I've been tasked with testing other disk imaging solutions to see if we stay with what we are using, Ghost, or move to something with more better features less expensive, you know the drill. So far I have found the following products, some freeware, some commercial. Are there any I have missed?

I am only concerned with utilities to create disk images for windows based machines, disk to disk cloning is not a requirement but it is a benefit, image creation is a requiement. If they do others that is fine. And if we want to make this the find them all repository I will gladly add more to the list that serve other functionality and break the lists up.

When my project is finished I'll post the resulting functionality comparison here for all to enjoy.

Disk Imaging Products:

• R-Drive - http://www.drive-image.com/
• Acronis TrueImage - http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/choose-trueimage/
• Symantec Norton Ghost - http://www.symantec.com/smb/products/overv...&pvid=ghost
• DriveImage XML - http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
• SelfImage - http://selfimage.excelcia.org/
• NFGDump - http://sourceforge.net/projects/nfgdump/
• PartImage - http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page
• Ping (Partimage is not Ghost) (same as Partimage?) - http://ping.windowsdream.com/
• imageIT - http://www.synergix.com/v1/imageit.htm
• Frisbee - http://www.cs.utah.edu/flux/papers/frisbee...nix03-base.html
• Drive Snapshot - http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/
• Image for Dos - http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image.html
• Image for Windows - http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html
• ImageX - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en
• O&O Diskimage 2 - http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/products/oodiskimage/
• DuBaron DiskImage - http://dubaron.com/diskimage/
• DrvImagerXp - http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-U...vImagerXP.shtml (developer site appears to be defunct)
• Partition Saving - http://www.partition-saving.com/
• g4u - http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/
• dsfok - http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/fr...freeware/#dsfok
• Perfect Image - http://shop.avanquest.com/uk/prod.php?pid=...AQ_UK_AD_AQHOME
• Paragon Hard disk manager - http://www.paragon-software.com/hdm/home/personal/
• Paragon Deployment Manager - http://www.deployment-manager.com/
• Paragon Drive Backup - http://www.drive-backup.com/home/personal/
• 7tools Partition Imager - http://www.7tools.de/pi/index.htm
• Dfsee - http://www.dfsee.com/dfsee/
• Active Disk Image - http://www.disk-image.net/drive-image.htm
• Desktop Authority Image Center - http://www.scriptlogic.com/products/deskto...ty/imagecenter/
• Clonezilla - http://clonezilla.sourceforge.net/
• WinImage - http://www.winimage.com/
• CloneGenius - http://www.clonegenius.com/

Disk Cloning Products:

• Ontrack DiskManager (OEM versions supplied with drives) - http://www.ontrack.com/diskmanager/
• WinDD - http://sourceforge.net/projects/windd/
• HDClone - http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html
• XXCopy - http://www.xxcopy.com/index.htm
• clone maxx - http://www.pcinspector.de/clone-maxx/uk/welcome.htm
• EASEUS Disk Copy - http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/
• Trinity Rescue Kit - http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=1&front_id=12

what about Imagex that is in the WAIK and on the Vista DVD?
It would have been nicer if they hadnt forget to flush the console buffers (you cant read the console output until it exits). But so far you get it for free from MS and the save/restore times are not that bad.

Had it and forgot to put it on the list. Thanks.

haven't used it, but O&O have one

http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/products/oodiskimage/

looking forward to your results

personally i'm an acronis user

I don't know if this is the area you are going to be working in,

but Kroll Ontrack has a dos (6.2) based disk image tool.

It is typically shipped as "software" when you buy a retail HD.

Maxtor has MaxBlast (by Ontrack),
WD has DataLifeGuard (by Ontrack),
Seagate has ?? (by Ontrack).

I understand that the DOS versions included on the CDs are all just versions of Kroll Ontrack's dos-based image copier and restorer. They just do a sector by sector copy (sector 0x0123456... source HD gets copied to sector 0x123456... target HD), so source HD and target HD need to be healthy, and target HD needs to be larger than source HD. It is reported to be fast because it uses only BIOS.

