My music computer had a major crash. My power supply went faulty but fortunately it only messed up my SSD C drive, at least that's what the computer repair shop said. I did pull the C drive out and cloned it as a backup but unbeknown to me it was after the drive was scrambled, thus the backups are no good.
The shop tried to save my C drive data but to no avail. So when I get my computer back I have to reinstall and register everything.
So my question is what is a good software cloning program. I want one that does an exact bit by bit copy, that is no compression. I have checked on line and have seen programs like Paragon, EaseUS To Do Backup, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions.
Note that I have used Acronis before and had problems with it so I am not interested in that one.
Thanx in advance for your help.
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia. She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
I had a 2TB c:\ drive that I upgraded to 3TB a couple of months ago. The 2TB drive had three partitions. In the process of cloning I resized the partitions for better use of space on the 3TB drive.
I used Acronis to do this. Every thing ran smoothly and my computer booted up perfectly afterwards. I needed to re-register a couple of programs but not all of them.
So, after this, I'm an Acronis fan. (I used Acronis 2015. I imagine that Acronis 2020 would be even easier to work with.)
I also had Acronis fail and am reluctant to rely on them again. My method is to keep multiple copies of data and installation programs in several computers in several locations, including large portable SSD drives. I will read this thread with interest to see what else is recommended.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
I use Carbon Copy Cloner via two external drives that I swap each month keeping one in our safety deposit box. I run them once per week. Forgive me if there isn’t a PC version. I reside in Apple Land
And, as a Mac user all my selected folders are backed up multiple times daily when I make changes to files or create new ones, etc.
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
A program that works well for me is +++ Lazesoft Recovery Suite +++. The software is small at 32 MB, stable and VERY easy to use. It is available in both free and paid versions with free for home and paid for commercial.
For backups, I use Macrium Reflect (paid version). I have also had issues with Acronis. Reflect is available as a Free version for personal use.
There is another product that I have used successfully to recover lost files: R-Studio They have a demo version (with limitations)
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
I do use Acronis, but have also had some issues with it. It doesn't handle things well if there are any errors on the disc (I have reported this and they have indicated it shouyd be fixed in the new 2021 version recently released). They also do a sector-by-sector copy, but I've never tried that feature.
I'll be testing 2021 in the next few weeks.
I have also used it to do a disc-to-disc clone from a failing drive which ran very successfully (even going from a larger to smaller drive with different partition sizes).
I know you didn't want to hear about Acronis, but I just wanted to share my recent experiences, not to change your mind, but maybe to stay open to consideration.
I suspect all of the programs have issues at times. While the backup may take longer, it's a good idea to turn on the verify checking, because you won't know until you have to restore, and then it's too late.
Another thing I've done in the past is to just do a disc-to-disc clone (with like discs) and make the setting to duplicate the disc ID. That way, if a disc dies, I just pop in the backup and I'm up and running and all apps are still authorized. You just have to be careful not to mount that disc on the same commuter because the OS doesn't know how to deal with two OS discs with the same disc ID.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Being a long time user of Acronis I have decided to ditch it, I hate the latest GUI and though I have tried to learn it, I find it totally confusing and unreliable, I did stick with an older version for years 2010 which was simple to use had a nice GUI and was reliable.
But things move on and I have moved to Macrium Reflect free, easy to use, so far seems to be reliable and a nice little plus is, you can get a Macrium Reflect option in the boot menu, so all you have to do is load it form there as well as in the desktop.
So far so good with it, was really glad to get rid of Acronis from Hell.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
......................... What kind of trouble have you experienced? ........................
Insights and incites by Notes
I had backed up a C drive. I used Acronis and it was verified. Later my C drive crashed so I tried to use the Acronis backup. It told be the backup was bad! Actually I backed up the C drive twice and both were bad. One backup was on a brand new WD drive! I will never use a back up program that uses compression again. Fortunately all of my data was on other drives and only programs were on the C drive.
That is why I will not use Acronis again. YMMV
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia. She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
I've used Acronis ever since Norton Ghost gave up the ghost and never have had a problem with it. But then, I've never had to clone a disk either.
So now you all have me a bit concerned.
What kind of trouble have you experienced?
I have had to restore disks after installing bad software. But that's a different story.
So now I need to know what is the best of the best.
Insights and incites by Notes
If You have an older version of Acronis then probably you are ok, my version was 2010 but no longer works on windows 10, I believe Noel has said that he uses 2015 so all seems well up to that version.
I upgraded to 2018 and the actual desktop version was totally confusing to me, as I like to try different things with software, the boot rescue cd was ok.
Its just that nowadays some backup software wants to be a ransomware protector as well and I don't like the latest Acronis GUI either.
Macrium Reflect will do all you want in its free version, backup your drives etc.
I use it instead of Acronis now but might do an occasional backup with the Acronis 2018 boot disk to be one the safe side (having two copies from different software providers) though the Acronis program is deleted from the computer.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
I have decided on Macrium Reflect. I DLed it and looked at it and it seams very easy to use, the menus are user friendly, however I haven't tried it yet. My next question is has anyone used a paid version of this program? There are a number of options in it that are not in the free version including incremental backups.
