Partitioning/backup software (like Ghost/True Image) that's licensed per user

[JKoltner]

Could someone recommend a piece of software (that either boots from its own CD or operates under Windows) that allows one to backup, and resize partitions... but that is licensed *per user* (i.e., me) rather than *per machine?*

I've been doing a lot of hard drive shuffling in my PCs lately, and while products like Acronis True Image Home 2012 have worked fine for me, they run ~$25 per machine (and typically think you need to re-register if you clone the partition they themselves were running on!). I'd rather pay more (even upwards of $100) to have a piece of software that performs these same sorts of functions but that I can use as often as I like...

I do want something from a commercial vendor (rather than the many, e.g., Linux-based tools) in that I've found they usually have easier-to-use interfaces and typically their own forums where user feedback/tips is "concentrated" rather than being spread "all over the Internet" as with free tools. The prospect of phone support (even if paid) if necessary is also nice...

Thanks...

 

[Harvey]

Acronis True Image™ Home 2012 is now being co-branded as Acronis Backup & Recovery. It can do everything you want, including "cloning" your hard drive and re-sizing partition. That is, it makes an exact, running duplicate of your hard drive. If your main drive fails, the cloned image can directly replace the old drive, or it can be used to reload everything, including your operating files, on a new drive without re-installing the system or your programs. If your hard drive fails or becomes irreparably infected, it WILL save your butt. It also includes the ability to make a bootable recovery CD.

It would make no sense to bind it to one machine because one of its most important uses is transferring your system to another machine when that becomes necessary. When you move to a new motherboard, you will still have to re-install Windows because a Windows installation is "married" to the specific chipset and internal instructions unique to any given board.

Basic info about Acronis True Image.

Seagate and Western Digital offer a version for their drives. In both cases, the only limitation is that at least one of the drives in the chain must be from the company offering the program. Seagate owns Maxtor so their version works for both brands.

Acronis True Image for Western Digital drives:

Info.

Program.

Manual.

Acronis True Image for Seagate and Maxtor drives:

Info.

Program.

Manual.

 

[JKoltner]

I'm not sure of the exact licensing details regarding True Image Home, since you're of course correct that in general you might like to restore to a physically different machine than the one you backed up. However, if you check out its product page here: www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage ... you can see that they charge based on how many PCs you intend to backup.

 

[Harvey]

I guess they only want you to use one copy for each base machine, but I don't know how they'd enforce that, at least at the software level, since the intent is to bounce between drives. You could always e-mail their sales or tech support people to ask.

Or, alternatively, if you stick with Seagate and WD drives, you could use their branded software with an unlimited number of machines. The software doesn't work if at least one of the drives in the chain (source or target) isn't from the licensed vendor. The only minor hassle I've encountered is having to switch the installed version after migrating from one brand to the other.

I've lost count of the number of friends' machines on which I've installed those versions, all as legal as can be.

 

[JKoltner]

I guess they only want you to use one copy for each base machine, but I don't know how they'd enforce that, at least at the software level, since the intent is to bounce between drives.

Every time you install their software, it has to be activated via the Internet. If you clone a hard drive to another and then boot from the clone, the copy of True Image on the clone "knows" that it's not the original and wants you to activate again.

(Without activation, the more advanced features such as copying and resizing partitions are disabled.)

I guess I will have to read their license agreement more closely, but based on their pricing their intent certainly seems to be what you suggest -- ever "base" machine needs a license.

Most of the drive cloning I've done lately has been upgrading HDs to SSDs, so unfortunately the brands are seldom identical.

 

[lxskllr]

Parted Magic

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

 

[Harvey]

Every time you install their software, it has to be activated via the Internet. If you clone a hard drive to another and then boot from the clone, the copy of True Image on the clone "knows" that it's not the original and wants you to activate again.

(Without activation, the more advanced features such as copying and resizing partitions are disabled.)

I've never had to activate a copy of Seagate or WD's versions, but then, I've never used them for anything but cloning. However, I've been able to clone successfully between drives of different sizes and define the size of the partitions on the target drive. I've even been able to use it to set up multiple partitions of any size, define the size of each partition and clone different instances of the same drive to them or to use the partitions for several clone images.