# Seeking Backup Software



## Confounded Also (Aug 19, 2015)

Some time quite a ways back, I was directed to a 'free' copy of Acronis that is provided in cooperation with Western Digital. At the time, there was a WD rep here, but they posted that their company was dropping that presence. It only works if there is at least one WD drive connected to the system.

The WD version of Acronis has been working OK and saved my tail a few weeks back when an SSD suddenly went toes up.

But I've come to realize there is a problem with it. Once a backup to an EHD is completed, I want to disconnect the EHD. I have two SSDs installed (C: and E: ) and backups are scheduled one day apart, C: on Wednesday and E: on Thursday. Each takes an hour or more so I didn't really want them both running the same day.. The next week, just before the next backup is scheduled to begin (within Acronis), I'll plug the EHD back in. At this point Acronis loads and begins the backup without waiting for the scheduled time. It automatically (upon connection of the USB cable) begins and backs up up both drives, one after the other. I finally found the setting in Acronis that controls that, but it's grayed out and can't be changed in this limited version.

If I leave the EHD plugged in, Acronis does the backups as scheduled, but doing so kind of adds risk. The point is for the backup drive to be removed from the system.

The full version of Acronis is above my budget and is a recurring annual subscription.

Macrium Reflect is one option that comes up in searches, but they want $70, though they claim it's a lifetime license, whatever lifetime means.

What other reliable, safe and dependable options are out there for less money?


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

FWIW, you can use Acronis for years, you don't have to update year after year. I am using the 2016 version with Windows 10, it works fine, and I've been able to recover files from the backups multiple times.


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## BBScaller (Jul 9, 2021)

Macrium has a free edition that has all the features of Acronis (Drive imaging, cloning, restore, full/incremental/differential backups, scheduled backups, create rescue bootable USB/CD media etc.). 






Macrium Reflect Free Trial


Macrium Reflect - Incredibly powerful software that allows you to create and schedule effective backups




www.macrium.com





I have tested both in Windows XP, 7 and 10, I was able to backup AND restore successfully.

I am a longtime Acronis user as well - I use 2017 because the newer versions are becoming too bloated. Macrium is a solid product that I always recommend to anyone wanting a good commercial drive imaging/backup solution that is free.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Yep, I read the reviews of later Acronis versions and realized that I didn't need or want all the extra bloat for no apparent gain in functionality. Most of the "features" are trying to get you to subscribe to cloud services so they get constant revenue. I already gave at the office.


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## geo791 (Feb 4, 2008)

johnwill said:


> Yep, I read the reviews of later Acronis versions and realized that I didn't need or want all the extra bloat for no apparent gain in functionality. Most of the "features" are trying to get you to subscribe to cloud services so they get constant revenue. I already gave at the office.


I have a permanent license for Acronis 2019 on a Windows 7 machine and then bought Acronis True Image 2020 for my Windows 10 machine. The big advantage of the 2020 version is that it will do incremental backups to a drive image. You do not have to create a full image each time. I have a second SSD in my system that Acronis creates incremental backups to on a daily basis. Then once a month I plug in an external drive and create an Acronis incremental backup. Every six months I create a new full image backup to the external drive. The full image can be restored or individual files from the image. If you watch you can find Acronis True Image for a discounted price on ebay or Amazon. They run specials at various times of the year. I think that they are moving to a subscription model starting with 2022. I would not purchase that option.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Incremental backups of an image is a moot point for me. Given that storage is dirt cheap, I have configured my Acronis to do a complete image backup of my boot partition and save the last six images. I also don't have all my non-O/S stuff on the boot partition, so the image backups end up being 60-70GB each.

IMO, making an image backup of the boot partition every day is overkill, all my data is on a separate partition that gets daily backups and real-time cloud backups. My one concession to boot partition backups is I backup my Thunderbird email every day.


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## BBScaller (Jul 9, 2021)

geo791 said:


> I have a permanent license for Acronis 2019 on a Windows 7 machine and then bought Acronis True Image 2020 for my Windows 10 machine. The big advantage of the 2020 version is that it will do incremental backups to a drive image. You do not have to create a full image each time


Incremental/Differential backups has been an option since I first started using Acronis in 2009.










That said I also prefer full vs incremental - makes deleting older backups much easier - I put the date of the backup in the filename. I also keep the OS in a separate partition than data which keeps the image size down.

As I mentioned earlier Macrium Reflect Free also has Full/Incremental/Differential backups and works with Windows 10 (I personally tested it by creating an image, wiping the drive then restoring).


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## Confounded Also (Aug 19, 2015)

That's another gripe with Acronis, but it may only be with this limited WD edition. I have it set for full backups, not incrementals. It makes a new one each time, or so I thought. When I look at the folder, I see several, all roughly the same file size or a bit larger. Not needing more than 4 or 5, I deleted the older ones. Then Acronis started spitting out errors about not being able to find #1. I don't know why it needs to find any more than the most recent.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

You can configure it to save *X* number of copies, if you do that and delete too many, it may complain. I have mine configured that way, and it always smoothly removes the oldest copy when it gets to my limit.


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## smithcharlee (Mar 5, 2021)

BBScaller said:


> Macrium has a free edition that has all the features of Acronis (Drive imaging, cloning, restore, full/incremental/differential backups, scheduled backups, create rescue bootable USB/CD media etc.).
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Macrium is really good and best as per my experience.


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## Maco88 (Sep 24, 2010)

johnwill said:


> Incremental backups of an image is a moot point for me. Given that storage is dirt cheap, I have configured my Acronis to do a complete image backup of my boot partition and save the last six images. I also don't have all my non-O/S stuff on the boot partition, so the image backups end up being 60-70GB each.
> 
> IMO, making an image backup of the boot partition every day is overkill, all my data is on a separate partition that gets daily backups and real-time cloud backups. My one concession to boot partition backups is I backup my Thunderbird email every day.


I'm with you on this. Another big thumbs up for Macrium Reflect Free version. Does everything I need it for. 

A FULL system image every month, keeping only the last few. Saved me a few times already. Easy to run and easy to restore.


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