Hard Drive Imaging Freeware

The image is placed on an internal hd. I have two primary's called "system Reserved" wich will be hard to delete/format and a "C:" partition.
I think the problem is this:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1524329&postcount=2

Everytime i install windows i need a floppy disk with the hd driver on it to get Windows installed. Otherwise it wont "see" my hd. Its probably the same now with restoring without the boot-cd.
The boot-cd seems to have more drivers in it so that my hd is recognised.

 

trying Macrium now much faster/better than acronis 10 and its free

 

Ah, drivers.

Let me know if you want to get rid of the SRP.

 

Hi All

With Macrium Reflect free does anyone know if there is a method to view and copy files from an Archive?

Thanks

Terry

 

Hi Panagiotis

Thanks very much for your input I had not realised that Paragon Backup & Recovery was only a month old. Insofar as DriveImage XML is concerned, I like it but it is incredibly slow and I cannot get it to Restore on my machine.

Terry

 

If you mean, can you peer inside a Macrium image file, then yes, you can mount them with Macrium. They are read only but you can copy out of them AFAIK.

Sul.

 

Never spotted that.

Thanks Terry.

 

You are right I never tested the linux based recovery cd, but keep in mind Paragon backup and recovery 10 free edition is basically designed for novice users or users who do not need a lot of advanced features from their backup software. So, for such users the recovery cd is only essential if there is a hard drive failure or boot problems. Under normal circumstances, you can perform all your backups and restores from inside windows and you can do that all for free, which is a big plus.

I personally do not like the linux based recovery option and that was the only reason I decided to go with Paragon HDM pro, otherwise HDM suite would have sufficed for me. WinPe based recovery environment is only available with Paragon pro lines.

Paragon free edition, from within windows, lets you make and schedule a full backup as well as a differential backups and restores with extremely high reliability. And all that is for free.

Those who need advanced functionality can of course switch to their paid versions.

 

The use of a recovery CD has nothing to do with whether a user is advanced.

A recovery CD is also needed to restore other than a system partition, if certain conditions are met, e.g., the partition might have a pagefile, or there might be open handles used by the OS.

The only advantage of WinPE over a linux based recovery disk is that a WinPE boot allows you to add drivrs for devices not covered by the WinPE. As far as I know, linux based recovery CDs do not allow additional drivers to be added at boot time.

 

That's correct you can copy any archived files once you mount a Macrium Reflect image.

 

Hi Andyman 35 & Sully

Thanks for your replies. Can you explain to me how to mount a Macrium image of an archive so I can view and copy it?

On my installed FREE version of Macrium there is no mention of how to do it

Thanks

Terry

 

Can you explain a little more? You can restore any partition whether it is system or not from within windows using paragon. If the process can not be completed while the system is online, then you will be given a notice that you need a reboot. The process will be done on reboot. You will not require a recovery CD.

In case of paragon, recovery CD is only required if you can not boot into windows at all.

Like I said, sometime people want to backup and recover from outside windows only and if this is true, then they can switch to the paid versions of Paragon. However most users do not need to do this and so the free version will suffice for their needs.

 

You just click on the highlighted tab in the screenshot and choose which image you wish to mount,it then appears as an additional drive in Windows Explorer.

 

Hi All

And thanks to all who have been helping me including the Private Messager.

I now have another problem.

I am using Win XP SP3 Plus a USB external Hard Drive to store my image files.

When I use the the various methods to explore and mount the image I get the following error message.

"The system cannot find the path specified"

a) USB drive IS SWITCHED ON

b) In the backup selection box the path to the folder is correctly shown ie F:\MacriumReflect

c) The tick is in the box to select the image, yet when I click on OK I get the above error message

Any ideas please

Thanks

Terry

 

Thx Brian K. I already tried it. I followed this link:
Removing 100MB system partition - no re-install needed
The problem was that the Windows "Repair Disc" doesnt recognise my hd again and having the drivers in a floppy disk and choosing them doesnt help either. Perhaps i could try to make a custom Repair Disc with the drivers in it....
But I can live with that partition. Thx for trying to help

 

Hi Terry,

-I agree DriveImage XML is slow. But what do you mean you never got it to recover on your machine? Never had any problem from a BartPE disk with it.

-Now you got me confused. You do not want to backup from a windows enviroment and you chose macrium? Unless I have missed something macrium does not allow you to take an image from the recovery media.

Panagiotis

 

Hi Panagiotis


Thanks for you reply.