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia. She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
Mario, I personally prefer just to do full drive backups and haven't tried the incremental backups, don't have a full understanding of it, but would imagine it might mean having a full drive base backup + incremental backups of any system changes and they all must be there to do a restore. Just think for myself its much simpler just to do a full backup.
On the Other tasks top of MR if you click on rescue media as well as creating a rescue DVD you can also add the MR option to the boot menu which will quickly load the program if you select that option at bootup.
Hope you have good luck with it, and fingers crossed it works well here too.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
+1 for Macrium Free version does not allow incremental backups, but I would not want that anyway.... Free worked fine for me, simply cloning active HD.
Does the Windows world have an equivalent of the Mac Time Machine that comes "built in" for incremental backups?
At any time I can click on TM and then flip through backups by day and time (many occur each day). The backups are presented to appear just like whatever your folder structure is. You just find the date and file you want to restore and one click puts it back with only an overwrite or new file option. I use it frequently to look at older versions of SGU's, DAW mixes, etc.
Not trying to hijack the thread...just curious!
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
This is a good thread. I currently use Acronis TrueImage 2020 on Win 10 (glad you found an alternative you liked Mario), but I'm a bit put off by it since it now seems to only run as a GUI on Windows. The previous version would let me boot off a CD or USB and create an image from there, which was great because it would make it harder for ransomware to enter the picture. I've never had it fail on a recovery though (kow). Here's my overall strategy:
> Backup complete image of PC to external drive - No compression, no encryption. Validate by testing a restore of a few files to a temp folder (Ok, sometimes I get lazy and skip this part). > Backup copy of key data - Documents, Music, etc. to a data folder on an external drive. > Backup 2nd copy of image PC to another external drive.
Then there's an external USB drive that I store all the BIAB realtracks, virtual instruments and other junk. I keep a second USB of the same capacity and periodically copy the files over. In between I'll back up a few of my latest MGU's and SGU's to the cloud like Google Drive.
Although this is not backup/cloning related, I keep a very detailed list of all of the software I have, the original installers, the license keys, and screenshots of some of the configurations (if there is no export option).
I'm going to check out Macrium Reflect and Lazesoft - you can never have too many tools!
Last edited by EdZ314; 09/30/2011:43 AM.
Ed Z
Soundcloud profile https://soundcloud.com/user-415064494 BIAB user since 2019 iPad Mini, Garageband for iOS, BIAB for Windows 2020 UltraPAK, Xtra Styles packs 6-9, Windows 10 Lenovo PC, Kontakt Player, SpitFire LABS, SampleTank 4 CS, some Soundfonts
I use a StarTech external dual-bay and stand-alone cloner---and never looked back. One of the best hardware investments I ever made. Every now and (regular) then I pop out the (2TB C:) drive, put it in the cloner with the target/clone drive, start it and come back to it about four hours later to a sector-by-sector "pop-me-in-instead" clone. The cloner/bay has USB and eSATA I/O, so it might even provide a faster and more convenient alternative target device for your software cloning programs. It also provides the quickest way to migrate a system drive to a larger-capacity hard drive (you will need something like Partition Master to expand the exactly-cloned original partition to the new drives larger capacity). I now have two of these units. The older unit doesn't work with drives greater than 4TB; the newer unit is tested for cloning up to 10TB (and works with pin-3 power-off "white label" drives). Price-wise, they are comparable---or even less expensive---than some software solutions. Both come with or have an optional adapter for SSDs. I regularly (generally monthly) backup/update 12 HDs and only use the hardware cloning features and Win10 Explorer. Now my data recovery issues usually only involve connecting one of the backup/archive drives, internally or externally---but never dealing with proprietary and file format issues from backup software (maybe even more critical in a RAID setup).
If the software solution works for you---great!
Paj 8^)
P.S.: . . . and, approaching the fourth decade of PC computing, I have only experienced one HD failure and that was for an external USB HD that had a set of files that warned: "Do not delete these files." Of course I managed to somehow do just that and the drive became, in the "other PC" parlance, storagely challenged. However, when I removed the drive from its casing, plugged it into my cloner/bay, I was able to format it anew and it remains fully functionally to this day. I would have to admit to creating most of my previous data issues through operational errors and most of my frustrations from discovering what can't be recovered by software at the worst possible time---when it was needed the most.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2026!
We've added many major new features and new content in a redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
Version 2026 introduces a modernized GUI redesign across the program, with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, and a new Dark Mode option. There’s also a new side toolbar for quicker access to commonly used windows, and the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, making it easier to customize your workspace.
Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
Upgrade your Band-in-a-Box for Windows to save up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade packages!
Plus, when you order your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade during our special, you'll receive a Free Bonus PAK of exciting new add-ons.
If you need any help deciding which package is the best option for you, just let us know. We are here to help!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can process an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PST on January 15th, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® today! Check out the Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all the purchase options available.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®
With your version 2026 for Windows Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2026 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 25 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
Android Band-in-a-Box® App (included)
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.
and never have had a problem with it. But then, I've never had to clone a disk either.
Dansk
Deutsch - Windows
Español
Français - Windows
Italiano - Windows
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Svenskt
русский
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Korean