Backup software/image or clone?

[Mac29]

I'm finalizing a backup procedure. Crucial for school. Nobody answers because backup's not sexy, like a new build. Sucks to be me. Deciding between Acronis True Image, Eraseus Todo BU (free ed.). Macrium Reflect free doesn't do incrementals. People swear Windows7 backup is ok or many say it's given them problems.

Comes down to this: if Acronis True Image makes a partition on C: that is proprietary and unreadable (except by itself) then is that data vulnerable to virus/etc. simply by being on the same drive. I think yes. But this partition is 'hidden'.

If I can restore from the hidden partition on the same drive that's good. I plan on using DVD images and possibly a clone of the entire hard drive. I know Acronis can burn to DVD and clone. I'll deal with any resizing of paritions if neccessary. Here's what I have to work with: a 320GB w/ Win7 Pro (3 years old) & a new 500GB.

I want images on DVD that I can easily restore. I don't want to use the 500GB as a clone because I want to load another OS on it (I use a drive bay). My plan is to: A) move the data from C: to a new partition D, thereby downsizing the 'system' size, then B) save images of C: to DVD and to a partition on the new drive (same for data & incrementals).

I've read and read. Some people swear only a clone is 100% but I imagine that view is due to what imaging software gave them issues. IF imaging/restore from DVD will not fail me, does anyone have recommendations? Anyone feel strongly that clone is the only way to go? I like the fact Acronis True Image can image the system stuff while Windows is running. I think it can also resize an image. Which of these is easiest to use to restore? All seem a better solution for me than Ghost.

Thanks for the help,

Mac

 

[corkyg]

I see no point in backing anything up on the same physical media, i.e., a partition. I have always been, and will continue to be a cloner. All of my computers have "reserve drives" that are re-cl;oned every Saturday, unless major changes occur, like Windows updates (10 of them last week.) I then clone them all.

After cloning, I swap the drives weekly. That way, it is not always necessary to re-clone - just update the drive. The duplicate drives contain everything and nothing changes, programs, links, passwords, etc. I do use different wallpaper on them so I can tell the difference.

All my data files are on a RAID 1 array, and that is cloned perdiodically to an external HDD.

All is done with Acronis TI 2011, using bootable "Rescue Media." Never from within Windows. The media I use are both CDR and thumb drives. With cloning, no restoration is needed. But, for high volume data users, that might not be good because there is no automatic incremental backing up.

 

[vcsx]

I use Redo Backup to image my C: drive. It's open source and free. It boots from a CD. No installation needed.

 

[stevech]

With drives so cheap, I use Acronis CLONE for my boot drive.
When I need that backup, a clone is no-brainer. No hassles. Just boot the other drive.

My Win 7 boot drive is an SSD. I clone it to a small SATA or EIDE. Either will boot.
My data is all on SATA drives that I use SecondCopy to automatically dupe.