Should I trust Vista's disk imaging function or get a 3rd party solution?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I've got Vista Ultimate and it comes with a function to backup drives.

Should I trust this for backup or should I just get Acronis disk imaging? The Windows solution doesn't seem to do any compression at all...

 

[stash]

It does do compression, but I don't know how much. I've used it on a few of my machines, and I haven't had any issues with it. The only reason why you might want to go third-party is if you want to restore to a smaller disk than the original. With Complete PC you need to restore to a disk that is the same size or larger.

 

[gizbug]

Acronis is great!

 

[bigi]

I've used both methods. Built in Vista OS partition backup is the fastest method. At least It has been the fastest for me. I have got to say that it was hard to believe how quickly it backed up my entire os disk. Very impressive.
I restored the OS w/out any problems.
If this is only all you need, look no further.
I also use Acronis True Image. Actually, this is what I use as my main backup method. Mainly one can tweak several backup options. In my case, I like the ability to restore, or rather initiate the resre from within the OS itself. Since I restore 'locked' partiton reboot is required to complete the process. No need to boot of CD at all. Basically, click-click, done.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: stash
It does do compression, but I don't know how much. I've used it on a few of my machines, and I haven't had any issues with it. The only reason why you might want to go third-party is if you want to restore to a smaller disk than the original. With Complete PC you need to restore to a disk that is the same size or larger.

Stash, while it skips unused sectors, it doesn't do compression. You can store the resulting image in a compressed folder but thats about it.

 

[corkyg]

Hi, Fuzzy! I have used Acronis TrueImage for several years - ever since version 5. I use it primarily to clone drives. Ordinary backup is not my cup of tea - it requires restoration to be useful.

I prefer to duplicate the entire drive and have it ready to go just by switching the power connector. No restoration needed.

I do this with extra drives accumulated through upgrades. 🙂

I primarily replicate my digital image archive drives. I have triple redundancy in that area using external cases that can be used on any computer.

But, backup in Vista is sort of bare bones. Acronis version 11 is the current Vista compatible product. Before that (recently) the only TI Vista qualified was version 10, build 4297. But - it had major cloning problems that would require a repair to fix the boot partition boundary.

The 580EX should arrive tomorrow. 🙂

 

[stash]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: stash
It does do compression, but I don't know how much. I've used it on a few of my machines, and I haven't had any issues with it. The only reason why you might want to go third-party is if you want to restore to a smaller disk than the original. With Complete PC you need to restore to a disk that is the same size or larger.

Stash, while it skips unused sectors, it doesn't do compression. You can store the resulting image in a compressed folder but thats about it.

Ah, that makes sense. I had a question to the PG about Complete PC last week and was told by the dev that it does some compression, but that's probably what he was referring to.