If I may make a request along this line -- I'd love to figure out eventually how to add a kiosk feature to my w98se. On shutdown, reboot to dos 6.2, run an image program, and shutdown. On next bootup, I would be back to c:\ (OS and programs), and it would be at the pristine image condition. All email, personal files, etc. would be on D: to whatever. But C-drive would remain virus free. Do any of the above image programs have a image restore, kiosk capability?

@IcemanND
You seem to have made a good "harvest" , I didn't check but here there should be a few more:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16534

I am cross-linking that thread to yours.

jaclaz

@Molecule - I don't know of any feature like this in imaging utilities, but there are products like deepfreeze by faronics, and I don't know if it is around anymore HDSherrif (may not have the name quite right). That freeze either partitions or whole hard drives and after any changes are made a reboot returns them to their pristine state.

OT:

@Molecule
The idea of imaging forth and back the system is not, in my view, the best way for "kiosk mode".

It would be better if you used one of the various ways to boot Win9x from a RAMDISK.

Alternatively, and maybe even easier, you can experiment with the grub4dos features of the --mem command.

Of course the machine needs to have enough RAM for it.

@IcemanND
Sorry didn't intend to hijack the thread.

jaclaz

Seagate and Maxtor also have Diskwizard, a free cut down version of Acronis Trueimage 10:
http://www.msfn.org/board/Free-Seagate-DiscWizard-and-t98368.html

Here is the list of items I will be using to compare products, any others I missing?

Cost
Features

• Supported Hardware
• Bootable Media
• Image Explorer
• Drive Wipe
• Change SID
• Partition Drive
• Format Drive
• CD/DVD Burning
• Verify during/after burn
• Backup to local partition
• Partition Resize during restore
• Multicasting
• Scriptable
• Editable Images
• Mountable Images

Backup/Restore

• Virtual Disk
• Individual file/folder restoration
• Self extracting
• Date/Time stamp preserved

Backup Options

• Live Backup
• File skip
• Compression
• Splitable images

Drive Cloning

• forensic copy
• Encryption
• Password protected
• Label Backup

Scheduling

• Windows Task Scheduler
• Application included Scheduler
• Task Editor
• Set date/time

Boot Disk Types

• Network
• SCSI
• USB
• Firewire
• CD
• DVD
• Floppy

File System support

• Fat 16/32
• NTFS
• EXT 2/3 FS
• ReiserFS
• Linux

Support/Docs

• User Guides
• eMail Support
• FAQ
• Phone Contact
• Download Updates
• Help Documentation
• Knowledge Base

You mention drive cloning encryption. I presume that you are talking about commercial disk encryption software
vs. MSoft disk encryption whereby the whole disk is encrypted and a password is needed on bootup before
Windows even starts to boot. I also assume you'll be evaluating the disk imaging of these encrypted disks too.
This wouldn't be the case whereby the file or the directory would be encrypted with the rest of the files/directories
remaining unencrypted since this is a trivial case.

Actually I was referring to the ability to encrypt the image itself.

Imaging encrypted disks though possible is not recommended by the vendors I have dealt with, or you have to do it without compression so a 40gb drive results ina 40gb image and you can't resize it to a larger drive. I know this is the cse with Utimaco's SafeGuard Easy.

I'm not sure what would happen with EFS, if the drive was fully cloned it would not likely be a problem, creating an image may pose issues.

Does the image include, and will the image restore, all date information on subdirs when they are "restored?" -- obviously same for files too? (Possibly called "forensics" -- but forensics might include much more than just preserving/restoring file/subdir dates.)

In some cases I have so many subdirs under a dir I need to sort them by date of origination to locate a file (I can remember "about when" better than I can "a specific name").

----

I was thinking of the 1.44 FD DOS versions. (I can't imagine how a restore could be considered secure when MS Windows is running.)

Forensic imaging takes an image of the entire drive including blank space, normally only used to image to another drive rather than to an image since it is a exact 1:1 copy of the drive.

So we'll call what you are after date/time stamp preservation.

Anyone have a good way to score ease of use? This is something that can be very subjective.

Wow, I'm surprised by the number of products out there when you start looking. Which I am now going to stop doing, if anyone else knows of a product not listed post it and I will add it to the list up until the end of the day on Monday. Anything after that will not likely be reviewed but I will add to the list so we can have a single repository of imaging solutions.

