Tom AZ Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I'm looking for some disk imaging software (preferably freeware) similar to Acronis's True Image or Norton Ghost. It needs to be compatible with Windows XP and be able to create an image replica of the an entire hard drive. Would like any suggestions if you've found and used something like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted February 12, 2008 Moderators Share Posted February 12, 2008 The only program I have any experience with Tom is "Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8 Special Edition", which meets your criteria. It's free, although you need to register. Its still available HERE: I would add that I only have a limited experience for the simple reason that although I have Disk Image backups of my OS, I haven't yet had the need to actually use one. You do of course have the facility to check the integrity and "bootability" of backup recovery disks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Thanks, Dennis, I'll check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDPower Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 The only program I have any experience with Tom is "Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8 Special Edition", which meets your criteria. It's free, although you need to register. Its still available HERE: Is that STILL available!!! Oh and thanks for your post Dennis, I've been considering disk imaging programs for a while and didn't even realise Paragon could do that too (I've had it installed for about a year too lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 Full disk imaging is somewhat new to me. I gather from both of your comments (Dennis and JD) that you don't really have a lot of experience with it either. From what I've read, disk imaging sounds like it could be something quite worthwhile, but I'm not sure how you go about it. I've looked at the Paragon link, but haven't downloaded it yet. I wasn't sure I totally understood what I reading, but it sounds like partitioning is a big part of that app's function. As I'm not really interested in partitioning, are you quite sure it also does full disk image backups as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted February 13, 2008 Moderators Share Posted February 13, 2008 Tom, I posted the screenshot of Hard Disk Manager to show you the functions you were interested in. On that screenshot are: 1: Create an image of the entire disk. 2: Restore an image of the entire disk. 3: Copy the entire disk. In the menus on the left you can see "Check archive integrity". I had no idea myself what to do with this program when I first installed it, and had never made a disk image before. Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8 has a very comprehensive help file, and a "Wizard" system to guide you through each step of every different function. I'm pretty confident that a lot of people using software like this have the same limited experience simply because they've never needed to restore an image, and probably hope they never will. The only thing you can do is install it, read through the relevant sections of the help file, and make your mind up either way. The program isn't predominately for partitioning, it's a total Hard Disk manager. I've used the "make partition" and "resize partition" on a couple of occasions with no problems, and have made disk image backups on a few occasions, once again without any problems. The only thing I haven't done is restore an image, and it's not something anyone would really like to do just to see if it works. I think all the above would probably be similar with other disk imaging software, and Paragon is usually a commercial application. This limited time offer should have ran out months ago. I'm as surprised as JD is that it's still there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc836 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 My experience has been with the Acronis True Image Suite Version 8. So far, so good in Cloning drives. I just completed an upgrade of my Laptop from 60Gigs to 120Gigs without any problems. My desktop went from 120 to 250 and is fine as well. i personally keep 2 drives ready for each machine. As to images both Paragon and Acronis have good track records. I prefer to do a backup of my data files to CD in full form so that I can easily access them from any machine. imaging will require you to have the specific software used available. Hope this helps a little Each user has a strategy that works for them. You need to decide what is best for your situation. Remember that having more than one copy of the files is very important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted February 14, 2008 Author Share Posted February 14, 2008 I prefer to do a backup of my data files to CD in full form so that I can easily access them from any machine. Just curious, what program do you use for these data backups -- Acronis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wiles Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 It *is* still available. It shouldn't be! I wish they'd take them down without me having to check, manually.. Remember HDM 8 isn't Vista compatible. Mind you, it's a great app and I suppose you could use it to get a cheap upgrade to the 8.5 edition? We're doing O&O Disk Image 2 in the current Computeractive! Chris/Computeractive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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