Disk Imaging Software ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Scientific
  • Start date Start date
S

Scientific

Hello all,

I have 2 hard drives and want to make an image of drive C: to restore later
if something goes wrong. I have seen lots of products on the market that do
this, but I would like to hear from experts on what the best choices are.

To start with though, I think one that boots outside Windows would be a
smart choice because if Windows goes down then anything that's Windows
dependant would be useless. Everyone welcome to put your two cents in.

-S
 
Both products have bootable CDs.
The trial version of Ghost does not.
So try before you buy, it's your money and you only get to spent it once!

Norton Ghost - has a 30 day trial available
(Trial does not allow you to create a Bootable Restore CD AFAK)
http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/overview.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost14
Product Review "Symantec's 14th Ghost":
http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Norton-Ghost--Review-78775.shtml

True Image - has a 15 day trial version available,
also they may be releasing a shortly.
(Trial version can create a Restore CD, but I have not verified this yet)
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

JS
http://www.pagestart.com
 
Acronis True Image would be and is my choice.
It has never failed me over the past 5+ years that I have used it.
It creates an emergency startup CD that does not need XP/Vista
You can Clone HD...Create Images of HD or partitions ..and with the above CD
put the Image back..
or mount the image and restore a specific folder/file.
You can set it to automatically do backups...
those are the main reasons I use it.

peter
 
Oops, meant to say: True Image - has a 15 day trial version available,
also they "may" be releasing a new version shortly.

JS
 
Sounds like Acronis Trueimage is getting high praise. I'll download and try
it out. Thanks JS and Peter for your valuable input here. Since I'm new to
this I thought it wise to ask people in the know before jumping in over my
head. You have saved me valuable time trying out all the stuff that's out
there. Thanks a million to the both of you.

-S
 
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message.

In
Acronis True Image would be and is my choice.
Click to expand...

Seconded. I'm VERY anal about backing up. My old Norton Ghost was the best
choice prior and for many years but the current version is not so good
whilst Acronis has made huge strides.

--
Galen (Not Current MS-MVP)

My Geek Site: http://kgiii.info
Web Hosting: http://whathostingshould.be

"In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason
backwards. That is a very useful accomplishment, and a
very easy one, but people do not practise it much. In the every-day affairs
of life it is more useful to reason forwards, and so
the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who can reason
synthetically for one who can reason analytically." - Sherlock
Holmes
 
You're welcome.

JS

Scientific said:
Sounds like Acronis Trueimage is getting high praise. I'll download and
try
it out. Thanks JS and Peter for your valuable input here. Since I'm new
to
this I thought it wise to ask people in the know before jumping in over my
head. You have saved me valuable time trying out all the stuff that's out
there. Thanks a million to the both of you.

-S
Click to expand...
 
Scientific said:
Hello all,

I have 2 hard drives and want to make an image of drive C: to restore
later
if something goes wrong. I have seen lots of products on the market that
do
this, but I would like to hear from experts on what the best choices are.

To start with though, I think one that boots outside Windows would be a
smart choice because if Windows goes down then anything that's Windows
dependant would be useless. Everyone welcome to put your two cents in.

-S
Click to expand...

Some imaging products image within XP. Some image from boot media. Some
are capable of doing both for the imaging process. In all cases, the
restoration of the same image occurs outside the XP environment. So, I
don't understand your last paragraph.
 
I have 2 hard drives and want to make an image of drive C: to restore later
if something goes wrong. I have seen lots of products on the market that do
this, but I would like to hear from experts on what the best choices are.

To start with though, I think one that boots outside Windows would be a
smart choice because if Windows goes down then anything that's Windows
dependant would be useless.
Click to expand...

Unless you envisage using a different OS (e.g. Linux) for
part of your work, your cheapest solution might be
(1) customised bootable repair and reinstal CD.
(2) external (USB) hard drive onto which you can clone
your Windows C: drive once a week (and in case of
need (a) repair the internal hard drive as required,
(b) recopy from the USB drive to C:\)
 
Dave,

My train of thought regarding my last paragraph is based on the principal of
(You can't have one without the other). When I did a search on Imaging
software and began to read about each one, I noticed that some of them didn't
mention anything about allowing you to create a Boot CD from which to do a
restore. So, my first thought was "what if Windows won't boot and the hard
drive is trash".

That thought translated into a second thought "(a) Windows won't boot, (b)
the software has to be run in Windows before it can do anything, (c) the
software doesn't create any boot media allowing a Windows independant
restore, all of which translated into a final thought of "I'M F***ED".

So, that is why I added the last paragraph. I had a logical choice of
either downloading and trying some of the several products on the market with
hopes of finding the right one for my needs, or come to this wonderful forum
of many bright individuals and ask my original question. Hope that helps to
clarify why I felt the need to add the last paragraph.

Again though, thank you to all responders of this thread. You have saved me
valuable time (of which we can never get back) and for that I bow to you.

-S
 
Scientific said:
Hello all,

I have 2 hard drives and want to make an image of drive C: to restore
later if something goes wrong. I have seen lots of products on the
market that do this, but I would like to hear from experts on what
the best choices are.

To start with though, I think one that boots outside Windows would be
a smart choice because if Windows goes down then anything that's
Windows dependant would be useless. Everyone welcome to put your two
cents in.

-S
Click to expand...

This coupon is only good until the 19th of Sept. When you buy true image put
this in the box for coupons.
ATIH80

It will give you a discount,full downloadable true image11 for only $9.99.
 
Mike,

Thank you very much for the coupon. I downloaded and tried Acronis
Trueimage and it worked flawlessly. I am very happy with it and will
definitely order the full version, especially since you were kind enough to
pass along the coupon. Thanks again for your kindness and again thanks to
everyone who responded to this thread. I absolutly love the Microsoft forums
and all those who contribute out of the goodness of their hearts. I can only
hope that many kind things happen for all of you.

-S
 
Downloadable version may in ISO format to burn to CD, simple enought to see
if its bootable. Other downloadable versions may install in XP, and, have
an option to make a bootable CD.
Irregardless, its simple enough to find out, and test.
Retail store bought versions usually come on bootable CDs.

In any event, after imaging software is implemented, the first mandatory
test is to see if imaging is successful. The second mandatory test is to
see if restoration is successful or even possible. That includes the
Acronis TI product.

So, I still don't understand you.
 
Back
Top