Drive image/restore recommendation. [modified]

[wout de zeeuw]

I just spent the weekend installing XP + Vista + Vista x64 on a single drive (got multiboot working, yay!). But I don't want to go through this agony again should my system get nuked, so I'm looking for software that can create a disk image (including boot record), preferably using compression too so I can put it on a smaller disk. Any recommendations? EDIT: ordering acronis right now, the phone music is horrible!

Wout

modified on Monday, April 14, 2008 5:23 PM

[Ed Poore]

Acronic True Image?  Seems to be the recommendation, we've actually got a copy but I've never used it.  I use the nuking as a chance to rebuild the system from scratch :rolleyes:

[Zoltan Balazs]

Norton Ghost?

[wout de zeeuw]

That's why I want to create an image BEFORE I nuke it again ;P. Right now it's a pure OS install (and some drivers). After the image I'll put evil things on it like VS 2005 and VS 2008.

Wout

[martin_hughes]

I've used Acronis for a number of years - pretty solid product which hasn't let me down yet.

[wout de zeeuw]

I'll go for that, I've just read a good review about it (more reliable than ghost). Would the home edition cut it?

Wout

[Ed Poore]

But mommy that's no fun... :rolleyes: We used to use PQDI Drive Image but that doesn't like modern OSs or disks so bought Acronis on recommendations from here, I personally have never used it.

[martin_hughes]

Never tried the home version, so shouldn't really say one way or the other. What I can tell you is that my version was a slightly older release included on a PC Magazine cover disc for free with the option to update to the latest version for a reduced rate. I never bothered, since the only feature I wanted (ie complete disk replication) was included in the free version :)

[realJSOP]

Acronis saved my ass just last week.

"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

[CMTietgen]

I use the Home edition to image my media pc (WinXP + Snapstream) base install to DVD and I can restore it from DVD if the system ever crashes. CT

[wout de zeeuw]

Nice... I hope it can also make an external hard disk bootable, that would be extremely handy.

Wout

[MrPlankton]

Acronis.

MrPlankton

[Albert Jann]

Get "Acronis Home 11", which is the best among Acronis products. I used it on multiplatform OSes HD and had no problems to recover afterwards to original HD. Really amazing product :cool:.

[Ross McNichol]

I have used Symantec backup exec system recovery in the enterprise environment for a couple of years and it works great for servers and desktops. recently i started using the home version aka Ghost 14 which is really similar to do my home pc to D-LINK 323 backups. I havent had any trouble with it highly recommended.

[DontSailBackwards]

Acronis (spelling is wrong in other post) True Image will do this. You can create a boot CD and restore and image from an external HDD or create a bootable restoration DVD. I've used it for a while & it has been good (reliable) to me. Compression is pretty good and it's pretty quick, although a bit slower when compression is set to max. It's one of those things that may have freebie alternatives but it is worth paying for, IMHO.

The Broadcast Systems Documentation SYSTEM "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" -Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[bitumen2003]

[Save Partition] is what Ive been using for 3 years for my XP images. With vista use the recovery tools => backup complete PC. This can be saved and will restore the OS and files back to the state is was in when the "Image" was created. note: after I create vista recover PC "Image" to small hard drive i then created image using save partition to back up that hard drive to 2*DVD's (just in case I deleted that hard drive too) this works as Ive restored vista 3 times todate PS. the images are for development and are 100% validated versions of Microsoft 'OS' just idea hope it helps

[leppie]

wout de zeeuw wrote:

I just spent the weekend installing XP + Vista + Vista x64 on a single drive (got multiboot working, yay!)

Any tips for Vista and Vista X64 dual boot? I am thinking of doing this soonish.

xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
IronScheme - 1.0 alpha 3 out now

[wout de zeeuw]

I spent about 3 days getting XP + Vista + Vista x64 right, but once you know how to do it you can do it in a couple of hours. A big part was used to build a custom XP setup CD that included Sata drivers, otherwise the setup didn't even see my hard drives. After setting up XP and Vista (in this order), Vista correctly sets up the boot loader, nothing special you need to do. After installing Vista x64 then suddenly only Vista is left over in the boot loader, I'm pretty sure because it was of being the 3rd install rather than Vista x64. But then you need to mess around with the bcdedit tool to get all the boot entries correct. The bcdedit tool isn't super friendly, so I used the easybcd tool to generate it, but unfortunately it wasn't without bugs, but it did get me started, afterwards I just made patches with the bcdedit tool. If you want to boot XP still you need some more special magic: you need these files in the first drive root partition: NTDETECT.COM, ntldr and a correctly configured BOOT.INI.

Wout

[tcright]

Why don't you go Virtual?? :-D

[wout de zeeuw]

I'm gonna use either XP & Vista for daily development, I don't wanna use VS 2005 in XP running in a virtual PC in Vista (eeew!).

Wout