I'm about to get a new Windows 7 pc as my existing 9-year old XP machine is randomly blue screening so often it is becoming almost unusable at times.
I currently use NIS 2011 for internet security and Acronis True Image 9.0 (yes, a very old version but it works!) for disc image backups.
Having tried out the latest Acronis True Image Home 2012 software (as I don't believe my existing version 9.0 will run under Windows 7), I'm a bit hesitant about buying it. It has so much functionality that I don't need and seems a bit unreliable on my old pc.
Therefore, I'm looking to perhaps move to Norton 360 instead. But, can anyone tell me if it can backup complete disc images (and, via a boot disc, restore a previously saved image if necessary), or does it just back up files? I need a full image backup facility as this is the only way I can be sure of completely restoring my pc to a previous config in the event of a crash.
If Norton 360 doesn't do image backups, or isn't very reliable at doing them, can anyone suggest some reliable image backup software that will run under Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)?
To be honest, I don't need any functionality other than just full disc image backup and restore, but I doubt if anyone just offers that these days!
It is interesting that Windows can produce an image in a machine that is being used, according to the link provided by mp3jo. I use Paragon Backup and recovery free, and leave the machine alone for an hour so as not to slow down or interfere with the process.
More information on Ghost can be found on the Other Norton Products forum and apparently a hot deeal or two.
I'm about to get a new Windows 7 pc as my existing 9-year old XP machine is randomly blue screening so often it is becoming almost unusable at times.
I currently use NIS 2011 for internet security and Acronis True Image 9.0 (yes, a very old version but it works!) for disc image backups.
Having tried out the latest Acronis True Image Home 2012 software (as I don't believe my existing version 9.0 will run under Windows 7), I'm a bit hesitant about buying it. It has so much functionality that I don't need and seems a bit unreliable on my old pc.
Therefore, I'm looking to perhaps move to Norton 360 instead. But, can anyone tell me if it can backup complete disc images (and, via a boot disc, restore a previously saved image if necessary), or does it just back up files? I need a full image backup facility as this is the only way I can be sure of completely restoring my pc to a previous config in the event of a crash.
If Norton 360 doesn't do image backups, or isn't very reliable at doing them, can anyone suggest some reliable image backup software that will run under Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)?
To be honest, I don't need any functionality other than just full disc image backup and restore, but I doubt if anyone just offers that these days!
I didn't realise that Windows 7 had the ability to do a full image backup and restore - guess I'll try that first.
delphinium ... interesting that you use Paragon Backup and recovery free. I downloaded the free version, but it didn't seem to allow backup to a USB-connected hard drive. Is this your experience too?
No. I use a Western Digital USB external drive to hold my images. One thing that I did discover is that the drive has to be plugged in before opening Paragon. If it isn't done in that order, it can't find the drive later.
Win7 "Backup and Restore" does do full images which can be restored with the Win boot CD; it also does file backups. Caveat emptor: the disc image is everything; you cannot choose which partitions to include/exclude. Additionally, the file format is yet another Windows proprietary, you-can't-screw-with-it dealie and you can't choose a backup folder, only a partition--unless you have Win7 Pro/Ultimate and use a network share as a destination. Finally, the UI is pretty limited, inflexible. It is perfect for Jane Q. User with an external drive; it may or may not fit your needs.
If you have xp "NT Backup" archives (bkf), you will have to install/run NT Backup on Win7 to get to them.
There are many free, robust backup solutions available. COMODO BackUp 4 was just released and it does images (with differential option, like Paragon), file backups, 5GB free online storage, and even file synch. The UI leaves much to be desired but that's pretty much every backup program anyway.
After reading your post, I tried the free version of Paragon backup & recovery software. It appeared to back up my C drive image ok, but when I went to restore it from the bootable recovery disc, all I got (after the screen where it says it is loading the recovery environment) was a blank screen. Having googled the issue, it seems lots of other people are having exactly the same problem, but nobody seems to know the answer. Have you come across this with your instance of Paragon? (Not sure I want to go down the Paragon route if it's this unreliable - I was trying to find an alternative to Windows backup in case Windows backup didn't work one day).
That is odd. I can't explain what is happening as I have never had the issue. I have used it to restore drives on my desktop on two or three occasions so far. As far as I can tell, again the external drive would have to be plugged in at the same time as the recovery disc so that Paragon can find the archive needed. It may know that there is an archive listed, but still unable to connect to it.