Hi I have a RAID formatted Dell Vostro 430, recently upgraded to Windows 10. Macrium Reflect tell me that it cannot support RAID with the drivers that Windows 10 comes with: The RAID controller is Intel(R) desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller, located PCI Bus, device 31, function 2 The RAID driver and location is listed as C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\iaStorAV.sys, from INTEL, File Version 13.2.0.1022 with Microsoft Windows as digital signer So....I am looking at other disk imaging software. So far I am looking at Acronis True Image, Easeus Todo, Paragon and AOMEI Backupper. Obviously it needs to be able to handle my RAID set up and drivers. I am not averse to paid versions - within reason.... Can anyone recommend / comment? Cheers
ALso be sure to check out Macrium. I do use Aoemei Pro and Acronis, although Acronis only from the boot disk. But my number one choice is Macirum (paid)
Did you already try Image for Linux? For the record I don't know for sure if ti handles RAID configs but just wondering... Edit: Terabyte Unlimited products are a vast line of software proven reliable and worth every penny spent on them. I suggest to check them all as they have free trials.
Hi, thanks both Mister X: no, I've tried neither of these, will add to my list for investigation and will report on Image for Linux unless I go with something else before I get to that point.
Why not? You can create the rescue media based on previous Windows PE like 3.1 (Windows 7) or 5.0 (Windows 8.1) and inject the correct drivers in those instead of using Windows PE 10.0. http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW/Creating rescue media Macrium gives the above option of using different PEs to accommodate problems like these. Panagiotis
Hello again - hope this thread is still more or less live.... I am looking again at Macrium given what Panagiotis pointed out re RAID drivers. Given this, 5 other questions occur to me. Apologies if they seem basic: 1. If I encrypt the external Hard Drive (probably BitLocker Full Disk Encryption) where the Macrium disk image will sit will this cause a problem for copying the disk image to the disk? 2. Will the encryption cause a problem when / if I come to want to retrieve the image from the disk? 3. Can the disk image share disk space on the target external drive with other data? EG if I wanted to do a 'normal' data backup to the same disk, too? Or does the disk image need to be alone on its disk to work? 4. I am looking at the free version of Macrium (though happy to consider paid). Does it - once you have copied imaged the bulk of your hard drive - continue to back up new data incrementally? Or is it that a full / laborious snapshot of the disk needs to be taken every once in a while? 5. More of a BitLocker > Macrium-related question...but my main objective in taking the disk image is to give me the opportunity in an emergency (destruction / theft of my main PC) to rebuild my hard drive, OS and all, from scratch on a new PC/ new drives. If I have encrypted the drive with my disk image on, and if that image is only available to me on the PC which created the encryption, am I not then stuffed? (How) can I access my disk image on an encrpted drive if the original PC is out of the picture...? Apologies for the length. Help genuinely gratefully received!
Consider this. Is the risk from the encryption itself worth it compared to the risk of losing the data. You might look at the encryption thread and see what people have been through. Myself, no thanks.
Macrium easily creates images on BitLockered disks AND supports BitLocker when creating its Recovery Media... BUT, I don't know whether the BitLocker support is available in the FREE version's Recovery Media. Sharing is fine. Macrium Relect images may reside anywhere the application has access to. The FREE version DOES NOT support INCREMENTAL imaging but does support periodic DIFFERENTIAL imaging with a full blown scheduler to allow for automatic, periodic imaging. With BitLocker support available in the Recovery Media (not sure about the FREE version but I think it is), this should not be an issue. BUT (yup, another one of those) the FREE version does not support the reDeploy function which allows image restoration to dissimilar hardware. A different disk is NOT considered dissimilar hardware and their FREE version should work just fine, but when you're doing a whole new hardware configuration (mainboard, network interface, etc.) that is definitely considered dissimilar hardware... for both Macrium Reflect and, most likely, Windows Activation as well. PS- if you're trying to mainly protect the images you take, both password protection and encryption are available within Macrium Reflect itself.
1. I do not see a problem with copying. 2. I do not use encryption myself but before restoring you'd need to mount the encrypted hard drive for macrium to see the image... It can mount bitlocker partitions 3. Yes, it can coexist with other data. 4. The free macrium does not allow incrementals, but it can perform diferrential backups. 5. Check here http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50140.aspx Panagiotis
I have used Acronis, Paragon, AOMEI Backupper Pro, EaseUS ToDo, and tested Terabyte and Drive Snapshot. But Macrium Reflect gets my overall vote for reliability and ease of use. The paid version is worth it if you want incremental backups and RDR.
Terabyte Unlimited's Image For Windows/Linux/DOS and BootIt Bare Metal. Ultra reliable, configurable, and fast. You can create Windows/Linux/DOS boot disks and also set them up on their own small partition, so in case of need to restore you can just reboot into this "recovery" partition, perform the restore, and reboot back into your main system partition. Support is top notch as well. I've used their products since 2006 and wouldn't look elsewhere.
I suggest you try also R-TT's R-Drive Image, extremely powerful and reliable. Recovery Media is Unix based. R-Drive Image and AOMEI Backupper are the only ones that were able to restore my GPT Win 8.1 PC after some serious issue occurred, while Macrium failed. The whole disk was imaged but only the R-Drive Image and AOMEI Backupper Pro managed to do it. I still use Macrium Reflect but I trust R-Drive Image and AOMEI more.