Thanks for the list something i need as i have an Asus P5K Deluxe P35 chipset board and Acronis Trumeimage 10 doesn't work with ICH9R controller. Asked Acronis and they said I'd have to wait until Trueimage 11 is released for P35 chipset support!

A very small DOS one:
http://johnson.tmfc.net/dos/todisk.html



Still ALPHA, but after all, that's was testing is about

I guess that it could be very useful for a USB device (or even floppy)

DISKMAN
http://www.diskman.co.uk/about.aspx


is a great app, but until version 5 comes out, NTFS is not or poorly supported....

jaclaz

i notice you've split them into two categories, many of the ones in the imaging section also have a disk cloning option too

@beldd - Yes that is true but the ones in the disk cloning category only do cloning, and for my initial specs did not qualify, but since they were brought up I added them to the list. While it is not likely a complete list it is the longest list of this type of software I know of. And more than I could find using your typical search engine.

When the comparison is done the imaging software that does cloning will be noted in the final report. Hoping to compare 3-4 a day should be done sometime next week.

Support for dynamic disks, if you have not yet started the project?
And maybe platforms, for those that have both windows and linux versions.

You can also take a look at WinImage
http://www.winimage.com/download.htm

DeployCenter component from Symantec Ghost Solution Suite - former PowerQuest DriveImage Pro.

There is also a universal solution - Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery (build on PQ DriveImage basis)

Both are not Ghost but separate programs

PING 2.01 by Natan from this board is missing in the list. Something to compare is what extra functionality a product offers, such as resetting forgotten passwords. Another thing to compare is the speed of making an image, the size of the image, et cetera. Also the size of the software itself, if an installation is required, et cetera. Once making a comparisson, divide the list in paid software and freeware. Both catagories need to be compared together as well of course, but this will give a good overview in the end of the better paid software and a separate overview of the better freeware available.

@Arie - do you have links? Any different from PING from ping.windowsdream.com?

You could check out, Drive SnapShot, http://www.drivesnapshot.de. Will work with WinPE and BartPE as well.

@tguy - already on the list. See first post.

Nope, that's the one.

Another new entry, found by ktp:
http://www.clonegenius.com/

added to the 911CD thread:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=16534&st=

jaclaz

Added. Wish I had time to do more testing and comparison.

LOL time ... wish I could buy some

My computer just crash and I had to reinstall EVERYTHING. and I was just looking for a software that would be able to save me some time .... the next time it hapens.

Looking forward for you conclusion on thoses software.

don't need to buy anything you can use Windows imaging for free. Along with some of the other software on the list.

umm ... maybe it's a good solution to backup files, but can it do a bit per bit backup so I won't have to re-install Windows, the updates and my program AND support "Mountable Images" ?

bit for bit no, but an image that contains everything needed for a windows installation yes. bit for bit is a little extreme, thiat is normally reserved for forensics. Windows Imaging is a file based imaging method and allows you to mount the image as a folder on your machine for editing.

It is what is used for Vista, and can be used for XP. I have a guide available here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=674778

A software you missed: ShadowProtect

Theres also Altiris Deployment solution which is very nice if you have the time to set it up
http://www.altiris.com/Products/DeploymentSolution.aspx

I remember Novells Zenworks doing imaging as well but i dont know if they still have that as a product

As for PING, if you need any info on it, I can provide feedback since i use it almost every day. Heres a quick pro/con list:

• Free
• Images machines that are running DeepFreeze properly
• can be used to make a restoreDVD from and image
• No PXE drivers need to be installed -works with almost every card ive tried
• FAST! Transfers at the full capacity of the network card everytime (10/100/1000)
• i can image a machine by pxe booting, hit enter 2-3 times, select create new image, type file name, select compression, and wait.
• runs its own dhcp server so all you need is the PING server and the machine you are imaging
• Ive alway used i for windows to windows imaging but its supposed to be cross platform
• Very lightweight. doesn't 'install' itself to windows. To move it from 1 machine to the next, just copy the folder

• Cannot multicast (can send to more than 1 machine but in different streams)
• cannot take an image from 1 machine and directly copy it to another (has to be made into an image first)
• 3com 905B cards wont PXE boot (905C will though)
• By default, it grabs the CMOS settings and restores them to the target computer (Copies the Service Tag info from the Bios from 1 machine to the other on dells and gateways)

here's an interesting one, but it is a linux bootcd that runs a program designed specifically to backup c-drives on XP machines.

