Best freeWare for taking image of OS drive

[TechBoyJK]

Is there anything besides Acronis for this?

I basically want to be able to hookup a USB drive, boot to a CD, and use the app to take an image of the C: drive so I can backup my computers. I'll just keep all my images on my drive so if I need to restore I can do that.

I want it to be free because I work on friends computers too and if I do a build I want to be able to make an image and give them a copy of it (along with the disc to restore it).

[JackMDS]

This is Not free, and Windows only, but considering its value ($20) nothing of the "frees" come even closer to it.

http://3btech.net/actrimho20ba1.html

Otherwise, use CloneZilla (if you have a lot of spare time).

http://clonezilla.org/

[Chiefcrowe]

Macrium Reflect does this well and they have a free version (although with fewer options than the normal version).

[GrumpyMan]

Originally Posted by Chiefcrowe

Macrium Reflect does this well and they have a free version (although with fewer options than the normal version).

Yup, used it yesterday to back up a new image at home since my WD backup drive ate it. Works great for a SSD too since it keeps the correct alignment. May go ahead and get the pay version too.

[holden j caufield]

clonezilla is the best free one I've used so far. Can't comment on ssd had I haven't done the mechanical -> ssd or vice versa to find out.

[Chiefcrowe]

I ended up buying it as well. I am going to upgrade to version 5 pretty soon also.

Originally Posted by GrumpyMan

Yup, used it yesterday to back up a new image at home since my WD backup drive ate it. Works great for a SSD too since it keeps the correct alignment. May go ahead and get the pay version too.

[Steltek]

I agree with the recommendation of Macrium Reflect - I'm in the process of ordering a retail copy for myself now.

One definite advantage over Acronis is that it doesn't have that d@mned "Operations are in Progress" bug that Acronis has apparently been unable to fix for the last umpteen years. I tolerated it in at least the last four versions of Acronis, but never again.

[lxskllr]

I use Clonezilla. It's both free and libre.

[SimMike2]

Originally Posted by Chiefcrowe

Macrium Reflect does this well and they have a free version (although with fewer options than the normal version).

I could never get a bootable CD with Macrium Reflect.

[xSauronx]

i bought acronis a couple of years ago, you can get it cheap or damn near free with rebate a couple of times a year so i jumped on it.

[Chiefcrowe]

Try this, it worked for me no problem (in both versions 4 and 5) !

http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50025.aspx

Originally Posted by SimMike2

I could never get a bootable CD with Macrium Reflect.

[JeffreyLebowski]

If you're using Windows 7, just use the backup tool built in.

[pcslookout]

Paragon Backup & Recovery 2012 works well.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Chiefcrowe]

Does that have the ability to restore the image to another drive with a boot disc? If so how do you to do that?

Originally Posted by JeffreyLebowski

If you're using Windows 7, just use the backup tool built in.

[SimMike2]

Originally Posted by JeffreyLebowski

If you're using Windows 7, just use the backup tool built in.

Windows 7 imaging won't work if you go from a larger hard drive to a smaller SSD.

[SunnyD]

Bootable Linux CD and dd.

[jimmyj68]

Hey I've done it a couple of times with WIN7 backup and restore. Just an image but from a 500GB external hard drive to an 240GB OCZ SSD. I did find that trying to restore individual files and folders was a real bear.

[stevech]

Disk imaging is important.. so one may not want to use freeware.
Acronis is really inexpensive if you shop.

[Kathi201]

Try to go through with Macrium Reflect because i think this one is done well as per your post concern.
Thanks