Disk backup/ imaging software?

[trans am]

Hi Guys, I've been using the built in backup image and recovery disk in win7 but I've been using windows xp for spi 1m/32m for benching lately so I need a3rd party one cuz its on XP.
After 3 xp reinstalls from the disk from messing up the os with all the tweaks i give up.. I need to get a better solution. I need to install winxp and make an image of that. Can I make an image after I make the tweaks and it will keep the reg/service edits when I recover? What is a good one? Norton ghost? acronis true image home? Do any of them actually work the same way the windows 7 recovery disk works? one that works as fast?

[Bun-Bun]

I have never used the Windows 7 one but I have used both Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image. The issues I have had with them is getting them to work properly with a raid array... I switched to use slipstreamed XP discs with batch files run at first startup to complete tweaks.

But yes you can image your drive after installing drivers and doing tweaks. Then just pop the disc in the drive and away you go to reimage the drive to what it was.

I had general better overall impression with Acronis. Interface was nicer and easier to use.

[OS-Wiz]

I use Acronis True Image 2010 -- works just fine either to an internal drive, network storage, or external drive. Sure tweak away on XP, then just image it with True Image.

[trans am]

Thanks friends. I'll order Acronis right now.

[vladimir]

If you're using Win7 Enterprise or Ultimate, I haven't found any imaging software that will correctly clone a drive with the hidden WinRE partition yet. I used to use Acronis until I ran into this gremlin and I believe that Acronis is working on a fix though.

I have had success using Paragon's Hard Disk Manager 2010 Workstation and then editing the BCD info manually after cloning the drive, but it's still and experimental process.

[trans am]

how about this one? http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing.../diskdirector/

[WrigleyVillain]

Yeah Acronis is robust as well as easy to use. What's more is that if you have a Western Digital drive in your system you can download it from them for free.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...l.asp?swid=119

[Serra]

how about this one? http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing.../diskdirector/

Disk Director is a different application by the same team. It lets you manage partitions, modify boot order nicely, and - I think - it lets you do sandboxing and some recovery as well. IMO it's a very nice application to have a huge time saver for anyone who is really tweaking systems, but it won't replace True Image for backup purposes.

You can usually get a really good deal on both from Acronis. I'm not sure if they're running any now, but if you buy one you'll find you get regular e-mail about really, really good sales on the other.

[trans am]

Disk Director is a different application by the same team. It lets you manage partitions, modify boot order nicely, and - I think - it lets you do sandboxing and some recovery as well. IMO it's a very nice application to have a huge time saver for anyone who is really tweaking systems, but it won't replace True Image for backup purposes.

You can usually get a really good deal on both from Acronis. I'm not sure if they're running any now, but if you buy one you'll find you get regular e-mail about really, really good sales on the other.

I see. I thought DD was True image on steroids. So just go with true image? I have a bunch of old raptors lying around but I doubt they are eligible for the free download. can I share it across other systems? I am going to buy it for work so I can expense it but I want to use it at home as well. I wonder if I can buy multiple keys. they wont post the phone number on the site for presales questions unless I buy it and register so I guess i'll pay now and ask later. Kinda lame but I guess it weeds out the BS.

I just downloaded it. They have this thing called a plus pack for an extra 10 bux:

here are the benefits. maybe it will take care of the raid problem? I'll find out.

http://kb.acronis.com/content/5370

[Ao1]

Can I make an image after I make the tweaks and it will keep the reg/service edits when I recover?

An image is a snap shot in time, so whatever settings you have applied will be mirrored in that image. One thing to consider is that you can’t change critical hardware or hardware settings and expect the image to reinstall. For example if you make the image in IDE mode and then later switch to AHCI mode you will only be able to reinstall to the image in the IDE configuration that you mirrored. (In this scenario you would use IDE mode to reinstate the image and then you could switch to AHCI afterwards).

[trans am]

I appreciate that. I've experienced the ide/ahci issue in the past. The biggest pain in the neck for me with image backups has been with raid. i'm a big fan of the lsi 9260-4i and been through hell and back on it with ssds. a good example is when I had 2 vertex2 50gb ssds on there in raid0. and i bought a 3rd one recently. I figured I could just back the 2x raid 0 set using the win7 backup feature to a 1tb F3. like i always do and then shut down and erase the 2 disks and add the new one and stripe across all 3. but when I recovered the image it wouldnt take it and I had to start from scratch (probably a blessing in disguise). now after you mention it... I wonder if I didnt have ahci enabled (previous image was ahci was enabled) I just figured the physical span was 50gb greater than the previous install and thats why it didnt work. I never bothered to go back in the bios and enable ahci to see if that was the root of my problem. The reason for me buying acronis is not for raid. its for one 64gb c300 ssd that is going to be my benching disk. I am going to split it in half and use one half for the recovery and the other half as the primary xp partition then copy waza in addition to the backup partition. like this:

64gb c300

use 20gb for benching/os partition
use the rest for recovery and copy waza.

does this sound right? what do you think?

what would you do if you had the following disks and you wanted to do what Im doing.

2 raptor 74Adfd
1 250 gb seagate barracuda 7200.12
3x vertex2 50gb (reserved on my 24/7 rig off 9260-4i
1 64gb c300 (drive I want to use for benching xp spi/2d benches)

another idea is wipe the 250gb 7200.12 and use that as the backup image drive since its larger and will store more image backups,l ( i could backup the 1st xp install right after i install sp3 and the drivers) then the rest of the space could go to the tweaked backups..

advice?

