Thinking of buying full version. Acronis Or Macrium

[Mychael]

I thought I might lash out and get the full version of either Acronis True Image or Macrium reflect.
Acronis is more expensive by about $25 but from what I've read in reports I've found on the web Acronis is better featured the Macrium.

Anyone care to comment on which they think is best.
Comment on stability, ease of use and versatility please.

Thanks.

ps. If anyone thinks something other then these two please also speak up. I mentioned them only as they seem to get most mentioned on the forums here.
pps. Referring to True Image 2011 as there are still 2010 copies for sale.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Acronis is the one I would recommend. I know it has several more feature that Macrium does not. They even have an online backup, but I don't know anything about how it works and such.

 

[catilley1092]

I have Acronis too, and I can say that it's the very best backup software that I've ever used. It's not as fast as Macrium is, but it's better.

It has many features, one of which I like and have installed is their recovery manager. At startup, you have the option of pressing F11, and it does the rest. Much better than a Windows recovery partition can hope to be. You do have to activate the feature for it to work, it takes a minute or so. There's a lot of options to work with.

I've read reviews of it being a RAM hog, but who cares, if you're backing up or recovering, you're not running another program anyway.

On the other hand, I'm not knocking Macrium. I also have a full backup that was taken with it, so I have two options for recovery. Also, until I got Acronis, Macrium was my backup plan, and still is for my notebook.

I do know that the full version offers more, but have no experience with it. However, if it's as good as the free version is, it's probably good too.

Back to Acronis, the last time that I looked, they were offering 50% off, making it $29.95 in US Dollars. And it's the 2011 version, mine is the 2010 one. It's possible that some features has changed, but as I've noticed, Acronis adds more to the package each year.

I hope that this helps some in your decision. The recovery manager is hard to beat. They have a 15 day trial to see if it's for you or not. I don't know if that's a US offer only, but worth looking into.

Also, they have a free drive monitor, it ships with a trial version of 2011 Home, if you select the option. It's at:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/drive-monitor/

Cat

 

[Mychael]

Cat, as you've tried both what is your opinion of their relative stability and ease of use.

 

[catilley1092]

Mychael, I haven't used the full version of Macrium. So I can't say about that one.

But the full version of Acronis is easy to use. It does appear slow, but it's effective and does it's job. Also, you don't have to baby sit it. When you're backing up, at any time, you can check "shut down computer when finished", and it'll take care of the rest.

And it's very stable. In my personal opinion, the very best.

Cat

 

[Nibiru2012]

Depending on the options chosen, the speed difference isn't THAT significant.

Perhaps a minute or two, maybe three.

It's not like you have to wait a long time, I can definitely tell you that to backup just the C drive is way less than 10 minutes.

 

[Kalario]

Is there a free version of either Acronis or Macrium?

Edit: Is ther a free Acronis version? (just for backup).

 

[clifford_cooley]

Check out these two threads

https://www.w7forums.com/backup-your-hard-drive-acronis-t1489.html
https://www.w7forums.com/macrium-reflect-free-t7114.html

 

[yodap]

If you own a WD drive there is a free version of Acronis, Slightly stripped down.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

 

[Thrax]

I love Macrium and Acronis, but I think Acronis is a more polished program.

 

[catilley1092]

Acronis is the most popular of the two, and for good reasons. They have so many options in the package.

In an earlier post, I stated that it was a little slow, but effective. How quick it finishes depends on a couple of things. First, how many partitions you have (I have three, loaded with software, not just a "C" partition) has everything to do with time. On my first backup, it took almost 70 minutes to complete, to my Seagate FreeAgent Xtreme backup drive. I'm not 100% positive, but I think it runs at 5400rpm, which would be slower than one running at 7200rpm. I'll have to double check on that spec (the drive speed).

Also, the type of connection you have to the drive makes a world of difference. If you have an eSATA port, and your backup drive does, that 70 minutes would be cut at least in half, if not more. Mine is connected through USB 2.0, which is naturally going to be slow, especially backing up 3 partitions.

After your first backup, then all you have to do (if you want to) is update the backup that you've already done, and it doesn't take near as long. I update the backup after Update Tuesday of each month, and after making any major software changes. For example, I'm installing XP Mode on Ultimate as I'm typing this post, and I'll update in the morning. I prefer to do incremental for two reasons, it's quicker, and preserves space on your backup drive.

As soon as my WD Caviar Black (750GB) returns, they emailed me today, approving my claim, I'll reinstall it in the drive case it came out of, and I'll make another 500GB partition for backup out of that. The remaining will be used to run Linux from. They stated that the turnaround is 5 to 7 business days.

And as I always do, I have one image taken with the free version of Macrium on hand. It doesn't hurt to have an extra image on hand, if you have the space.

Overall, I feel that you'll be very satisfied with Acronis, I never meant to imply that the software was slow, but if you have a lot to backup, using a USB 2.0 connection, don't expect to be through in 10 minutes. And as I've already said, you don't have to baby sit it, you can check the box to shut down when finished.

And the recovery manager is an excellent extra to have on hand. It always displays prior to your OS boot choices. I used to love OEM recovery partitions, but not no more.

Give it a test drive, I think that you'll be satisfied.

Cat