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News and Reviews => Official DonationCoder.com Reviews => Mini-Reviews by Members => Backup Guide => Topic started by: mouser on April 04, 2005, 05:39 AM
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Next week will be Drive Imaging Tools
It will be part 1 of a 2 (or even 3) week series on backing up:
1) Drive Imaging
2) Incremental Backup of Documents
3) A guide to good backup processes including 1+2 and extra info.
#2 is probably going to be the tricky one as there are so many tools for doing this..
Drive imaging (#1) is easier since there are very few of these tools (true image, drive image, and maybe 3 or 4 others).
Please help out by providing info as discussed in the other thread.
For those unclear, a Drive Imaging tool makes a complete compressed copy of your hd so that it can be restored later.
The current state of the art seems to be TrueImage and DriveImage/Ghost (now the same thing).
Minimal requirements to be considered for this award:
1) images an entire hd, including multiple partitions
2) can run while windows is still running
3) lets you explore/search/retrieve from images
so if you know of other programs that qualify, please post! (this is thing that would benefit me the most, so i don't miss a program)
and otherwise you can list your views on best/worst, and just as important if not more so, what features in a drive imaging tool you think are most important.
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When I researched this issue I came across and eventually purchased Paragon Software's Drive Backup and also their Partition Manager. While I don't use these programs regularly I have found them to be reliable. Around the time I purchased them they were offering good discountsd and I suspect that they would be amenable to a request.
http://www.paragon-gmbh.com/
Acronis software is another possibility.
Jeff
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i'm just going to throw in the fact that i'm still using powerquest's drive image 2002 again, as it allows me to restore a full system drive/partition backup without having to put a boot CD in.
can this be an issue to consider whilst reviewing the other drive image software, please?
i'll stop using the 2002 version as soon as anyone can tell me of a more up to date program that doesn't require a boot CD to fully work.
here's me hoping...
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Do you mean that you don't have to put a boot CD in even if the original system drive will not boot normally? Or do you mean that you are avoiding putting a CD in to do a full or partial restore of a partition or a disk copntaining several partitions?
Regards,
Jeff
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er, no, not quite.
i wouldn't moan about the boot CD thing but i tend to make a lot of system backups - from the main system partition onto another drive partition.
although this isn't a daily process i still find it annoying having to rely on a boot CD to restore the system image; mainly because of the length of time it takes to boot from the CD. using drive image 2002 i can just open the program up in windows and select the image i want to restore and then let the program take over from there (rebooting the system and replacing the system partition).
that's all i want it to do. but, the current crop of drive image programs don't seem to allow for this. the programs i've tried require that you reboot using a boot CD - WHY?
on the occasion i have thoroughly destroyed my operating system and can't even boot into it then i will use a boot CD with drive image on it to carry out the recovery process.
i only keep moaning about all this as it seems we are going backwards - why has a boot CD got to be used when an older piece of software managed to do it without.
please shut me up if anyone knows of a program that will work like drive image 2002 but has the ability to do on the fly or incremental backups (the 2002 version won't).
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I'm pretty sure Paragon Drive Backup 6 will restore a backed up partition without using the boot CD. To give an example a while ago I created a backup of a logical drive which had data I didn't really need. To be sure I didn't make an error I took a backup. This was weeks ago. I have since deleted the original logical drive. I just used DB6 to restore from the original backup.
This program also has ability to create incremental backups, including on a scheduled basis.
Jeff
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:D well, that's excellent to hear.
it must be one that i didn't try. i shall head over there straight away and give it a go.
thanks for the quick reply. if all goes well i'll let you know.
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You've piqued my curiosity to. I'm having trouble getting the scheduled incremental backup to work.
Jeff
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looks like paragon drive backup doesn't require a boot CD, so, top marks from me at least.
not tried any of the incremental backups or anything else yet but it appears to have a good set of options.
looks like i can now step into the year 2005 at long last and give up my devotion for drive image 2002.
thanks again for letting me know about the paragon software.
Jeff, how are you getting on with the scheduled incremental backup - it sounds like great a feature.
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btw acronis does incremental + scheduled drive imaging as well.
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There are new updates (as of late March) on the Paragon site of some of their software (including Drive Backup). When I downloaded this update and ran it the scheduler seemed to work OK. But an incremental backup I created seemed to have an access problem. I shall try again tonight my time (I am GMT+10).
