Are there any reliable Free Disk Imaging Software?

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by aigle, Jul 30, 2006.

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  1. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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  2. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    Image backup softwares are supposed to save me. Putting my trust in a freeware to do this, isn't my nature.
    Freewares have one big disadvantage, there is no profit and that makes any further development very vulnerable.
    I guess most freewares are created out of idealism or enthousiasm and that is in most cases, not a very good motivation to keep a software alife.
    Only money guarantees a long life of a software, because everybody needs and wants (more and more) money.

    I prefer to have a company (more than one person) behind a backup software, that asks money for it in order to correct and improve the backup software constantly, which is very important, because hardware and software change constantly.
    If you work with freeware, the development depends on the goodwill of the person or company behind the backup software and when that feeling of idealism or enthousiasm is over (and time takes care of that), the development usually becomes slower or even stops and the user can search for another backup software.
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2006
  3. Longboard

    Longboard Registered Member

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    Not "imaging" utility but free
    Copy/Wipe" from terabyte will make bootable copy that can be reloaded to boot partition or wiped HD if req.
     
  4. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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    Thanks for the replies. I agree that such a software must be paid to be reliable enough all the time.
     
  5. furballi

    furballi Registered Member

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    Not sure why folks insist on FREE software when the software is used to preserve your data! There are many high quality free proggies, but I only use them for non-critical tasks. No harm done if something goes wrong.

    I paid a little more than $20 for BING. Hehehehhh, and I'm still getting free updates (W98, WME, W2K, WXP, Vista, and...).

    If you're froogle like me, then spend a little time to learn about BING. BING comes with a drive imaging, drive partitioning (non-destructive), and multi-boot loader in one $35 package. You can also selectively restore individual file from the image file. Add the FREE COPYWIPE utility from Terabyte and you've got a very complete HDD management tool box.

    With BING, you're getting a world-class drive imaging software with a very generous upgrade policy.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2006
  6. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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    Because it is free( provided it is reliable enough).

    Are u?

    Thnaks for ur reply. No offense but I have read a lot of ur posts about BING already.
    BTW, I have downloaded its trial and see how it works but I don,t expect it to be easy to use for beginners at all. Why don,t u write a tutorial for it if u are promoting it so much.
     
  7. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    aigle,
    With IFW I needed two attempts to backup my system partition and when I finally got it. IFW adviced me to install PHYLock first and then I finally got my .IMG-file.

    Then I had to find out that I needed IFD to do the restore, which was my first problem.
    Then I rebooted my computer with the IFD-floppy and the first IFD-menu, I see, was CHINESE for me.
    I expected to see the word "Restore", but it wasn't there. So the restore was a flop. I still have to figure out, how to do restore with Terabyte.

    It's not because I don't understand, I can learn Terabyte like anybody else.
    I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about the average users, the housewifes, ... who want to do a simple backup and restore of their harddisk [C:]
    I can't recommend Terabyte to these people, they want their money back after the first glance.

    I could do a backup and restore with ATI, immediately after installation.
    ATI is ONE software, not a puzzle of several softwares, IFW, IFD, PHYLock, TBIView, ... which is very confusing and unnecessary.
    Don't make it more difficult than it already is, on the contrary make it look easier.
    Doing a backup and restore with FirstDefense-ISR was even easier than with ATI.

    Terabyte has a high quality image backup software, but they don't know anything about presentation.
    Combine Terabyte and Acronis in one software and you have a bestseller. :)
     
  8. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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    BTW, I just restored my C drive on a test laptop successfully by IFW and IFD( trial version) without reading any help or tutorial videos except for the threads read here at Wilders. It was fast and successful.

    I just saw some meues for seconds, much less than that I see always when I boot from a linux CD, then it gave the option to make an image( that I had already done), so I just pushed Eacape, and i got restore menue. Then I was really confused by the options but I just clicked very first options9 with a bit of common sense) in all cases and the restore went Ok. I am agreed that it is not easy at all for a beginer. It si not for ordibary Home user. I have done a restore but still I don,t know all the options and I did not find any help for these. BUr for me I don,t trust at all ATI( they relaese builds one after the others with more and more bugs and I see people searching on the forum for the build which will work on their system, what a pitty-- i don,t want to buy another software like RollBackRx instead of FDISR)

    Just pushing the Escape u get the restore option, it,s bad that it is hidden.

    I agree 100% with u but still I go for terrabyte for the reason I said above. I will try BING as wel. To me this sounds even more powerfull, all in one software( partition, image etc).
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2006
  9. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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    I forgot one big advantage of Terabyte, they give u a fully functional trial unlike ATI. How can one buy ATI without trying it? It is such a big difference.
     
  10. Mem

    Mem Registered Member

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  11. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    That was not my experience with the trial version.
    ATI under Windows, I could do a backup AND a restore.
    With the Rescue CD, I couldn't do a backup, but I could do a restore.
    Nevertheless an image backup software should be FULL operating, especially this type of software.
     
