software to both create an backup image and later to retrieve it.
In that regard, Casper does not create an image.

To me, having to run another program to utilize your backup or even test your backup deteriorates the value of your backup method.

robertpri,
Hello… Ok ! we are on the same page ….now i understand.. I checked out “Casper” website.. here are my findings

1.Casper makes a “Clone” of your OS to another HD… The only difference between Acronis ,Macrium , etc is that “Casper” is able to make an “incremental clone” Neat feature…

2. If you use either Macrium or Acronis to Clone.. you do not need any software to run the clone either… you just “swap out the Bad HD for the good ( Clone)and your all set.

3. The down side of “Cloning” is as follows …You can create Images (Incremental or Full ) using Macrium , Acronis , etc. that can be stored in several places …DVD’s, Flash Drives, External Internal HD’s, etc. They are compressed to about some 40 to 60 % of the original …So you can keep many. In my case i have them going back years for XP , Vista and “7” Here is why this is important… Say you pick up some kind of “Nasty” on your OS and you now Clone it …. The “Nasty will be Cloned right along with you “Copy” ..With Imaging this is not a problem …You just go back in time (old Image) before you picked up the “problem” and using the Recovery disk ..or if you have a Multi Boot OS you can do the recovery from within Windows on another of your OS’s . You simply run the program and restore your PC to the older Image …problem solved …I use both schemes (Clone and Image) each has it’s own advantages.Thanks for your input…:cheers: Regards Fred

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Hello all,
I have used Casper 7 since it came out last year. Before that I used Casper 6 to clone my hard drives to insure a solid backup in case anything went wrong with my hard drive and I wanted to save myself the trouble of a total rebuild of my Operating System. I have enjoyed the use of Casper 7 and their tech support is fantastic, but here comes the downside. If your OS is Windows 7, and mine is Windows 7 Ultimate, the cloned hard drive will clone the Windows Updates, but it will not copy the Update history to the cloned hard drive. Windows will advise you that Windows Update has never been run. Small thing to deal with since the updates are on the cloned hard drive. I am currently communicating with Future Systems Solutions – Online Support concerning a problem with Casper 7. Casper 7 was started laster winter to clone my “C” drive to another internal hard drive within my PC. I currently have three internal hard drives. I had to cancel the clone opporation mid-way through the process and here in lies the problem. My “C” drive is 1.5TB, my “D” drive is 1.0TB and my “E” drive is 1.5TB, all being Western Digital HDs. Casper 7 will no longer clone the “C” drive to the “D” without encountering a problem with the clone process. FSS Tech Support advises to shut down my computer utilities programs so they do not run in the back ground. The main program is Iolo System Mechanic v10.8. After the clone of “C” to “D” Windows check disk ( CHKDSK ) will find problems on the cloned “D” drive, and check disk will create six orphaned files. The clone process of “C” to “E” continues to work flawlessly. I went on the internet and downloaded EaseUS ToDo Backup 4.5 freeware and can clone “C” to “D” with no errors found on the cloned “D” drive, but so far Casper 7 Tech Support is researching this problem.

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There is one other Program called XXClone that I have used before for interests sake and it appears to be a Knock off of Casper…It was quite good but unless they have improved the finishing off of the clone..I seem to remember a boot section had to be written separately…bearing in mind this was several years ago…one would think that its had plenty of time to resolve that…

When it comes to the job in hand, I have only 3 requirements…and that is to clone my C: drive and have the clone instantly bootable and also fully searchable as you would expect…The other critical point as far as I am concerned is that I must be able to schedule it to incrementally back up my c: drive as often as I stipulate…and those afore mention points are exactly what Casper (Casper 7 now) does for me…

I am not interested in multi booting or booting a partition…drives are so cheap these days there is no need to skimp…

I have a 250gb SSD as my C: drive and just the other day I emailed support to ask about cloning a compressed drive if ever I need to…I dont envisage wanting to hold more than 238GB of programs and data that I might need fast access to…and my asking was just a matter of interest to me…The reply came 4 hours later…and I am in Oz…

After reading the posts here I have decided to do a daily backup as well, (all designated on the same schedule )as I had another 2.5″ drive here doing nothing…It was a Seagate 2.5″ Hybrid…The hybrid has 8BG of flash and a spindrive to make up 750GB…its fast…but not at all as fast as the SSD…its lightening quick, and such a pleasure to use…and comes with a 5 year guarantee…and no doubt would last longer..very quick boot times measured at 22 seconds with Bootracer…and thats with booting 3 external 2.5’s and a 3.5….The laptop is an Asus I7 with 16 gb Ram it did not cost much to upgrade the Ram so I did it…probably much more than I need at the busiest re processing video etc…It is never stressed, and very quiet