I did notice that the backup I created did not require a comuter reboot. I think this is part of the "Hot" function of the program. I think a change in partition size would still require a reboot but I'll check that out too.
Jeff
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doesn't the acronis program require a boot CD when restoring a system image mouser?
i'm sure i tried it and didn't use it any further because of the boot CD thing. but then i was sure i had tried everything and i obviously haven't (i'm beginning to doubt what i've done now :stars:).
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acronis might require a boot cd. i dont think it does, but it might, i don't remember.
i'm just pointing out it does incremental backup + scheduled backups.
ive never considered the boot cd issue.. i'll have to think about it before the review this week.
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I tink Paragon would require a boot disk if you were restoring a dead system. However if you are overwriting the existing system with a backed up system I'm not sure.
Jeff
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any other drive imaging software to consider?
Acronis True Image
Drive Image / Ghost
Paragon
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm
others?
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Here are a couple (courtesy og google):
R-Drive Image 2.0 (http://www.drive-image.com/)
Active@ Disk Image (http://www.disk-image.net/) (DOS)
NTI DriveBackup! 4.0 (http://www.ntius.com/default.asp?p=backupnow/drb_main)
EZ-Imager (http://www.itechs-systems.com/pages/ezi.htm)
Double Image-O 5.0 (http://www.hostinterface.com/double.html)
Partimage (http://www.partimage.org/) (linux)
DrvImagerXP v2.2 (http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/drvimagerxpsetup_2.2.html) (free)
dantz Retrospect 7 (http://www.dantz.com/en/products/win_personal/index.dtml) (with DR add-on)
DriveStar 2.39 (http://www.star-tools.com/drivestar/english/)
I know some of them do not meet your requirements, but I thought I'd list those I found :up:.
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seems the great infopackets has recently been writing some articles on backup and todays review was for acronis true image.
http://www.infopackets.com/gazette/2005/20050323_acronis_true_image_8_0_review.htm
seems kind of pointless for us to do something 95% identical..
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mouser, this being such an important kingpin to backup maybe a little more thought and research should be given over to it, something no one mentioned was prgm compatibility, it has to cover 95-XP, Linux, Mac, & should interchangably be able to format disk/hdd too. I'm not familiar enough w/ prgms mentioned to know if they do, or if any does, but it does set the bar a little higher
JMHO
Randy
aka: randiroo76073
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seems the great infopackets has recently been writing some articles on backup and todays review was for acronis true image.
http://www.infopackets.com/gazette/2005/20050323_acronis_true_image_8_0_review.htm
seems kind of pointless for us to do something 95% identical..
-mouser
Perhaps a comparative review would be good. Is Acronis really the best? Or is it because they have established their name earlier?
I remember now why I didn't like Acronis. It wasn't the drive backup, it was the boot menu component, I think of the partitiion manager, that locked my system up.
Jeff
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Maybe instead of awarding best drive imaging tool this week i will devote this saturday's entry to a guide to backing up your computer, and present a set of concrete policies for backing up..
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I think that would be helpful. Perhaps there are some thoughts around about how to combine the "drive backup" type of tool with the folder/file backup tools liks Syncback.
Jeff
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yes, that was my intent, to provide a guide to a complete backup strategy.
keeping with philosophy of this site, i would focus on recommending a particular comprehensive backup strategy.
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I look forward to it.
Jeff :up:
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randy, good point about supporting different partition/operatingsystem types
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my apologies for banging on about whether boot CDs are required or not - it appears the current crop of drive imaging software aren't as strict about this (i've not tried the current version of ghost so can't speak for that).
i'm pretty sure though that version 7 of acronis true image and ghost 8 wouldn't use a dos boot loader type thingy when i tried them (might have been over a year ago) but i'll admit i should have tried the current versions myself before making an issue of using boot CDs.
acronis appears to be the favourite with a lot of people so i thought i better try it. looks good i must say. the chunky graphics and layout look better than the paragon drive backup software's interface but from what i've tried so far the program from paragon is quicker to use.
as an example, which i would expect to be the common one for most users, i made a complete backup of my system partition and then restored it...
using paragon drive backup and from within the windows o/s i could select the image to restore and then let it reboot and get on with it - simple.
using acronis true image, within windows again, after selecting the image to restore there then followed another sequence of steps to follow after acronis true image had rebooted itself into dos, i.e. i had to repeat the image selecting procedure all over again. seems a bit unnecessary to me. why repeat it?
have i missed something or is this how acronis works?
i know i'm moaning all over again about having to make a few extra steps. i can't help but find it odd when you can't just select the image to restore, click 'go' and then walk out the room knowing that when you return in a few minutes everything will be done.
in short, paragon drive backup seems the most sensible program to use in this scenario.