[Ao1]

In the IDE/ ACHI scenario you would get a bsod when you tried to boot. Image size is another consideration. You can’t put an image on a smaller sized partition but you can put it on a larger one. So, if you added a disk and reinstalled it would create the same sized partition that you had with two drives. After install however you can add back the extra space from the third disk.

Regarding the 20GB partition….. I can’t remember if SSD’s ignore the partition when it comes to placing data or not. Hopefully someone can chime in. I think they do in which case maybe it’s a waste of time to partition. If they don’t you will likely get worse benchmark results than what you could have achieved with the full disk. Like I said I’m not sure which way around it is, but either way I can’t really see why it would be worth it.

[trans am]

In the IDE/ ACHI scenario you would get a bsod when you tried to boot. Image size is another consideration. You can’t put an image on a smaller sized partition but you can put it on a larger one. So, if you added a disk and reinstalled it would create the same sized partition that you had with two drives. After install however you can add back the extra space from the third disk.

Regarding the 20GB partition….. I can’t remember if SSD’s ignore the partition when it comes to placing data or not. Hopefully someone can chime in. I think they do in which case maybe it’s a waste of time to partition. If they don’t you will likely get worse benchmark results than what you could have achieved with the full disk. Like I said I’m not sure which way around it is, but either way I can’t really see why it would be worth it.

I think you're right buddy. I should just install the whole ssd. I think it might be cool for the 1st day of benching but it will probably get worse and worse. I think I'll so this. I'll partition the entire c300 and install winxp. then use an old raptor or a 8gb usb key as my copy waza/page file and use the 'cuda 7200.12 as my back up/recovery drive.

Im gonna use them all.

[SteveRo]

+1 on acronis true image 10 - i recommed you always check and run "verify when you create the image - also i always create with TI compression off.

[trans am]

+1 on acronis true image 10 - i recommed you always check and run "verify when you create the image - also i always create with TI compression off.

noted. Thanks uncle steve!

[Computurd]

noted. Thanks uncle steve!

ROFL!

yeah go with acronis, i use it constantly, over several rigs. not really a viable 'backup' solution per-se, its only weakness being that it stores everything in one big file, so if you have a bad block or something yer whole image is gone. but other than that you cant beat it for imaging. if you use acronis in conjunction with a data backup plan, you will be golden.

[SteveRo]

+1 with CT
Also I use Mozy for offsite data backup
When you create your image, if you select the option "verify" - you have a much reduced chance of the image being bad.
You can extract individual files from an image by "mounting the image - easiest way is to right click on the image file - and select "mount (i think its mount).

[AceNZ]

What's the advantage of True Image over W7 image backup?

Has anyone used Terabyte Image for Windows? One plus is that they don't charge extra for a version that works with Windows Server.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-windows.htm

[Computurd]

yes that is one thing i wasn't aware of until i installed 2008 R2 last week. went to image and it didn't want to play nice. that is probably the only weakness that i have seen with the acronis, but very few 'standard' users are going to be running server versions. I think one of the main differences between that and the W7 solution is that you can install to different partition, drive, sizes, etc. The win7 image backup is great though tbh and many use it with no issue, as long as you are flashing back to the same media it is great.
Another feature of the acronis is that it can restore images made with win7 image utility (.vhd) or it can also change its own images into .vhd format, allowing you to restore them from the win7 utility even though you made them with acronis.
another caveat, for us fellas using uber raids and different controllers etc, sometimes the win7 image restores can be a PITA as you have to mess around with different drivers during the process. it can get annoying if your benching, and the great thing about acronis is it just works~! the bootable usb (or disk) that you create with your restore program has yet to have any issues with any controller i use. makes life easy.

@steve-following your recommendation on there a while back about the validate i now use that approach as well. I have yet to have one fail, which is great, but i do like that feature. Thanks!

[xeon_1]

yes that is one thing i wasn't aware of until i installed 2008 R2 last week. went to image and it didn't want to play nice. that is probably the only weakness that i have seen with the acronis

And that is why i don't/can't use it

And to be honest i haven't had an issue with the build in backup yet.
even when restoring to a differentBut size partition.
But needing to add the drives at the start is a bit annoying

[nobugging]

Ghost v15 on W7 Ux64 has worked flawless for me for quite sometime

[0xdeadbeef]

Yeah Acronis is robust as well as easy to use. What's more is that if you have a Western Digital drive in your system you can download it from them for free.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...l.asp?swid=119

Great link, thanks.

[Mark_geek]

Hi Guys, I've been using the built in backup image and recovery disk in win7 but I've been using windows xp for spi 1m/32m for benching lately so I need a3rd party one cuz its on XP.
After 3 xp reinstalls from the disk from messing up the os with all the tweaks i give up.. I need to get a better solution. I need to install winxp and make an image of that. Can I make an image after I make the tweaks and it will keep the reg/service edits when I recover? What is a good one? Norton ghost? acronis true image home? Do any of them actually work the same way the windows 7 recovery disk works? one that works as fast?

I've used Handy Backup for years. The main purpose was database backup, but image backup worked fine too. Except, they earlier couldn't backup a system partition with the running system. Now they've released image backup utility, capable of creating recovery disks and bootable system backup.