Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Aomei is a younger company, or acts like one, without as lengthy a background as better established alternatives. Its software seems younger too, without the more involved features found with bigger brands, and then there's stuff like Aomie Not putting system files where you'd expect seasoned pros to put them. There's no win8/8.1 touchscreen GUI -- not a huge problem, but a strong hint that they've not really done much in the area of full win8.1 compatibility. Their GUI is simpler -- which many folks like -- but like many Chinese apps it's not resizable, meaning the coding tools they used were not the latest Windows fare by any means. Compared to established brands like Acronis, Symantec, Paragon, EaseUS etc., Aomei software hasn't been installed on as many machines over as many years, so the odds are better that there might be undetected bugs or compatibility issues

   Those are potential caveats I just listed. If it works for you, and I mean restoring backups as well as creating them, there's little reason not to go for it if you want. It's not rocket science to copy raw data from your HDD, storing that data in whatever sort of archive files. Nor is it rocket science to copy that raw data from those archives & put it back on a HDD. If you're happy with Acronis or Easesu or Paragon or Symantec etc. right now I don't see any reason to bother with Backupper -- the same can be said IMHO with Aomei's other products. If you've got an old version of Acronis or Symantec & don't want to pay to get current, maybe Aomie's an OK alternative, but if you run EaseUS or Paragon, the free versions of EaseUS & Paragon give you the same stuff & might work well enough with what you've already got, e.g. backups & rescue discs.

   As far as installation goes, AOMEI Backupper Pro 2.0 does have a smaller footprint in Windows than something like Acronis -- it's roughly the same as EaseUS & Paragon. And you **might** get away running it semi-portably by copying the program's folder to something like a USB stick, though you won't have any functions requiring the drivers, might have to register the app each time, & will likely get a new folder in All Users or All Users Application Data [depending on Windows version] -- needless to say you're on your own with this sort of thing so test, a Lot.

   Aomei has some fan boys. When one of their apps is on GOTD or similar, or when you read user reports &/or reviews, please take what fanboys say with a grain or two of salt. The 1st comment Friday was a good example --the person said that they're a software engineer... if they are, judging from their post, odds are they're a pretty poor one. And Giovanni is Giovanni -- trying to be helpful, always enthusiastic, perhaps not as worried about details or depth. Maybe Aomei promotes these sorts of posts, maybe not, but do please take them with a grain of salt. Inaccurate posts about Backupper Pro &/or backing up in general are what prompts me to write this.

   Now, I've never had a problem using Acronis or EaseUS or Paragon -- I haven't had a problem with Aomei either but I haven't used it enough for that to mean anything. When win8.1 came out I tested Paragon's Backup & Restore with it, & found a problem. Since Paragon had not yet released their versions designed for win8.1, I couldn't fault them -- I bought a copy of Acronis to tide me over until the new versions were released. That's the important thing I want to note -- I tested it before I trusted it. When you absolutely need it is not the time to find out whatever software doesn't work for you.

   I Know this will likely sound terribly cruel, but when I read comments that backup software brand X didn't work for me & I lost everything, my reaction is always if that's true [yes posts are not always honest], then that person has themselves to blame. If it's worth backing up, it's worth testing, it's worth a trial run to make sure everything works. Sometimes folks think they understand how software or a particular job works, then find out they're wrong when they try it -- you don't want to find that out when *Everything* depends on you restoring a backup. When it's your stuff -- it's your responsibility. If you make the decision not to test, or not to backup, accept the fact you made that decision if [heaven forbid] everything goes wrong. If you make the decision to protect & preserve your digital stuff, think redundancy, with as many ways out of trouble as you can manage.

   One way to lessen the risks of testing on a live system is to backup your system using 3 or more backup apps, create the necessary rescue discs, & restore a backup. If one doesn't work, then another should, so you're not out in the cold. Print out or write down any directions beforehand. Testing with a VM [Virtual Machine] or on a secondary system makes sure you understand how the software works, but you won't know until you try it if somehow it's incompatible with your main PC/laptop. If you can, that's one advantage of dual booting -- if you're in XP or win7, backing up & restoring a win8.1 partition, if things go wrong with the backup you can go online & investigate why for example.

