# Alternative to Acronis?



## JohnG (Jan 20, 2015)

I'm having problems with Acronis. I've gone online and seen that many people are using it fine, but some appear to have the same problems I am having:

1. Failed clones,

2. Hanging the computer up on shutdown, and

3. Inability to recover / boot from cloned disk (I have not had this problem -- saw it on Amazon comments).

Can anyone recommend an alternative backup program for Windows 7 Professional?

Ideally, it would clone the boot drive to another internal drive that is permanently installed solely as a backup. The samples are backed up once in a long while manually.

Thanks!


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## TravB (Jan 20, 2015)

The folks over at ADK Pro Audio swear by Paragon's backup/cloning products for many years now. I've used both Acronis and Paragon with good results.


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## Daryl (Jan 20, 2015)

We've dumped Acronis and are using Genie Backup Manager Pro. It seems much less invasive, and so far my assistants really like it. I can't vouch for it, because backing up is not my responsibility, but can ask for more details from "the boys" if you like.

D


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## JohnG (Jan 20, 2015)

Thanks Trav and Daryl!

Just what I needed.


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## karmadharma (Jan 20, 2015)

if you are going to evaluate solutions I would suggest also taking a look at Macrium, which is quite nice


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## JBZeon (Jan 20, 2015)

#JohnG

I would suggest also Storagecraft Shadowprotec


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## A/V4U (Jan 21, 2015)

I'm using for long time Macrium and Partition Wizzard ...deepend what you need to do. Both are FREE [for non commercial use]


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## JohnG (Jan 21, 2015)

Hi guys,

I've evaluated Paragon, which may be great, but its manual is impenetrable unless you are an IT professional and, alas, it failed on the first try to clone the disk.

Mind you, so did Acronis, so it's possible there's something wrong with the disk.

I'm keen to try other ideas. Can someone suggest where to get Macrium?

Storagecraft's products are available at Amazon but at over $200. Genie Backup Manager Pro is "unavailable" at Amazon. Where does one get them?


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## TravB (Jan 21, 2015)

That's rather odd, John, that both would fail. Just curious, are you attempting to clone the drive that you are booted into? If so, have you tried using a boot CD (which can be created from both Acronis and Paragon) and running the clone operation from there instead? 

Also, during these failed attempts, did you get any sort of error message that may help determine the cause of the failure?


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## JBZeon (Jan 21, 2015)

JohnG @ Wed Jan 21 said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> ...Storagecraft's products are available at Amazon but at over $200. Genie Backup Manager Pro is "unavailable" at Amazon. Where does one get them?



200$? StorageCraft ShadowProtect 5 Desktop cost is 99,95$ 1PC in Shadowprotect online shop, maybe in Amazon $200 for more than 1 PC or oher shadowprotect software, there are a lot of option from home to server, bundles ITs etc.


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## JohnG (Jan 21, 2015)

Trav, I didn't get an error message, and I can't find a log. I think Paragon is overkill for what I want and, anyway, the manual is written for someone other than me.

I agree that it makes it look a bit funny that two different programs failed. However, the particular behaviour problems I'm having are exactly what those on Amazon who gave Acronis bad reviews got. Hangs on closing and doesn't actually succeed in creating bootable media.

I'm going to keep looking though -- I really need to solve this problem.


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## Daryl (Jan 21, 2015)

JohnG @ Wed Jan 21 said:


> Genie Backup Manager Pro is "unavailable" at Amazon. Where does one get them?



http://www.genie9.com/business/genie_ba ... rview.aspx

D


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## TravB (Jan 21, 2015)

John, it appears you have never successfully tried running Acronis through the bootable media -- that was always the key to smooth sailing for me, which is why I initially asked. And, with regards to creating bootable media, when I've encountered trouble in the past it was nearly always a bad blank CD or finicky burners who don't often play well with every brand of CD.

Not trying to sell you on Acronis. It has been my experience that Acronis was slower to adopt newer motherboard/drive/OS technologies, which is why I personally switched to Paragon.

I should also point out that the disk imaging built into Windows 7 has actually been quite adequate for me on numerous systems, and it will even create bootable media for you. You'll find those tools under Backup and Restore.


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## JohnG (Jan 21, 2015)

Thanks to everyone who is trying to help. I really appreciate it.

I guess my hope with any backup system (except Carbon Copy Cloner, which is easy as pie) is that it be clear what it is doing and that the interface and manual be useful to a non-expert.

This is an everyday problem and I'm surprised that there is so much mumbo jumbo in the manuals, which then don't track exactly what you see on screens.

My beef with Acronis is mostly that it keeps hanging up my system on shutdown. I don't like that. I've also read some pretty hair-raising descriptions of people trying to remove Acronis. If removable media is THE way to use it, why don't they say so in big, easy to read speech like, "the best way to back up a boot drive is via removable media"? The computer essentially stops using the OS anyway when it's in operation and goes into some kind of shell OS, so maybe you're right.

Paragon failed and not too clear why -- I can't find a log or anything. It just had a red X and Disk Fail.

I'm going to have a peek at Genie Backup Manager Pro and some of the others.

