New backup software?

My WD Backup software runs on schedule but isn’t recognizing that there are new files. So I checked for updates and find that software has been discontinued and replaced with Acronis.

I can’t find any real information about this. Is it free? I’m assuming so and I’m installing it now (with quite a long installation time on Windows 11). It could finished, it could be done but it still says “installing…”.

So what does running this do with any WD Backup files? I assume it won’t overwrite anything but will it recognize the other files are backed up already or am I about to get my entire hard drive backed up a second time?

I appreciated that the files were individually accessible (and restorable) with WD Backup is this still the case with Acronis?

Thanks.

Well I thought it might be done after 5 minutes and tried to close the installer window and now it simply says “Cancelling…”. This is a pretty bad software experience for 2021.

Ok ran setup again and this time it completed relatively quickly.

Did you already look for the download of Acronis? If not, use this link.

Software and Firmware Downloads | WD Support (wdc.com)

I had already downloaded it. Discovering the link wasn’t the tricky part rather I couldn’t find any answers to questions that existing customers would have. I have now made a back of the files/folders I wanted and as I thought it exists independent of the files made by WD Backup. That is to be expected but now it uses more of my backup disk space than is necessary.

Restoring files appears (so far) to only be possible through the software. Explorer is trying to open the file and does eventually display the folders within it but it takes forever and it is still working on displaying the backup I just made.

Working through the backup app is considerably slower than the way it worked with WD Backup because I could just Explore the folder tree and decide which file(s) I wanted to restore or even which ones to delete if they were no longer needed.

I am of the opinion that backups are important and if the process is too difficult (e.g. if grandma and grandpa can’t figure it out) then it simply won’t be done or won’t be done correctly. I find Acronis way too far into the “IT savvy” side of useability. Powerful perhaps but we don’t all need a Formula 1 car if we are just driving to the grocery store.

And between 5 and 10 minutes later Windows Explorer is still trying to open the folder.

And 24 minutes later it is still trying. This leads me to believe we can’t just browse our way using Explorer to the individual files. That’s a pity.

Is anyone recommending any other backup software?

I am using 7-zip to backup this and that. Its free and does the job.

Interesting. It looks like with a little effort it can be made to do incremental backups and probably more. I see there are some free and otherwise inexpensive apps as well. I think Acronis is going to end up with more downsides than upsides for my needs. Thanks.

Acronis is best for cloning a disk but 7-zip is better for archiving data

Now I can’t seem to completely uninstall WD Backup. I’ve tried several times it shows the dialog box I check the box, it displays “sorry to see you go” and does not uninstall. I tried booting in safe mode and uninstalling didn’t make a difference.

I was going to try to install it again and then uninstall but I can’t locate a download of WD Backup. Is there a location where the old software is available?

WD Backup was withdrawn

Yes it was but it won’t uninstall. My hope was that the company could either suggest a remedy or let me reinstall it. it is stuck on my computer.

go into “program files (x86)” and see if you can find where it was installed, delete that and windows will then prompt to remove the shortcut if you launch it again

Do you work for WD? I’m going to say that is probably the worst piece of advice you could offer. It is installed as a set of services and none of that would be uninstalled properly.

I found the WD Backup program it was available on the WD site after all.

I do not work for WD

AFAIK the WD backup is pretty old

7-zip is what I use

Yes it is old and has been discontinued. The issue is with uninstalling it. I am suggesting that you not tell people to just delete a folder to remove software.

Thanks I think we’re done.

So now Acronis won’t uninstall either.

it does suggest you windows setup is magled pretty bad