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.

Absolutely free! No strings! The only free XP and Vista compatible disk imaging software with BartPE and Linux based recovery options.

Create a disk image whilst running Windows using Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS).
Image to Network, USB, FireWire drives and DVD.
Built in scheduler.
32 bit and native 64 bit versions.
Industry leading compression levels and speed.
Linux based Rescue CD with Network access and full GUI. Only 6.5MB in size!
Built in CD/DVD packet writing engine. Supports packet writing to DVD DL media with Windows Vista.
HTML log files.
 http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp