Acronis TrueImage Vs Norton Ghost

This note it intended to assist those who wish to use either of the subject programs in the same fashion I do. I have extensive experience with Acronis version 10, initial release and build 9042 and version 11 build 8035. Also experienced with Norton Ghost version 10 and version 12. Both products are good. I choose not to use the Acronis products because executing scheduled backup tasks with validation for 4 systems would take about 9 hours and 20 minutes using Acronis TrueImage whereas the same tasks using Norton Ghost would take about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

I back up four systems to an external drive on a regular basis. Each backup is a full image of a system. Each backup is validated. Each system backs up to a different directory on an external drive. I keep 6 backups for each system. All backups are scheduled overnight on the same night. The drive is attached locally to a Vista system and 3 XP systems back up to it's directory via a LAN. The back up time for the 4 systems are about 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 20 minutes and 30 minutes. Validating the backups take roughly the same time as does the backup. These times are about the same for all the products.

The time difference (9 hrs 20 min vs 2 hrs 40 min) is due to what I consider a flaw in the scheduled validation process of the Acronis products. When executing a scheduled backup with validation, the Acronis products validate every backup on the backup location. The first backup of 10 minutes and 6 validations of 10 minutes each takes about 1 hr 10 min. The second backup of 20 minutes and 6 validations takes about 2 hrs and 20 min. The same time needed for the third backup. The 4th backup of 30 min and 6 validations takes about 3 hrs 30 min. A total of about 9 hrs 20 mins.