Thanks again.


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## whinecellar (May 30, 2016)

Bumping this as a new PC owner who is scratching his head trying to find the Windows 10 equivalent of SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Geez - everything I'm finding for PC is way too complicated. Is there nothing that just easily and intuitively creates a bit-for-bit, bootable drive clone? I just want to clone my Windows 10 install to an external drive. Period. I was about to go Acronis but this thread gives me pause, and I've heard of issues elsewhere too. Thoughts?


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## AlexRuger (May 9, 2017)

whinecellar said:


> Bumping this as a new PC owner who is scratching his head trying to find the Windows 10 equivalent of SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Geez - everything I'm finding for PC is way too complicated. Is there nothing that just easily and intuitively creates a bit-for-bit, bootable drive clone? I just want to clone my Windows 10 install to an external drive. Period. I was about to go Acronis but this thread gives me pause, and I've heard of issues elsewhere too. Thoughts?



Gonna go ahead and bump this again, as I'm in the same boat. I've been searching for days after a failed Acronis recovery. Annoying that so many forums I come across are geeks confusing the terms "image" and "clone," and most are, for some reason, completely unable to understand why anyone would want a bootable OS backup drive. I also hate how many of those programs use proprietary file formats--I'd really rather avoid those.

If only Carbon Copy would make a Windows version. I'm honestly stunned that there appears to be _nothing _like it on the Windows side of things.


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## whinecellar (May 9, 2017)

AlexRuger said:


> If only Carbon Copy would make a Windows version. I'm honestly stunned that there appears to be _nothing _like it on the Windows side of things.



Couldn't have said it better - I'm right there with you. Still searching, and it's mind-numbing how difficult it appears to be on a PC to simply clone a drive!


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## Mr Greg G (May 9, 2017)

Have you tried the built in image creator from Windows 10? It's quite effective, and from what I read on PC sites, it's even better than most of paid programs. You could also try Macrium Reflect free if you don't like the built in image software.


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## sostenuto (May 9, 2017)

whinecellar said:


> Couldn't have said it better - I'm right there with you. Still searching, and it's mind-numbing how difficult it appears to be on a PC to simply clone a drive!



I use Acronis TrueImage 2016 with no issues so far. (3) Desktop PC(s), Win10 Pro 64. Only use Win10 Defender beyond that. Local PC build/repair shop (most stable & reliable in town) uses Acronis so I decided to follow. Not much help but FYI. If I recall Acronis has a free trial version ?


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## whinecellar (May 9, 2017)

But again, we're not looking to create *images* - we're talking about an easy, straight-forward way to create *bootable clones* like CCC or SuperDuper on a Mac. I've looked at Macrium Reflect and a few others, and you still have to jump through a bunch of hoops, unless something's changed recently...


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## kitekrazy (May 9, 2017)

It may be a reach but is it possible that something in your system is not allowing all files to be copied?


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## AlexRuger (May 9, 2017)

whinecellar said:


> But again, we're not looking to create *images* - we're talking about an easy, straight-forward way to create *bootable clones* like CCC or SuperDuper on a Mac. I've looked at Macrium Reflect and a few others, and you still have to jump through a bunch of hoops, unless something's changed recently...


Precisely!


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## JohnG (May 9, 2017)

I'm using AOMEI now. Acronis seemed to have all kinds of problems, though no doubt it was my lack of expertise in using it.


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## JFB (May 9, 2017)

I use Casper 10. It's basically the Windows equivalent of SuperDuper or CCC.

https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/


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## John57 (May 9, 2017)

Here is some information that could be helpful.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/288293-32-acronis-casper-bootable-clone-drive

A point to make is that if you use windows bitlocker(Encryption) on the boot drive you may need a different program.


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## whinecellar (May 10, 2017)

JFB said:


> I use Casper 10. It's basically the Windows equivalent of SuperDuper or CCC.
> 
> https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/



THANK YOU! Will have to check this out, but it sure looks like the right idea!


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## Mr Greg G (May 10, 2017)

I think you can also do that with Macrium Reflect http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW/Cloning+a+disk
Not sure if this option is part of the free version though


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## AlexRuger (May 11, 2017)

Just tested an OS backup disk made with Casper and it booted perfectly, the VEPro template loaded perfectly, no missing authorizations or whatnot. Totally seamless.

Casper for the win!


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## RCsound (May 11, 2017)

Mr Pringles said:


> I think you can also do that with Macrium Reflect http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW/Cloning+a+disk
> Not sure if this option is part of the free version though



Yes, you can clone a disk wih the free version


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## whinecellar (May 11, 2017)

AlexRuger said:


> Just tested an OS backup disk made with Casper and it booted perfectly, the VEPro template loaded perfectly, no missing authorizations or whatnot. Totally seamless.
> 
> Casper for the win!



AWESOME news!


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## whinecellar (Jan 7, 2018)

Just FYI, I finally tried Casper to make a bootable clone since the Intel bug got me worried... it worked perfectly and in one easy step, just like CCC or SuperDuper on a Mac. 

So Windows guys, there you go - FINALLY something works for so simple a need!


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