free imaging software?

Does anyone know of any?
I grabbed the free version of paragon HD manager 8 a while ago, but it cannot "see" my external HD, to copy an image to.
I found a thing called DriveImage Xml, which is also available as a plugin for bartpe boot disc, which seems ok, but I haven't been game to test the image yet.

Are there any others that anyone knows to be reliable?

Thanks, argus

 

There are many, drive image xml is very good, I have used it. Here is another one called self image, a good one.

http://selfimage.excelcia.org/


or this other one that can copy the entire disc, partition logic.

http://partitionlogic.org.uk/

 

argus tuft,

Check out this thread.

 

I surmise that you like me am not that computer savvy,so better go for a solution that works straight from the box,one i have good experience with is Shadow Protect from StorageCraft,but then you have to pay for all that "Goodness" Otherwise you can play with the stuff earlier mentioned but it takes quite some figuring.

Huub.

 

If you start the backup / recovery from inside windows then it works fine.

If you boot from CD then you are out of luck (discovered this today). I am evaluating Paragon in order to determine if it will replace Acronis True Image 9.0 that is proving to be unreliable with my external USB HDD. Did not like the included crippled version of Acronis that came with the Seagate drive.

Paragon has some positives (I have alluded to this in earlier posts) but this is one of its drawbacks. The other one that I discovered is that resizing a partition is not very easy. For the time being I am running it parallel with ATI.

Best
L.

 

Hi all, and thanks for your replies
According to the link that InfinityAz posted, I seem to be eligible for the oem version of acronis.

according to this post, in the thread,

I seem to have both seagate, and western digital drives (yay ) are they the same thing? ie, will the seagate install work on my WD drive?

Thanks again

 

You can also go for trialing Shadow Protect Desktop edition,calling for the full evaluation [the iso file] and see what happen !

Huub.

 

argus tuft,

The only reliable freeware I know until now is :
Karen’s Replicator v3.5.1 (File Backup software)
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp
I use it only for backup of my personal data, which are nothing but folders and files.
I only have to format my second harddisk to restore my personal data with KR, in case of a serious disaster.

And I use ShadowProtect (Image Backup software) to backup my Windows and Applications.
Of course you can use ShadowProtect for your personal data also.

Store your backup on an external harddisk or second internal harddisk, not on DVD and certainly not on CD.
Use DVD's as a second backup media, if you like to wear belt and braces.

If your personal data is important to you, show some respect and do your backups in the best circumstances with reliable softwares and good hardware.

As Peter already said, test your backup, but above all your restore and that's how you will learn to TRUST your restore.

 

Hello Leonardo_daVinci,
i had that same problem.
so i contacted paragon and firstly they gave me the bartpe plugin.
so if you have got a windows xp cd then ask for the bartpe plugin and make your own bartpe cd folowing the instructions.
if not you can ask paragon for a winpe recovery cd image.
its in the .iso format and will reconnize any usb drives windows does.
lodore

 

I am also just learning about imaging. On this new machine, I
had originally thought both drives were Seagate, but subsequently
discovered that C:\ is a WD (Western Digital) and E:\ is
an ST (Seagate). Seagate's DiskWizard does not care, as long as at
least one drive is a Seagate. I got it working fine, after
encountering and initial problem.

See my posts starting here:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=181060

starting at post 21

 

Are you aware of the implication of an update being available for the free 8.0 special Edition? See the two images below.
This is what you see if you press the "About Hard Disk Manager" located in lower left menu. Because of having a slow dial-up connection, I have not tried the update option,.but it would appear that the #2 file option could be the cd which includes the usb option--if it is available on the free Special Edition.

 

GroverH, thanks for letting me know about the update, I'm just not sure if the "special edition" will update or not, but it's definitely something for me to look into. Maybe I'll email to paragon to ask.

ErikAlbert, My personal data IS important to me, hence I regularly back up my stuff (files / folders / setup .exe's) to an external 320 GB samsung drive, which is only switched on for the purpose of copying data to it. I don't use any particular program to do it, just windows copy / paste
(that's one lesson I learnt the hard way, but having been through it, won't be forgetting again in hurry)

Everyone else, thanks for all your input / advice, I seem to be getting there...

Discwizard CAN see my external drive, which is definitely a plus

Now for some seagate discwizard specific questions...

It seems that this version doesn't offer incremental / differential backups, do I have any need for the processes
DiscWizardMonitor.exe
TimounterMonitor.exe
schedhlp.exe to be running when windows loads?

Does it offer scheduled backups? I can't find an option for that anywhere..

Does it have the "press F11 (or whichever F button) before windows loads to restore image" functionality? There was no info on this in the helpfile.

If it does, can I also create images from there?
I feel the less processes and whatnot in the way, the better, and my burner is on the blink, so I can't create the boot disc, to do it that way.

(one minor gripe, clicking the "close button (red x) in discwizard has no effect, I have to kill it with task manager)


Thanks again for all your input and advice, argus

 

This is exactly what I do. I use Paragon for imaging my system partition. For my data, I just drag 'n drop or copy and paste the data partition to another external device, hooked up expressly for that purpose. It just doesn't make sense, to me anyway, using special software for drive-to-drive backup.

 

The advantage with backup app. is that you NEVER forget to backup,in most of all app.there is a time schedule just for that !

 

If you are happy to do that, then that is great, for me it's all about what works best for the individual. I prefer to use a "special software" (Karen's Replicator in this case) for simplicity. At one or two mouse clicks, all changes to my data files are backed up to my external drive, the software automatically compares the files on my internal hdd's to those on the external and copies any changes, that way I don't have to worry about making time to go through the system.

 

Your right !!

 

Don't have that problem here. Suggest you try a re-install.

 

Hello Peter!

I just wish to say that free or cheap software doesn't mean that this software is inferior.
I understand that for business purpose, you select a product that is backed up by qualified customer service.
If a home user is able to take care of computer maintenance without the help of customer support, then less-than-expensive options are more than reasonable.

 

argus,
Yes, the Acronis/Seagate version does have reduced options. This link by Mustang will show more info.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=181389#3

Yes, you can create images and restore them from the Rescue CD.
Yes, it is quite good for being a free software. It's primary function (this version) is to enable you to create and restore full backups without a lot of the troublesome frills.
Yes, I would recommend buying the paid version--although it has its problems--most backup programs do also.

I have actively used Karen Kenworthy's Replicator for several years. I use it nightly to copy all my emails and some personal files to another internal drive. Her "Countdown Timer II" is another of her excellent programs which I use daily for all my reminders. I have many-many of her utilities installed--all excellent quality--and free for personal use but support donations always accepted; or, you can purchase her utilities CD which contains all her programs- -plus some which are not offered as free downloads. It's hard for me to imagine how they pay their bills creating software where freewill donations are the revenue sources.

You should check some of the links in "Useful Forum Threads" below for more info about the True Image backup programs.

 

A number of posts removed from this "free imaging software" discussion and placed in their own program specific assistance thread.

This thread---> Karen's Replicator and backing up data files on-the-fly

Bubba