Alternative to Acronis Imaging for Home PC's

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Alternative to Acronis Imaging for Home PC's

networkn

Networkn
32862 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15453

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#94073 5-Dec-2011 18:26

Hi There!

I would be interested in hearing about alternatives to Acronis who I am done with after 10 years of loyal purchasing. I purchased their latest home user product to migrate to a bigger disk with, and after some 5 days and countless hours I'm never going back. What used to be a great company with great products is no longer. We also do Paragon, but I am curious to know what else you guys are using.

Prerequisites:

1) Fast with low resource use (Ability to image within Windows)
2) Feature Rich (Bare metal and alternative hardware restore)
3) Excellent support (Chat preferred)
4) P2V and V2P (optional)

Regards

CYaBro

4708 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1182

ID Verified

Trusted

#554195 5-Dec-2011 18:58

Have you looked at shadow protect desktop edition?
I've got a few customers using that and heaps more using the server editions and it's great.
It is more expensive than other products but it does perform better.
You may be able to get a cross grade licenses if you change over from acronis.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Delphinus

611 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 274

#554251 5-Dec-2011 21:24

+1 for Shadowprotect. Use it on a very regular basis, and a few times in anger. Highly recommended.

redjet

299 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#554256 5-Dec-2011 21:40

It sounds like you are after a solution that backs everything up on your local desktop, however have you considered Windows Home Server 2011 at all?

Red Jet Web Services
- Affordable websites for small businesses
- Google Email setup and Migrations

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#554257 5-Dec-2011 21:48

What was the problem with Acronis?

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

gehenna

8667 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3883

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#554258 5-Dec-2011 21:50

Shame about Acronis, it's always been my go-to for Windows backup because it's the best I've used.

networkn

Networkn
32862 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15453

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#554271 5-Dec-2011 22:58

freitasm: It's a really long story, but a full backup, wouldn't result in a full restore, because for some reason by default on my PC it didn't select the 100MB partition (The drive was selected and all child objects were ticked but no 100MB partition), and restores from BARTPE took 2 days for 100GB and didn't restore properly.

I ended up reinstalling windows, the very thing I bought it to avoid (and successfully have used earlier versions before), then I could restore.

I lost no data, but the support was terrible and slow, the product didn't do as it was advertised, and it's the second time (Once for a client).

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

networkn

Networkn
32862 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15453

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#554272 5-Dec-2011 22:59

I am aware of Shadowprotect and agree it's a good product. I was also looking at other products out of interest.

It's not huge money but it's more than $30USD (45 for a household) that Acronis was..

AcronisSupport

1 post

Wannabe Geek
Inactive user

#554619 6-Dec-2011 18:26

Hi all.

Networkn, we're sorry to hear that you've faced such inconvenience with support, and the product.
It's hard to say for sure what caused the issue. Usually the 100 Mb partition doesn't get backed up in case one's using an outdated version of Acronis Home product, which wasn't updated to support Windows 7.
I would really like to help you with the problem, though I'll entirely understand should you decide not to proceed with it.

Our Directors team would also really like to look into the situation with support. Could you please kindly let us know the number of the case you've opened with us? You can contact me directly with this information: http://forum.acronis.com/messages/new/76, - if you would like to avoid sharing it here.

Thank you once again for the feedback provided. We really appreciate it as we do believe that negative feedback is a great help in setting things right.

Please let us know if you have any questions, we will be glad to help.

Thank you.

--
Best regards
Yana

Ragnor

8279 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 585

Trusted

#554621 6-Dec-2011 18:32

I suspect Geekzone's google juice delivers again ^ triggering alerts for companies that track google search results for mentions of their company/product name..

networkn

Networkn
32862 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15453

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#554930 7-Dec-2011 11:56

Settled on Paragon Hard Disk Manager Suite. I bought a 3 Pack for $39USD on special.

It's pretty good, perhaps not as slick as Acronis, but at least it works!

What was really amazing was that I wanted to do a full and 5 incrementals a week of my home PC and the HDM didn't cover it, and when I asked if there was a workaround from the sales guy, he gave me a free upgrade to the Pro version for free, for all 3 licenses, about $150 worth!

We have used these products before and have been impressed, and now I am very very impressed!