a reliable free imaging and restore program?

Hi,
Im currently imaging my computer with the windows built in imaging software and i was thinking of trying something else in case of failure which to date it hasnt.

Any ideas for a free program which i can use that does not need any further downloads upon installation.
Ive tried macrium free but it will not see my external hard drive in the recovery environment.And i dont wish to be downloading between 300mb and 1.7gb of data just to do a restore.
Any help please.?
Thanks.

 

I've used EaseUS Todo Backup Free with great results.

 

hi,
Ive tried the easeus todo back up but there was a problem with my external hard drive and i cant remember correctly what the problem was so ive never tried it again.

 

What, if any, progs did you try already? Saves on repetition

 

hi,
Ive tried macrium reflect free but it will not see my external HDD in the linux recovery console.
That and the todo back up is the only programs ive tried.
Thanks.

 

I had positive experience with Paragon B&R free, Clonezilla. If you try Paragon then check if its bootCD can see your external disk if you use it.

 

Thank you.

 

I use Macrium as well and had the same issue as you! Recovery CD could not 'see' any external drives. How I got around this problem was to disconnect everything from my computer (except the external HDD with image of course)
Other good 'free' imaging programs are Easeus Todo (very reliable) and Paragon Backup & Recovery - although you need to register to use.

 

My Fav. free is Macrium. And I never image. I have several HDDs. I have not the patience to "restore" a drive. So I use the clone function. Copy Cdrive >>> to Ddrive. So if needed, I just plug in the cloned C and I'm flying again.

I know not whether its a 'recommended' practice. But it sure is fast & easy.

 

Hi

Macrium is very good and reliable, I have used it many times. Also, I found a free recovery suite i posted about awhile back, from Lazesoft.com The free edition has a lot of I think useful or potentially useful tools. It has disk imaging and cloning, windows and data recoverly tools, etc., and it very nicely creates its own winpe boot disc after you run the installer and you do not need WAIK installed. It is bootable only, to be used outside windows.

I have used the disk imaging feature along with several restores that were flawless. You may like it, and hopefully it would see your USB drive properly. This recovery suite was updated and has Windows 8 full support, although I use Win 7 pro, and for a boot disc, it handles the job well, imaging is a little slow due to high compression by default, which is not adjustible, but it does the job.

I think it is something useful for anyones toolbox due to the features it has, and being free.

CLonezilla is also good, again offline only, but very reliable. Keriver 1 Click free is excellent as well and offers both hot and cold partition imaging.

Jim

 

Hello and thank you for your very informative reply.

Sadly the recovery suite you mention is not free and is trialware.
Thanks again.

 

I must apologise i have just found the free home edition.sorry its 3am here in england and im half asleep lol.
Thanks.

 

obviously looking at easeus todo and macrium free

Wondering what is better/reliable

some say macrium cannot recognize external usb disk. thats not good

easeus free does not come with winPE or a linux bootable environment for restore, so thats not good either. however, easeus free allows incremental imaging right?

Can someone comment?

 

With regard to Macrium not reading external USB drives - I presume you're talking about the recovery CD? - if so, see my previous post about disconnecting all other external drives before booting with the CD. This works for me (I have a ton of junk hanging off my Notebook!)
Can't help you with ET incremental imaging as I only do full Disk\Partition images. ET does make a Linux bootable CD, and it's very reliable - (although limited in what it can do - eg, only Restore and Clone) I have never had any problems with it.

 

EaseUS Todo Backup Free
You can use it to create bootable CD-ROMs using Linux.

 

Macrium free linux based rescue CD doesn't see external disk on my comp. I fixed this by creating Windows PE rescue disk. Macrium had to download about 1.5 GB from Microsoft and then created WinPE rescue disk which works nice and determines external disks now.
Sorry for off-topic to OP.

 

I was having the same issue and the massive download put me off creating the winpe disk.
Although seven forums have a macrium winpe iso which is only 300mb.

 

Hi Beethoven,

When I download my WAIK it took me three days, as I had dial-up in those days and each 1GB download cost was $5, thus costing me $10 in total. I haven't regretted it at all. I have used the same WAIK to create WinPE for all kinds of Imagining Programs, Partition Programs and Virus Programs.

The massive download is one time download. Now with my 12MB ADSL and no charges for downloads or uploads, it will take me about less than an hour and for free too.

Best regards,

 

Hi aladdin,
Thank you for your response.
Just out of interest have you tried the laplink disk imaging software.?
Also the lazesoft recovery suite home edition.
These are two programs that have been suggested to me.
Thanks.

 

Dear Beethoven,

You have two choices either to have WinPE ISO or Linux ISO with your Imaging Programs. The Linux is free but Microsoft charges money for WinPE to the developers of the Imaging or Partition Programs. And, for this reason the FREE Imaging Programs don't come with WinPE, but when you buy a PAID Imaging Program, most of the time the WinPE comes with it. Only one PAID Imaging Program which didn't come with WinPE is Image For Windows (IFW), due to it being very, very cheap to be used for 3 PCs.

So for any FREE Imagining Program, you need WAIK to build your own WinPE. This is true for both Laplink Disk Imaging Software and Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition, jut like for Macrium Reflect FREE.

What I understand the Laplink Disk Imaging Software is the old, old version 5 of O&O Disk Image, a useless program which is now up to v7. The O&O Disk Image v6 came with a beta WinPE for the PAID version. For the PAID v7, you have to build the WinPE yourself with WAIK.

I never burn the ISO to either USB, CD or DVD. I use them as a boot menu with EasyBCD. So, on booting all my Imaging Programs are available to me as OS like Windows OS.

Haven't tried the Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition yet. Just downloaded the program and built the WinPE with WAIK and will try it later.

The best is Macrium Reflect FREE or PAID. And, Image for Windows (IFW) PAID.

Best regards,

 

Thank you very much indeed for your response aladdin.Much appreciated.

 

Hi Beethoven,

You are welcome. Just tried the Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition and didn't like it. One has to image the complete drive rather than the partitions, which is not good.

Another very expansive program which is very good, but can be free if you don't mind to download it every month is Drive Snapshot. I hope you understand what I mean here and don't ask me many questions. The whole program is 1.4MB, which can easily be fitted on a diskette, or can be with used with some other WinPE disk, like the Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition.

Here is the link for Drive Snapshot:

http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/

Best regards,

 

hi aladdin.
You have made everything perfectly clear and thanks again for your time.
Happy new year to you.

 

Dear Beethoven,

Hope you had an excellent Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Hi Mohamed

When I first tried Lazesoft, I too thought the same thing as you, until I looked on the left hand pane, and found the link "Partition to Image". You will see it on the upper left side along with other options, so it images partitions quite well, not fast but thorough with high compression. It will also image of course the entire disk, along with MBR, but MBR is not saved if one just images a partition. I asked this to Lazesoft support and they got back to me quickly and stated full disk image, the MBR is also saved. I also have restored several images and it has been flawless in my experience and restores fairly quick also. There is no way to mount the image either, at least in the free version, but overall, does the job well and reliable the times I have used it for imaging and restoring. I placed the created winpe ISO on a USB flash drive using EasyBCD, and it works great, which you have been a great source of help with using EasyBCD, thank you for that!

Also, one can go into the windows recovery mode area, and along the tabbed interface, one can separately save partition table, etc. I have found it to be quite a nice useful tool for free Many utilities available that could be handy some day.

Just wanted to help you find how to do a partition image my friend. Hope that helps

Happy new year to you

Jim