While also being a longtime Acronis fan I've had good results with Paragon as well. John W. Cook Systems Administrator Partnership for Strong Families
________________________________ From: Gavin Wilby <gavin.wi...@gmail.com> To: NT System Admin Issues <ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com> Sent: Mon Jul 12 12:52:47 2010 Subject: Re: Server Disk Imaging Yup - I have restored from all sorts, the most amazing was a DL380G6 to a Dell Optiplex, this was a SBS2008 system, that came up almost completely cleanly, I think all that happened was a PCI network card wasn't recognised, this would have been easily sorted with the driver available at restore time, but its wasn't really a show stopper. Ill admit though, in that instance it was just a "lets see if you can" test. Gavin. On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 3:46 PM, Jonathan Link <jonathan.l...@gmail.com<mailto:jonathan.l...@gmail.com>> wrote: It's been a while, but isn't Acronis good about restoring to dissimilar hardware? I mean, isn't that a good feature, maybe even a necesarry one? On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Bob Hartung <bhart...@wiscoind.com<mailto:bhart...@wiscoind.com>> wrote: I like Acronis but I've seen half a dozen disk imaging software packages that backup everything from Windows 2000 up to Windows 2008 for $50 - $100. They don't make any distinction that it's a workstation or server operating system. They just restore sectors to a drive. An as far as I can see, the only thing separating these packages from Acronis is the bootable media. If I can find a software for our 10 servers that cost a total of $500 - $1000 instead of $10,000 that seems worth pursuing. ---------------------- Bob Hartung Wisco Industries, Inc. 736 Janesville St. Oregon, WI 53575 Tel: (608) 835-3106 x215 Fax: (608) 835-7399 e-mail: bhartung(at)wiscoind.com<http://wiscoind.com/> ________________________________ From: Gavin Wilby [mailto:gavin.wi...@gmail.com<mailto:gavin.wi...@gmail.com>] To: NT System Admin Issues [mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com<mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com>] Sent: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:13:07 -0500 Subject: Re: Server Disk Imaging For what its worth, Acronis is worth every penny of what it costs. That 1000 bucks, when you actually really need it, say for a complelty popped server, is nothing… You might guess I am a fan, but to be honest, I wouldnt even consider another image based backup product over Acronis now we have used it on a few sites. Its not just the DR to consider, as its so quick to image and bare metal restore a server, for testing purposes etc its excellent. Why do an install on a live server when you can simply do it on a copy? Gavin. On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 2:40 PM, <richardmccl...@aspca.org<mailto:richardmccl...@aspca.org>> wrote: Well, it seems nearly all "Image a server and be able to restore it" products all run about $1000 a pop. Check out UltraBac Gold. They are staking their reputation on their ability to do "live" images, and then to restore to any machine (bare metal). They also have (you guessed - additional license) a product which will create the image directly to a virtual machine. SO, if the server blows, one simply brings the VM on line. We have one Gold license and do not have the VM product. We have a VM "ready", but the restore for us would be a two-step process. Anyway, their "preview" product is the full product (ALL licenses good) but is time-limited (ie, 2-4 weeks). They're definely worth a look! http://www.ultrabac.com<http://www.ultrabac.com/> -- Richard D. McClary Systems Administrator, Information Technology Group ASPCA® 1717 S. Philo Rd, Ste 36 Urbana, IL 61802 richardmccl...@aspca.org<mailto:richardmccl...@aspca.org> P: 217-337-9761 C: 217-417-1182 F: 217-337-9761 www.aspca.org<http://www.aspca.org/> The information contained in this e-mail, and any attachments hereto, is from The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® (ASPCA®) and is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying or use of the contents of this e-mail, and any attachments hereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify me by reply email and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail and any printout thereof. "Bob Hartung" <bhart...@wiscoind.com<mailto:bhart...@wiscoind.com>> wrote on 07/12/2010 08:30:56 AM: > I've been looking for a disk imaging solution for the servers on our > network. They currently are all Dell PowerEdge servers running > Windows 2003. My main goal is to be able to restore a server quickly > in the event of a hardware failure, like a RAID card failure that > hoses the hard drives. > > We use Arcserve for doing nightly backups and as a file by file > solution, it's fine. For disaster recovery, it leaves a lot to be > desired. It essentially does a reinstall of the operating system and > then restores from back. As such, it's not very fast. > > I've tried a number of disk imaging software packages. They all can > create an image of the server system drive while the server is > running and that's great. However, what seems to always be a weak > point is restoring from a boot disk. > > All the packages have a utility to create a bootable CD but they > generally have a problem either accessing the RAID volume or the LAN > adapter or both. Whether they use Windows PXE, Linux or DOS, drivers > seem to be a problem. It would seem logical that these software > packages would have a utility to copy the existing drivers off the > system and incorporate them into the BootDisk but none do that I've found. > > The only package I've tried so far that seems to work with the > couple of servers I've been testing on is Acronis Backup and > Recovery for Servers. I'd use this if it weren't so expensive at > roughly $1,000 per server. > > Anyone using a disk imaging solution they'd care to recommend? > > Thanks. > > ---------------------- > > Bob Hartung > Wisco Industries, Inc. > 736 Janesville St. > Oregon, WI 53575 > Tel: (608) 835-3106 x215 > Fax: (608) 835-7399 > e-mail: bhartung(at)wiscoind.com<http://wiscoind.com/> > > -- Gavin Wilby, Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby GSXR Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk<http://www.stoof.co.uk/> -- Gavin Wilby, Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby GSXR Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk ________________________________ CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: The information transmitted, or contained or attached to or with this Notice is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain Protected Health Information (PHI), confidential and/or privileged material. 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