All 3 drives are hooked up to the Laptops USB 3 port via a USB3 hub and its all quite fast and seamless…

So yes…lol…all in all you could say I am happy with my setup…touch wood!!!…

fosss

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Fascinating, RetiredAtLast.
Since the clone works C to E, but not C to D, is this related to the fact that most computers use D as a CDDVD drive? Does not sound reasonable, but just asking. I did not know the download history does not appear on the cloned drive. Do you know where it’s kept on the drive? I am curious.

System Mechanic has caused me problems in the past, so I no longer use it, but not for your reason.

FSS Tech Support is great, like you said, so they will hopefully resolve your issues. Since you used another program to clone C to D, is D still bootable?

I also have three hard drives, and one backup Ext kept off site.

For a clean copy, I reboot and run nothing except Disk Cleanup. Then copy C to E. Then while copy E to F is running, I open my files for daily use. Then copy F to G and G to EXT USB. I use this domino copy method because if there is a bad file on any drive, Casper will not allow the copy to the next drive. That’s my way to ensure the copies are working.

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Loss of update history on clone. Try running Belarc Advisor and see if this gives the information. If not, run it on the original drive and save the results before cloning.

Let us know about solving the problem of cloning. Usually cloning to a smaller drive is no problem — see the user guide page 11. Sounds like the problem is System mechanic 10.8, which is giving compatibility problems.

As a general rule when imaging, I unload programs that might give problems ie I disconnect from the internet, do a clean boot, unload firewall, antivirus etc.

ILowe

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Hello Robertpri,

To discuss the issue further, Casper 7 has a clone aspect called AccuClone. When you first clone a hard drive (I believe I am correct) Casper 7 uses Smart clone technology. Once the clone has completed, Casper remembers the process, and let’s say a week later you want to update the cloned hard drive, Casper 7 uses AccuClone technology to update the cloned drive “D”. If you stop the clone process by clicking the cancel button, Casper 7 will not use AccuClone the next time you wish to clone. It will advise you that it is using Standard Clone. Standard Clone is described as, “Smart Clone may be disabled temporarily if a prior attempt to clone the drive was unsuccessful or interrupted.” The clone operation takes a little longer and I have found two options. If I try the clone of my hard drive “C” 1.5tb to “D” 1.0tb and leave System Mechanic running, the clone report advises me that the clone could not complete successfully. It advises that the NTUser files did not copy to the “D” drive. If I chose to disable System Mechanic by means of msconfig.exe then the clone will complete and the report will advise that the clone completed successfully. The rub is though that in both cases when I run chkdsk.exe on the “D” drive windows will find errors and create six orphaned files. In both cases the clone of “C” to “D”, the “D” drive will boot up and run, but Windows 7 will start to run chkdsk.exe at every boot and advise me of errors and six orphaned files created.

To follow up on your questions / comments, I labeled my three internal hard drives “C”, “D”, and “E”. I have a small external hard drive in a docking station that I labeled “F”. My DVD/CD ROM is Labeled “G”. Haven’t had any problems with this setup to date. The questions that I forward to Future Systems Solutions tech support was (1) did my Cancel of the clone operation trigger this problem? (2) How can I get AccuClone to work again with the “C” to “D” clone process? (3) What is triggering the orphaned file creation for the “C” to “D” clone?
I tried the process that you speak of, I have tried to copy “C” to “E” (with no errors, chkdsk creates no orphaned files). Then I copy “E” to “D”(chkdsk will find errors and create orphaned files. I use my external “F” for file backups using Norton Security Suite. If EaseUS ToDo Backup 4.5 had problems cloning “C” to “D” or “E” to “D” then I would suspect a disk problem with “D”. Since no problems are found using EaseUS ToDo Backup, I have to question Casper 7.

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RetiredAtLast,
I hope the Casper folks resolve this, and based on my years of using them, I suspect they will.

I was once asked by FSS for suggestions on the next version.

That was easy for me. If Casper is making a copy and runs into a problem, I want it to display the details of the problem, and then let me decide what to do.

I want to either:

continue with the copy and produce a text msg at the end explaining the problem and any files that might have been skipped.

or

Cancel

Let me decide. I am very annoyed at the clickable help msg that is really useless.