1) DriveImage XML

When (approximately 3 months ago) I needed to restore an image I was at that time using DI XML. I had never bothered to check that it would actually restore (lesson no one) So when I tried to restore, everything went well until (I am stretching my memory here) until you have to put a code in at the end of the restore sequence in DM XML 2.12?. In short, one of the letters of the code, I was not able to reproduce.

I contacted DM XML, unfortunately they were most unhelpful (I am in diplomatic mode when I say this). I never got it resolved. However I did post in a forum and I got 4 replies with a similar problem as mine. So I assumed it was not me or my PC, and I said goodbye

2) Macrium Reflect

No you are not confused. You are correct in everything you say.

It is simply pragmatism on my part. My preference would be to use a Backup and Recovery freeware that allows me to Backup, independent of Windows and that allows the widest range of operating systems including Windows 7.
Todo Backup does not cover Win 7. You know the score with Paragon Backup & Restore, I have covered DI XML. Acronis 8 Does all of what I want well and just may cover Win 7 so I am told but there is doubt ?

Returning to Macrium Reflect it is very good and now I have resolved the issue of Exploring archives, it is quite fast easy on the eye and simple.

The best beyond any shadow of doubt, by miles and 8/5 kilometres is ShadowProtect. It is the fastest the most dependable and quite simple, not the simplest. Unfortunately it is not free.

So If you know the holy grail or if Paragon moves in that direction let me know.

Terry

 

rolarocka, their solution was drastic. I experimented and found two methods that work. I used BootIt NG (BING) as the partitioner but other apps should work.

1. Delete the SRP from a BING CD as it can't be deleted from Windows. In View MBR, set the Win7 partition active. When you try to boot Win7 you will see a "BootMGR is missing" message.

Do two repairs from the Win7 DVD. It is only on the second repair that you will get to a big menu where you can choose "Startup Repair".
Win7 then boots normally.


2. Using a VistaPE boot CD, copy the contents of the SRP to the Win7 partition. A BartPE CD can be used instead.

From a BING CD, delete the SRP. In View MBR, set the Win7 partition active.
Win7 then boots normally.


Remember, the SRP is an Active partition, so after deleting the partition you MUST make Win7 the active partition. I've done these procedures about 10 times each. They work.

On my test computer, if I don't set Win7 as the active partition I see, "Invalid boot diskette, insert boot diskette in A:" (you might get a different error if you don't have a floppy drive)

 

Your criteria for making a backup outside the OS (the installed OS) probably limits you. Holy grail wise, I dunno. But I do know that you can use Macrium to make an image pretty quick, and if you use BartPE with either the Macrium Restore plugin or the RoboRestore method, it is very quick to restore. Having BartPE boot into RAM from hdd makes it about a 30 second boot, and around 3-5 minutes to restore a basic OS image. For me, it is the most robust and cheapest route.

Sul.

 

Well... it depends on the needs.
For me (since I do not need and do not trust incremental imaging) the best ones are Image for Windows(Image for DOS) and DriveSnapshot.

In your case (from the free options) the holy grail would be Paragon with the BartPE plugin. https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=257771

Panagiotis

 

Sul,

Could you expand a little on "boot into RAM"? I have BartPE on my HD and it does boot faster than from a CD.

 

The easiest way to create an InRam BartPE is to use Winbuilder with LiveXP project and enable the ramdisk.sys from 2003.

Panagiotis

 

Hi Panagiotis

Agreed, both are very good even excellent, neither are free and as far as I am aware neither accomodate Windows 7. So if one is planning to migrate to Windows 7 in the near future. You would be taking a punt on whether these two will be upgraded. In addition both are what I call boutique software.

Also agreed about Paragon. BUT there are companies that produce products that when released don't need addons ('cause they are already included) like BartPE plugin, and somehow their internal testing & QC is upto scratch. Don't forget Paragon Backup & Recovery is not a totally new product, it is a derivation from and an improvement to Drive Backup 9. So the changes in it (in my opinion) are not seismic and ought not to cause problems. Yet..........

Terry

 

Thanks.

 

IFW works fine in 7... actually almost every imaging app that uses VSS and was compatible with Vista/2008 should not have any problem with 7.

About Paragon 10. From the quick testdrive I took yesterday (x86 version) it works fine in the windows enviroment.
For me at the moment is the best freeware because is the only one that gives you differentials.

Panagiotis

edit: I would suggest to give it a proper run before you decide. Macrium is very very good (I love the interface which is perfect for novices) but differential imaging is handy especially with Vista and 7 since they are huge OSes compared with XP.