Best FREE image backup for Windows 10/11

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by DjKilla, Dec 1, 2022.

  1. ParadigmShift

    ParadigmShift Registered Member

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    I agree with EASTER. AOMEI software has always been an excellent backup/partition choice.
     
  2. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    My top 3 paid backup programs are Terabyte Image for Windows, Acronis TI and R-Drive Disk Image (or Active@ Disk Image Pro)
    My top 3 free backup programs are Active@ Disk Image Lite, Paragon and Macrium Reflect Free.

    But like I said, I nowadays typically use these 3 or 4 paid programs from boot USB in WinPE environment (Win10XPE), and haven't tested the free options in more than a year now
     
  3. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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    Apart from Macrium Reflect, which ones from your Top 3 (Paid & Free) offer the Add Boot Menu option?
     
  4. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    lol not sure about that since I never use that feature, so sorry I don't know the answer. But if memory serves me right, I think I read from somewhere that Terabyte Image for Windows has that option.
     
  5. DjKilla

    DjKilla Registered Member

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    Just tried Active Disk Image Lite and I really like it. Simple to use to create a disk image of my system drive. BUT, not being able to create a bootable USB drive to restore the image makes it almost useless. I did find a strange way to restore the image by creating a 'Recovery Drive' USB in Windows 10 then creating a folder on the drive and moving the contents of the Active Disk Image Lite directory into the folder on the recovery drive (USB) where you can run the program in a command prompt to restore the image. I haven't tried it yet and it's not user friendly but if it works, it's a way to use the lite version which is free. I got this info from their website which looks like it would work with any current windows version. Here's the link: https://www.disk-image.com/faq-diskimage-windows8-secure.htm

    Like I said, not very user friendly creating a bootable drive, but other than that, Active Disk Image Lite is easy to use and could easily become my top 2-3 free programs I use for backups.
     
  6. Hadron

    Hadron Registered Member

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    I had a look at Active@ Disk Image, and as you said, there is no rescue bootable media for the free Lite version. Very strange.

    Active@ Disk Image Comparison Chart.png
     
  7. Asterixpl

    Asterixpl Registered Member

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    I used to use the MRF. Now I use Hasleo Backup Suite. I create a copy of the system and restore and everything works for free.

    Congratulations Hasleo
     
  8. Asterixpl

    Asterixpl Registered Member

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    In my spare time, I am testing Active Disk Image Lite. The program is really fast and backs up the system well.

    I have not yet restored my system with this program. The only drawback, and it's a major drawback, is the lack of an ADI boot disk.

    I saw in a previous post that someone provided a link on how to make a boot disk in the Lite version. I haven't tried that yet. But this is not how it should be done

    In my opinion, any system backup program should include a boot disk during a system crash. Even the free version should include this. Strange that ADI Lite has not implemented this.
     
  9. Asterixpl

    Asterixpl Registered Member

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    My TOP 3 free copy programs (I'm already skipping MRF) are.

    1. Hasleo Backup Suite
    2. Aomeii Backupper Standard
    3. Active Disk Image Lite
     
  10. DjKilla

    DjKilla Registered Member

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    I finally got around to following the instructions I posted above to create a bootable USB to restore the image using Active Disk Image Lite. It was easier than I thought. I'm using Windows 10 and what I did is click the Windows Start icon and type recovery. I then clicked Recovery Drive to create the bootable USB, then created a folder called Active on the USB, then copied the folder c:\Program Files\LSoft Technologies\Active@ Disk Image Freeware to my Active folder on the USB. That's it. Then I restarted my computer and pressed F8 to choose my bootable USB. I clicked Trouble Shoot, then clicked Command Prompt window. I changed my drive to the USB drive which was f: in my case. Changed to the directory Active@ Disk Image Freeware and typed disk_image.exe and pressed enter. The program started and I chose Image To Disk then searched for my image file to restore my computer. I stopped at this point and didn't restore my computer but it works perfectly. Very simple and easy to do. It's not complicated at all and it's quick to create the bootable USB. I think I'm going to move this program up into my top two which would now be Paragon Backup and Active Disk Image Lite. My third would be Aomei,Veeam, Macrium Free.