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Dear Robertpri,

Continuing the discussion, I am not sure where Windows stores the data for the update history. If you click on the START button, on the right side of the panel click on CONTROL PANEL. Under Control Panel click on WINDOWS UPDATE. Windows will now give you the information if any new updates are available. On the left side you will see the listing for UPDATE HISTORY. Click this and all the updates Windows has installed will be listed. With Casper 7, this dats is not cloned to the copied hard drive. The Windows Update page will be in RED and advise you that Windows has never been updated. When you click to check for updates, Windows will advise that no new updates are available if your PC is up to date on updates. Sorry for not replying on this the first time.

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Hey ILowe,

Thanks for the info on Belark Advisor. I went to their site and downloaded the software and installed it. That sure does get into the far corners of the computer and gives you all the scoop. Even though Casper 7 does not copy the history to the update page in control panel, the data is still there to review.
Thanks.

The issue of the clone from “C” to “D” works great with EaseUS ToDo Backup 4.5 with no errors, but Casper 7 loves to create orphaned files.

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Hey Robertpri,

Thanks for the info on where the strings are kept in the Registry. ILowe gave me the tip on Belark Advisor and it uncovers the info and a whole lot more. Let me know when you check out the Update history with the cloned hard drives. Don’t work too hard, got to save something for retirement !:rolleyes:

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I received a reply from FSS_Online Support concerning Casper 7. I have copied the email below and then my reply.

Hi Paul,

I am sorry for not getting back to you sooner with an update. We have not been able to reproduce the problem here.

Since chkdsk seems to be reporting the problem with new files created on the destination disk (i.e., not with files copied from the source disk) and only after the system is restarted (i.e., not immediately after the copy), there is probably not much Casper can do to alleviate the problem — i.e., the problem is probably the result of another driver doing something it shouldn’t in reaction to the updated copy created by Casper via its Standard imaging engine.

That said, it may be worth trying to get Casper to use its AccuClone engine. As I mentioned in our telephone conversation, using a larger disk for the backup (e.g., one equal to or larger than the source disk, which is 1.5TB), would permit Casper to use its AccuClone engine. Unlike the Standard imaging engine, Casper’s AccuClone engine will maintain an exclusive access lock on the destination throughout the entire imaging process. While this should not result in a much of a difference with respect to the copy itself, it may inhibit whatever is actually responsible for the problem.

At this point, I am not certain what else to advise.

Regards,

Jim
Technical Support
Future Systems Solutions

http://www.fssdev.com
==============================================

Dear Jim,

I believe that you have misunderstood the problem. You state, “Since chkdsk seems to be reporting the problem with new files created on the destination disk (i.e., not with files copied from the source disk) and only after the system is restarted (i.e., not immediately after the copy), there is probably not much Casper can do to alleviate the problem — i.e., the problem is probably the result of another driver doing something it shouldn’t in reaction to the updated copy created by Casper via its Standard imaging engine.”

Casper 7 will not use the AccuClone method to clone the larger disk to the smaller disk. It use too, but after the cancellation of the clone operation, it now creates the orphaned files that I can find using chkdsk immediately after a clone operation, before rebooting the system to see if the clone will boot up. I am not aware that I have the option of using the AccuClone engine. Casper 7 tells me that the AccuClone engine is “Smart Clone may be disabled temporarily if a prior attempt to clone the drive was unsuccessful or interrupted”, and I see that it is using the StandardClone. How do I turn AccuClone back on? I am assuming that I will never be able to have a successful clone using Casper 7 to re enable the AccuClone engine with the orphaned files. As mentioned, Casper 7 creates the orphaned files. Why I do not know. These files are identified right after the cloning of the larger disk (1.5TB) to the smaller disk (1.0TB) only. You are saying that you can start and have tried a clone of a larger to smaller disk, stopped/cancelled this operation after a few minutes, and then restarted the clone operation and still use AccuClone along with not creating orphaned files? As I have stated, I am not able to do this. Casper 7 will only allow me to use StandardClone, and here in lies the problem. Your statement speaks of the same to same size disk clone, but I can not just discard the 1 TB drive since Casper 7 is unable to clone to it from either of the two 1.5TB disks without creating orphaned files, and always 6 of them.

