Need Disk Imaging tool that can restore from external HDD

[InstantFundas]

I'm using Easeus Todo Backup to create disk image. It's a great program, but the trouble is it cannot recognize external USB connected hard drives when booting from the recovery disk. Because of this I cannot restore an image saved on an external drive.

Does anybody know of a free disk imaging tool that can identify external hard drives when booted from their recovery disk?

[bastik]

Macrium Reflect Free should be able to do this. I use it because it seems to work. Since Windows 7 I never had to use.

Quote from http://kb.macrium.co...aseArticle50082.aspx
"Hardware support: Just as for your normal windows installation, the rescue environment needs to include support for your hardware, in particular mass storage (inc. RAID if applicable), usb and network interfaces.

The linux environment supports most common hardware interfaces, but includes no support for RAID systems or usb 3 connected devices. It cannot be customised for unsupported hardware.

The Windows PE environment supports more hardware out of the box. (...)"

[mouser]

I've always had very good luck with Acronis, though it is getting bloated.  Macrium Reflect (free), is a very nice program to use -- though I've found it reallly slow compared to Acronis.

[iphigenie]

I left Acronis a while back - when they changed their type of licenses and took away some features from me I cared about unless I paid full corporate price.

I now use Paragon - incidentally they seem to now have a free version of their backup, that could be interesting I need to check it out

Paragon backs up and restores from local, network, usb and CD/DVD and has different types of boot media to make sure you always can boot back up. I have used their hard disk manager and their rescue kit products a few times to get out of some self-created messes.

[xtabber]

I image and restore system partitions frequently. I stopped using Acronis a few years ago because I found it to be unreliable at times -- a backup is only worthwhile if you can be sure it will restore correctly every time.

I've been using Paragon since then and have found it rock solid, although their interface takes a little getting used to.

The free version of Paragon has a lot of functionality.

They also have a free rescue kit.

[patthecat]

1. Is your external USB hard drive a USB 3.0 or not?  If it is, I don't think Easeus linux bootable disk has USB 3.0 drivers, only 2.0 and 1.1.

2. Also, try to connect the USB drive to your computer while it is off and then boot with the bootable disk.

3. Creating a Easeus WinPE bootable disk rather than the default linux bootable disk may also resolve your issue.  Most of the bootable disks from backup/recovery vendors are linux based by default and may give an option for WinPE based bootable disk. 

4. There's also the possibility of looking at BIOS settings regarding the USB interface.

The tool I use give both for an option and even a DOS based one with USB drivers.  Not free but reasonable from Terabyte Unlimited: Image for DOS ($30), Image for Linux($30), Image for Windows ($39 but you are also licensed to DL and use the DOS and Linux version; so it's 3 in 1).  The title of DOS and Linux is sort of a misnomer, it does not mean the operating system you are trying to image , but it is the nature of the bootable disk it creates.  The Image for Windows version is that it is installed on Windows and can do live imaging while Windows is running, while the DOS and Linux version are run from bootable USB or disks.

For free give these a look:
Macrium Reflect ( http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx )
DriveImage XML ( www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm ) free a try.
Also there is Redo Backup which imaging and restore are both from the bootable linux cd. http://redobackup.org

[daddydave]

This is a rather timely thread for me, just yesterday I made a partition backup of my wife's computer with Easus Todo Backup Free, and hadn't put much thought into the restore process.

3. Creating a Easeus WinPE bootable disk rather than the default linux bootable disk may also resolve your issue.  Most of the bootable disks from backup/recovery vendors are linux based by default and may give an option for WinPE based bootable disk.

-patthecat (February 27, 2012, 03:46 PM)

I had this thought, too. I might try it myself.
Easeus Todo Backup site has a Linux vs WinPE boot disk comparison. That site doesn't seem to say one way or another, though.

[Carol Haynes]

If you are using Windows 7 what about Backup & Restore built into windows. Does full system imaging to external hard disks and DVDs. It automatically includes system partitions but you can add in extra partitions too.

[Gwen7]

They also have a free rescue kit.

-xtabber (February 27, 2012, 02:49 PM)

f.y.i. they force you to friend them on facebook in order to get the download link.

