OT: Disk Imaging Software
Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:49 am
Hi all,
After a nasty hard drive crash last Friday, I'm looking for new disk imaging software. I faithfully backup online (with Jungledisk) every night, which saved my bacon this time. But when you have to restore 300+gb over the internet, AND reinstall your O/S and well over 100 different applications, you quickly find out that you should have had a reliable local image copy of your drive. So I've learned my lesson.
Two packages I've eliminated from the list are Acronis True Image 11 and Norton Ghost. I've had trouble with these in the past. Any recommendations? I'm open to freeware OR to paid software. I've seen some positive reviews of the following (most of which happen to be free):
Paragon Backup & Recovery 2011 (Advanced)
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/
Macrium Reflect Free Edition http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
PING (PartImage Is Not Ghost) http://ping.windowsdream.com/
Clonezilla http://clonezilla.org/
Seagate Disk Wizard program which is a stripped down version of Acronis. I have downloaded it in the hopes that it might be more reliable than the full blown True Image 11, but if any of you have used it, I'd love to know. I DO have Seagate hard drives, which this software requires. I'll give it a whirl as soon as my file restore is complete.
Most of these that I've mentioned are free, but paid is fine too. RELIABILITY is the most important feature. Simplicity helps too. When you lose everything in a hard drive crash, your mental state is pretty close to the edge and complicated software could be enough to push you over.
I'd love the option to Image and to Clone, but having both in the same application would be icing on the cake. If you have something that you really like - especially if you've had to restore with it, please let me know.
Thanks!
-- Susan
After a nasty hard drive crash last Friday, I'm looking for new disk imaging software. I faithfully backup online (with Jungledisk) every night, which saved my bacon this time. But when you have to restore 300+gb over the internet, AND reinstall your O/S and well over 100 different applications, you quickly find out that you should have had a reliable local image copy of your drive. So I've learned my lesson.
Two packages I've eliminated from the list are Acronis True Image 11 and Norton Ghost. I've had trouble with these in the past. Any recommendations? I'm open to freeware OR to paid software. I've seen some positive reviews of the following (most of which happen to be free):
Paragon Backup & Recovery 2011 (Advanced)
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/
Macrium Reflect Free Edition http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
PING (PartImage Is Not Ghost) http://ping.windowsdream.com/
Clonezilla http://clonezilla.org/
Seagate Disk Wizard program which is a stripped down version of Acronis. I have downloaded it in the hopes that it might be more reliable than the full blown True Image 11, but if any of you have used it, I'd love to know. I DO have Seagate hard drives, which this software requires. I'll give it a whirl as soon as my file restore is complete.
Most of these that I've mentioned are free, but paid is fine too. RELIABILITY is the most important feature. Simplicity helps too. When you lose everything in a hard drive crash, your mental state is pretty close to the edge and complicated software could be enough to push you over.
I'd love the option to Image and to Clone, but having both in the same application would be icing on the cake. If you have something that you really like - especially if you've had to restore with it, please let me know.
Thanks!
-- Susan