Good Free Imaging Software 2013?

Anything to do with money is selfish, even the good feeling while donating or selling lots. Then again, there's more of a mutual benefit when you pay, but I don't see why when the products isn't necessary or there's good relations with the developer. As for the free software existence theory, why do so many open-source projects survive without paid software?

 

I backup my XP computer using Macrium Reflect FREE. I even created a separate partition where I installed Macrium Reflect boot USB and I can dual-boot it from GRUB2 whenever I need it. Note that I did that on an XP machine, so I can't say how it works on Windows 8.

Maybe because some of us don't have enough money to pay for all the software we want to use or maybe because some would like to spend their money on something else than software.

 

Big problem is with imaging/backup apps is that for the pay for ones you end up paying for upgrades.
Those payments for upgrades vary in frequency and amount from company to company.
Of course it doesn't help when file systems, boot are changed/altered in OS versions.
Not saying people can have everything for free but it can add up over time.

 

I often find free open source gpl software as good or better than proprietary software without the restrictive licensing terms. If there is an open source gpl license program that does what I need, that is my first choice and some, like Filezilla, are used daily for work I consider important. Some classes of software are free by default. How long has it been since anyone has paid for a web browser?

As far as imaging programs, I have been using Aomei backupper since February of this year and it works perfectly for what I'm doing with it. That doesn't mean it will work for everyone but a lot of paid imaging programs wouldn't work out so well for everyone either and it is as good or better than many of them.

 

I bought Image for Linux back in 2008 (version 2), and I still get free regular updates today. Look at the release history, I anticipate there should be at least one more year before they upgrade to v3, when you will have the option to pay half of the price to upgrade. So there are software that does not do upgrade that often and you can use it for a long time. Even they upgraded the software, if the version you have still works for what you do, then you can keep the version you have and not upgrade. i.e., upgrade is not mandatory.

 

You can dual boot on Windows 7 and Windows 8, using EasyBCD once, to include it in the BCD store.

Best regards,

 

Yes use Aomei Backupper here as 1st place

 

Just to join in here. I like Free software because I do not see that buying the products gives me any extra support. We usually are left to support ourselves....if we can!

For Image software my best example is TI. I OWN it and have since TI8. It has stopped working, freezing my XP system, and they can ONLY suggest upgrading and try again. So, I now have TI 2014 and have the same issue even from the boot CD, so XP has nothing to do with it!!

NitroPDF Pro is another issue we have and I am not even going to go into that here!

 

The example of Acronis True Image is not really valid here, because while it is not free (the actual Acronis-branded software) if it well-know to be a less-than-adequate, bloated, title now. You're problems are most likely because of that and not the fact that it is payware.

 

Well, I guess my point was that not being free does not mean it was/is good or that it will be supported.

 

A recent review...


http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-imaging-program.htm

 

Thank you Brian,

See that Macrium Reflect has topped the chart.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Validation is a test to see if your hardware will be able to restore the image. It's not simply a test of file integrity. So you might have the "best imaging app in the world" and the image can still fail validation.

It's best to know your hardware is OK before you try to restore the image. Because if something fails during the restore process you will have a non booting OS. We've seen threads where this happened and the cause was bad RAM. When the RAM was replaced the images validated and the restore process completed without an error.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=350

 

That TB article is confusing. It says that a validation checks the entire hardware chain, including “the CPU, mainboard caches, data cables, the IDE/SATA/USB/IEEE 1394 controller, and the target drive itself”.

All this is checked in a process that usually takes less than 4 minutes? A very efficient process indeed.

Also, it seems that an image can be successfully created even if there are hardware problems that can prevent the image to be restored. But a validation run after this process can detect the hardware problems right away. Why aren´t the problems detected while the image is being created?

 

True, but it's a 'chart' consisting of very few samples (and did not consider AOMEI Backupper)!

There is no question that MR-Free is very good, but it does not provide for creating incremental or differential images, which imho is a limitation.

Regards,
Wendi

 

I don,t think that's the right thing to do even if money doesn't matters for her unless she is computer illiterate and misguided by some one. Changing the hard disk will take few min and just a 100 bucks or more.

 

Not must. You can use an imaging software via it's boot CD. No install needed at all, both for backup and restore.

Try macriun reflect free. Googl

 

People, use at least two imaging programs to protect your system, so why not BOTH Macrium Reflect and Aomei? Believe me, there have been at least two times thru the years that I was thankful I had a SECOND program protecting me. I do not care how much you love and swear by your favorite, it WILL eventually let you down, may be through no fault of its own, but it WILL fail and you will be thankful for the second program (or third, or fourth or ...)

Acadia

 

Let me guess you also use 2 real time antivirus solutions as well?

I use Keriver Image. Its a great software, very fast, and in the last 2-3 years hasnt let me down if I needed it. For $30 you cant go wrong.

 

That analogy isn't applicable IMO. As long as the imaging programs don't have real-time services running in the background, it shouldn't cause any problems. Then again, there's Windows built-in system imaging tool. So using another third party imaging software, even only one, means the same as using multiple imaging software.

 

Its perfectly applicable. Running 2 softwares to do the same job with similar features isnt necessary.

Redundancy is not needed in a home of business environment as far as backup solutions go. If its setup properly (including an off system drive) and verified properly you are fine.

The Windows Built in tool is great for simple backups, but if your looking for a more feature packed backup tool (image verification, boot images, etc.) then a 3rd party tool is a must. Just like all of the Windows built in tools they are watered down.

 

I'm not an imaging specialist here, so I won't be surprised if I'm wrong. But imaging programs don't bury their components deeply in the OS. AVs do, and they proactively run their services in the background. But it's true that there are some imaging and snapshot programs which do more things. But still, AVs and imaging software play on the different levels. That's all I can say.

EDIT: I do agree that using more than one imaging program is too much. So if I use a third party imaging program I will abandon Windows built-in imaging tool. I probably will also disable it but I'm not sure if it will be okay to do that. In case of a failed image, I still have the Windows installation disc and Windows installation files in a bootable USB drive. And Windows 8 has a reset option.

 

Maybe most people here don't consider their PC's data (and applications, and integrity, and...) of importance, but I do. Backup programs are not a place to skimp. For $50 you can get a top tier program like Image for Windows and offline backups/restores with Image for Linux. It really is a no brainer.

 

I use Aomei Backupper for montly backups and Drive SnapShot for weekly or quick backups/restores.

 

Most people here do I believe. Macrium Reflect Free works just fine, but if you want to support the developer and you can afford the price, then it's a good thing to buy licenses for their paid products. Free software doesn't necessarily mean inferior quality. There are lots of paid products out there which aren't even worth to crack.