AlanHo Posted August 27, 2016 Report Share Posted August 27, 2016 Like some other members - for some years I have been a great fan of Acronis True Image - its reputation got very tarnished today. I updated my little Windows 10 laptop last evening and today when I came to use it, it kept freezing. Andsome mentioned the problem the other day and blamed it on recent Win10 updates so I decided to uninstall them. After the uninstall, a reboot was required and to my horror the laptop refused to boot into Windows. It displayed a critical fault error and set about correcting it without any input from me. This repair totally failed and things went steadily from bad to worse - so I decided to restore last week's Acronis backup using an Acronis Emergency Media USB stick.. I had to alter the BIOS to boot from the memory stick - after which Acronis loaded but would not recognise the laptop touch screen or touch pad. I plugged in a wireless dongle and mouse and was then able to set about restoring the computer. I have a 2 TB external USB3 hard drive for storing backups which I had plugged into the computer before I loaded up Acronis. The software recognised the hard drive but did not locate any Acronis tib backup files stored on it. I was stuffed. I spent more hours than I care to admit faffing about with the computer which included testing the drive out using my Desktop computer - which had exactly the same problem. This led me to think the USB hard drive was corrupted. Having wasted a couple of hours carrying out checks of the hard drive with the usual command prompts and Seagate software I concluded that the drive was OK as witnessed by the fact that Windows Explorer - now called File Explorer - could see the files etc, Fortunately I had another computer to use so I was able to do some googling and I tripped upon some 2 year old posts complaining that Acronis 2012, 2013 and 2014 were all fine with USB3 hard drives - but that Acronis 2015 was not. It would create backup files on them OK but then could not access them for restoring images - it was limited to USB2 because the Rescue Media is Linux. I use Acronis 2016 so I connected my USB3 drive to a USB2 socket on the laptop and tried all over again. It worked. There must be numerous Acronis users blithely making regular backups onto their shiny new USB3 external drives totally unaware that when disaster strikes and a restore is needed - they could find themselves like me, completely stumped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 6 hours ago, AlanHo said: Like some other members - for some years I have been a great fan of Acronis True Image - its reputation got very tarnished today. I updated my little Windows 10 laptop last evening and today when I came to use it, it kept freezing. Andsome mentioned the problem the other day and blamed it on recent Win10 updates so I decided to uninstall them. After the uninstall, a reboot was required and to my horror the laptop refused to boot into Windows. It displayed a critical fault error and set about correcting it without any input from me. This repair totally failed and things went steadily from bad to worse - so I decided to restore last week's Acronis backup using an Acronis Emergency Media USB stick.. I had to alter the BIOS to boot from the memory stick - after which Acronis loaded but would not recognise the laptop touch screen or touch pad. I plugged in a wireless dongle and mouse and was then able to set about restoring the computer. I have a 2 TB external USB3 hard drive for storing backups which I had plugged into the computer before I loaded up Acronis. The software recognised the hard drive but did not locate any Acronis tib backup files stored on it. I was stuffed. I spent more hours than I care to admit faffing about with the computer which included testing the drive out using my Desktop computer - which had exactly the same problem. This led me to think the USB hard drive was corrupted. Having wasted a couple of hours carrying out checks of the hard drive with the usual command prompts and Seagate software I concluded that the drive was OK as witnessed by the fact that Windows Explorer - now called File Explorer - could see the files etc, Fortunately I had another computer to use so I was able to do some googling and I tripped upon some 2 year old posts complaining that Acronis 2012, 2013 and 2014 were all fine with USB3 hard drives - but that Acronis 2015 was not. It would create backup files on them OK but then could not access them for restoring images - it was limited to USB2 because the Rescue Media is Linux. I use Acronis 2016 so I connected my USB3 drive to a USB2 socket on the laptop and tried all over again. It worked. There must be numerous Acronis users blithely making regular backups onto their shiny new USB3 external drives totally unaware that when disaster strikes and a restore is needed - they could find themselves like me, completely stumped. I tried contacting them when I had trouble, and was told that free help had now expired. I now have it running OK, but would NEVER recommend it again. It is disgusting to expect people to pay for help after a few weeks of usage. It has become unwieldy, all that most people want is a program to make a mirror image that can be used to replace a faulty install. If anyone knows of one please let me know, and even though I have paid out good money I will ditch acronis. I have looked at paragon, but there are too many choices and am not clear which one I would need. Pops too is disillusioned with acronis, he told me when I asked his advice recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted August 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 I will join you in the quest for a dead simple backup and restore program. I haven't used the Acronis restore feature much and I found it very confusing. I was worried stiff about restoring the wrong backup to the wrong hard drive. It is not at all crystal clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 The first time I used Acronis 2016 on my new computer, I too got confused and put everything onto my D drive. The computer could not boot up and I had to reinstall Windows. It's a good thing that the shop that built the computer automatically supplies a full installation disc, although I always insist on this with any supplier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted August 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 A brief Google produces these reviews of the better known backup software. http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/backup-software/easeus-todo-backup-free-35-review-3315451/ http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/backup-software/easeus-todo-backup-home-review-3467100/ http://pcsupport.about.com/od/backup/fl/easeus-todo-backup-review.htm http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/backup-software/paragon-backup-recovery-12-home-review-3438366/ It has put me off considering Paragon - but the Easeus offerings look tempting. Anyone else have a good favourite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 I currently use Easeus TODO Backup Home 9.1 for all the Win 10 machines I support. It is exactly the same as the Free version, but just does the backup more quickly. I found an offer for free licences for it a while back and quickly acquired a dozen before the offer lapsed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted August 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 Boris - before seeing your post I downloaded the trial Version of EaseUs TODO backup. I have done a test backup and a dummy run at restore. It is certainly more user friendly than Acronis. I haven't had enough time to explore its various features but during installation you have to designate a default location for backups - which I did. I take 2 backups of each computer each time - one to a 2TB internal hard drive and the second to a USB3 external drive I store remote from the house. I imagine I can over-ride the default target destination for the second backup but didn't notice how. More anon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 Sounds interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 I object very strongly to the way that the latest versions of Acronis take over machines and prevent shutdown and stop me using the machine when I want to do so. This is, apparently, a known bug which only affects a few machines (but why all of mine). At the moment, I'm using Windows own backup but it isn't as comprehensive as I would like and I'm on the lookout for a new system. I've been on the Easeus mailing list for a long tim. Perhaps I should give it a go. They do some very good discounts when you sign up for their mailing list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted August 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 I have spent another hour or so playing with EaseUs TODO and am more than tempted to ditch Acronis. However - not until I have more experience with the EasuUs offering. It is easy to select what you want to back up - be it a complete drive or partition or folders and files and where you want to save the backup to. Restore is relatively easy too - and you are better guided through the process. The biggest accolade is the fact the Boris is a fan - it's always nice to know that an experienced and respected member has confidence with it. I already have the EaseUs Data Recovery and EaseUs Partition Master software which have served me well in the past - so I am familiar with their software Thanks Boris - you have helped me with the decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 2 hours ago, AlanHo said: I imagine I can over-ride the default target destination for the second backup but didn't notice how. Change it either via the "Settings" button . or when doing your backup as circled in red below Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 58 minutes ago, AlanHo said: The biggest accolade is the fact the Boris is a fan - it's always nice to know that an experienced and respected member has confidence with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 I prefer Macrium reflect. Free version will do incremental backups, paid for will do decremental backups as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted August 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 Boris Mine is bigger than your's - it's 9.2 Thanks for the info Anyone intending to get the paid for version should first click on the comparison page http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/comparison.htm Then click on free download - a window will open to provide the download link which will lead you to an offer to sell the paid for version for $17.40 rather than $23.20 if you buy the paid for one straight away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 29, 2016 Report Share Posted August 29, 2016 Thank you for downloading the free edition of Macrium Reflect v6! Anyone tried the above? It was highly recommended by a bowling friend. I have downloaded and installed it and have yet to try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted August 29, 2016 Report Share Posted August 29, 2016 As above. Tried others but macrium he best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 29, 2016 Report Share Posted August 29, 2016 11 minutes ago, casey said: As above. Tried others but macrium he best. Installed and have made my first mirror image. I am a little unsure as to why it shows my C drive 150GB and my storage drive D which is 1TB, it also shows the plug in hard drive that I use to store my back ups. I am puzzled as to why it shows another drive formatted NTFS. There is a tick by this drive , which if I remove also removes the tick by my C drive. When I made the image of my C drive, one was also crated for this mysterious drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted August 29, 2016 Report Share Posted August 29, 2016 According to disk management it is a recovery partition. As it is only 300 mb I have ignored it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 29, 2016 Report Share Posted August 29, 2016 I have not dared trying to install the backup until I know what this is all about. My C drive is showing at its correct capacity,but this mysterious one on my computer is small too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted August 29, 2016 Report Share Posted August 29, 2016 You can have a read here at the Macrium forum. http://superuser.com/questions/915238/what-is-this-recovery-partition-for-on-a-fresh-installation-of-windows-10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 29, 2016 Report Share Posted August 29, 2016 Thanks I will have a look tomorrow when I start my computer up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 30, 2016 Report Share Posted August 30, 2016 Had a look and in all honesty it may as well be in Chinese. It did not say how to install a saved mirror image backup. In Acronis the screen only shows the two hard drives and not that smaller one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted August 30, 2016 Report Share Posted August 30, 2016 What it means to me is that it is created by Win10 install. Nothing to do with Macrium at all. I noticed with mine that it was created when I did a clean install of 10 but not with the upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted August 30, 2016 Report Share Posted August 30, 2016 Found- you can back up just the 1st partition only by unticking both then click on the first partiton and actions comes up beneath it. Click on this and select image this partition only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 30, 2016 Report Share Posted August 30, 2016 That small drive must be showing fir a reason. As I said it does not show on my plug in hard drive if I look at an Acronis backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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