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I think Acronis might have a better interface for the "normal" user, whereas Paragon is a little less user friendly but a more computer literate person would prefer it. Have you noticed the (daunting?) level of detail in the Paragon help files?
Jeff
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you shouldn't have to repeat selection of partitions after reboot, not sure why you would have to..
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i thought it seemed a bit odd to have to select things twice - i'll have a play around with it today.
if i can get acronis to work properly then it looks like i'll be changing my mind yet again on which i prefer.
(i've not got around to looking at the help files for paragon, jeff.)
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not figured out what i'm doing wrong with acronis yet but i have to say it definately works a lot smoother whilst making the backup image. even has the option to lower it's priority whilst running by selecting from the tray menu (i don't think that the paragon program allows for this).
i have to confess i've not used 'process tamer' yet. it looks like i now have a piece of software that would benefit from it as the sluggishness of my system whilst using the paragon software is a bit poor.
mouser to the rescue yet again :D
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this will seem a little late in the day and quite obvious to all those already using it but i just wanted to say how great process tamer is.
it made the paragon drive backup software work like a dream during the image making process (well, it made my system more responsive as it should). it's a pity paragon didn't allow for this in their own coding of the program. what's the point of having the feature of 'live' drive imagining if you can't use your system very well at the same time?
overall, i probably still have to favour paragon over acronis, simply because it requires less mouse clicking in creating and restoring the image. it's also less annoying as it doesn't need to verify the partitions so much during the selection process.
(i still can't get acronis to stop repeating itself after the dos boot - is it because i have the image on a separate hard drive?)
anyway, time to make a donation for 'process tamer' i think.
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thanks for that comment nudone - i really appreciate it. it's nice when people find a use for a program.
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On another forum, someone pointed me to www.xxclone.com
Jeff
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If you were to do a search on Google you might come across this.
http://ess.paragon.ag/paragon/site/en/google.jsp
Jeff
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any other drive imaging software to consider?
Acronis True Image
Drive Image / Ghost
Paragon
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm
others?
-mouser
Yes, my personal favorite:
TeraByte Unlimited Image for DOS/Windows (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/)
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I've also been an extended user of the terabyte software. It's very lean and does it's job well. The recovery software has saved me also.
The only complaint is the speed I've seen restoring from the Dos mode.
I can restore a drive from Windows in a fraction of the time it takes to do a restore of the same drive from the dos boot.
I hear you say, "why not just restore it on a separate windows computer". That's the rub, if I restore from windows, the image doesn't work on the other computer. Restore on the target computer of the same image using Dos mode works fine.
Rob
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I use Ghost, it's really to use. Keep it simple :)
Window Partition C with Ghost.exe
When I've problem ( I just restore Win Partition ) , go to MSDOS and ghost.exe > Restore :)
nXqd
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http://www.horizondatasys.com/169614.ihtml
RollBack Rx™ is a robust system restore utility that enables home users and IT professionals to easily restore a PC to a time before certain events occurred. RollBack Rx makes it easy for users of all skill levels to quickly and easily repair PC issues - saving time, money and PC trouble. With RollBack Rx you can...
Reverse any system crash (even if Windows can't startup)
Back out of any failed software installations, botched update etc.
Reverse user errors manually, or set Restore-on-Reboot or Log-off
Roll back minutes, hours, or even months.
Roll backwards and forwards to any system snapshot
Allows users to safely test any software. Fast, 100% clean uninstaller
Roll-back, yet recover files from your "future" snapshot(s)
Retrieve files from a crashed PC, even if it can not boot into Windows.
Access control - prevent unauthorized users from accessing any RollBack Rx functions
Automatically schedule snapshots or hard drive restores at set intervals
Day Zero Disaster Recovery with no data loss
Group Management and Enterprise Network Administration Control
I found sth interesting :)
nXqd
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I found this program a lifesaver when the softwarre that came loaded on my new Maxtor one touch 4 plus 500 Gb ext HDD stopped working. It's both free and works better and faster then any I've ever used before. Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - for personal and non-commercial use
The fastest disk imaging software is now available as a free edition.
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Built in scheduler.
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HTML log files.
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