#2: "You cannot view your backed up data using explorer. I may actually switch programs because of this shortcoming."
Paragon [& probably others] lets you mount your backup archives as a virtual disk, which can be handy, but it's slower if you want or need to copy more than a couple few files -- that's because of the layers of software working to show you the backup archive's raw data as files & folders on a virtualized disk. It takes longer initially, but works much faster afterwards if you restore a backup to a VHD you create in win7/8/8.1 -- restoring that backup to an expanding VHD [so it isn't any bigger than the actual amount of data] takes extra time, but once you have that done a mounted VHD works like a regular hard drive partition.
You can create and mount/dismount VHDs in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management.
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#3: "Could this be used to clone my C Drive (XP3) onto an SSD, do you reckon?
If so, you’d have a huge target market."
Restoring a disk/partition image backup is equivalent to cloning a drive or partition -- you're just storing the data in a backup archive 1st rather than copying it from one drive/partition to another. SSDs present a special case -- not all software will write data optimally to an SSD -- but Todo Backup should work just fine. http://kb.easeus.com/art.php?id=10010.
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#6: "As soon as you have registered it prompts you to install an update.
I would have thought it best to provide the current version as it is."
Yes, but it might not have been ready yet when they gave the setup file to the GOTD team so they could prepare it.
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#10: "If it is using propritory format for backup file (.PBD) as explained by Kard above, it may not be possible to recover data after expiring license in one year.
Better to use software which uses zip/rar format for backedup data, or atleast no compression at all so as to recover the data without purchasing it after one year."
Problems with backing up to zip etc. include: you will not get a backup that when restored will boot, you will have larger archives, you may not be able to expand large folders [e.g. C:\Windows] using regular [vs. backup] software, backup & restore will be CPU intensive with speed partly depending on your system specs.
I didn't see anything limiting this ToDo backup license to a year, but their free version or the trial should work if this copy stopped working for some reason, plus you can [& should] always hold onto the boot disc you create with ToDo backup [or any disk/partition image backup software], which handles backup restoration just fine. If you have older archives you've saved, newer versions of the software may not always work with them 100%.
You can't restore the system disk/partition where Windows lives when that copy of Windows is running. If you restore it from software running in that copy of Windows, it'll ask you to reboot or restart your system, & then run pretty much the same software as what's on that bootable disk. Running that software after a reboot doesn't always work -- booting from that disc & running the software does, so create & keep that disc.
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#13: "Nice backup software but too many active processes."
Not being a smart a**, but turn them off, so the EaseUS stuff isn't running when you don't need it to. Unfortunately extra stuff you don't necessarily want or need running with Windows has been a fact of life since win95.
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#14: " Easus has been working very well, though the backups do take more of my back up drive than Acronis did but I have received an e-mail from Easus advising they are looking into making the incremental and differential backups use less space. "
Purely FWIW, I personally don't see a good case for incremental or differential backups themselves... The strength of disk/partition image backups is in their copying of raw data from the drive -- it's fast & efficient because you don't have to worry about files or folders or anything -- just ones & zeros. When you ask backup software to compare what's stored in an archive with what's on disk [so it can tell what's changed & needs to be backed up too], you throw that efficiency out the window, having to translate the backup archive into files & folders, then running a compare etc.
To me, when or as possible it's better to just store full partition image backups. Data I think should be stored separately, whether included in other backups or not. Old Windows + software backups are primarily useful if/when you get infested with mal-ware, install a bad driver, install a bad app etc., so you have to go back weeks or months or years. They can be burned to BD data discs for example because odds are you'll not need them, so no need to keep them on a hard drive for fastest, easiest access. And because in those situations you won't be current anyway, you don't need to store as many backups on BD discs, e.g. maybe one a month or one a year, it's up to you. Then if you only have the storage space to store one full backup on HDD, make it the latest one.
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#18: "@easeus, @2 Restoring and comparing backed-up files using file manager is a big deal for me.
It would be good if the backup software offered compression and non compression as options."
When you're dealing with raw data, compression doesn't make the same sort of big differences you get using 7z on a file. As far as comparing every file to make sure you have it right, not really gonna happen because of how long it would take. That said, the real test is how a backup restores, so restore it to a VHD or spare hard drive partition & compare as much as you want.
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#20: "If your computer drive goes, this program is going with it. How can you use a backup-restore program to restore the backup-restore program? Phil K said nearly the same thing above. Or is this portable? There is no way I would use a program like this without it being guaranteed portable, or having the ability in my hands to install it on the recovery pc."
