Which SystemBackup/Drive Image Software?

Namdrol on 20/1/2010 at 23:19

I've just bought myself a nice LaCie external hard drive.
The LaCie just comes with file back up software but I want more.
So I'm wondering what people would recommend as the best drive image/system backup software.
Preferably free and it has to be able to put two computers on one drive and cope with multiple partitions.

theBlackman on 20/1/2010 at 23:40

Hope you find something that works for you.

With BU external drives at 1 to 1.5 Tbytes available, I just use a COPY direct to the drive.

Backup software is almost always a Compression algorithym. If you use it and then buy a new computer and that computer won't let you load the backup application you are screwed because you can't read the compressed files without the proper algorithym.

Data direct to drive can be read by nearly any system.

I know a lot of people who tried to use some of the backup discs to install photos and other things on thier new computer and because the backups were made with a backup application, they could not open/read/copy the "safe" backups they thought they had.

Renzatic on 21/1/2010 at 02:28

For simplicity sake, I recommend (http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/default.aspx) Casper. It makes a 1:1 bootable clone of your drive, messes with partitions with ease, doesn't deal with any compression BS, and is easier to use than Norton Ghost. It hasn't failed me once in the couple of years I've been using it.

Unfortunately, it's not free. But at $50, it's not exactly restrictively expensive either.

bikerdude on 21/1/2010 at 04:02

Quote Posted by Renzatic

Unfortunately, it's not free. But at $50, it's not exactly restrictively expensive either.

I second that. I have used Casper at work, but as engineer I prefer ghost.

TBE on 21/1/2010 at 11:01

I would recommend (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/) Acronis True Image, but I've only used it on XP. For Vista and Windows 7, I'm not sure if it's good or not.

But the times I used it for XP, it was awesome. Makes a nice backup of your system, and recovery times are quick. It's so nice not to have to activate all the software and install drivers in the event of a failure. I hear Norton Ghost is similar. So I would probably try one of those two.

Acronis is a free trial for a set time, I think 30 days.

Namdrol on 21/1/2010 at 21:25

Thanks guys.
I can't find Casper anywhere in the Uk so I'm probably going with Ghost.

I've got a lot of my data backed up but what scared me into wanting a full system snapshot was an idiotic thing I did about a week ago.
In the night I knocked a bottle of water over and it glug, glugged all over my laptop which was by the side of the bed.
I took it apart and dried it out as best as I could but it seemed dead.
I wrapped it in a electric blanket and left it on low heat for the morning.
Miracle of miracles it worked and has done ever since.
I know I could have got all my data back but as TBE says, it's a pain going through the schlep of restoring everything

bikerdude on 22/1/2010 at 04:07

Quote Posted by Namdrol

I can't find Casper anywhere in the Uk so I'm probably going with Ghost. I know I could have got all my data back but as TBE says, it's a pain going through the schlep of restoring everything

If your going with Ghost I can help you with that, as Ive been using it for over 10yrs.

The best version to get is (http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&q=symantec+ghost+solution+suite+2.5&cid=4837265945309070518&sa=title#p) Ghost solution suite 2.5, as it come with 'classic ghost' and it has a utility to enable you install it onto a USB key, using either WinPE, Linux or DOS. Do not get Symantec ghost 14 or 15 as its a crappy windows only based version that cant be run independently of the OS.