   If you're worried about bloat from backup software you might uninstall, use a virtualization app like Time Freeze, installing the software, creating a backup & rescue disc, then restoring your system to the way it was before you installed the software. Then do it again with another brand. If you restore a backup of your system disk/partition, & you like the way everything worked, that software will be installed -- if it didn't work or if you didn't like it, try the next choice & same thing, once you restore the backup that software's installed.

   Another way to test backup & restore software, but with less risk, is if you use another drive [internal, or external using eSATA] or another partition on your single hard drive. I have a eSATA houseing that's very easy to swap drives in/out. I can restore a backup [including the 1st disk track so it boots] to a drive in that eSATA housing, then select it during boot by pressing a hot key when the PC is starting up. An internal partition or drive works the same way -- my eSATA housing is just easier since all my internal drives have stuff on them. Unless it's modified Windows won't boot on a USB drive.

   If you use an external drive to store your backups, you should test things out the same way. One unknown is does the connection to the external drive work as well when you're using a boot disc or USB stick as it does in Windows? Hardware can use special Windows drivers for that stuff, so it may not even work outside of Windows. Often another unknown is how your external drive & its interface [how it connects to your PC/laptop] handles a sustained, high data rate transfer. If you backup to that drive the software may not push things to their limit the same way as if you copied that data to & from the drive. You might get an idea of how well it works by copying backup archives to it from an internal hard drive, checking their integrity, copying the files back, & again checking integrity. I do that a few times if/when I get a new drive housing or dock. I've had some fail. If you can't restore a backup because of something like that, the backup is useless.

   Bear in mind that Lots of hard drive models have a pretty shocking failure rate -- do what you can to put the odds a bit more in your favor, e.g. maybe paying a little more for a drive with better user reviews, or maybe taking the time to burn your backup archives to disc as well. And try to keep external & internal drives cooler -- the lack of adequate cooling may contribute to or even cause drive failure.

   Posted 9 years ago #
2. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   As posted in the comments on the download page...

   #5: "A well known Chinese company with address."

   I very respectfully, *somewhat disagree*, Karl. They are known to us by now, but I wouldn't want to imply that they're an older, well established company like Acronis or EaseUS or Paragon.

   On 1/29/14 I reported in their forum details of how their Windows To Go didn't work. On 5/1/14 another user reported the same problem, asking for help. On 5/3/14 another user responded with ways to make it work -- I don't know whether they are correct or not, as I haven't gotten around to trying anything further. Now I am not complaining that Aomei didn't respond to either my report or the one following it, but I am saying that they did not respond as of this moment. That fact, which is in black & white on their site, does not appear to jive with comment #3: "Support is responsive..."

   I'm not trying to knock Aomei, but they seem a younger company & I don't wish anyone to maybe be mislead about any level of support. That said, their software is a bit simpler than alternatives from the 3 companies I mentioned, so chances are you won't need support.

   * * *

   #12: "I doubt whether Win PE boot media are included in this giveaway. With other giveaways for license reasons they never were. Or is some boot media builder included?"

   Aomei does include the capability to create WinPE start discs in their software. I Am Not going to say they do anything that is not aboveboard -- I'm not a lawyer -- but I will note the address in China where licensing issues are, shall I say, often thought less important. ;) If I remember correctly all Aomei apps require a download of the AIK [or portions of it] from Microsoft -- the AIK contains a generic image of Windows, which is used as the framework to run the Aomei software on the CD/DVD/USB stick, wherever you choose to put it. While it is very possible to create customized images [wim files], including a wim based on your install, that is not what's done or used since there would be no reason for it [sorry Chris, comment # 15]. While there is a way to run win8.1 directly from an unexpanded image since the last big update, in most all other cases once that image is expanded & Windows installed, that image goes away like most all of the other Windows setup files, since keeping it handy on the HDD makes no sense. [It would actually be nice sometimes if it was left hanging around, since the AIK install is ~1.5 GB while the included winpe.wim (the reason many, maybe most people download the AIK) is <200MB.]

   * * *

   #11: "I replaced the bloated Acronis with Aomei Standard version a few months back and have been more than happy with it."