Maybe this will help with the basic concepts?... A disk/partition image backup is roughly the same to a disk/partition as an ISO to a disc [CD/DVD/BD] with the very same data. If you have a re-writable DVD, you can't re-write the disc full of data until you erase it -- you have to empty your coffee cup before you can re-fill it with fresh coffee. Restoring a disk/partition image backup means 1st deleting everything on that disk or partition. To do that for the disk/partition where Windows lives, you have to do that while running some other OS, e.g. WinPE or live *nix etc. Most backup apps use a more or less copy of what you'll find on their boot disc [or USB stick] that's been written to the hard drive, & after re-boot is read into RAM & run, since the disk/partition has to be emptied. Or you can just use the boot disc/USB stick.
So you see, it really makes no difference what-so-ever what's on the disk/partition you're going to restore a backup to. You need 2 things -- the backup archive(s) & the boot disc or USB stick. Obviously It IS IMPORTANT to make sure those work for you before you really need it -- mileage can vary for example with USB sticks depending on your hardware & even the brand/model of USB stick.
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#24: "Who here has used the various programs actually to “Restore”, and which really works?"
All of them work but reports suggest mileage can vary -- why I have no idea. For example I've used Paragon countless times, yet every time it's offered there are reports that for some people it didn't work. That said, I've also used EaseUS, Acronis, & Aomei myself, & none of them has given me a problem.
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#26: " If this product cannot restore to a virtual machine, does anyone know what I can use to do this?"
Basically what you're talking about is migrating your XP install to new hardware, in this case the emulated hardware of a VM. Microsoft has a simple tool -- search their site for the Sysinternals home page. Paragon also has several tools with this capability, or you can *try* booting into Safe Mode, removing all the drivers you can in Device Mgr., but don't reboot -- shut down, make your backup, & restore that to a VHD. The goal with all 3 methods is a winXP install that's missing critical drivers so Windows itself will look for the correct ones when you 1st start it. You can also try restoring a backup of XP as-is to a VHD, connect it to a new VM, & before you try to start XP in that VM, boot it to a XP install disc & run a repair install. I've done all of the above & like using Paragon best, but I'm also biased [I like Paragon software], so please take that FWIW.
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#29: "Windows 7 already got this function included with it then why to unnecessary consume the drive space. All back up or shadow copy can also be done using inbuilt tools."
If you were talking about win7's backup you might have a point -- if you're talking just about VSS, it won't do the job... not even restore points work 100% of the time.
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#33: " I do not take many risks with having to reinstall everything all over again now – I backup to LaCie external HDDs (eye-wateringly expensive, but the most reliable I could find) and I use cloud storage for all the installers of the programs I’ve installed."
Hard drives are hard drives, & LaCie to my knowledge doesn't make any -- they use the same off-the-shelf as you & I. You can however research hard drive reliability -- there can be a huge variance -- and once you make your selection buy a separate external housing or dock, again doing due diligence selecting your brand/model.
I don't like cloud storage for the simple reason that like many, many people my upload speeds are best described as some sort of crawl. Personally I keep DVDs with all the program setups so I can use them whenever, wherever -- not much different than your cloud storage, but like I said, cloud storage for that sort of thing is unworkable for me.
"As for the comment about Aomei letting them down, I can understand that – It happened to me after all, with one of Aomei’s competitors. Look at actual user experiences on places like Amazon and it seems that all backup software has let some customers down sometimes. That is because backing up a live, working computer is actually quite a feat as there are odd combinations of software, conflicts, corrupted files, deletes, edits, USB removals, installs, uninstalls, updates, other scheduled tasks, defragments happening, to name just a few off the top of my head. With all this going on, it is possible that any one software may encounter a problem."
A simple solution is to do your backups outside of Windows. If nothing else use the boot disc for whatever backup app, or you can use one of the mini-Windows OSes you can create following guides from reboot.pro for example. I dual boot our machines, so backup win7 or 8.1 from another copy of Windows, not as much for reliability as the resulting archives are usually smaller. [Note: don't forget to delete all your restore points prior to backing up for smaller archives.]
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#42: "Try out this really amazing backup-tool...
One file of just 370 kB! in size – no registry entries
Browse backups as virtual drives and restore single files"
.
Guess what? It's impossible to store 100GB in less than a meg -- the raw data itself amounts to about 70GB. The sort of tool you're promoting can work in some limited circumstances, & for those it may well be worth it to you, but anyone forgoing a full backup will be disappointed to say the least when they find themselves needing a full backup.
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