Norton Ghost 9 or Acronis True Image?

[Wigwam]

proposed partition setup:
C: NTFS - OS/Apps
D: NTFS - Data
E: NTFS - enternainment [music, vids, pix etc etc]
G: NTFS? - ghost image backup to be incrementally updated
also a cds/dvds hardcopy image of a pristine install of OS/Apps so that i can reinstall quickly if the OS goes belly-up without losing any data etc

which would be the best software for my needs? I was led to believe the new NG9 can both read and write to NTFS and has a super-duper recovery disk but the True Image is still the cool kid on the block.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I recently upgrading to True Image v8 after using Ghost v7 for a couple years. I've not tried using the newer versions of Ghost, but TI is awesome. I don't remember which drive I originally wrote the image to, but I think TI supports both reading and writing to NTFS images, and I know you can do incremental backups.

 

[DaveSimmons]

About the same here, I prefer True Image to older versions of Ghost and Drive Image. TI makes a bootable CD instead of floppies, and that CD can read from and write to NTFS

I've also switched to using their Partition Expert over Partition Magic, it's more reliable than the last few versions of PM, and it also creates a bootable CD. I've also used V-Com's System Commander and it has partition support that is fine for at least simple jobs.

 

[BlueWeasel]

One thing that haven't figured out is the accuracy of an image file of the OS partition (ie, C when created in Windows. I installed TI and the first thing I did was make an image of my C:\ drive from within Windows. I was under the impression that imaging the boot partition in Windows was impossible since many of the file are in use.

I booted from the CD made by TI and remade the image. I really like how the bootable interface is very similar to the Windows interface and is a breeze to use.

 

[dunkster]

I believe the method used to create a reliable image file of the Windows OS partition is to take a 'snapshot image' of the OS partition - similar to a RESTORE image - and to create the image from that stable image file.

I bought Acronis TI8, installed it, and promptly uninstalled it. It looks like bloatware to me.

I've been using inexpensive Terabyte 'Image for DOS'. It runs from a DOS boot floppy (no Windows involvement at all), offers byte-for-byte image verification, and it works. I've restored my OS partition from DVD media twice since using it - zero problems.

 

[Peetoeng]

For those who use Acronis:

Can it put recovery system on USB disk, too?

Does it have DOS-like system for backup and recovery services? I prefer doing backup/recovery from DOS-like (or its own modded OS instead of from XP.

Thanks.

 

[BlueWeasel]

AFAIK, True Images doesn't support writing the recovery system to USB (CD or floppies only).

The recovery system is identical to the Windows interface, but boots entirely from the floppy or CD. I rarely use the Windows interface, and just pop in the boot CD anytime I need to create or restore an image.

 

[Sid59]

i've always used the Ghost 2003 for my NTFS and older ghost for win98se and such. But i recently used Acronis True Image 8 and it's leaps and bounds better than Ghost 9. My friend has Ghost 9 and he let me test it out. TI is slimmer, faster and better than Norton. I dunno why Norton makes you update to .NET. I'd rather not. THe bootable TI disc is great.

Also, the DOS/Boot Disc of TI utilizes some linux distro. I forgot which i read. It's over on their forums. The older beta builds were slow when recovering from DOS. THey fixed it in the newer builds.

 

[krackato]

I use True Image. Great program.

 

[JackMDS]

True Inage (TI) can generate Boot on CD or 6 floppies (No USB). The Boot is in Linux but it does not matter since it is transparent to the user.

The best way to use TI is either trough Network or to put a mobile Disk tray (about $10) in the computer and insert the Drive to be Cloned or Restored as a secondary Drive using mobile tray.

Unlike Ghost, TI does not have a mean to clone two drives directly from boot like Ghost DOS (bit copying) but otherwise it seems Better then Ghost.

