Seeking recommendation for emergency backup utility 3

[Shinken]

I'm looking for a good utility that will load directly from a CD, for backing up a HDD to an external USB HDD. Ghost is good if the OS is working and I can load it, but sometimes the OS is so corrupted that it won't even boot in Safe Mode and I need to hook up an external USB HDD to place backup (or image) files before reinstalling the OS. I have been unable to ascertain if the latest Ghost will load from a bootable CD where the XP or 2000 OS won't even load in Safe Mode.

Oh, and BTW, ideally the utility should be legally usable for my purposes (i.e. not licensed to a single machine) and not cost an arm and a leg.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

S

 

[roguejay]

I would recommend using TrueImage 8....

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

 

[Shinken]

Looks good, but paying $695 for a 100 license pkg isn't in my budget. I'll keep looking around.

Thanks anyway,

S

 

[Xaqte]

You might try the UBCD, I know it has a few drive cloning tools:

http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

Let us know your results!

X

 

[bcastner]

http://www.pcinspector.de/clone-maxx/uk/welcome.htm

http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html

 

[Shinken]

Xagte: UBCD sounds like a winner, a veritable Swiss Army Knife of boot disks. Thanks for the reference.

bcastner: Neither of the websites for these utilities mentions USB support, but I'll download them and test them out. Thanks again. BTW - no offense, but are you retired? You seem to be all over the place on Tek-Tips (much to everyone's advantage) and that takes a lot of time. Thx for your efforts.

S

 

[torandson]

Shinken,
I think he works too hard to be considered retired; whether, technically speaking, he is or isn't is another matter. But if he is, it's any man's guess why he isn't out sailing and forgetting about people like you and me.
--torandson

 

[allteltec]

I use UBCD4WIN lots of good plugin, I use Corp. Ghost 8 with USB2 and FireWire I have used it on a lot of differt laptops and desktops and the USB2 and FireWire has allways been reconised. Also Nero 6 plugins are out there so if all you need to save are docs. Also so free ware CD write plug ins.

 

[bcastner]

Shinken,
No, I am not retired. Thank both you and torandson for the nice comments.

Bill Castner

 

[Shinken]

TO allteltec:

Thanks for the info. I've been using Ghost 2002 and found that recognizing external USB HDDs has been problematic. On my own machine, after booting with the Ghost boot disk, the drive is sometimes recognized and sometimes I get a message indicating that there is no USB drive connected. I always get the no-connection-found message on other computers.

TO bcastner:

You're welcome. BTW, I've noticed a star next to my screenname. I haven't made all that many replies/suggestions to messages, just occasionally to put something back into the pot, so to speak. What's the star thing about?

 

[bcastner]

Shinken,

Somebody thought your question of special value and gave you a star.
A good question is often as valuable as a good answer to another Forum member.