Best Image/clone Disk backup?

<p>I have just loaded all my current software Windows 7, CNX 2, VNX 2, CS 6, NIK collection, Phocus, on to a new build workstation.</p>

<p>After the hassle, and then the pain of waiting for Windows updates..... I wanted to make a backup copy of my system/software drives clean install.</p>

<p>I have a few spare spinner HD's so considered making a clone disk, and I also want to image/shadow my C drive.<br>

I normally just use Windows 7 shadow copy feature. But have downloaded <em>Macrium Reflect</em> (free version) to clone the drive. It also has a feature to make an image of my drive.</p>

<p>So the question please!..... while my C drive is still nice and clean, what is the best method/software to make a reliable copy?</p>

<p>Cheers</p>

<p>at work, they always use Acronis TruImage</p>

<p>Acronis True Image works well, as does <a href="http://www.minitool-drivecopy.com/">MiniTool Drive Copy</a>; the latter being freeware. </p>

<p>Another vote for Acronis TruImage.</p>

<p>A limitation I came across using Acronis is that you must have adequate free space on your source drive or it will abort and refuse to execute the operation. I don't know what the boundary is, and presumably you can boot from the rescue CD and perform the clone in DOS, but MiniTool Drive Copy does not have this limitation. </p>

<p>Windows 7 has a built in backup program that can take a disk image:</p>

<p>Start > Control Panel > Backup and Restore then select Create a System Image.</p>

<p>Point the backup program at the disk where you want to store the image. After you have the System Image, create a System Repair Disk which is a stand-alone boot disk for restoring the backup. It is not as full featured as Acronis, but it does work well. </p>

<p>If you are using Western Digital disk, you can get a free version of Acronis here:</p>

<p>http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en</p>

<p>If you decide to use Acronis to make a drive image backup, rather than clone, you can also use the Windows backup program to make a System Image and store both images on the same backup disk, assuming you have sufficient room.</p>

<p>I like Terabyte Image for Linux. You don't have to be a Linux user, as its Windows installer creates a full-up Linux GUI installation on a thumb drive or CD. It can make a compressed backup copy of an entire disk or a specified partition, and write it onto a (different) hard drive or CD/DVD/Blu-Ray. Terabyte also provides two Windows utilities that can extract individual files or directories from a backup file, a feature that can be very useful. TBIView is an "explorer" view of a backup file, from which you can drag files or directories to Windows Explorer. TBIMount mounts a backup file as a read-only drive.</p>

<p>I have no financial or other connections with Terabyte, but I've been using their products for many years.</p>

I like Ghost by Norton.

Acronis Truimage or Norton Ghost. Both can create boot

disks you can use to restore your backup into a fresh

disk without Windows. I'm not sure Windows' image based

backup had that capability.

<p>+1 for Acronis - it has saved me several times. Buy a dock and a few bare metal drives...</p>

<p>I used Norton Ghost years ago, but discovered that Photoshop recognized the change in disk serial identifiers and would not run. Adobe assumed you were making illegal copies. Never had that problem with Acronis. I don't know if Adobe changed, or if Acronis is smarter, or if it was all a coincidence. </p>

<p>If you go with Acronis, make a boot CD (or thumb drive) and clone from that rather than launching a reboot from Windows. The latter process can have issues.</p>

<p>Yes, Windows back up does create a boot disk; it is called the SYSTEM REPAIR DISK (or you can simply boot the Windows install disk and select the option to restore the backup image). See my post above.</p>

<p>I have also used Ghost; it is good , too. But Windows backup is free and a part of the system.</p>

I use Acronis and create clones.<br><br>The process is faster than creating a restore or repair disk. You begin with a nice clean install of everything you want on your system, make a 1:1 clone of that, and the moment your original goes haywire and you want to start over again, all you do is attach the clone, boot from that (as a clone from the original, no need to create separate boot disks - if the original is bootable, so will be the clone. If it is not, you're not going to need a boot disk anyway) and clone it back to the 'original'.<br>The Windows system repair or restore process takes much longer.<br>And unless the original went bad physically and you have to keep working using the clone as a new original instead (then you shouldn't forget to clone it to a fresh disk before anything else), there are no issues with disk serial identifiers, since you keep working with the original disk.<br><br>Whichever method, you do return to a state as it was a long time ago (hopefully), and not only are all program installs since then lost, but also all Windows updates. So though not as bad as starting afresh, you will still be waiting for a long time for (repeated) Windows updates and reboots to finish.

<p>Microsoft's own ImageX/DASM application with the GImageX GUI works extremely well for me (fast too), but it's not exactly userfriendly to get started with. It's all free, though and if you're a techy you'll get there :-)</p>

<p>Thank you for the information everyone..... well lots of different choices, but <em>Macrium Reflect</em> gets no love! I will look elsewhere.<br>

<br>

Acronis gets most votes and I get a license included with a SSD that is in the post, so I will try that out when it arrives. I will also look at Wouter's suggestion of image X.<br /><br>

<br>

Cheers<br /><br>

<br>

</p>

 

 

 

<p>For cloning and/or imaging:<br>

<a href="http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php" target="_blank">http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php</a><br>

For partitioning:<br>

<a href="http://gparted.org/" target="_blank">http://gparted.org/</a><br>

Both free and powerful. Read instructions carefully and use with caution.<br>

Brief tutorial on Clonezilla:<br>

<a href="http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/clonezilla.html" target="_blank">http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/clonezilla.html</a><br>

Brief tutorial on GParted:<br>

<a href="http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gparted.html" target="_blank">http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gparted.html</a></p>