Image for Windows 2.50 Released

Image for Windows 2.50 was released on September 24.

Changelog:

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/upgradehist-image-for-windows.htm

 

What's this software like,I don't know much about it at all? How does it compare with Macrium Reflect Free for features?

 

Here's a recent post that I made on Image for Windows/Image for DOS:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1546111&postcount=6

The Restore with Image for DOS is a little different but not difficult. Image for Windows + Restore DVD(s) is good for the computer novice since the DVD's are bootable as mentioned in the Post above. Image for DOS can do most everything Image for Windows can. Image for DOS has a GUI (Graphical User Interface) which makes it relatively easy to use.

I have not got a lot of experience with Image for Windows/Image for DOS. I routinely make monthly Full System Partition Image Backups and weekly Differential Image Backups (to save some hard disk space). I have only restored about four times with no problems being encountered. All four restores were tests (not really necessary). I have yet to restore because I really have a need to restore.

 

Thanks for that.

 

The most significant difference so far as I'm concerned is that Terabyte's images cannot be mounted as a virtual drive. The only way you can work with a Terabyte image file (to access or restore an individual file from it, for example) is to use a file browser they provide as a free download. This file browser is slow as molasses and provides only limited functionality. By contrast, images from Macrium (as well as Acronis and some others) can be mounted as a virtual disk and accessed much as any conventional disk.

 

Tried the 2.50 form 2.41 version on my Thinkpad T400 with Vista 32bit Business and got the dreaded Windows repair loop after trying to restore an image made with new version. Went back to previous version and all seems well for now. Don't know what happened on my laptop but just be careful. Usually, Terabyte runs rock solid on this machine.

Gary

 

layman,

TBIView is almost instantaneous on my computer. Well, maybe a second to load. How long does yours take?

The TeraByte developer was asked about the ability to mount a virtual drive and he said it would be a backward step. Not sure what he meant but it's on his To Do list.

 

Gary, it is strange that both IFW 2.50 and SP 3.3 cause this error on your computer. But not IFW 2.41. Let us know if you find an answer.

 

@Brian,
Thanks. Tried 2.50 again but no go - just a blinking cursor at startup. Went back to 2.41 restore to 2.41 image and all is well. Don't know why. Anyway, thanks again.

Gary

 

Good to know, thanks for warning us !

 

Thanks for that.The image mounting feature in Macrium is a big plus for me.

 

I don't use the Terabyte products because of this problem. When I've evaluated the software (something I've done a number of times over the years), the performance of TBIView has been terrible on deeply nested directory trees.

I believe that Terabyte's software is rock-solid, but it's based on a design that is long in the tooth and not a little geeky. The notion of producing an image that is mountable was a brilliant idea, and one that offers the kind of plusses that elegant designs always do. It's disingenuous for Terabyte to claim it would be a step backward if they were to produce images you can actually work with using something other than custom bits of code! Pardon my snort!

 

I was about to post about this before I saw someone got there before me. Image for Windows has saved me hundreds of times. Now that it is Windows 7 Compatible I've installed this and made a few backups. ShadowProtect came out with a new version too!

 

layman,

Are you sure you have tried the latest TBIView? With Version 1 IFW, TBIView was as you describe but with Version 2 IFW and the latest TBIView, it is fast on all of my computers.

 

IFW boot disk look so ugly and unsafe to use , i dont know how pl can count on it to be ready for the D day?

i use drive snap shot , little 1 file image software sewed on home made windows boot disk

cheers

 

Ditto. Absolutely the best software investment that I ever made.

I've used Image for Windows & Image for Linux for nearly two years. I used to haunt their forums for awhile when I first registered my copy. Geeky, sure; but Terabyte's never let me down.

 

Possibly not. Even if it's speedy, it wouldn't win me over, though. Whaddaya do if you image a machine and notice that the latest image is huge compared with the last image you cut and you have no idea why? With IFW there's no easy way (I know of) to figure out why this unexpected increase occurred. With mountable images, however, you simply mount 'em up, run any disk utilization utility you happen to have in your tool kit on each image, and compare the results.

 

Why would a full backup image be huge compared to the last image unless you have added data to the partition? And you would already know if you had.

I keep a record of partition sizes. If they don't change, the images don't change in size.

Then you have been describing a product that hasn't been used for two years.

 

One of the main reason that explains the huge size of a diff image is defragmentation : without adding a single file. The image process is sector-based and defragmentation changes the sectors content, hence the size of the diff image.

 

AS I recall, Terabytee's images still cannot be mounted as a virtual drive.
For me, that is a showstopper.

 

Gary,

I tried a few restores with ver 2.5 IFD. Went OK.

Out of interest, which TeraByte app did you use for the restore? IFD or one of the others? It would be nice to know why it doesn't work on your computer.

 

Brian,
I used Image for Linux as sual because most of th etime it runs faster that DOS on this system but it seemed slow this time about twice as slow for some reason.

Gary

 

Gary, thanks. I just tried a ver 2.5 IFL restore. OK here.

 

Gary, I spoke with TeraByte Support about your issue and it was suggested to, "partinfo of working system and partinfo of non-working would indicate what problem is".

Would you like to contact TeraByte Support?

 

I also use IFL which is usually much faster than IFD. I also like the environment and was able, in a specific situation to use command line with some non standard parameters.