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I just purchased Drive SnapShot 1.40 disk image and gotta say I love this thing!
Its light weight can be scheduled and creates byte for byte images that backup and restore very quick etc etc etc.

The only downside I've noticed with DSS is it doesnt support Dual Boot drives. Or maybe I havent figured this out yet..

Anyway, I was wondering, what other disk imaging software ppl like?

I've heard a lot of good things about Acronis but it seems a lot more bloated than DSS.

Let me know what you think..

Thanks

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paradigm.shift:=(•_•)┌П┐RTFM||^.*∞

CloneZilla - open source, and can boot from a thumb drive. On the down side, you can't image the disk while Windows is running.

I used Ghost 4 Unix http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/ a few times, not 'easy' but it does work. For easy and free personal use http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm might be worth looking into.

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Thanks guys, I will look at those for sure .

I figured (ignorantly) that opensource imaging/backup would not be as reliable as commercial ones.

Snap and Cobian are both opensource and freeware apps that look interesting.

A lot to sift thru..

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paradigm.shift:=(•_•)┌П┐RTFM||^.*∞

I've used DriveImage-XML successfully, and since it writes data in an open format, you're not completely sunk if it disappeared tomorrow. It can restore data to a smaller partition too, assuming it fits. And it's also one of the tools included in The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows so you can run it from a bootable CD.

I might look at some of these other options too, out of curiousity, but DriveImage-XML does work.

Very nice wtg!

I didnt want to veer offtopic but now that you brought Ultimate Boot CD to my attention....

I've been wondering if anyone knows how to get those 6 floppy Recovery Console disks onto one bootable image that can be burned to CD??

I've tried so many things that just end up not booting to the RC from CD/DVD/BR.

Any ideas are most welcome..

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paradigm.shift:=(•_•)┌П┐RTFM||^.*∞

No idea how to make a usable CD out of the recovery disks - never used them - but the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows process of creating a bootable recovery CD is excellent.

UBCD for Win includes the Windows Recovery Console if you need it, but many, many other tools too including anti-virus utils, disk utils, etc. It's ability to boot your system from CD and then access everything on the HD, including tools for editing the registry, makes it a real life-saver. It takes a little time to familiarize yourself with, but it's well worth-it.

You can use it to make bootable flash drives too, but I've never done that myself.

I love this thing also. Before use of CloneZilla, I used Acronis TrueImage. They are two great software. First i was very impressed about the fact Acronis can image while Windows is running. After some years i noticed it is not really useful. Also some internal Windows files are not saved this way, because they are open. It saves the last state on disk only.

In practical side, it does not much matter. Acronis have also nice interface etc. However, i turned to CloneZilla and now I do backup my whole harddisk or partition at an external harddrive with CloneZilla, so say one time between 2 and 4 months.

That is about partition saving. I do a lot by hand some file based single backups of projects. I know there are a lot of good solutions. But I am not in the mood for to learn the ropes of that particular solution.

(sorry helped me with an online dictionary)

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{1:"ahkstdlib", 2:"my libs", 3:"my apps", 4:"my license"}
--> Don't feed the troll! <--

...I do want to veer off-topic...or split to one about UBCD4Win & Boot CDs/USBs/Floppies...

I want a complete computer booting system...

• Multiple OSs on USB (UBCD4Win, CloneZilla, Linux ISOs...anything)
  
  I wanna put anything on the USB & update it, without formatting it (UNetbootin)...I want UBCD4Win on the USB, but not just that, I want a GRUB menu to boot anything I wanna put on the USB.
• A boot CDRom that can transfer control to the USB (burn the CD once & boot to USB, which I update whenever)
  
  I want a GRUB Boot CDRom, that I configure & burn once...its only purpose is to find & boot the USB for BIOS's/Computers that can't boot USB directly.
• A boot floppy that can transfer control to the USB (or CDRom)...
  
  Just in case a computer don't have a CDRom, can't boot from USB, but does have a floppy...

...I have done incredible research & there are many results for doing PARTS of this, but not all of it at the same time (a complete system, based on booting to USB, with CDRom -> USB & Floppy -> USB redirectors for computers that can't boot USB)...most of the GRUB Boot Disk tutorials assume I have a Linux command prompt to create the disk with...also, if possible, I'd like the CDRom's GRUB configuration on the USB or Floppy, so I can update it...(it can fall-back to a default on the CD tho)...

The thing is that I purchased ERDcommander before (MS bought them out). For boot problems due to registry fixes. I also found it good for fresh installs and partitioning drives. It just doesnt have the ability to create RC which is imo the main thing needed when trying to repair a MBR etc.

I forgot to add that DriveSnapShot will also backup a drive or partition while the OS is running.

Also like the fact it uses a standard GUI that is accessible to AHK ...

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paradigm.shift:=(•_•)┌П┐RTFM||^.*∞