   No you didn't. :) You may have run the uninstall routine for Acronis, but chances are like a hearty weed the roots are all still there. I bought a copy of Acronis since 1) it only cost $10, 2) at the time Paragon was not yet fully win8/8.1 compatible in my testing. Even though I don't use it anymore, I felt there's little reason to uninstall it, since the roots would still be there [so little benefit] but the app would no longer work.

   * * *

   #16: "Look if the M.S. -Dlls are already in your system – than delete them in Aomei Backupper´s folder;
   Delete, if not needed or already burned, the Linux .iso media.
   And whit upx-ing the remainder it is just 10 MB!!!"

   I've found it handy to store rescue disc ISOs separately off the system hard drive -- more than once I couldn't find the burned disc I was after I'm embarrassed to say. I always burn discs -- USB sticks don't always boot every system, depending on both the USB stick & the system's hardware, but CDs/DVDs always work if there's a DVD drive. You can also put several ISOs on a bootable USB stick with a menu [there are a few tools for this] -- you could probably create an image of that stick & burn it to a bootable CD/DVD too.

   Careful about deleting any files [besides the ISO] in an Aomei program folder. Sysinternals Process Explorer should tell you which files are normally used -- if the app doesn't use those files in it's folder, it's *probably* OK to delete them, but test 1st after just renaming or moving them to make sure. If an app does use files in it's program folder, but there are files with the same name in c:\Windows [including sub-folders], there's no guarantee which one's will be used instead, & there's no guarantee they're the same version, which may or may not cause a problem if they are not. If disk space is that important to you, rename or move files & test, or just go portable &/or run from USB and so not worry about how much space it takes up. :)

   Compressing/compacting files works, but is not without its caveats. Research those & again, test.

   * * *

   #18: "If you have a choice between a Giveaway-one-day-expiry version and a freeware (less powerful)version of same software; always choose the freeware version for such important duties as total system + data backup + recovery from a system crash."

   I always find this recommendation posted with backup software, but IMHO it doesn't make loads of sense... sorry...

   If you have a crash or something where your system disk with all your software is compromised, the only way a backup will help you is if you have the software to restore it either stored with the backup or on a rescue disc/USB stick. Assuming you have that [or else the backup is worthless], once you restore that backup all your software is intact, including the backup app.

   That said, it's usually been possible in the past to hang onto the setup files for Paragon, EaseUS, & Aomei backup apps that have been on GOTD, with Paragon by saving the .msi file, with the other two by using the trial version. And failing that, if you haven't saved a rescue disc or setup file, if your backup software quits working you can always download a free version from those same 3 companies until the next giveaway.

   * * *

   #24: "I performed a trial backup of my system drive at high compression and it took less than half the time my trusty Paragon Backup would normally. Also, the Image Check took was very speedy relative to Paragon Backup."

   I can't speak to the difference in time to verify backup integrity -- however the time to backup with Paragon is longer *if* you have it perform disk integrity checks before backup... the settings are located in the software's preferences.

   * * *

   #28: " This program does have a clone drive function but it appears that there is a 2 partition limit and for some reason which I have not been able to explore further Lenovo put multiple partitions on the system drive. This forces one to manually clone drives which is certainly more complex that ‘One stop cloning’."

   I've found over the years that when you have a multi-partition disk it's a bit more flexible to restore backups of individual partitions separately when going to a new drive, providing you restore a backup of the 1st disk track or use EasyBCD afterwards to get things booting. That way you can adjust partition sizes individually to your liking, & well, you should have the partition backups anyway as maintenance. As far as being complex, you just repeat the same thing, once for each partition -- your hands on input should generally take a minute or so each time. As far as the existing multiple partitions, Google. Manufacturers sometimes include backups, or backup utilities, or setup files etc. -- find out what's there & you can then deal intelligently with it. I've seen where manufacturers included Windows setup files -- if newer versions are out with service packs they're kind of useless, besides taking up space rather than on a DVD. I've also seen them include setup files for all sorts of drivers & software your laptop or PC doesn't use -- they may make life easier for the manufacturer, with one disk image for all their models, but it also wastes *your* space.

   Posted 9 years ago #

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