I am considering buying Casper 10 for my XP Pro, so I can download and test out various software with minimal risk. Cannot seem to find any reviews on it, although plenty to be found on previous versions. Seems suspicious, so would like to hear good or bad from anyone using Casper 10, especially XP Pro users. Thanks.
To be honest Ive never heard of it, but that aside it seems rather expensive.Any reason not use one of the familiar players like image for windows or macrium?
Interesting tool...decided to try it since it's something I haven't used before. Clean interface...image speed was about the same as other apps. I did not see any option to validate the image after it was taken, nor did I see any way to mount an image and browse/restore files. If I missed these options let me know. Bummed about the image size...R-Drive and IFL came in around 20-22gig each...the image from Casper was 40gig!
I have looked around and the other options seem either too complicated (I've never fooled with this sort of thing before), or it doesn't do a complete and instantly bootable backup, or its not XP Pro friendly, or it has some other flaw. Frankly its my second choice. I had wanted something else...I think it was Norton Ghost. Cannot remember, other than it was impossible to find a active download link. Anyway, Casper is probably what I will go for, unless everyone tells me its really crappy. Then I guess I'll have to keep looking. I don't care much about cost...so long as its not rentware, where I have to pay ongoing yearly tribute!
Uitlander, All imaging apps will do that. But an instantly bootable backup is not needed. Image/restore is more practical. You can keep multiple backup generations. You don't have to be concerned with geometry or drive letter issues causing a non bootable clone. Norton Ghost was one of the worst offenders. You don't have to be present at the computer to create an image. Creating a clone is a manual procedure, usually. I suggest you learn to use one of the free imaging apps.
Most image restores are done for software reasons rather than for hard drive failure. Reasons such as software corruption, malware, user error, rogue apps, etc. I'd do hundreds of restores for software reasons for every restore due to hard drive failure. It's far easier to restore an image instead of swapping hard drives every few weeks.
As I recall, others are a bit too complicated for me. I think Aomei requires one to download some AIK (?) from Microsoft to get it to do barebones restore...plus I got no idea what barebones restore is. Others require "booting into PE". Not too interested in learning how to deal with this stuff...I want something simple, and if I have to pay for it, that's okay. I do want a instantly bootable backup. Like I said, I don't want to have to fool with it to get it up and running. I'm not interested in doing multiple backups. I want to get everything exactly like I want it, then back up the whole deal to a separate hard disk, in case some hacker sends it all into a tailspin. Only need one 'mastermold' copy.
