[jaclaz]

There are tens, maybe hundreds of "Floppy disk ONLY" imaging solutions.

A good summary is here:
http://www.fdos.org/ripcord/rawrite/

I may add to them DCOPY (DOS) and DCOPYNT, here:
http://users.telenet...plications.html

Some more, including DCF, are discussed here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/archive-old-flop...98-t136856.html

jaclaz

[jaclaz]

This project (Linux LiveCD based):
http://www.drfreeware.org/

includes a Windows version of Drive Dumper, an utility to clone/copy drives/partitions:
http://drfreeware.org/blog/?p=16

http://sourceforge.n...freeware/files/

jaclaz

[1boredguy]

I have used Acronis with no problems for a few years. I like how it's easy to use. However I've read lots of reviews about issues with reliability, and I don't want to be with the others on bad luck.

What are the most reliable, and easy to use, imaging apps for saving an image on a hidden partition?

[FaceMouth]

SystemRescueCD: Another Linux live cd. I made meager attempts to backup up my vista 64 bit raid 0 and until i found this I was unsuccessful (again, i'm sure if i put forth a better effort with some of the freeware listed i would have had success)

fsarchiver is the utility i used (it's still beta according to the site). Compressed around 40G to 20, option to split image to save to DVD. I'm having trouble restoring my image, but I'm sure it's me and not the utility. site recommends the latest beta to ensure the newest version of sfarchiver.

systemrescuecd

This post has been edited by FaceMouth: 06 December 2009 - 04:31 AM

[Martin H]

What I personally pay much attention to, when selecting an imaging app, is if there's a command-line interface available, and if it's complete enough to provide support for fully unattended backup and restore operations...

I've previously used Acronis True Image, but since it didn't had a command-line interface, and since there was big issues with the different versions(v8, v9 and v2009 worked for me, but not v10, and v2010), then i decided to change to the DOS version of Norton Ghost 2003, which is so small that it can be run from a boot-floppy, and is lightening fast and stable... (Note: I've read that Norton Ghost 2003 dosen't support NT6+)

There are also some freeware apps with command-line interfaces also, but since the DOS versions don't generally support NTFS, and since the Win32 apps takes that extra time to get the job done, because of getting BartPE loaded first, then the DOS based Norton Ghost 2003 would allready have been finished backing up or restoring, and would allready be rebooted into the OS again, before those other apps would actually first begin to be starting their process...

Maybe there's some linux based freeware alternatives with full command-line support, and which supports backing up only the used space on NTFS drives and not the full hdd capacity, but i've not encountered anyone yet...

Just my 2 cents

[Martin H]

Just wanted to add a recommendation for the DOS/Windows/Linux freeware app: Partition Saving (savepart.exe - 379k)

It can backup/restore completelly unattended with an answer-file, is small enough to fit on a boot-floopy, supports NTFS disks from DOS(an empty file needs to be made first), is on it's 11'th year of development and is still maintained...

Finally i've found a freeware alternative to Norton Ghost 2003(DOS) i.e. unattended, fit on floppy and NTFS support from DOS.

Also, Norton Ghost 2003 wants to mark all the partitions on the HDD on first run, which i don't really like...

I preffer DOS-based imaging apps(with NTFS support) as they can fit on a single boot-floppy and boots much faster than BartPE/linux based solutions...

This post has been edited by Martin H: 25 February 2010 - 10:01 AM

[rbarreca]

I need to know which one of this imaging/cloning solutions is the right one for my problem.

I have received a paper processing machine that is operated from a software installed in a PC with OS/2 Warp.
The problem there is no installation/restore CD in case of a disk or PC crash.

I want to make cloning/imaging of this OS/2 Warp disk to have a backup. One of the problems is that I need to do this operation on another machine, since I don't want to touch anything in the original disk (neither install nor modify).

I've tried Winimage from a Windows XP PC. I put the original HD in this PC, and create a VHD image file on another disk. Then I installed the target HD (same size), that has previously installed an old XP, and copy the image from the VHD file to this "new" HD.

After that, when I installed this "new" HD on the original PC, it cannot detect the boot sector, and ask for another drive to boot.

Any idea?
Any other software that you recomend?

Ramiro

[IcemanND]

Not sure which if any of the free product support OS/2 properly. They need to be able to capture a non-standard master boot record. Symantec Ghost can do it using the /IB (Image Boot) switch. If you are going to just store a hard drive you could use a drive of the same or larger size and do a sector for sector (forensic) copy of the drive and store the copied drive as your backup.

[jaclaz]

rbarreca, on 20 March 2010 - 12:58 PM, said:

I've tried Winimage from a Windows XP PC. I put the original HD in this PC, and create a VHD image file on another disk. Then I installed the target HD (same size), that has previously installed an old XP, and copy the image from the VHD file to this "new" HD.

