Looking for some backup/imaging software...

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by bobbybackster, Mar 11, 2014.

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  1. bobbybackster

    bobbybackster Registered Member

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    My question is really similar to this recent one:
    Who recomend me a software for imaging/restore...

    Except I have a few specifications...

    My main concerns are:

    -Encryption of the image (i.e. vetted ciphers only...nothing proprietary. AES, Twofish, etc.)

    -Individual file recovery

    -High compression ratio (time to backup/restore is not really a concern)

    -Incremental backup

    -Virtualization feature would be nice, but not mandatory.

    I've been turned off Acronis in recent years because their quality seems to be diminishing. Older versions of the software seem to work better than newer ones, and people are right about it being bloated.

    And more recently, I liked Paragon Hard Disk Manager. It seemed to have everything I wanted...except it seems to be having quality issues of its own. First there was apparently a bug that prevented the restore wizard from working at all (detailed here). With updates that's supposed to have been fixed, but now at least one option that I use has seemingly been removed...yet it still remains mentioned in the help file and in the settings readout (described here).

    Anyone know of any other programs with all the things I listed?
    I really just want to find something reliable and with the features I need.
     
  2. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Image for Windows
     
  3. claykin

    claykin Registered Member

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    Image for Windows is an excellent option, its a bargain, and works very well. That said, its not easy for the average person to setup a schedule, incrementals, etc.. Even the little options can be daunting for some users.

    Also look at Macrium Reflect. Also excellent, this program does a better job of hand holding.
     
  4. bobbybackster

    bobbybackster Registered Member

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    Image for Windows is looking good. I really appreciate not only the fact that there's a manual, but that it's so thorough. Definitely a very welcome surprise, given what I'm used to dealing with in this field. I'm wondering why I've never heard of this application or TeraByte Unlimited.

    It looks like it includes all the features I listed...except for one, which I don't see mentioned in the manual...

    Does it allow restoration from an image on a per file basis? (i.e. can I navigate through the drive image, locate a specific file, and only restore that one?)

    Can one of you helpful folks confirm this?
     
  5. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    BB, IFW comes with two additional utilities... "TBview" and "TBmount.". With this added utilities you can MOUNT and browse the images with the EXPLORER and copy at will.
     
  6. bobbybackster

    bobbybackster Registered Member

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    Awesome! Thank you. Everything on my list checked!

    Thanks, guys
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    bobbybackster,

    You probably know this but an IFW purchase includes IFD and IFL. All 3 apps produce the same image and each app can restore images created by all 3 apps.

    I suggest you use IFL (on a USB flash drive or CD) for your initial restores as it's the easiest to use. You can get creative later.
     
  8. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    I guess Terabyte Unlimited is not as well known as Acronis/Ghost is probably due to its once poor GUI. It had a semi-GUI (similar to that of Clonezilla) for quite some time before it developed the current GUI. Therefore average uers will surely find it difficult to use. Even its current GUI is still not the best, users have to have some basic knowledge of computer hardware/software in order to use it efficiently.

    I have to mention you might also want to look into BootIt Bare Metal (a partitioning manager) which is the only partition manager (among 5-6 PM tools) that could correctly restore/undelete my deleted UEFI/GPT disk partition structure and data. As I mentioned, it does not have an impressive GUI but it excels in functionality, as the rest of Terabyte Unlimited products. A little example can be found here by a former Macrium Reflect user:

    "...after restore, Macrium had changed my extended partition type from 15/Fh to 5/Fh if i recall correctly and I never did figure out why. Boot it mare metal from Terabyte notified me when I ran it to check the structure, that the extended data should be 15/Fh, not 5/Fh."
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2350321&postcount=2

    Terabyte Unlimited products have a good reputation for reliability among geeks such as some ppl in this forum.

     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2014
  9. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    Still the only image program that doesn´t show graphical disk maps.
     
  10. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    For restoring my IFW images my preference is IFD. I find that it boots much faster than IFL and is also much less confusing!
     
  11. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    I'm not sure what that means, but imho Terabyte's reliability trumps all other disk-imaging features!
     
  12. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    good point, however IFD does not work on UEFI computers with secure boot. for these new computers, you need IFL or IFW.


     
  13. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    Understood ...but on a UEFI PC why can't you simply disable secure boot and then use IFD? ...and wouldn't you have to do that anyway to boot from a USB flash drive?
     
  14. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Not really, when you boot from a IFL/IFW usb flash drive you don't have to disable secure boot. These two support secure boot, therefore you don't have to go through the extra step to disable it.

     
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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  16. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    TS,

    Yes, it loads in about a second and is very easy to configure for automation. On my current systems it runs about 30% slower than the other two but I gather it's faster than the other two on some systems. IFD was the first TeraByte recovery environment I used, version 1 IFD, and I have fond memories.
     
  17. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Thanks Brian.

    Regarding BootIt Bare Metal, in the link it said:
    "BootIt Bare Metal will not boot on UEFI systems configured in UEFI mode. To boot on these systems Secure Boot must be disabled and you must enable or use Legacy mode. "

    In fact, there is a way to use it on a UEFI secure boot system: BootIt Bare Metal is now integrated into IFL, so when you create a boot USB of IFL, you can input the BIBM licence when requested, and then use BIBM from the same IFL boot USB.

    Regards,
    oliverjia

     
  18. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Excellent point.
     
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