Best HD Cloning software?

[irishScott]

Just got an HD on Cyber Monday and finally have time to plug it in. Title says it all. I have an external HD that's more than big enough to serve as an intermediary.

Moved from Off Topic
moderator allisolm

 

[jagec]

Ghost.

 

[Jeff7]

Acronis TrueImage.

 

[xanis]

I would say Carbon Copy Clone... but that's only for OS X.

I've heard a lot of good things about Acronis TrueImage... maybe you want to look into that some more?

 

[Locut0s]

I'd be interested any freeware alternatives!

 

[nobody554]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Acronis TrueImage.

This. Definitely.

 

[lokiju]

Oh you mean HDD. I thought this was going to be about ripping blu-ray movies.

 

[theblackbox]

i use winclone, but thats for OSX. Unlike CCC, it allows you to clone windows partitions.

 

[Mahaguru]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
I'd be interested any freeware alternatives!

http://ping.windowsdream.com/

I have only used it partially. That is, I only made an image of a virtual machine,I didn't restore it. So I can't say how good it is. I tried to make Ghost 2003 work with virtual machines, but had driver issues. Ghost is great for reducing the size of a partition.

 

[Walking in Circles]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Acronis TrueImage.

confirmed


only software i've purchased since Vista in 2006, and XP before that.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Acronis TrueImage.

:thumbsup:

 

[Sasiki]

TrueImage has a 15 day fully functioning trial. I typically use Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools v11.2. I think it requires you to have a western digital hard drive hooked up though.

 

[Blazer]

true image by acronis, it just works.

 

[corkyg]

True Image 2009 - build 9646. For cloning, always use the TI-prepared bootable CD. The new clone function is greatly enhanced and even allows manual changes to partition sizes.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
I'd be interested any freeware alternatives!

Clonezilla

 

[theAnimal]

Clonezilla++

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: theblackbox
i use winclone, but thats for OSX. Unlike CCC, it allows you to clone windows partitions.

Wait, seriously?!?!?!? I have been looking for a good Windows cloning app for months! What I do not like about Acronis is that it wouldn't let me clone a 50GB partition to a 160GB hard drive because the 50GB partition was on a 250GB drive (destination drive is smaller than the source, unable to complete action). CCC on the other hand, wouldn't care about that.

If WinClone is like CCC in that regard then I am sold.

 

[Blazer]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: theblackbox
i use winclone, but thats for OSX. Unlike CCC, it allows you to clone windows partitions.

(destination drive is smaller than the source, unable to complete action).

this is because you choose the drive where you should have choosen the partition, i had the same happen some time ago, did you post at the acronis forum.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: blazer

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: theblackbox
i use winclone, but thats for OSX. Unlike CCC, it allows you to clone windows partitions.

(destination drive is smaller than the source, unable to complete action).

this is because you choose the drive where you should have choosen the partition, i had the same happen some time ago, did you post at the acronis forum.

I did not post there no. I tried every setting I could think of and it wouldn't work.

And when you say that i chose the drive and not the partition (cuz this is going to come up again soon once my 500GB gets back from its RMA)

Here is what I have
250GB Drive (C&D)
-C: 50GB Partition, Vista
-D: All the Rest, Programs

160GB Drive (E)
-E: Entire drive, empty

I selected the 50GB partition on the 250GB, and then told it that the 160GB was the destination... that is when it threw up the error. What did I do wrong then?

 

[Blazer]

prolly what happened is by default acronis selects the HD, as so it can be confusing when restoring you have to be sure that the partition is selected and not the HD.

i have used acronis since version 8, it has a learning curve that i had problems with also, i've made my share but posting at the acronis forums will get the help you may need.

look carefully when you choose the source and destination, neither have to be the complete HD but will have to be a partition and you can set the destination size if not present.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: blazer
prolly what happened is by default acronis selects the HD, as so it can be confusing when restoring you have to be sure that the partition is selected and not the HD.

i have used acronis since version 8, it has a learning curve that i had problems with also, i've made my share but posting at the acronis forums will get the help you may need.

look carefully when you choose the source and destination, neither have to be the complete HD but will have to be a partition and you can set the destination size if not present.

That must have been it then. I am much more used to CCC which is significantly more user friendly and doesn't really care about drives, only partitions. If the destination is large enough, it will work.

 

[QueBert]

I don't like Trueimage, bought it and put it on my GF's PC and when her PC crashed the recovery CD's it made that are supposed to reimage the HD automatically wouldn't see her SATA HD. Was a PITA to get the image unarchived. It gets a plus for speed and the actual image process is pretty easy. But retoring was a bitch, apparently some people have problems with it and SATA drives, it's not the latest version but it's only about 2 years old and according to Acronis has SATA support built in.

 

[QcGuy]

I purchased thru the years True Image versions 8,9,10,11 and tried the new 2009 version and that was it. I am tired of TI has gotten progressively bloated thru the years. And I have had enough of the problems with the software and the lack of updates and support.
I switched to Paragon Drive Backup about 2 months ago and so far I am very happy. I had a question once and posted in their forums with 3 hours I had a response which answered my question. True Image is good but there are alternatives out there.

Paragon even has a free version.
http://www.drive-backup.com/

 

[Alienwho]

download knoppix (or any other bootable linux/unix disk). Plug in the drive you want to clone the disk to. Run dd and point it to the drive. This will give you an exact bit for bit copy.