Win 10 Upgrade Info from Windows Secrets Newsletter

[Jim Smith]

I have used Acronis True Image for many years and it has never let me down, although it seems overly complex sometimes.

I am still on version 2014 Premium and am seeing mixed comments about whether it will work on Windows 10 or not. I'm on the fence about whether to upgrade (yet again) or switch to something else.

I'll probably be upgrading to Windows 10 later this week, so I want to be ready. Macrium Reflect looks interesting, but I'd be interested to hear other suggestions too.

[Jack Stoner]

Macrium seems to be the most used backup software on the PC help forums I'm on.

I have Macrium V5 and V6 (current version) and they both work in Win 10.

One plus for Macrium (at least compared to Acronis 2012 and earlier) is creation of the WinPE rescue disc. Acronis required the Plus version and a manual process to create the WinPE rescue disc. Macrium has the process automated. I found out about the WinPE version (basically what Microsoft uses to install Windows) when I had problems with the Acronis Linux version rescue disc not working properly on one of my PC's. I did some checking and found out about the WinPE option and have been using that ever since for the bootable rescue disc.

[Mitch Drumm]

I'll probably be upgrading to Windows 10 later this week, so I want to be ready. Macrium Reflect looks interesting, but I'd be interested to hear other suggestions too.

Run down "Aomei Backupper".

http://www.aomeitech.com/


Aomei has several products. Backupper is free as well and has good reviews as far as I know, although I still use Macrium.

I think Backupper has some non-imaging functionality not found in the free version of Macrium--such as file by file data backup.

Paragon:

http://www.paragon-software.com/


has numerous highly regarded products as well, although I have not kept up with their free offerings.

[Robert Leaman]

Well, with some doubts since reading various reviews about Win10, I used Windows Media Creator to download and install Win10 as an update to 64 bit Win7 Pro. Everything went well with download and installation including all updates to Win10. The computer runs a Gigabyte MBO, Intel Quad Four I7 cpu that is overclocked to 4.6GHz (Turbo mode to 5.2 GHz), 32GB memory, and EGVA Nvidia graphics. No virus and/or malware was uninstalled prior to installation and both Malwarebytes and Win Defender operate exactly as before. According to some reviews this combination should not operate but since it does operate very well I think I shall keep Win10. All the apps remain exactly as they were but I have not completely tested all of them. I used Acronis True Image 15 to backup Win7 Pro immediately before the upgrade and then used Acronis again to backup Win10 to an external hard drive. In addition, I saved the last Win7 backup to a 50GB BD-RE disk as insurance of the last resort.
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[Wiz Feinberg]

I have used Acronis True Image for many years and it has never let me down, although it seems overly complex sometimes.

I am still on version 2014 Premium and am seeing mixed comments about whether it will work on Windows 10 or not. I'm on the fence about whether to upgrade (yet again) or switch to something else.

I'll probably be upgrading to Windows 10 later this week, so I want to be ready. Macrium Reflect looks interesting, but I'd be interested to hear other suggestions too.

I have the same version of Acronis as you. Why don't you Setup a Try And Decide session and install Windows 10. After setup has completed, test all your programs, including Acronis. If everything still works and you like what you see (and don't miss what is gone), tell Try and Decide to make this setup permanent. Otherwise, revert to normal mode/previous version.

[Jim Smith]

I have the same version of Acronis as you. Why don't you Setup a Try And Decide session and install Windows 10. After setup has completed, test all your programs, including Acronis. If everything still works and you like what you see (and don't miss what is gone), tell Try and Decide to make this setup permanent. Otherwise, revert to normal mode/previous version.

Good idea Wiz, thanks for that idea!

[Jack Stoner]

Will the Try and Decide work for a full OS upgrade?

When I had Acronis the info I had said that was for trying a new program. Not a full new OS.

[Bill Ford]

Well folks, the frustration got the best of me, call me old fashioned or whatever(78 yo) I went back to "7", couldn't take that much change, and confusion. The aps/programs were too much of a hassle to find and use, 7 does all I need. Thanks for all the info concerning the upgrade, you guys are the best at helping out.

Thanks, Bill

[Dave Potter]

Well folks, the frustration got the best of me, call me old fashioned or whatever(78 yo) I went back to "7", couldn't take that much change, and confusion. The aps/programs were too much of a hassle to find and use, 7 does all I need.

I did the same thing as you when I ran into a couple of unexpected issues with 10 last week, and didn't have the patience to work through them at the time. But a few days later, I gave it another try, and it's working pretty well now.

It's true the user interface is somewhat different, and some of the menu items are organized differently, but it's pretty customizable, and a day or two poking around inside to see where things are is all you need to get familiar with it.

For example, I found the start menu animations distracting - a right click on any of them offers disabling the animation. And some of those "tiles" didn't interest me - "XBox", for example. Right click again and select "Remove From Start Menu". Poof - gone.

I missed having the option to "Hibernate" in the Power menu by default. I found how to re-enable it.

Most everything I can find, both my prior software, and in the OS, are working. An exception is that the USB connection between my UPS and PC doesn't work. I think that's most likely because the UPS manufacturer hasn't updated the software yet. And I can say that Win10 seems faster doing most things, including start-up, than any previous Windows OS.

[Bill Ford]

Can you go back and try it again in a few days, if I change my mind? Got offered some local help with it.

Bill

[Wiz Feinberg]

Will the Try and Decide work for a full OS upgrade?

When I had Acronis the info I had said that was for trying a new program. Not a full new OS.

