My personal benchmark

I did a small and partial (no restores) benchmark of several image programs, and want to share the results, which are in the attached image.

I created and verified an image of the system partition (Windows 7 x64) of this computer. In all cases I worked outside of Windows (my normal practice), using the 64-bit WinPE 4.0 boot medium created with WADK for Windows 8. I used default compression and created a single-file image (no splitting) in an external USB 2.0 disk connected to a USB 3.0 port (so, working at USB 2.0 speed).

I had never worked with either Reflect or IFW, but in both cases I could create the image in the first try, without problems.

 

You should post your Processor, Hard Drive, and Memory stats.

 

Robin,

Interesting test. I suspect the USB2 interface could be a limiting factor as with IFW I can create a 13 GB image in just over 2 minutes. Writing to an internal SATA III HD and using "Enhanced Speed - A" compression.

 

My purpose was to compare the programs, using the same hardware in all the cases. Of course, the absolute results depend on the hardware used. These results are not representative of what the programs can do with faster hardware.

 

Update.

I found that the USB 3.0 drivers used are a very important limiting factor in the above results.

When I use a WinPE 4.0 boot medium, I use the USB 3.0 drivers included in Windows 8. When I create a WinPE 3.0 boot medium using WAIK, I add manually the 64-bit Renesas USB 3.0 drivers. It happens that in this particular hardware, the Renesas drivers are much more efficient when creating images (and, presumably, when restoring them).

Using a USB 3.0 external USB disk connected to a USB 3.0 port (so, USB 3.0 speed), I created and verified two images of the Windows 7 x64 installation, using Paragon HDM 16240. Results:

WinPE 3.0 with Renesas USB 3.0 drivers: image created in 6:06 min, verified in 3:50 min.

WinPE 4.0 with Windows 8 USB 3.0 drivers: image created in 10:00 min (67% more time), verified in 3:56 min (no significant difference).

As expected, in both cases the image size was the same, 15.8 GB.

I also tried a WinPE 3.0 with an older version of Shadow Protect and the same Renesas drivers. Times were 5.57 and 2:44 min. And a WinPE 4.0 with the latest version of IFW. Times were 10:10 and 3:10 min. These results confirm the impact of the drivers.

 

I can create a 13gb image using Macrium reflect much faster than that, Around 5 minutes.

 

very true.

mines at exactly 3 minutes for a 22GB image (active@ disk image)

 

Tree,

Great speed. Is that SSD to SSD or SSD to HD?

 

SSD to HDD

EDIT- just ran another backup and this time it did it in less than 2 and a half mins!

log;

<event id="2" type="0" time="1375736143" message="Initializing VSS..." />
<event id="3" type="0" time="1375736143" message="Creating Snapshot set..." />
<event id="4" type="0" time="1375736144" message="Calculating image size..." />
<event id="5" type="0" time="1375736144" message="Opening volume \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy8" />
<event id="6" type="0" time="1375736144" message="Opening volume \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9" />
<event id="7" type="0" time="1375736144" message="Estimated image size: 24463064337" />
<event id="8" type="0" time="1375736145" message="Creating image of partition System Reserved (NTFS, 269.3 MB/350.0 MB, Disk 1, 1" />
<event id="9" type="0" time="1375736145" message="Opening volume \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy8" />
<event id="10" type="0" time="1375736145" message="NTFS partition: opening volume..." />
<event id="11" type="0" time="1375736145" message="NTFS partition: reading structure..." />
<event id="12" type="0" time="1375736145" message="NTFS partition: saving data..." />
<event id="13" type="0" time="1375736146" message="NTFS partition: completed." />
<event id="14" type="0" time="1375736146" message="Creating partition image completed. Retcode=0." />
<event id="15" type="0" time="1375736146" message="Creating image of partition (NTFS, 22.51 GB/59.28 GB, Disk 1, C" />
<event id="16" type="0" time="1375736146" message="Opening volume \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9" />
<event id="17" type="0" time="1375736146" message="NTFS partition: opening volume..." />
<event id="18" type="0" time="1375736146" message="NTFS partition: reading structure..." />
<event id="19" type="0" time="1375736146" message="NTFS partition: saving data..." />
<event id="20" type="0" time="1375736286" message="NTFS partition: completed." />
<event id="21" type="0" time="1375736286" message="Creating partition image completed. Retcode=0." />
<event id="22" type="0" time="1375736286" message="Saving disks first tracks..." />
<event id="23" type="0" time="1375736286" message="Opening disk &apos;Hard Disk 1&apos; at sector 0" />
<event id="24" type="0" time="1375736286" message="Saving devices info..." />
<event id="25" type="0" time="1375736286" message="Closing image..." />
<event id="26" type="0" time="1375736287" message="Image successfully created. Elapsed time: 00:02:23." />
</log>

 

@treehouse786

i used active disk image but when i bought new mainboard i leave from it.
Because it can not restore to GPT system disk.
is it support uefi/gpt disk now?

 

yes it does support it

http://disk-image.net/features.htm

 

Tree,

Although your link says "GPT disk support" for "Backup Disk Image", I don't think it supports a UEFI System. What do you think?

http://www.disk-image.com/faq-bootdisk-problems.htm

 

did you try uefi bios with gpt disk?

if you look "GPT disks support", it is already supported when i tried it.
probably it can backup but it cant restore. It is system drive only, it can successfully backup/restore gpt data disk.

probably it doesnt supported;
http://disk-image.net/faq-bootdisk-problems.htm
http://disk-image.net/faq-diskimage-windows8.htm

 

Btw;
This software support UEFI/gpt backup/restore;
Macrium, o&o, paragon, aomei, redo

 

hi Brian

sorry for the confusion, it does support GPT disks but UEFI has to be disabled in BIOS when restoring otherwise the restore boot disk will not run.

I have always had mine disabled but i do remember speaking to support about it and they did say that secureboot has to be disabled when restoring and put back on when your finished.

not a deal breaker for me but i can see why it would be for other people.

i think it might be due to the their most famous product (active@ boot disk). any changes made to the boot build type will affect their whole catalogue of softwares so it might take a little longer for them to fully support UEFI without needing to turn secureboot off

 

It seems that Active@ bootdisk is based on 32bit WinPE, therefore, it could not boot under UEFI.

If you use 64bit WinPE with 64bit Active@ Disk Image, may be you can restore image uder UEFI.

 

Active Disk Image does not work under UEFI GPT with secure boot enabled;
So NO, it does not support GPT/UEFI.
BTW, I never understand why these vendors still hold off upgrading their boot media to support UEFI/secureboot? This feature comes with every new computers with windows 8 preinstalled.

 

luckily you can turn it off on most of them

 

UEFI/GPT is not useless, Why would we want to close?
Especially for some software's limited ability. There are enough software which are support UEFI/GPT, someones are free

 

exactly.
I have only one word for those softwares that can not do backup/restore on a UEFI secureboot machine: incompetent.