SuperDuper! Equivilent for Windows?

17 Replies

1. Sunil Rodger adds this Comment:

   I use SyncBack on my XP Pro machine. I cannot compare it to SD! as I don’t have my own Mac so don’t use them as often as I do PCs.

   I SyncBack to schedule a backup of certain folders on one drive to another every day, and I’ve never had a problem with it - it does exactly what it says on the tin and is very customizable. However, I am not what you’d call a power user of SyncBack - my needs are fairly simple.

   I don’t think it does bootable drive images though, and you’ve got that at #2 on your list of priorities.

   P.S. I thoroughly enjoyed my first trip to Colorado (Copper Mountain) at the end of last month - sadly I didn’t have time to see much of Denver except the airport!

   February 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm

2. Chris Meller adds this Comment:

   Have you given the built-in backup program a try? Just like Sunil, I’ve never used Super Duper, but thought I’d mention it anyway…

   It does all types of backups, although I don’t believe you’re able to boot off its full backup (although I admit, I’ve never considered trying to find a way to do such a thing). For your limited Windows use (being a primarily Mac guy), it may be sufficient, and it’s already there…

   February 10th, 2007 at 2:37 pm

3. Chris adds this Comment:

   I’ve used SyncBack and it’s awesome for my WinXP machines. The other utility that I use is Acronis. I only use that for full HDD backups though, whereas SyncBack is more for file syncing, etc.

   February 10th, 2007 at 5:11 pm

4. Dan Coulter adds this Comment:

   I don’t know if it’s quite what you’re looking for, but Acronis is worth a mention. We use it at work and it works wonderfully. One of the great features is that you can restore your full backup to another PC with different hardware or to a virtual machine.

   http://www.acronis.c[...]ducts/ATICW/

   February 10th, 2007 at 11:20 pm

5. Kevin Bocek adds this Comment:

   Norton Ghost from Symantec is another option for full, bootable backups. Ghost supports scheduled, incremental backups.

   http://www.symantec.[...]pvid=ghost10

   For backups of just data and files (not creation of a bootable image), checkout ViceVersa PRO from TGRMN.

   http://www.tgrmn.com/

   February 11th, 2007 at 12:52 am

6. Anonymous adds this Comment:

   we’ve had really good luck with acronis trueimage. it’s capable of imaging a drive with the machine booted and the network/external drive support is superb.

   February 11th, 2007 at 1:32 pm

7. Alex adds this Comment:

   None of the image tools suggested here, nor the built-in Windows backup seem to support incremental backups - the #1 feature requirement on my list. If I’ve overlooked that as a feature of one of these packages, please correct me.

   February 11th, 2007 at 3:09 pm

8. Jon S adds this Comment:

   DON’T TRUST WINDOWS BACKUP! I lost 4 months of work to a corrupt windows backup archive. None of the $150 3rd party tools could recover it.

   Acronis TrueImage 10 Home seems to cover every point. I’ve used previous versions and their software is very solid. It will create bootable DVDs that can span multiple discs for image restoration.

   It seems the newest version has incremental backups and file exclusion (ie, exclude *.mp3).

   They also have a free trial, the full deal is $50.

   http://www.acronis.c[...]eatures.html

   February 11th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

9. Kevin Bocek adds this Comment:

   Norton Ghost 10.0 supports incremental backups, including incremental recovery points.

   February 11th, 2007 at 9:06 pm

10. Eirik adds this Comment:

    I use ChronoSync for backing up shared disks at work. It supports scheduled backups, and according to a comment in this page it supports incremental backups too:

    http://www.tuaw.com/[...]eds-backups/

    Not sure about bootable disk image though.

    http://www.econtechn[...]verview.html

    February 12th, 2007 at 1:01 am

11. Anonymous adds this Comment:

    acronis trueimage supports incremental backups.

    February 13th, 2007 at 8:24 am

12. David adds this Comment:

    I use Acronis, and it does incremental backups, but every couple of months or so it fails to recognize my hard drive, and must be uninstalled/re-installed to start working again. The Acronis people have offered to sell me a maintenance package, but since the problem is widely reported on their website, and the only solution mentioned on their website is the uninstall/re-install, I’m reluctant to spend the money just to see if they have a better solution they’re only sharing for a fee.

    March 10th, 2007 at 11:15 pm

13. Andrea adds this Comment:

    I recommend ViceVersa PRO:
    http://www.tgrmn.com/

    May 13th, 2007 at 7:53 pm

14. Daniela adds this Comment:

    I would take a look at the Peer-ISR for OS Image Snap shot and PeerSync for files and folders Real-Time replication. We use these two solution in our company and we have a real-time backup of files and folders for a quick restore in the event of a network failure and the full OS Image in the event of a hardware failure.

    Peer Software File Synchronization, Backup and Replication tools can be found at http://www.peersoftware.com

    Hope this helps

    June 12th, 2007 at 9:32 am

15. Christopher Dobler adds this Comment:

    I want to clarify what the original poster is trying to communicate. Super Duper has the ability to create smart updates to a backup image. This is not the same as acronis’ inferior incremental updates which continue to waste more backup hd space with every job you run. I’ve been searching for YEARS for a quick smart updating image backup program for windows. Conclusion - there is NOTHING. I don’t know why, maybe it has something to do with the limitations of the NTFS filesystem but from my experience the backup software for mac is much more advanced and streamlined.

    October 26th, 2007 at 2:26 pm

16. Alexa adds this Comment:

    I have been using SmartSyncPro on my PC for several years now… while it’s WAY more geeky and complex than SuperDuper — which I also use — it does have all of the features I was looking for, such as incremental backup, deleting obsolete files from the destination drive, backing up files from network drives, and many many other features and options.

    They have a free trial and it’s really inexpensive. I’d definitely recommend checking it out. Unfortunately, setting up profiles confuses people like, say, my mom, and I sure wish there were a simpler solution like SuperDuper for her!

    December 31st, 2007 at 11:37 am

17. John McGuire adds this Comment:

    I too have been looking for a PC equivalent to SuperDuper! SD! is simply the best backup program there is, period. I have been told over and over again that Acronis TI can do everything SD can, but it really can’t. First off, SD creates an identical clone that is FULLY bootable off of the external hard drive. With Acronis, you have to make a bootable CD…and secondly, almost all the Acronis supporters say that making an “image” file is superior to making a “clone.” Now my question is why, and have they ever used SD before? SD backups are fully bootable, and you can view the drive contents on the backup. It’s identical. With an image file, you can’t view the files as it’s all compressed into an image. Now let’s say you make a mistake and delete a file…and want the original file back. This is why everyone likes differential backups and whatnot….Well, with SD, just go to the backup drive and recopy the file, or drag it onto your hard drive. With an image file, you wouldn’t be able to do this as it’s all just saved in an image. Not to mention, on the PC side, you have to worry about disconnecting your main disk to boot from the clone, and all kinds of things. There really isn’t an equivalent to SD. If I’m missing something, someone please reply. In the meantime, backing up my macs is easy…and painless. All the guess work is taken out. PC side, I’m running both SyncbackSE and Acronis TI, and I still feel like I’m not getting everything that SD gives me on the mac side.

    May 9th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

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