  12. Mem

    Mem Registered Member

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    Thanks for the clarification on how it functioned for you. Al least you could see all of the functions as compared to the post above "How can one buy ATI without trying it? " :)
     
  13. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    I understand your choice. My very first choice was also Terabyte, because it's the cheapest and a 3-in-1 software.
    But I never used an image backup before, so it was my very first contact.
    Terabyte didn't speak for itself and I understood ATI immediately.
    I think that most Terabyte users have already experience with other image backup softwares or they have a good knowledge of how a harddisk is organized.
    One year back I didn't even know what a partition was. I thought that each partition letter was a physical harddisk. :D
     
  14. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I think the issues you guys were seeing with IFD is because it was a trial. It's a little different.

    One of the other differences with Terabyte is the business model. When you buy IFD/IFW You actually down load the trial version. The link you get after paying is for IFD. But indeed your license does go into IFW.


    Note also for upgrades you download the free IFW, but have to provide proof of purchse to get the new IFD.

    Interesting difference, but again no problem.

    One big advantage that has become apparent to me is apparently most of the high end recovery CD's like ATI don't seem to work for me with the Intellipoint Mouse. None of my recovery CD's that require mouse action work. IFD requires no mouse action and works great.

    Pete
     
  15. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    If an intellipoint mouse is a wired mouse without a ball and usually having a red light inside, than I have an intellipoint mouse.
    I never had a problem with the Acronis Rescue CD or anything else.
     
  16. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Erik

    What you are describing is the standard Microsoft Optical mouse, and yes I had no problem with them. The Intellipoint Mouse, essentially look the same, this one has a couple of extra buttons, but it also has software that goes with it. If you have Intellipoint, you would find several program directories reflecting such.

    Pete
     
  17. furballi

    furballi Registered Member

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    Create the BING boot disc/CD and run BING from this media. No need to install BING on your HDD. Once you're familiar with BING, then you can install BING to the HDD (no need to use boot disc/CD). There are more tutorials at the Terabyte website.

    1.Reboot PC and hit ENTER at the BING splash screen (15 seconds)
    2.Click on PARTITION WORK
    3.Right click on a partition if you want to create an image file of that partition, and select IMAGE\CREATE IMAGE. Right click on the partition or drive where you want BING to store the image file and select PASTE. Follow the on-screen prompts.
    If you want to restore an image file, then right click on the partition or drive containing the image file, and select IMAGE\RESTORE IMAGE. Select the image that you want to restore and click OK. Right click on the partition that you want to restore this image file, and select PASTE. Follow the onscreen prompt. I would recommend a name for each partition (ex. WXP, DATA, PROGRAM, BACKUP, etc).
     
  18. the Tester

    the Tester Registered Member

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    Paid vs. freeware imaging programs?

    The only experience that I had was witrh Acronis True Image a while back.
    When I needed it,it failed! I will never again pay or an imaging program!!!
    I will take my chances with the freeware.
     
  19. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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    i have an intellimouse optical and it works fine with the ATI rescue cd.
    which one?

    i rele would like to read someone's experiences with freeware disk imaging tools. especially if theres a boot disk available.
     
  20. the Tester

    the Tester Registered Member

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    This was 3 years ago.I believe it was ATI 6.
     
  21. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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    no, i meant which (free) imaging program do u use now, if any?
     
  22. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    Me too. I want to know. Just got a DVD burner. So know I'd like a free program to try that. Otherwise it's paid cloning for me.
     
  23. crofttk

    crofttk Registered Member

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    When I boot from my IFD CD, I get a simple menu presenting three choices:

    Create Image
    Restore Image
    Validate Image

    I have no problem comprehending that, nor, I suspect would my wife or children.

    If you get Chinese from booting to an IFD floppy, you've made a mistake in constructing it.

    I suppose, as Peter suggests, there could be some fatal difference in the trial version -- that would really be surprising, but I guess possible.
     
  24. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    Good grief, I don't have any of these problems with ATI, neither in this thread, nor in the Acronis Forums.
    I restore my images even for fun, hoping that something goes wrong, for having a good reason to visit the Acronis Forum.
    Each time I use the Rescue CD, I can use my mouse "BenQ Optical M800 PS2" like in any other application.
    I admit it was a mouse without software, I just wanted a mouse without a rolling ball.
    Unbelievable, where you get all these problems. I must be the luckiest ATI-user at Wilders.

    I wasn't impressed by Terabyte and if there is a difference between the trial version and the paid version, then Terabyte can only blame itself. My IFD-floppy was created via the menu of IFW without problems and it worked, but I didn't get menu with Create Image, Restore Image, ...
    My first menu had several options, that started with "HDD ...", the rest I don't remember.
    I'm not going to spend my time on Terabyte anymore, it's not my kind of software.

    My backup problem is already solved, using ATI as main backup and FDISR as second backup.
    FDISR does it much faster, because it's nothing but refreshing archived snapshots and every FDISR-users knows how fast refreshing works, a matter of seconds or minuts. :)
     
  25. crofttk

    crofttk Registered Member

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    In any event, in depth discussion of both of those softwares' frailties or lack thereof are probably OT in this thread since they aren't free, unless it's allowed to evolve into a discussion of what you get and don't get when you choose to pay for imaging software instead of sticking with the free variety.
     
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