Best drive image software

[AmdEmAll]

Built a computer with new parts except for an old slow hard drive.. fail mistake.

Its got windows 7 ultimate on it. I have a much newer 500gb 7200rpm drive I will be putting in and I want to make a complete image of the old drive onto the new one.

Whats the best way of doing this so that I can just pull the old drive and the new will boot up like normal with all my programs.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

My favorite is Macrium Reflect, and they also have a free version which will do what you want, but not have some advanced features.

 

[AmdEmAll]

Looks like some nice software. Cloning the drive right now. Thanks for the quick response!

My favorite is Macrium Reflect, and they also have a free version which will do what you want, but not have some advanced features.

 

[sm625]

What brand is the new drive? If it is a WD then just download the WD drive cloning tool from the WD site. Other companies have similar products. The old drive does not need to be the same brand for it to work.

 

[essjayar]

Norton ghost is free for a 15 day trial.

 

[Diogenes2]

For those that missed it:

Looks like some nice software. Cloning the drive right now. Thanks for the quick response!

 

[jhansman]

Normally I would have recommended Acronis True Image Home, but it failed to create a usable rescue boot disk in two attempts. So, I now use the free version of Ghost that came with my Samsung SSD. Works perfectly.

 

[MoInSTL]

I left Ghost because at the time it could not be used for RAID. Bought Acronis and I personally found it clunky and not reliable. Tried Macrium and have used it ever since. It's intuitive and fast.

OP, go ahead and burn the Macrium rescue CD just in case you need it.

jhansman, Ghost came with my Samsung SSD too. Does it still run a lot of services or have they slimmed it down from being a resource hog?

 

[WilliamM2]

I left Ghost because at the time it could not be used for RAID.

When was that? I have been using Ghost with RAID drives since version 2002, without any issues.

Although since Win 7 came out I've just used the free built in image utility, seems to work very well.

 

[readymix]

My favorite is Macrium Reflect, and they also have a free version which will do what you want, but not have some advanced features.

this one. stupid easy, right up my alley.

 

[MontyAC]

Another vote for Macrium Reflect. Easy to setup and images are relatively small. Easy double click xml file to restore.

 

[MoInSTL]

When was that? I have been using Ghost with RAID drives since version 2002, without any issues.

Ghost 9 and Ghost 10 did not work on software level RAID0 with Nvidia chipsets.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I've never used imaging software, but I'm considering it to backup a new system with a 128 GB SSD system drive. How long would it typically take to backup a drive with, say, 64 GB of data?

What I'm getting at is whether or not drive imaging is practical for doing full nightly backups?

What I'd prefer is to schedule nightly backups of my PC to a network file server, keeping one to two weeks worth of backups. Are programs like Ghost and Reflect capable of doing this?

Are any of them capable of restoring individual files or folders from an image file, or can they only do full system restores by restoring the entire image?

 

[MontyAC]

With Reflect it takes about 13 mins for my SSD backup, around 50 gig.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Yes Macrium Reflect can do nightly backups on a file server as far as I know.

And it can also mount the backup image if you need to restore individual files/folders

I've never used imaging software, but I'm considering it to backup a new system with a 128 GB SSD system drive. How long would it typically take to backup a drive with, say, 64 GB of data?

What I'm getting at is whether or not drive imaging is practical for doing full nightly backups?

What I'd prefer is to schedule nightly backups of my PC to a network file server, keeping one to two weeks worth of backups. Are programs like Ghost and Reflect capable of doing this?

Are any of them capable of restoring individual files or folders from an image file, or can they only do full system restores by restoring the entire image?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Thanks. Is the paid version of Macrium Reflect worth $45 vs the free version? I haven't yet figured out the difference other than support being unavailable for the free version.

Also, I was just looking at some review site where they indicate that Reflect doesn't have online updates available. That may have been a review of an older version, though. I assume that point updates are available for free in some form.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

The paid version lets you encrypt the backups for one, I think that is important. So I think it is worth it, for that and the other features as detailed on this site:
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

There are updates available, you can check from within the program and then it prompts you to download them.

 

[stevech]

The paid version lets you encrypt the backups for one, I think that is important. So I think it is worth it, for that and the other features as detailed on this site:
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

There are updates available, you can check from within the program and then it prompts you to download them.

EaseUS. Non-commercial is free. Equivalent to a simplified Acronis Truimage Home. Option for paid version.

 

[Dessert Tears]

A question for you Macrium Reflect users: how is the utility (not rescue/restore) boot disk that comes in the paid version? Can I roll something similar using WinPE? I want to make clean images of fresh installs, and I've been resorting to hooking the drives into my desktop and using Reflect from there.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

I use the winPE disc that I created with the full version to do backups and restores after booting to the cd.
You can also backup from within windows, which I haven't had any issues with.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Do these disk imaging programs always do a reboot to take an image? Like I said, I've never used one before and I was completely surprised when I launched an imaging process of the boot drive in Macrium Reflect and the system rebooted itself moments later.

I couldn't get it to successfully take an image, though. One thing I have my XP Pro system do is to automatically log me into Windows and launch three or four programs (email, browser, etc.) using the Startup folder. Does it require complete hands off while the image is being taken?

 

[Berryracer]

EaseUS Todo Backup Free



because it supports GPT disks which Macrium Reflect FREE doesn't!

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Not in my experience. I have been able to image windows xp and 7 from within windows, after closing all programs. Did you try it again, maybe it's some kind of bug?
I think it's best to close everything before starting.

Do these disk imaging programs always do a reboot to take an image? Like I said, I've never used one before and I was completely surprised when I launched an imaging process of the boot drive in Macrium Reflect and the system rebooted itself moments later.

I couldn't get it to successfully take an image, though. One thing I have my XP Pro system do is to automatically log me into Windows and launch three or four programs (email, browser, etc.) using the Startup folder. Does it require complete hands off while the image is being taken?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Not in my experience. I have been able to image windows xp and 7 from within windows, after closing all programs. Did you try it again, maybe it's some kind of bug?
I think it's best to close everything before starting.

It's not? Yikes.

Tried it twice.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

not sure then, i'd try asking on their forum.