Easy to use partition backup and restore package for Windows 7

[OwlHoot]

I'm buying a new Windows 7 laptop in a week or two, and was wondering if anyone could recomment the best physical partition backup software.

I'm not very interested in incremental file-level backups, but I do want something able to whack a C drive image into a file on another partition so that if necessary this can be faithfully and fully restored with a minimum of fuss.

A couple of years ago Acronis True Image had the name. But checking that recently, it seems to have gone the way of all software by sprouting a bewilderingly vast and complex assortment of bells and whistles. Why do they _all_ have to go and do that?

So in summary, I guess I'm looking for a package that resembles Acronis, say, three or four years ago.

(unless Acronis has somehow, despite the odds, kept its basic functionality intact and easy to find and use)

[pmeswani]

Is this of any good to you?

Active@ Boot Disk. Bootable LiveCD. Backup, Data Recovery, Disk Eraser & more...

[Spacecadet]

I'm buying a new Windows 7 laptop in a week or two, and was wondering if anyone could recomment the best physical partition backup software.

I'm not very interested in incremental file-level backups, but I do want something able to whack a C drive image into a file on another partition so that if necessary this can be faithfully and fully restored with a minimum of fuss.

A couple of years ago Acronis True Image had the name. But checking that recently, it seems to have gone the way of all software by sprouting a bewilderingly vast and complex assortment of bells and whistles. Why do they _all_ have to go and do that?

So in summary, I guess I'm looking for a package that resembles Acronis, say, three or four years ago.

(unless Acronis has somehow, despite the odds, kept its basic functionality intact and easy to find and use)

Acronis still does that. Just ignore all the extra bells and whistles.
I manually backup my partitions:
C drive using acronis
D and E partitions using synch toy

I've restored without too much hassle from an Acronis backup onto a new hard drive.

Being able to restore on to different hardware and/or a different size partition was a plus for me when choosing Acronis. It makes hard drive upgrades very easy.
You can also attach a backup file as if it were an external drive which is nice

[gadgetman]

See the Amazon reviews here for some less than glowing comments on Acronis (average rating 1 star - the lowest possible).

Plus this thread may be relevant

[Spacecadet]

See the Amazon reviews here for some less than glowing comments on Acronis (average rating 1 star - the lowest possible).

Plus this thread may be relevant

Thats appalling
The 2010 version i have
Acronis True Image Home 2010: Backup and Recovery (PC): Amazon.co.uk: Software

scores a bit better

[VectraMan]

I use Acronis to backup to a NAS. The other day I looked at the NAS and there was one 40K file there. It had randomly deleted all the incremental backups and decided to consolidate 80GB worth of data down to one 40K file.

Usually it has the opposite problem: i.e. it leaves temporary files behind until the NAS runs out of space and the whole thing silently falls over and I don't notice for 3 weeks.

[OwlHoot]

To answer my own question, I've been doing some more digging.

It seems the general consensus is that Acronis True image 2010, and even more so the 2011 edition, has lost its way.

Apparently, for partition backups, Paragon HDM 2010 is now the best. (HDM stands for "Hard Disk Manager")

The following are almost as good (or perhaps just as good if not better - I really don't know) :

* SyncBackPro (and SyncBackSE, in which I imagine "SE" stands for "Stand Edition")

* Macrium Reflect (freeby)

* Bootit NG and Image for Windows

[doodab]

I use Paragon partition manager, have done for a few years. It hasn't let me down yet.

You might also find BCDedit handy for related boot sequence tinkering.