Need Acronis True Image Alternative

[[XC] riptide]

I've used Acronis True Image for backups and drive images for a long time. I used a recent server version also on my Server 2008 system. Then I upgraded to R2. The the Acronis music stopped, with an error on start up about wrong OS. So I went to their site to see what i could buy to make it work on R2. Turns out 2008 R2 is not supported on any version of True Image. WTF?

Anyway, what's a good alternative. I had a look at Norton Server Ghost. A hefty price tag for the Server version. The desktop version I don't think runs on Server OS's. So what's my options.

[Scubar]

Symantec Backup Exec ? Thats what we use for our servers, not sure if it wil work on 2008 R2 but worth checking out.

[caseym]

Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 Server for Windows
Supported operating systems
Windows 2000 Server SP 4+
Windows 2003 Server SP 2+ x32 and x64 Editions
Windows 2008 Server SP2 x32 and x64 Editions

[ReverendMaynard]

Windows AIK and ImageX not up your alley?

[[XC] riptide]

Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 Server for Windows
Supported operating systems
Windows 2000 Server SP 4+
Windows 2003 Server SP 2+ x32 and x64 Editions
Windows 2008 Server SP2 x32 and x64 Editions

Mate..
http://www.acronis.com/backup-recovery/comparison.html
Server Windows operating systems:
Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server SP4+
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Server 2008


Where is Windows Server 2008 R2 ??

[[XC] riptide]

Windows AIK and ImageX not up your alley?

Hmmm there's a thought. I'll look into it. Seems a bit bloated for what I want though.

[ReverendMaynard]

Hmmm there's a thought. I'll look into it. Seems a bit bloated for what I want though.

Takes a bit of time to learn it, but once you do it's going to make other imaging tools look silly. I roll out all of the initial custom factory images for newly leased pc's, laptops and servers for Toronto District School Board, Ontario Hydro, Siemens just to name a few. Easily over 90,000 images rolled out since 2007 when I took over this department

[[XC] riptide]

Takes a bit of time to learn it, but once you do it's going to make other imaging tools look silly. I roll out all of the initial custom factory images for newly leased pc's, laptops and servers for Toronto District School Board, Ontario Hydro, Siemens just to name a few. Easily over 90,000 images rolled out since 2007 when I took over this department

Is there provision for a Pre Boot environment that can load images onto hardware Raid? its not essential, but it would shorten the steps needed to say image my current state, Make a bigger RAID and then image back onto it.

[ReverendMaynard]

Is there provision for a Pre Boot environment that can load images onto hardware Raid? its not essential, but it would shorten the steps needed to say image my current state, Make a bigger RAID and then image back onto it.

As long as the controller is setup the same way ( IE RAID type, stripe size...etc) and any necessary drivers are in order then you should be okay. PXE is just a gateway when imaging or data destructing. Once the client and imaging machine make contact via MAC address, whatever app you're running is takes over.

[[XC] riptide]

Alright. I'm sold! I'll report back.

[W1zzard]

you cant boot into an acronis usb stick / cd and do your imaging from there? (yes i read the rest of the thread, just wondering)

[zanzabar]

what about the MS backup utility feature

[ReverendMaynard]

you cant boot into an acronis usb stick / cd and do your imaging from there? (yes i read the rest of the thread, just wondering)

Absolutely, but it has it's limitations.

what about the MS backup utility feature

That's not really intended for returning your complete OS back to it's original (at time of image pull) state.

[zanzabar]

yes it is, it makes images of the drives, the server one is just like acronus as u can restore it from anything to anything. the desktop one gets touchy if u dont have a similar HDD or try to roster it to a different drive when the original is on the computer. but the server one makes full images and will restore an OS to that image.

[Razmatazz]

I've used MS system image backup which has worked great for as it says, an entire system backup. It actually came in handy on one occasion when I had a drive fail.

[Soulburner]

I've heard Paragon is a good alternative to Acronis.

Acronis is great, but I've had problems with it still (in 2010) not being able to recognize many SATA drives in its boot-from-cd environment, rendering it useless. I had to use Paragon instead, no problems but really slow for what I needed to do (resize partitions).

[caseym]

Mate..
http://www.acronis.com/backup-recovery/comparison.html
Server Windows operating systems:
Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server SP4+
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Server 2008


Where is Windows Server 2008 R2 ??

http://www.acronis.com/backup-recove...uirements.html
I have Server 2008 R2 and the latest build V11639 of backup & recovery server 10
you want me to test it ?

[chuchnit]

I got a good friend who swears by this. He's had no problems with all server editions on technet nor any issues restoring his multi-boot setup.

http://terabyteinc.com/image-for-dos...c182b1309a0d60

[Buckeye]

I got a good friend who swears by this. He's had no problems with all server editions on technet nor any issues restoring his multi-boot setup.

http://terabyteinc.com/image-for-dos...c182b1309a0d60

I use it also and swear by it
Incremental backup every day, only files that have changed, which I dump to a 1TB drive. That gives me some space so I dont have to do clean ups very often and I can go back a long ways to restore from.

Restoring is a snap to my SSD Raid 0.

I did have to wait for them to come out with a version that worked with Win 7, but all is good now. Good to know info about the server versions as I will be needing something for that soon.

[ReverendMaynard]

I got a good friend who swears by this. He's had no problems with all server editions on technet nor any issues restoring his multi-boot setup.

http://terabyteinc.com/image-for-dos...c182b1309a0d60

Awesome tip Chuchy, I just bought this (Win and DOS) for some testing and so far it's pretty handy. Thanks homie.

[bot@xs]

anybody used Drive Snapshot yet?
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/

or GImageX, supposedly ImageX with GUI
http://www.autoitscript.com/gimagex/

[ReverendMaynard]

anybody used Drive Snapshot yet?
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/

or GImageX, supposedly ImageX with GUI
http://www.autoitscript.com/gimagex/

Couldn't get GImageX to really do anything. Haven't tried snapshot yet but always looking for tools for the trade