Which WinXP partition backup software for DAW?

[TimOBrienFlorida]

Clonezilla.org

[hugol]

I used this the other day to image a family members C: system partition (he's always getting viruses so I wanted an easy way to image/roll back).

Honestly I haven't had much time to evaluate it - but it's free so worth a look:

Best free backup software. Hard drive backup and recovery, image and clone freeware - EaseUS Todo Backup Free


I also tried Macrium reflect - but the Linux restore boot disk didn't see the hard disk when I tried it. YMMV.

[ivansc]

Easeus's free one works for me

[GoldMember]

Allway Sync: Free File Synchronization, Backup, Data Replication, PC Sync Software, Freeware, File Sync, Data Synchronization Software

Easeus I have used in the past. And it is a bit too much bloatware for me and it modifies the system in some ways that are not documented by the creators or by their support forum. I've had to create some custom routines and workarounds to mitigate this type of thing. It's overall the type of software behavior that I am really fed up with. It's a shame because Easeus's product line is otherwise very impressive and easy to deal with.

But the unneeded and data-destructive modifications are not what I consider part of a professional-grade software environment or toolset.

A partition saving software should only copy and save the partition. It should not fragment it and install strange unidentified files that have no documented purpose. It should also exist within the user-installed toolset without making significant changes to the operating system. Both of those criteria are regularly met by other softwares including many freewares of other types. The idea of a lossless data save is as old as computer operating systems. So although I am not critical of the Easeus software creators, I think there is a missing element of data integrity to their partition backup freeware, even if it would otherwise be considered "insignificant" to many.

If the system modifications were all necessary, they would likely be documented and/or explicit or discussed in support forums or release notes. I know from experience the software still functions with many unneeded file/process items disabled and deleted. So why are they included if they are not needed? They waste storage and processing resources as software/file elements. That is more a characteristic of bloatware and M$ frustrations than efficient freeware.

Considering how fussy and tempermental computers and operating systems are, I think it's entirely legitimate to want to reduce any elements of that in softwares even if they seem otherwise insignificant.

That being said, I am still thankful to the Easeus creators for their software because it has helped me to maintain my DAW in a state of productivity over the past few years and their product design still has some impressive characteristics that are appealing and useful and sensible.

Any other alternatives (Windows or Linux), portable freeware, freewarem, payware, or portable payware?

[hugol]

Huh? I don't get what modifications you are referring to? Sounds a bit odd to be honest - are you referring to the fact the software copies a few DLLs and sets some registry keys - well yeah most installed Windows software would do this?

Are you sure you're not thinking of a full backup solution that needed to track stuff rather than the basic imaging stuff we're talking about? But I really don't know what you're on about when you talk about fragmenting and destructive and unneeded modifications.


If you really don't want to touch your Windows partition then don't install anything and use something like this: PING (Partimage Is Not Ghost)


I've also used DriveImage before which seemed very unobtrusive to me.

Originally Posted by hugol

Huh? I don't get what modifications you are referring to? Sounds a bit odd to be honest - are you referring to the fact the software copies a few DLLs and sets some registry keys - well yeah most installed Windows software would do this?

Are you sure you're not thinking of a full backup solution that needed to track stuff rather than the basic imaging stuff we're talking about? But I really don't know what you're on about when you talk about fragmenting and destructive and unneeded modifications.

If you really don't want to touch your Windows partition then don't install anything and use something like this: PING (Partimage Is Not Ghost)

I've also used DriveImage before which seemed very unobtrusive to me.

Thanks very much for the links/alternatives.

I deliberately avoided mentioning the specific files/drivers/services/folders/registry entries because that is such detailed information that I don't have handily available at this time. My DAW computer is not my internet access computer. I could do some screen shots and so forth but it's really not worth it for me since I can just use something else, like you also acknowledged.

Also, I prefer not to sound too critical of the EASEUS software designers because they are very polite and responsive in their support forums and, as I said above, they otherwise have made good software for folks who don't mind or are not aware of the types of details I am annoyed by.

Hidden *.CBM files in the root directory is one thing created by EASEUS Todo Backup freeware (sorry I forget which version) after the partition is saved. Those *.CBM files can be safely deleted after the saving is done. They are not needed for the restoration procedure. But they will be re-created by Todo each time you do a backup.

They are not documented anywhere yet as a file type, and their purpose is unknown by the likes of me. Some research indicated that a different type of *.CBM picture image format existed in the past, but that is unrelated to Todo Backup's file type. Todo's *.CBM files have names like those ridiculously annoying, non-human-readable, Windows Registry entries with the long streams of letters and numbers and maybe some dashes or brackets. I think I may have tried to crossreference them with my Registry entries to see if they matched something valid. And, if I remember correctly, nothing showed up; they are not visibly related to the Registry (in my studies).

And during the partition save procedure it writes to the partition it is saving not just the partition it puts it's backup files in. This is proved by using drive activity monitor tools as well. This is similarly revealed using defragment tools that provide a list of fragmented files.

Furthermore, the system bootup process is significantly delayed by the EuBakUp.sys in Windows\System32 folder. It can be verified to be slowing down the system bootup by booting up using the alternative boot mode selected by pressing F8 during a cold boot up.