I have noticed every time that I do a clone operation, the source disk has Windows 7 updates, and they are listed in the Windows Update History in the Control Panel. Casper 7 will clone the updates to the clone disk, but does not clone the history. When I go to the clone drive and under Control Panel, Windows Update, I receive the message that Windows Update has never been run. Furthermore the View Update History shows no updates, even though they are present on the source disk. I found that I needed to download Belarc Advisor to view the updates. They are still in the registry but Casper 7 fails to show this information in the clone.

Sincerely,
Paul

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Interesting, RetiredAtLast,

I found the update strings in the Registry at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionComponent Based ServicingApplicabilityEvaluationCache

and that amazes me that the history is not included on a clone because the entire Registry is part of the copy.

I have too many business things going now and cannot reboot, but will later to one of my clones. Then I will check update history and the Reg.

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I have not heard back from Casper 7 Tech Support, so I am assuming that they are now hiding their heads in the sand hoping my revelations will disappear. That is what I have done to the paid software I have on my computer, uninstalled it. I recommend EaseUS ToDo Backup 4.5 freeware. The cost is free, and it does what Casper 7 is unable to do. It clones the source disk to the destination disk in less time, does not create the orphaned files and will display the Windows 7 Update history when you want to view this information. Lessons learned in life make for an interesting journey, but as long as the job gets done, that is the goal.

Sincerely,
Paul

As stated: Don’t waste your time or money on FSS Casper 7……….

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Found this thread while researching the simplest, fastest reliable way to do a ‘clone’ style backup.

Casper looked the goods, up until the very last post… although I am unsure the problem is a deal breaker for me, but it obviously is for that poster.

Anybody got an update since July? Anything to add?

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Anybody got an update since July? Anything to add?

“Surfer”

Hello… Just download this free program and forget “Casper” Macrium Free
Regards Fred

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”Surfer”

Hello… Just download this free program and forget “Casper” Macrium Free
Regards Fred

If you click to the link to Macrium Free and look at the various versions, you see the free version does not do as much as Casper. The standard version does, and they are about the same price. The feature, “file and folder backup and tech support” is critical to me. So, it’s a toss up I suppose.

I would NEVER use a backup program that did not have file and folder backup and tech support.

Also, I suppose it’s bootable but it never says that. Casper is fully self sustained bootable, and that’s why I chose it over others.

I would confirm this free version is bootable. To me, that is a must feature. I can enter setup, change boot sequence, and boot to the second or even my third ESATA drive.

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Any good 3rd party Imaging app can make a Clone for you. I personally use Acronis TIH 2013, but many of the apps discussed in the Maintenance Forum will do the trick.

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Again, most good 3rd party Imaging apps are bootable. Both Acronis TIH (all versions) and Macrium Reflect recommend creating the Rescue Boot Disk. This is the only way to ensure getting a PC to boot to restore when it will not boot.

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Again, most good 3rd party Imaging apps are bootable. Both Acronis TIH (all versions) and Macrium Reflect recommend creating the Rescue Boot Disk. This is the only way to ensure getting a PC to boot to restore when it will not boot.

But that is precisely what I don’t want. I do not want to be required to make a boot disk in order to make the backup work.
I want the backup to boot without help.

If you make such a backup that needs a boot disk, how do you know the backup worked? How often do you test it? I test my Casper backup about once a month or so, just to be sure.

If my computer will not boot, I don’t need a recovery disk. I simply boot to the second or third drive.

If you are working on a critical file on C drive and accidentally over-write it, can you click open the E or F drive and simply make a copy/paste of that file back to the C drive? Or do you have to perform extra steps? I don’t know, just asking.

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But that is precisely what I don’t want. I do not want to be required to make a boot disk in order to make the backup work.
I want the backup to boot without help.

^^This.

I am extremely time poor and we have three notebooks in the house. I need the actual backup process to be simple/easy PLUS the restore process to be simple and faster than reinstalling operating system, applications and data.

Thats why a clone style backup is best for me – if a computer is stolen or a HDD crashes or a virus kills the machine I just remove the old drive from the machine and plug in the backup, and all is as it was.

A full clone each time takes all night, not a huge problem but differential cloning would be more convenient and easier on the drives.

So, even with all the above info i am still unsure there is a product in it that meets these needs.

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A full clone each time takes all night, not a huge problem but differential cloning would be more convenient and easier on the drives.

I agree with everything you say, but not sure why a backup should take “all night”. My C to E takes about five to ten minutes, depending on how much new stuff has been added to C. I write a lot, so it’s often a lot. The E to F [ESATA drive] does take longer, often 20 minutes.

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not sure why a backup should take “all night”.