CDriveBack -- sourceforge project -- http://www.lccdigital.com/content/view/65/62/

PING sounds interesting -- will it "kiosk" an XP machine?

I'm using 98se happily now in a 733P3, but would like to move to new hardware. I am reluctant to move to XP until there was a way by which I can sector-by-sector restore my C-drive on every shutdown (from MBR to ORIGINAL swap file to the last slackspace). In my dream, a normal shutdown would (1) shutdown XP and reboot to a new os, then (2) run a restore image program on a minimal c-drive (c-drive has os and programs only), then (3) restore default boot to XP for next startup and then (4) turn off. An optional shutdown would make an new reference image, built after adding new software while not connected, with full awareness and knowledge of the machine's owner. Every startup would be absolutely identical, no matter how many personalities (unauthorized by me) have been fudging with my bits 'n ... while connected. I don't care about any of Bill Gate's illusory conveniences. Any data to be retained would be on other drives (which is not hard to do). If I can reboot the same everytime, thenI don't care what "other powers" want to do to my HDD while connected -- they can have at to their heart's delight. But when I go to sleep at night, I want to know that come morning, my machine starts off right.

Has anyone done this? Deep Freeze looks interesting, but it's my suspicion that they have back doors too, and if they were discovered, no one would ever know, nor would it be in their interest to announce it.

@molecule - doesn't make images but sound like you want deepfreeze.

Posts unrelated to exist topic of imaging software and related to freezeing the system state have been move to a new topic here: http://www.msfn.org/board/Freezing-system-State-t107268.html

Thanks, but it sounds like utility software to me to save your files in case your computer crash.... I got myself from Western Digital "My book" and it has software to backup files.

So, loosing files is not my concert, time is! Cause when you’re stuck with a virus that eat up your energy and you decide to format and re-install everything ... From windows (reboot 3 times) to the patch (reboot a few time more) and don't forget the drivers (reboot .. reboot ... reboot) and all the other program and games (and patch that you have to find on the net). One simple click (ok ok maybe 2 or 3) is what I'm looking for. Ghost was doing that in less than 20 min compare to about 6 hr manually, but since I'm not a big fan of Symantec anymore, I'm looking for something else that could do the same thing.

Thank's for your reply, very appreciated !

Great idea. Which ones are freeware though?

Still working on this. It is slow going when you have other projects to work on at the same time. If someone wants to take on that challenge and send th list to me I will add that info to the first post.

I'll get you my take on Acronis Workstation Echo and Snap Deploy 2.0

Iceman, I updated your list with pricing info. If you want, just add this to your original post and snip it from this post.

Disk Imaging Products:

