Is there something better than Ghost?

[TriggerHappy101]

What I do is when I get a PC in that needs repairs software wise I always Ghost the persons HD over to my HD just incase everything goes to hell I can restore the HD to when I got it. Also incase they refuse to pay so Ill just return their HD to the previous state. I?ve been using Ghost 8.3 for all the backups.

I want some reassurance that the images I make are an exact copy of the HD bit by bit. I?m scared that the ghost image I make is corrupt and then I just screwed over myself. I dont see ghost doing any checksum or vailding at the end of the image making process.

So my question is: Is there something better than Ghost? Should I upgrade my Ghost 8.3 to 10 or something?

Thanks.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Acronis True Image can verify its backups (default is not to though)

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Does that mean it is better than Norton?

 

[Auric]

Ghost has a verify option of course. Google or check manual.

The DOS version remains teh uber backup/image solution and command line batch files can automate various tasks.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Doesnt the verify option just check the intergity of the image? Not if it matches the HDs data (checksum)

 

[Auric]

Technically, prolly but then if the data actually differs the program is useless anyway and I reckon in the interest of practicality we must to trust that if an image is properly created -that is, no user err and then the program confirms integrity, that all is swell.

Perhaps there are more advanced options (check the manual) but presumably it would at least double the imaging time.

Regardless, the best method may be cloning (as opposed to creating images) to another HDD expressly for this purpose.

 

[nweaver]

Altiris has an image viewer, so you can create the image file and then open it on your PC and verify/extract/add content. Might be a bit of overkill for you though.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

I guess I could always ghost it twice then MD5 checksum it. But then again if ghost messes up twice for some reason the same way both times - im still screwed. And I dont know if I want to spend 2+ hours of bench time on ghosting.

 

[Auric]

What, you still haven't RTFM?

See the sections "Image Files & CRC32" and "Verifying Image Integrity".

Both Ghost and True Image sport Windows image viewers too.