I think it may be a driver amongst many EASEUS driver files and processes installed. I understand that some of these are required partially for some functionality, but I am skeptical about all of their functionality.

Other EASEUS Todo Backup stuff installed is a hidden folder in the root area of the system partition that hold some kind of Linux boot image. This can be verified using an alternative file manager that shows hidden files and folders and by browsing the contents of the disk image using 7-zip or something software that browses images and archives.

Also, a persistent service/driver called "Agent.exe" starts up automatically during boot up. It can be safely set to "manual" instead of automatic, thus disabling it until it is needed. Todo Backup just starts it up by itself when it needs to, and a window pops up to the user saying to wait a few seconds for it to load. If it's disabled, Todo fails or at least refuses to run. After Todo is done with it's work, "Agent.exe" can be manually stopped as a service with the STOP command, and no harm comes to Windows nor to Todo. If it's set to "manual" instead of "disabled", as described earlier, it will just start again when it's needed by Todo. But what's the point?

Some other EASEUS services/processes are automatically started with windows and can be safely disabled and related registry entries removed. I forget what they are called since I removed them, but some were "tray" applets.

I have used some other similar categories of programs which don't require all these extra things put here and there without warning the end user. I don't do anything fancy with partition backups, either. So I know this extra activity/files/processes/etc is perhaps a set of design flaws.

I could probably identify some other issues if I remember them or audit the system later.

But anyways, thanks for the links.

By the way, I tried PartImage Is Not Ghost and it seems like vaporware:

Windows Dream • View topic - _Registration Disabled

The forum is full of posts requesting help with multitudes of issues including entire partition data loss with no replies of assistance. And it was annoyingly requiring an email address just to download the free .ISO . Since they report the site is heavily spammed, I'm glad I didn't enter a valid email address, as some spammers collect email addresses via hacking.

I'm not complaining so much as warning anybody else who reads this thread.

[BenSW]

My personal first choice is Macrium Reflect. I don't even use it from within Windows (I run it from the bootable WinPE), so bloat is not a problem. But it's not bloated anyway and I think it uninstalls nicely.
If you're worried about bloat/system contamination, I recommend to install things in a virtual OS first (VirtualBox).

[valis]

Whatever you do avoid Acronis & other apps that use their own filesystem layer: Beware of Acronis "Leftovers" Issues - Wilders Security Forums

Macrium, O&O DI, Paragon & Clonezilla should all be fine in my experience.

[hugol]

Originally Posted by restpause

By the way, I tried PartImage Is Not Ghost and it seems like vaporware:

Windows Dream • View topic - _Registration Disabled

The forum is full of posts requesting help with multitudes of issues including entire partition data loss with no replies of assistance. And it was annoyingly requiring an email address just to download the free .ISO . Since they report the site is heavily spammed, I'm glad I didn't enter a valid email address, as some spammers collect email addresses via hacking.

I'm not complaining so much as warning anybody else who reads this thread.

Well I just managed to at start the download for the PIISNG ISO after entering any old rubbish in the registration fields. Or try this instead: SystemRescueCd

Hey thanks, guys. Those follow-up posts are each helpful.

For anybody curious about the other stuff I mentioned, I edited my earlier post to describe in slighly more detail some of the annoyances. It's really nothing personal against EASEUS; this is a common downfall of current computing and software use; but I think it's sometimes identified by developers as well as end-users and is thus avoided before further implementation (*some* of the time!).

@valis: Thanks so much for that other forum link! That thread is exactly the type of discussion that embodies the issues and concerns that I think about in terms of my DAW system (even if I don't know how to best resolve such issues!). Just the first page showed so much helpful info before I even realised there were at least 6 more pages!

I may even have leftover Acronis stuff on my system from it's early days. It was so long ago, I can't remember! But, the info is still relevant even it's about the characteristics of install softwares.

I do remember having significant issues on Vista (with Acronis) that I didn't even realise for months. It turns out that Acronis had been installed TWICE. So it was doing each of it's background and foreground procedures TWICE on my disks! Needless to say, it made my system very needlessly busy, and contributed to the disk thrashing that Vista was already guilty of! I never found out if I had accidentally installed Acronis an extra time by myself, or if it had been a glitch in Acronis's install procedure, or an incompatibility with Vista, or whatever, ad nauseum... I also encountered Visual Basic DLL or whatnot errors while running Acronis that would crash it and corrupt my partition backups. And without a working backup software, I could not roll back the changes to before the fail!

Another good reason to keep using CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs! If it's finalized and has an undamaged structure, then it's not changing according to the follies and whims of the tempermental OS, it's inhabiting guestwares, nor the fluctuations of flash and hard drives! It's just too bad compact discs of both types don't come in a cover like MiniDiscs, floppy diskettes, and Iomega drives had. Those covers were a great idea to prevent scratches and smudges!

Anyways, thanks.

EDIT: I eventually tried Acronis again, after more experiences with Clonezilla. Both of them are still rather useful and have separate types of appeal, so I will probably retain both CD-ROMs. Also, I still retain an EASEUS Todo Backup CD-ROM, because it did allow me to do what I needed to do without too much complications. At this time, I have different backups from each of those three programs. It's been a software learning experience for me. I didn't get enough music-making done, but I learned that partition management is rather complicated at times and full of lots of potential (and actual) difficulties. Thanks again.