    I know Hasleo has been mentioned but I'm waiting for a finished product with no more testing and changes. I'm also focusing on only free backup programs and I'm not sure yet if Hasleo intends to charge for their software in the future or always have a free version available.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2023
  11. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Amazing. Ironically enough my (3) common and new standards are exactly those at present- Drive Snapshot & IFW are onboard but will not see usage in light of the stellar results i discovered these few months in this group.

    Only the order is different mine being
    1. Aomei Backupper
    2. Hasleo Backup Suite
    3. Active@ Disk Image (which i only recently tested and found quite sound for my purposes)
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2023
  12. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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    As it seems, the only Freeware solutions which offer BOTH the ability to:

    1) Add a Boot Menu option (i.e. entering a Recovery Environment)

    and
    2) Create Boot Media (i.e. USB/CD/DVD)

    right away (like the features offered by the Macrium Reflect Free)

    are:
    Hasleo and MiniTool ShadowMaker.
     
  13. Hasleo

    Hasleo Registered Member

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    @pb1 Sorry for the late reply. Regarding this error, please open the save log file dialog (" [​IMG] " > "Save logs") and save the log file, then send the log file to us via support@easyuefi.com. Thanks.
     
  14. Chuck57

    Chuck57 Registered Member

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    I have Ashampoo Backup Pro 15 on this laptop (a free giveaway from a couple of years ago). Never used it until today. I ran a backup this morning out of curiosity, since I'd seen some people mention how slow it is. This was done on a Hard Disk. SSD would be much faster.

    It took ONE HOUR from start to finish for 54.9G of data. That's the slowest of any backup program I've ever tried. I did not try restore nor did I do a rescue disk, since this was just to check backup speed.

    I do like the GUI. It's so easy to create a backup plan that even I didn't make any mistakes. You can uncheck 'pause' in the settings menu so you can work on the computer while the backup is running. But one hour, even on an HDD, is unacceptable to me.
     
  15. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Hasleo works very well however i experienced some issues with testing MiniTool ShadowMaker. Could just be an anomaly on my part but at any rate those aforementioned Top 3 on my end are absolutely solid and tops without fail.
     
  16. Spartan

    Spartan Registered Member

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    what issues?
     
  17. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    I am unfamiliar with MiniTool but i will try again soon to see if i can set the Recovery Environment again as expected.
    Was in a rush so as i mentioned probably something i missed doing.
     
  18. Antarctica

    Antarctica Registered Member

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    Installed Hasleo last week, everything went well. Now this morning I'm trying to install the boot menu but it failed. Close the computer, start again but same result. Did anyone encounter the same problem?
     
  19. Hasleo

    Hasleo Registered Member

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    @Antarctica Regarding this error, please open the save log file dialog (" [​IMG] " > "Save logs") and save the log file, then send the log file to us via support@easyuefi.com. Thanks.
     
  20. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    I resolved the issue and now MiniTool is operational completely. I suspected in haste that i missed something but all is perfect peachy now with MiniTool ShadowMaker.
     
  21. Antarctica

    Antarctica Registered Member

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    @Hasleo, thanks for your answer. It finally installed at the third attempt. Tried my first recovery this morning and everything went well. Thanks for that nice Software and keep up the good work.
     
  22. Asterixpl

    Asterixpl Registered Member

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    Thanks for the answer. I also find Ashampoo Backup very slow despite a very nice GUI. I took the time to install it myself to test it.

    I did not find it to my liking. It is the worst program of its kind in my opinion.
     
  23. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Glad it sorted out for you to satisfaction @Antarctica :thumb:
     
  24. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Well since the Topic Title stipulates Windows 10/11 only, i can settle it on this end with confidence Aomei Backupper as the top choice since i did (3) months daily backup/restore tests after procuring a good set of new machines to expand some of my systems in event of anything including hardware disruptions.

    And, since @Hasleo Backup Suite unexpectedly came to the rescue on one of my Windows 10 laptops, after a botched Comodo FW uninstall, even in it's early ongoing development, i have to add it high on the list. It could have went bad since i only had a single Windows 10 backup (my mains are Windows 8.1), and it was a early Image made when Hasleo first came to this forum's attention. Not only that but there is been some newer releases, but it overlaid that early backup perfectly. Which also recovered the system intact again.
     
  25. ParadigmShift

    ParadigmShift Registered Member

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    Nice work, Easter. I have used Aomei software for years with great success. Thanks for your feedback.
     
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