Hard Drive Imaging Freeware

Which of the freeware hard drive imaging programs would be the simplest to use for the "Average PC User" while still having enough features enabled?

Yesterday, I ran across "Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Free". I installed it on my Windows 7 RC 32 bit PC. I made an image with it but did not restore the image. It appears to me that this new imaging program has a lot of features. Does anyone have any opinions on Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Free?

Thanks in Advance.

 

Try this.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Completely free and compatible with Windows 7.
I use it and prefer it over Paragon free, DriveImage XML, or the free versions of Acronis.

 

What wtsinnc said.



Support is top-drawer too.

philby

 

i liked macrium, but it has a service running when u install, thats something i dont like.

 

I've set the service to manual.

Nick comments on this here.

philby

 

is the service necessary for macrium to run or work properly?

EDIT: nvm just read that thread, thx.

 

Another one for Macrium here,it's fast,simple to use and most important extremely reliable (still waiting for a bad restore after hundreds of uses).

 

I must say i am very impressed with the speed of free Macrium.
If the full version performs as well then this may very well be my next purchase.

 

Hi;

Macrium Reflect free. http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

EASEUS Todo Backup www.todo-backup.com/download/

If you have a Seagate or WD hdd they have their own versions of drive imaging freeware. Just check out their sites. What they offer is a downngrade version of Acronis True Image 10 or 11.

I use Macrium and never failed me yet.

Kind regards!

 

Advantage of Paragon freeware is that it alllows to backup/restore to different partition sizes. Macrium does not allow to restore to a smaller partition size.

 

You can do that with Macrium + Robocopy, but it's not as simple and elegant as it could be.

philby

 

I have two Qs.

1- Have they plan to add imge backup option in free version CD also( i suppose it,s already added to pro version CD)?
2- I am not sure but I suspect i heard that feature of restore to a smaller partition is on to do list. Am I true?

Thanks for any answers.

 

EASUS Todo Backup seems more robust compared to the macrium freebie at first glance. Has offline backup capability via winPE CD as well. Macrium on the other hand is amazingly fast in backing up my hd last I tried it compared to a GAOTD Paragon freebie. Is anyone using EASUS as their main backup program? Experiences and thoughts?



offtopic:
Is it better to do an offline backup as opposed to hotbackup?

 

Macrium Free works very nicely on my W7 32-Bit laptop.

First restore is done successfully.

Thanks for tip guys! Appreciated. Any info about special discount for paid version?

 

I have a question in regard to Macrium reflect free. Must I use an external hard drive or dvd, or can I have a single hard drive with a second partition to store the image?

Thanks

 

You can use that 2nd partition. It is not that safe compared to external drive.

Remember create the rescue CD.

 

Yes there's nothing to prevent you imaging to a second partition but in the event of mechanical HDD failure you're toast.

 

Thanks. I do not currently have an external harddrive. I plan on getting one soon. Right now my computer has one drive with vista on C: and a second partition with music and movies. I realize if the hdd fails, both partitions and the backup image are gone! But in the event of a virus infection or some other vista problem it would be nice to be able to use the backup image stored on the other partition. I think Ill download Macruim free and give it a try!

 

Had a bit more time to play with Macrium free today.

The linux rescue cd does not work, it only comes up with the line across the top as others have reported on the forum.
The Bart PE rescue disc is not compatible with Vista or Windows 7.
And the Windows PE disc is only available with the paid version.

I was going to seek help on Macriums forum, but it is now only for paying customers.

So for me its a for Macrium Reflect, no way am i going to buy their product just to see how the Windows PE rescue cd works.

 

Pretty valid points Tony. I totally agree. Linux rescue CD worked for me, luckily.

 

It's a reputable company and they offer an unconditional, 30-day, guarantee if you're not satisfied for any reason.

All purchases from us come with an unconditional guarantee. If you are not satisfied with one of our software products, contact us within 30 days for instructions on obtaining a refund.

 

Actually their free offer is mazing, if linux recovery disk boots ok on ur system.

 

Macrium Free is my choise. I will buy it once the 'next' version releases. I think that is version 5. The ETA on it is still in the air. Once you buy a version, you get free upgrades for the life of the version, if I understand it correctly. Thus for me, I won't buy version 4x only to have to pay for version 5x.

Regardless, Macrium Free has been stellar for me. I have made so many images and restored them with no errors, I am amazed. Many others I have tried usually work, but occassionally (maybe hardware dependent) I run into problems. Others I have read have had different success.

I have been playing with Comodo Time Machine, and really thought it might work well. However, after running some performance test softwares, I noticed it chewed up space like crazy. I want simplicity. Using Shadow Defender is also nice, but the whole issue with not being able to install software that needs reboots leaves it lacking.

So this thread is of relevance to me because I am about to embark on yet another tweaking journey. My goal is to use macrium with the robo-restore feature. I find it interesting that there may stand the possibility of restoring my image to my c: drive, yet with the robo-copy/robo-restore method, all new files will be left intact if I don't format. I can think of some good uses for that feature.

I currently have a bartpe image booting from the c: into ramdisk, so getting to an OS to run the reflect restore is fast and easy. However creating this method was not very straight forward (the ramdisk part). I aim to create a grub-loader setup, where my c: can house the bartPE images so that under normal circumstances you can just choos a boot.ini type instance and boot directly into bartPE from RAM. This is how I do it now. The bartPE is in memory, so I can run the reflect restore program, and image the c: drive at will. However, should the c: become corrupt, I still want the bartPE images on another partition/drive so I can still quickly boot into bartPE. Booting from cd or usb is fine, but booting from hdd is much better.

I have decided that the rollback apps are nice, but not really what I want. I want to install a new firewall, and if I don't like it, quickly and conveniently restore my image. Who knows where all of this leads to, but I do know that because of macrium and it's features/tools, this could become pretty robust for my needs.

I will release my technique when I have it completed.

later.

Sul.

 

I 've made my Linux Macrium CD a long time ago, but i remember that there was an option to create a Linux CD with "increased compatibility" or something like that. I remember that the "normal CD" wouldn't work for me either but once i activated the option, it worked. The option is somewhere in a menu (semi-hidden) when you create the CD.


What i don't like about Macrium, is that the license is tied to the hard disk. Quite a few cases in their fora, especially those who installed it on PC without internet connection, had problems and they had to contact by mail the support to have their license "reset" and given new codes. I hate such things.

 

Yeah Fuzzfas there is a compatibility mode and a debug mode none of which work for me.
Ta m8

Macrium are very generous to offer a free version.
Where they fail, is to offer no support to the free version.

If free does not work, no way will i spend my hard earned on a license, even if there is a 30 day money back guarantee.

Edit: If free did not work, and they offered support to fix this, then i would hand over my hard earned for a license.