:sun:

 

[FatCity]

I use True Image 7.0 on my PATA drive computer and it works just fine. My NVRAID SATA machine is a different story. True Image is unable to make images that can be successfully restored on that machine. Acronis admits that their product doesn't support NVRAID, as well as a few other RAID controllers. Unfortunately, I found this out the hard way---a restoration gone wrong hosed my C:\ drive and took out a data partition as well, rendering the entire RAID 0 array inaccessible. Without my backup data CDs, I would have lost it all.

Needless to say, I won't use Acronis True Image with SATA RAID ever again. But the substitute programs on the market are few and far between. Norton Ghost 9.0 also appears to have problems with RAID, in addition to requiring .NET Framework and a registry hack to make it install properly. I'm generally wary of Symantec products anyway.

Are there any Imaging programs out there that play nice with SATA RAID? How about TeraByte Image for DOS?

 

[dunkster]

Terabyte's documentation - even the manual - is a bit cryptic. It does claim claim ability to image/restore networked drives - but no mention of RAID compatability.

One of my major problems with both Acronis and Norton is that neither seems capable/reliable for imaging/restoring my OS partition to/from DVD media. Terabyte 'Image for DOS' does that very reliably, allowing me to save my OS and DATA partitions to single-DVD backups.

It's much faster and more convenient to image/restore to/from an HD backup partition, but if the drive fails, you lose everything.

 

[KoolDrew]

Acronis True Image

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
True Inage (TI) can generate Boot on CD or 6 floppies (No USB). The Boot is in Linux but it does not matter since it is transparent to the user.

The best way to use TI is either trough Network or to put a mobile Disk tray (about $10) in the computer and insert the Drive to be Cloned or Restored as a secondary Drive using mobile tray.

Unlike Ghost, TI does not have a mean to clone two drives directly from boot like Ghost DOS (bit copying) but otherwise it seems Better then Ghost.

:sun:

So TI isn't good for copying existing drives/partitions over to a new hard drive? I'm not that familar with TI yet (only been using it for a few weeks), but doesn't it have this feature?

I'm not meaning to contradict you Jack, just looking for a little clarification.

 

[FatCity]

Originally posted by: dunkster
Terabyte's documentation - even the manual - is a bit cryptic. It does claim claim ability to image/restore networked drives - but no mention of RAID compatability.

One of my major problems with both Acronis and Norton is that neither seems capable/reliable for imaging/restoring my OS partition to/from DVD media. Terabyte 'Image for DOS' does that very reliably, allowing me to save my OS and DATA partitions to single-DVD backups.

It's much faster and more convenient to image/restore to/from an HD backup partition, but if the drive fails, you lose everything.

Thanks for your reply.

I also looked for clarification of Terabyte's ability to image RAID but all I found was a tidbit in one of their sponsored newsgroups saying that their product would work with "hardware RAID." I believe that's what I have on my MSI K8N Neo Platinum. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

I went ahead and installed Image for Windows and was impressed by the fact that it recognized all my drives and correctly identified the volume names and letters, something that True Image was never able to do. The GUI is simplistic but the program is only 1.5 MB; no Acronis bloat here! And unlike Acronis, Image for Windows didn't install any startup services. I successfully made images of the two partitions of my RAID 0 array and verified their integrity. The process was faster than Acronis 7.0 by about a minute. BTW, I image from RAID directly to a PATA backup drive.

However, I'm not quite ready to take the "Leap of Faith" and restore the C:\ drive image. Before I do that, I want to carefully go over the manual, update my backup CDs, and make further images--with Image for Windows and Image for DOS.

So far, though, Terabyte's program looks good and I hope it passes the Acid Test.

 

[dunkster]

I played with Image for Windows a bit, making a backup image of a non-OS partition and successfully restoring it from DVD media. I really don't trust it for backing up the OS partition, though they do offer a PHYLOCK utility that they recommend for use when backing up an OS partition. Again - lack of information - I don't know if PHYLOCK produces a raw image or file-by-file image

I know for certain that Image for DOS wil reliably image/restore the OS partition to/from DVD media, so I use that product exclusively. I have successfully restored my OS partition with Image for DOS.