I'll have to look into that I guess. Or, I may try it myself. I'll let you know what I learn.

[Mitch Drumm]

Can you go back and try it again in a few days, if I change my mind? Got offered some local help with it.

Bill

I think you can, Bill.

But I think there is a limitation on the built-in "revert to Windows 7" capability. I think that after 30 days, you can no longer revert unless you have separately made an image file of your previous
Windows installation using something like Acronis or Macrium. I'm not sure about the finer points of that 30 day limitation---exactly when the clock starts ticking. Maybe at the time of the most recent Win 10 installation? Maybe at the time of the first Win 10 installation?

[Dave Potter]

Can you go back and try it again in a few days, if I change my mind? Got offered some local help with it.

Absolutely, MS will let you do it again. It's easy. Go here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... _wol_win10

You just download the tool, run it, and select "Upgrade This PC Now".

I went this route after I decided to do it again - it's painless, and very straight-forward. I was unaware there even was a "Revert to Windows 7" built into Win10, although I did notice the "Windows.old" folder on my drive. I used a Macrium image of my Windows 7 drive when I decided to "revert", and that was equally painless.

Since you were able to get back to Win7 and get it running on your own, I doubt you'll need much help. Just take Win10 a step at a time. There's lots of info on the web explaining how to find various settings, etc, if you need it.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Will the Try and Decide work for a full OS upgrade?

When I had Acronis the info I had said that was for trying a new program. Not a full new OS.

I'll have to look into that I guess. Or, I may try it myself. I'll let you know what I learn.

Short of trying it myself, I would recommend not using T&D to try out a new OS. It is much safer to simply backup the entire boot disk, including the reserved partition, to an image file and use it to restore the previous setup.

I have learned that Try & Decide was dropped in Acronis 2015 and they have no (announced) plans to reinstate it.

Note: there are other Virtual Machine programs out there. Virus testers use them every day. You just need to have plenty of RAM to run the virtual OS and whatever software you want to test and still have the host OS up and running.

[Jim Smith]

From what I can find, Macrium Reflect free doesn't do incremental backups. It would require the Pro version at $69.95, so that one is out for me.

Further searches led me to NovaBACKUP: http://novabackup.novastor.com/data-bac ... pc-backup/.

While not free, it's on sale for $29.95, which is the same amount it would cost me to upgrade my Acronis.

According to this, it seems to have the best ratings too: http://data-backup-software-review.topt ... eview.html

Does anyone have opinions one way or the other about NovaBACKUP vs. Acronis True Image 2015?

[Jack Stoner]

The site with the ratings does not even include Macrium Reflect which seems to be the most popular on the Windows 7/8/10 forums that I visit and on the Sonar Forum.

I don't do incremental backups, only full hard drive (all partitions if partitioned) backups, although Macrium will do incremental.

[John Booth]

Just a heads-up, I installed Windows 10 and haven't seen any issues with my programs so far.
JB

[Dave Potter]

The site with the ratings does not even include Macrium Reflect which seems to be the most popular on the Windows 7/8/10 forums that I visit and on the Sonar Forum.

At the bottom of that page, there's some revealing information. "Toptenreviews.com" is one of 12 "brands" owned by the parent company, purch.com. There's a "company info" link, which includes a link to "business disclosures" at the bottom of the page, containing the following:

Financial relationships

Purch.com and its owned and operated websites may have financial relationships with some of the merchants/vendors reviewed on the company’s websites. Those relationships may include compensation to Purch.com or one of its websites when visitors click on links, located both within sponsored content and editorial content, to websites operated by the merchant/vendor and make a purchase on the merchant’s website. In addition, Purch may receive compensation when it shares with vendors information visitors have provided to us about their needs for a product or service, in order to allow the vendor the option to offer the visitor a quote for the product/service in question.

I never trust "reviews" that admit to that kind of thing.

I don't do incremental backups, only full hard drive (all partitions if partitioned) backups, although Macrium will do incremental.

Yeah, full backups are all I do as well. Incrementals sound good, but they can get messy and hard to keep up with.

Having had PC crashes in the past in which I lost irretrievable data, choosing a backup scheme is at the top of my list. Similar to experiences you've posted, Acronis failed me several years ago a few times, and seemed to be getting more complicated to use generally. I moved to Macrium, which I find to be a lot more user-friendly. It's efficient, it's updated frequently, and in my opinion, it's well worth paying the purchase price for quality data backup.

[Jim Smith]

Thanks guys, I guess NovaBACKUP is a no go. So if I buy Macrium Reflect Pro for $69.95, what do they charge to update when a new version comes out? I haven't been able to find that yet.

[Jack Stoner]

I upgraded from V5 to V6 a couple of months ago. I was offered a discount upgrade price but I don't remember what it was.

[Jerry Berger]

I am not very good at using a computer but decided to put my "big boy" pants on last Tuesday and upgrade to Windows 10. After the program finished downloading, I lost Internet Explorer plus a couple of other programs that I was using before the download. I wasn't able to get my emails for two days. I finally called the "Geek Squad" and had them tweak my computer. All is well!

[Jim Smith]

I decided to stick with an upgrade to Acronis True Image 2015. Then I made and verified a full backup of my existing Windows 7 Enterprise, downgraded it to Windows 7 Pro and made another full backup and verify.

The install to Windows 10 Pro went smoothly and I made another full backup and verify of it.

I see way too many privacy concerns, but it looks like they can be turned off, and I don't like the blandness of the title bar, but I'm sure they can be tweaked. Overall I think is a worthwhile upgrade.