• R-Drive - http://www.drive-image.com/ - $44.95 - 15 day trial
• Acronis TrueImage - http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/choose-trueimage/ - $79.99-$999.99 - Trial available with registration
• Symantec Norton Ghost - http://www.symantec.com/smb/products/overv...&pvid=ghost - $39.20+ - Trial available
• DriveImage XML - http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm - 'Currently Free'
• SelfImage - http://selfimage.excelcia.org/ - Free - GNU GPL
• NFGDump - http://sourceforge.net/projects/nfgdump/ - Free - GNU GPL
• PartImage - http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page - Free - GNU GPL
• Ping (Partimage is not Ghost) (same as Partimage?) - http://ping.windowsdream.com/ - Free - GNU GPL
• imageIT - http://www.synergix.com/v1/imageit.htm - free for up to 3 restores - $195 for full version
• Frisbee - http://www.cs.utah.edu/flux/papers/frisbee...nix03-base.html - Free - GNU GPL
• Drive Snapshot - http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/ - EUR 39 - EUR 99 - 30 day trial
• Image for Dos - http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image.html - Starting at 10$ each Full Pricing - 30 day trial
• Image for Windows - http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html - Starting at 10$ each Full Pricing Info - 30 day trial
• ImageX - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en - Free with genuine Windows
• O&O Diskimage 2 - http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/products/oodiskimage/ - $44.95 Single, $159 for 5 - Full Pricing - Trial available with registration
• DuBaron DiskImage - http://dubaron.com/diskimage/ - Price Unknown - Limited free version available
• DrvImagerXp - http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-U...vImagerXP.shtml (developer site appears to be defunct) - Free - Unknown License
• Partition Saving - http://www.partition-saving.com/ - Free?
• g4u - http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/ - Free - BSD license
• dsfok - http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/fr...freeware/#dsfok - Free - Custom License
• Perfect Image - http://shop.avanquest.com/uk/prod.php?pid=...AQ_UK_AD_AQHOME - £39.99 - No Trial Available
• Paragon Hard disk manager - http://www.paragon-software.com/hdm/home/personal/ - $49.95 - 30 day trial
• Paragon Deployment Manager - http://www.deployment-manager.com/ - $524.75 for 5 deploys - Evaluation available with registration
• Paragon Drive Backup - http://www.drive-backup.com/home/personal/- $29.95 - 30 day trial available
• 7tools Partition Imager - http://www.7tools.de/pi/index.htm- $39.95 - 30 day trial available
• Dfsee - http://www.dfsee.com/dfsee/ - Starting at € 49 - Trial available
• Active Disk Image - http://www.disk-image.net/drive-image.htm Starting at 39.00 - 21 day trial available
• Desktop Authority Image Center - http://www.scriptlogic.com/products/deskto...ty/imagecenter/ - $15.45 for 10 PCs (10 Minimum) - 5 PC 30 day Trial
• Clonezilla - http://clonezilla.sourceforge.net/ - Free - GNU GPL?
• WinImage - http://www.winimage.com/ - $30.00-60.00 - 30 day trial available
• CloneGenius- http://www.clonegenius.com/ - $24.95/39.95

Disk Cloning Products:

• Ontrack DiskManager (OEM versions supplied with drives) - http://www.ontrack.com/diskmanager/ - $59.95 - No trial
• WinDD - http://sourceforge.net/projects/windd/ - Free - GNU GPL
• HDClone - http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html - Starting at 19.90 € - Free Edition available
• XXCopy - http://www.xxcopy.com/index.htm - Free version available. Starting at $40 for pro - 60 day pro trial available with registration
• clone maxx - http://www.pcinspector.de/clone-maxx/uk/welcome.htm - Free (Sponsored) - Creative Commons license
• EASEUS Disk Copy - http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/ - Free - GNU GPL
• Trinity Rescue Kit - http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=1&front_id=12 - Free - Custom license

Another candidate:
SVISTA (NO it is not a typo) Image tool:
http://www.os2site.com/sw/apps/virtual/
http://www.os2site.com/sw/apps/virtual/it-svista.txt
http://www.os2site.com/sw/apps/virtual/it-win-bin-1.1.zip

jaclaz

i was just looking for the same thing on which imaging and backup software i should use for my OS's.i realy like to see the result of your project iceman.
there is a product coming with WD external drives called LigeAgent from memeo which i guess worth looking at too.

Isn't that for MAC?

jaclaz

Which software in dos alows to copy whole partition with no gb limitation, and save it as an iso image.

I will be copying the windows os and boot drive c: partition.



Anyone know ?

i know of none that will save an an ISO but I know of one that will run in dos and allow you to directly record to CD/dvd recorder - norton ghost 2003!

i've used that product for a long time until ImageX came out.

I still find that ImageX is much more useful than others.

And if I'm not mistaken, ImageX is still the only one that creates a file-based image of the whole partition or disk. The others, like True Image, can do file-based backups of files or folders but not whole partitions or disks. Acronis offers a sector-by-sector imaging as an option for whole partitions/disks - but this is really a sector-by-sector of the whole partition/disks (including free space) as opposed to just utilized space.

Add to this list Acronis Echo. Echo replaces Trueimage.

Trueimage can image partitions or whole disks, and only switches to sector based backups with filesystems it can't read (e.g. netware). The result is that a sector based backup can only be restored to the same size partition / disk, while file based ones can be restored to smaller partitions or disks, if the original had free space.
With windows and linux versions, and several free offerings, it's pretty good.