Hey, Does anyone have recommendations on some really good system image restore programs? I’ve heard a few mention Acronis I think it’s called and Deep Freeze (Which is supposed to be REALLY GOOD, like you can on purposely infect yourself and you would be fine.) but that costs a little bit of money.
However, I’m looking for one that can save me from the worst (serious infection,system corruption) and the like. As well as protect itself from malware infecting IT. Preferably a free one…yes I’m a freeloader =(
If you could supply me with some details and download links that would be greatly appreciated.
Funny this question is being asked now. Fairly timely.
I use Macrium Reflect. Free version available. And a 1/2Tb external Seagate HD.
Read good things about the program. The brand/warranty of the HD speaks for itself.
There are lots of them out there, most are paid options and some free.
As for really good, that is very subjective, what suits ‘you’ depends on your OS and how you would like to use it. I have what I consider a good one Drive Image 7.1 the last version before Symantec spit bought out Power Quest. Since this is old it won’t support newer OSes, since I’m using XP Pro it works just fine.
If it is anything like Vista, I would avoid using the Windows Image Backup. It requires the use of the Windows recovery disk and recovery of the backup and recovery capability in order to restore the system to your configuration. With something like Acronis, you get a Linux boot disk that directly restores your system without any intermediate step. Since a common problem is that Windows won’t boot, this is just an unnecessary additional step for those of us who have laptops and no real Windows DVD.
BTW, I had never used Macrium Reflect Free so I downloaded it to compare it to Acronis True Image. The only features missing seem to be the incremental/differential image creation, and with today’s low cost large disks doesn’t seem a real issue. Timing (and size) for imaging and verification seemed similar to ATI; didn’t actually try to restore, just made a restore disk (Linux version). You can browse images which I also find useful. Incremental images are a mixed benefit-smaller copy time, but longer times to verify. So I would highly recommend it based on a quick look, even after using ATI for 7 years.
Strange you should mention Macrum Reflect, I have just found a PC Magazine cover disk with a free version of it (no way I could download any of these on dial-up), so I might take a look at it too. I have only ever used Full Independent Backup image with Drive Image.
This topic has some age on it (& I wasn’t sure whether to start a new topic or what, since the recommendations were pretty good, so here goes)…
Does anyone use SteadyState regularly or has anyone ever used it previously? If so, what are your thoughts? The only thing I found on it on here of substance was:http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=29036.0 & http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=29469.0 I am thinking about it, but I’m really not sure… I haven’t been able to configure it properly as yet, so that it’s not too restrictive & not too open. (I have 1 admin account & 2 limited accounts on the computers, so they are basically shared systems…)
Also, I don’t know if the Drive Image program being referred to above is the same as DriveImage XML (Dixml)… I am trying that out, but I still don’t quite get how to use it yet (particularly how to do a restore). The other thing I came across was something called Seagate DiscWizard & I do have a few Seagate drives. I believe I heard about those programs on http://www.winvistaclub.com/d75.html …
Your thoughts are welcome, as I would like some more input. Thanks for any responses!
I do not use SteadyState as I have battery backup systems that prohibit its use
Hibernation and Windows Disk Protection
If hibernation is enabled on your system when you turn on Windows Disk Protection, you will receive a message that indicates that hibernation does not work with Windows Disk Protection.
afaik you will need to build/use a bart pe bootable disc to do a restore with dixml.Your OS partition can’t be restored while the OS is running. http://www.runtime.org/peb.htm
Macrium reflect is another good option. hope this helps.
Thanks YoKenny! I’m glad I asked about SteadyState… (The desktop is on a battery backup…)
As for Dixml, I really didn’t have to worry about how to restore before because most times, I was mainly using it with some Dell Mini 9 drives, which I could easily throw in a USB enclosure or hook up via a USB cable. Thanks for the tip RN! I had gone to that site & read the FAQ… ~lol~ Being able to restore to a drive of the same capacity (or higher) as the image is something else. Well, it’s off I go re-read.