Without the differential feature it does: 500GB through USB2, internal 5400rpm drive to external 5400rpm drive. Hence desiring the differential feature which seems to be the hardest thing to find in a clone backup, and why I was looking at Casper.

I have found a couple more ‘maybes’, but their websites and apparent company size don’t inspire confidence that they have found the holy grail….

http://www.goldentroutsoftware.com/scc.html
http://www.xxclone.com/index.htm
http://www.pcdisktools.com/pcdiskclone.htm

Anybody tested any of these?

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Skysurfer86, yes, that’s an unfair comparison on my part. I have an ESATA ext drive which would be faster than USB2. I’ve not tried this on a USB drive for a while, and cannot recall how long it took for sure, but seem to think it was about two to three hours for full cloning.

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Acronis does NOT have to have a boot disk, it is recommended for those times your PC WILL NOT BOOT. It can work just as easily from within Windows.

I test my Images by restoring them every time I create an Image, which is at least once per month, many times more often than that. The only way to be positive your back up will restore when necessary is to restore it.

Booting to a second or third drive is fine if you have a desktop PC with multiple disks, although I believe that is a waste of valuable disk space. For those with laptops, this is not practical. I can store numerous Images of my PC created at different times on the same Ext drive. In fact I have multiple Images from 3 different PC’s on the same Ext HD. You cannot do that with a clone. With Imaging you could be using those other drives for something more valuable than just holding copies of your OS. Just my 2 cents.

If I overwrite something, I attach my Ext HD, use Acronis to open the Image and grab the file. No sweat.

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Good to know. We all have our preferences. When I first began installing backup systems for various small businesses here in town, I tried several trial versions and selected Casper. That was a few years ago, and am sure other companies provide similar features. I disagree about not being practical for laptops. My Asus came with one drive and space for a second. I installed an identical drive in the second bay and back to it.

I also have an ESATA drive that I keep off site. It get a full backup once a month. The second drive in the laptop is scheduled to backup once a week.

Heh, and for my 2 cents, I don’t like imaged backups. IMHO, of course.

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I tried a full backup with Casper 7 this am and it terminated before completion with advice to select “automatic” “enhanced” or “smart clone.” I have no idea how to do these other types of backup. Any advice? I have backed up successfully previously to the same external drive with the same system- window 7 prof.

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Best thing would be to contact support. They’re good about answering.

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I tried a full backup with Casper 7 this am and it terminated before completion with advice to select “automatic” “enhanced” or “smart clone.” I have no idea how to do these other types of backup. Any advice? I have backed up successfully previously to the same external drive with the same system- window 7 prof.

With Casper open, click to Explore in the left column. From there, click History and highlight the recent attempt that failed. Then click File > Send Reports > and you can click to send to Casper plus add some explanation in the text box. Casper will reply within 1-2 days. I’ve never tried to call them, but in Help there might be phone numbers.

In the meantime, I would use windows disk cleanup, then reboot and open nothing but Casper and try again. Given those choiices i would click Smartclone.

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I have sometimes found that Casper sometimes terminates before completion. I usually solve that by doing a clean reboot, then cutting the internet, unload antivirus/firewall, and try again. Another trick if you have partitions is to do one partition at a time instead of the wholedrive though this gets difficult for the system partition because the best way in Win7 to backup the system is to backup the whole drive.

In theory you should not need to disable antivirus/firewall and Casper7 works in the background. I prefer to leave the antivirus running and reduce the severity of my firewall — sometimes Casper helpfully triggers a detection from the antivirus.

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I’ll try it.

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I don’t have any experience with Casper, but I recently came upon a fairly detailed July 2013 review of Casper 7 by the Neat Net Tricks software review panel. The three reviewers were all enthusiastic about it. You can find the review at
http://www.neatnettricks.com/?http://www.neatnettricks.com/SoftwareReviews/2013/review-casper.html

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I know this is an old thread but I thought I would mention here that I too am a long-term happy user of Casper (since 3.0) and now use Casper 8.0.

I make monthly Casper backups to a local disk and it has been a lifesaver on several occasions. I don’t make more frequent backups because (a) I use a separate daily data backup solution and (b) I have had instances where my system became irreparably damaged or unhappy but this wasn’t apparent for several days, so with less frequent system image backup (via Casper) I can still go back to an undamaged system, whereas with a daily system backup I would already have overwritten the undamaged backup.

It is important (and comforting) to boot the backup system image occasionally.

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