Bootable Disk Image software

[melmitts]

I have searched this site and Google so I have seen many articles on disk image software but no simple answers. I am looking for software that creates a bootable diskimage of c: drive. I have Acronis but it has grown huge in size and has all kinds of memory hogging monitors. EaseUS Todo seems to have problems with backups other than incremental. There must be a simple, full disk image program out there somewhere...

Thanks
Mel

 

[rclarke250]

Ghost :

http://us.norton.com/ghost/

Or you could just buy a second hard drive, install it, create a raid 1, and have 2 separate hard drives, that can boot, every time you make a write, it writes to both drives. This is not a replacement for backups. but if you are looking for an easy way to protect from a hard drive failure, this is it. Use a hardware raid, not windows raid.

 

[goombawaho]

This is what I would do:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147133

Full copy of ghost and an SSD to replace your hard drive for way faster boots. Keep your old drive for data storage.

 

[BadBigBen]

first, are you attempting to just do a back up/replace HDD (image the drive) in case of a HDD failure/replacing the System HDD, or are you attempting to migrate to another system (baremetal)?

also is this for Home use or Business Use? (as prices and features vary)...

basically put, MOST imaging software out there, will create an archive and have a bootable media (CD/DVD/USB thumb drive) that will boot and read from said archive, to restore your system...

a note to the above BAREMETAL restore, this is basically for upgrading hardware (usually in a business environment where you do not have to worry about licensing issues, e.g. VLK), but keeping the OS, and it does this by stripping the drivers from the image (and registry) which you would have to install separately at a later time...

for the above scenarios (Home and Business) I've used the following software at good success rates:

Backup & Recovery 11 Home

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/brh/

Drive Backup 10 Workstation

http://www.paragon-software.com/business/db-workstation/

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[melmitts]

I want to thank everyone for their comments. I found and am testing Active@ Disk Image. It looks very promising. A clean simple interface with boot capabilities.

Again, thanks for the responses.
Mel

 

[goombawaho]

BadBigBen - Can you PRECISELY list your success rate? And define success.

Just kidding.

 

[BadBigBen]

Goom, ;-)

>> at good success rates:

should've read "with good success:"

thanks for pointing that out, see what "sleep-deprivation" can do...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

No - not making fun of your words. I understood. I always question people, especially when they say "something something ALWAYS works for me......."

Nobody keeps good stats on success/failure rates enough to quote.

 

[BadBigBen]

>> Nobody keeps good stats on success/failure rates enough to quote.
most likely... I know I sure don't...

>> No - not making fun of your words.
even if you where, it keeps me on my toes on English grammar. One looses quite a bit, when it (English) is not used everyday...

>> I always question people...
I do also, and that is a good thing... ;-)


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"