[Cold Titanium]

So I finally made the switch to Win7, and I want to create a backup image of my C: partition.

I took a look around on the 'net and as usual, there are quite a few options.

I was thinking of grabbing one of the listed HERE.

I had heard that Acronis was supposed to be the bomb, but it is only a trial version and a lot of the reviews are rather scathing...

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your time.

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Acronis
Paragon
DriveImageXML


That would be the order I would suggest. Acronis is one we suggest a lot and it seems to be the one that works the best.

[rshaffer61]

Acronis
Paragon
DriveImageXML


That would be the order I would suggest. Acronis is one we suggest a lot and it seems to be the one that works the best.

[Cold Titanium]

Ok thanks. I'll give Acronis a spin then. Downloading now. I'll let you know how it turns out

[rshaffer61]

Good luck

[Cold Titanium]

I made an image on my external HD and burned a boot cd.

The boot cd works and sees my external and the image, so I should be good to go then

The only thing I'm not real sure about is the integrity of the image.

[rshaffer61]

Now that I would imagine the only way to know is to try and use it to reload the system.
If it completed successfully I would say it did what it's suppose to do.

[Cold Titanium]

Ah, I wouldn't lose anything waaaay to important I've got other backups.

Thanks!

[rshaffer61]

OK great to hear and glad I could help you out.

[Troy]

HDClone. Has a free version. I purchased the "Standard" license and have used it plenty, works fantastic.

[Matriculated]

The only thing I'm not real sure about is the integrity of the image.

Though this is a little late, best practice for HDD imaging is to check image integrity by using "integrity verification" after creation. When backing up using Acronis, always select under "Required Steps:" section, "Backup Options", "Additional Settings", tick "Validate backup archive when it is created". This performs a hash function (MD5 I believe) for checksum comparison verification. This will alert you, after creation, if there is any disparity between the object hash and image hash (you can also perform this after image creation under "Operations" then "Validate Backup Archive").
The majority of imaging software has this function. I prefer Acronis (have used it for many years (paid version); had a problem with the Trial software though) but for a freeware variant Macrium Reflect is excellent. Macrium's real-time backup allows for imaging active OS HDD (via MS Volume Shadow Copy), which I've used remotely to backup a system pre- and post malware remediation.

*Edited for missing word

Edited by Matriculated, 28 January 2011 - 08:51 AM.

[DaffyKantReed]

http://windows.micro...tings-and-files
http://www.microsoft...nd-restore.aspx

Windows 7 allows you to create images. The target partition should be NTFS formatted.

IME, it works well enough for the average user. dd is a good option for the Linux or *BSD user.

[DonSwin]

Read Matriculated's post #10 again. Verification is not prechecked when you create an Acronis backup and is critical to assuring your backup will restore. It adds time to the process but is well worth it.

I've used Acronis for many years. I particularly like the ability to browse a backup image for a specific file without having to restore the entire image. Other software may offer the same thing, but I haven't used anything else in a long time.