[InstantFundas]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will take a look at Macrium.

1. Is your external USB hard drive a USB 3.0 or not?  If it is, I don't think Easeus linux bootable disk has USB 3.0 drivers, only 2.0 and 1.1.

2. Also, try to connect the USB drive to your computer while it is off and then boot with the bootable disk.

3. Creating a Easeus WinPE bootable disk rather than the default linux bootable disk may also resolve your issue.  Most of the bootable disks from backup/recovery vendors are linux based by default and may give an option for WinPE based bootable disk. 

4. There's also the possibility of looking at BIOS settings regarding the USB interface.

-patthecat (February 27, 2012, 03:46 PM)

1. It's USB 2.0

2. I will try that

3. The Easeus WinPE disk is probably not available with the free version.

4. The BIOS setting looks fine, AFAIK. Booting from USB drives is enabled.

If you are using Windows 7 what about Backup & Restore built into windows. Does full system imaging to external hard disks and DVDs. It automatically includes system partitions but you can add in extra partitions too.

-Carol Haynes

Windows 7's Backup & Restore doesn't compress the disk image. If your partition has 30 GB of data the disk image will be 30GB. Third party tools usually offer compression. Easeus Todo Backup reduces the image by more than 50%. So the 30 GB partition will take only 15 GB or less to store. Saves HDD space.

[4wd]

They also have a free rescue kit.

-xtabber (February 27, 2012, 02:49 PM)

f.y.i. they force you to friend them on facebook in order to get the download link.

-Gwen7 (February 27, 2012, 09:30 PM)

Do they?
Paragon Rescue Kit free Edition

Downloads->Free Express Versions->->cnet link

[Stoic Joker]

Do they?
[url=http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/download_old.html]Paragon Rescue Kit free Edition

-4wd (February 27, 2012, 10:44 PM)

Hm... Not quite entirely Scot-Free, as it requires a registration for the 'free' serial number before allowing install.

[4wd]

Hm... Not quite entirely Scot-Free, as it requires a registration for the 'free' serial number before allowing install.

-Stoic Joker (February 28, 2012, 06:40 AM)

Open the file with 7-zip and extract the ISO - no registration required.

I've been using UniExtract on these for a couple of years now, it's a Linux boot disk and IIRC no serial is required for it to run, it's just to get past the self-extractor.

[flamerz]

i highly recommend this:

http://www.terabyteu...imited.com/index.htm

for a external (usb) image for linux will do the best job (i tryed in all my computers and worked perfectly).

i can restore a 4gb image in less than 3 minutes from usb.

[Jibz]

Since we've touched on most of the usual suspects, I will throw in a link to Drive Snapshot.

Unlike the 50gb suites, it's a ~300k executable that somehow magically manages to do most of the useful stuff the others do. The only thing I miss is a pre-configured rescue environment.

[bastik]

though it is getting bloated.  Macrium Reflect (free), is a very nice program to use -- though I've found it reallly slow compared to Acronis.

-mouser (February 27, 2012, 01:23 PM)

True, true. It's slow. I'm just too lazy to try something else. So far it does what it should and I never really needed it (since Win 7). Let's hope I never will need it.

[40hz]

Have you looked at Clonezilla yet?

[Dirhael]

i highly recommend this:

http://www.terabyteu...imited.com/index.htm

for a external (usb) image for linux will do the best job (i tryed in all my computers and worked perfectly).

i can restore a 4gb image in less than 3 minutes from usb.

-flamerz (February 28, 2012, 08:40 AM)

I'll throw in another vote for IFW/IFL, a really solid and reliable tool. Been using it for the last 4-5 years, and it has yet to fail me

[highend01]

I'll throw in another vote for IFW/IFL, a really solid and reliable tool. Been using it for the last 4-5 years, and it has yet to fail me

Yeah, same here...

I use http://www.terabyteu...mited.com/tbosdt.htm as well in conjunction with IFD to implement two simple commands that I invoke with FARR,
called "backup" and "restore". They reboot my machine and perform the associated actions. It's all preconfigured, nothing more has to be done.

It's worth every single cent I spent on it