 

[FatCity]

I installed the PHYlock plugin for Image for Windows. As I understand it, PHYlock locks the OS at a point in time to stabilize the image. And I believe it eliminates the pagefile and hiberfile from the finished image, since they're not necessary anyway.

I'll take your advice and have an image from Image for DOS on hand before I start restoring my OS partition. It'll be my fallback position if the Image for Windows restoration fails.

Does Image for DOS have a Wizard for making the boot floppy? I imagine it's just a standard XP boot floppy with some added files to boot to the program.

 

[dunkster]

Just follow the instructions in the 'manual' for Image fo DOS.

One caution: If you're using the evaluation version, pay attention to the update instructions. One of the files (I think it's CDBOOT.F35) is used by the program to determine if the version is eval or registered. Be certain you install the registered version of that file - or it'll timeout at 30 days.

You'll be instructed to make a folder on your HD, and to create the bootable floppy from that folder. Don't remove that folder (as I did) - it'll come in handy for creating bootable floppies for the next update version.

Hope this helps!

 

[FatCity]

Dunkster, thanks for your help and for steering me towards TerraByte Image for DOS.

Will follow the tips you've posted. I'm not ready yet to try my first restoration, but I'll post back next week with the results. I hope it turns out to be the solution I need to image NVRAID. One thing nice about TerraByte is that you can use the trial version to actually restore an image. The trial version of Acronis True Image only allows you to create an image, not restore one. And believe me, that's a big difference---I can create Acronis images and verify them with my paid-for version, but they fail to restore my RAID array.

Hope it works!

 

[ty1er]

i have been using Norton Ghost 2003/2004 for awhile.

i just made floppy boot dics than burned it onto a BootCD using nero.

booting from the Disc is sooo much faster. im not sure why Norton doesnt give an option to do this within the boot disc set up program.

 

[dunkster]

ty1er:

I used the Ghost boot-floppies from Norton 2002 for quite a while. Results were always reliable. The only reason I stopped using that method was the desire to use DVD media with 7X storage capacity, which allow me to copy my OS partition to a single DVD instead of 3 CDs. Ghost 2000 doesn't support DVD.

That's the only reason I switched to 'Image for DOS' (plus my loathing for bloatware).

 

[FatCity]

Hey, it works!

I successfully restored my OS from images I had made with both Image For Windows and Image For DOS. Of course, you have to use Image For DOS to restore an OS partition, but you can select images made by either program. Image for DOS did take some trial and error to make it work properly, but on the whole, it was easier than using Ghost 2003.

Bottom line---it's able to image and restore NVRAID, something that Acronis True Image and Ghost 9.0 cannot do. All this from a 2MB program with no bloat. TerraByte Image For Windows/DOS is a keeper! I'll run some more tests on non-OS partitions and then I'm laying out the $27 for a registered copy.

Move over Acronis! C ya Ghost!

Thanks again, dunkster.

 

[wheels]

What is making an imagine for? What can It do?

 

[rsales]

I am looking to switch from Ghost 2003. With this version of Ghost I can only image FAT32 drives across the network to my image drive. Ghost V9 doesn't fit my needs. I am using NTFS on my new machine and I want to switch the others over to NTFS. So I need an imaging software that can image NTFS and restore NTFS file format across the network like I did with Ghost 2003. I liked being able to use a boot disc on a machine with a hosed drive or new drive to restore the image. I was looking at Acronis but was't sure about the boot disc option and having it restore an NTFS format. Ghost used dos for the boot disc which can't do NTFS. Can some clear this up for me? Acronis didn't really answer my questions when I asked. Thanks.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I was looking at Acronis but was't sure about the boot disc option and having it restore an NTFS format.

the Acronis bootable CD can restore from and to NTFS (including from/to NTFS 3.1 for WinXP)

I haven't read the friendly manual to see about network support though. You might check the website to see if they have the manual PDF in the downloads area.