Winimage is NOT an imaging/cloning program, it is an image manipulating program, and besides, it is more "partition oriented" than "hard disk oriented".

rbarreca, on 20 March 2010 - 12:58 PM, said:

After that, when I installed this "new" HD on the original PC, it cannot detect the boot sector, and ask for another drive to boot.

ANY "real" cloning solution will work.

rbarreca, on 20 March 2010 - 12:58 PM, said:

Any idea?

LOTS of them .

rbarreca, on 20 March 2010 - 12:58 PM, said:

Any other software that you recomend?

As said any "real" cloning/imaging (dd-like) program will do.
Under Windows XP, if you are sure the source disk is "kosher" (with no errors) you can use dsfo (part of the dsfok toolkit):
http://members.ozema...eezip/freeware/
allright.
If you have an error with it, I can recommend this one:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=7783
http://www.datarescu...cue/v3/drdd.htm


A possible caveat: since OS/2 is a bit "old" it is possible that the original disk is also very old and it may, expecially if it is a small one use a disk geometry different from the "new" disk.

How big is the "original" disk? (besides size, check it's geometry)
How big is the "new" disk? (besides size, check it's geometry)

jaclaz

[rislyy001]

Have you got the result of these software?

This post has been edited by rislyy001: 14 April 2010 - 12:30 AM

[RocketDog]

A lot of great information, and a lot of had work.

But my question boils down to one thing, is there a realiable, functional app that will make my new HD the boot drive.

The story, I fixed my bricked Seagate 7200.11 (thanks to this forum) and I am trying to make my new WD Cavier Black 1T as the boot drive.

Acronis fails, tried 3 times - the error codes (yes 2) do not show up in their help database.

I have Seagate Disk Wizard, but have not tried that yet, some reason i don't trust it.


Any suggestions?

Thank you,

RocketDog

[IcemanND]

You are requesting one thing but doing another. If you are trying to clone one drive to another I've not had any issues with ghost or Seagate disk wizard, if all you want ot do is make it the default boot device and reload manually or otherwise you can use diskpart.

[RocketDog]

IcemanND, on 08 October 2010 - 07:50 AM, said:

You are requesting one thing but doing another. If you are trying to clone one drive to another I've not had any issues with ghost or Seagate disk wizard, if all you want ot do is make it the default boot device and reload manually or otherwise you can use diskpart.

Sorry if my my terminology is not correct or consistent.


My end game is to make my new WD Drive the primary boot drive and turn my current primary Seagate drive into a door stop.


Thanks.

RD

Also, Disk Wizard is based on the Acronis program which is what I have via the Western Digital drive, however it does not work. I am going to be an unhappy camper if both of these drive company applications don't work and I have to purchase Ghost!

This post has been edited by RocketDog: 08 October 2010 - 09:07 AM

[IcemanND]

Any of the products on the first post should be able to accomplish what you want to do assuming they will successfully complete the process. Some of those listed are free others are not.

[ravisunny2]

Users of Seagate, Maxtor, or Western Digital HDD can download Acronis True Image for free

http://www.techhail.....rd-drives/6534

I guess I should have put the link in this post, istead of the Free Software list.

[pankaj]

IcemanND, on 28 June 2007 - 12:31 PM, said:

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.c...oose-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.n...ojects/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.terabyteu....com/image.html
  
• Image for Windows - http://www.terabyteu...com/imagew.html
  
• ImageX - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en
  
• O&O Diskimage 2 - http://www.oo-softwa...ts/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-s.../home/personal/
  
• Paragon Deployment Manager - http://www.deployment-manager.com/
  
• Paragon Drive Backup - http://www.drive-bac.../home/personal/
  
• 7tools Partition Imager - http://www.7tools.de/pi/index.htm
  
• Dfsee - http://www.dfsee.com/dfsee/
  
• Active Disk Image - http://www.disk-imag...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/...at.hdclone.html
  
• XXCopy - http://www.xxcopy.com/index.htm
  
• clone maxx - http://www.pcinspect.../uk/welcome.htm
  
• Trinity Rescue Kit - http://trinityhome.o...d=1&front_id=12

Hi....Thnx for the list...I don't know about some of them so i surely gave a try to them.....

[kalko]

I've used for some time now Paragon Backup & Recovery Free (it has everything that you need, ever restoring from external drive like an USB stick or HDD).
It's great and it's free.
I couldn't find the link from Paragon so I put the only link that I found.

[jaclaz]

kalko, on 31 January 2011 - 05:45 AM, said:

I've used for some time now Paragon Backup & Recovery Free (it has everything that you need, ever restoring from external drive like an USB stick or HDD).
It's great and it's free.
I couldn't find the link from Paragon so I put the only link that I found.

It seems like that one is an "old" version:
http://www.paragon-s...ome/db-express/
http://www.paragon-s...comparison.html

jaclaz

[BeardedBlunder]

If you're trying for a comprehensive list, I don't see Macrium Refelect available in several flavours including a free for home use one
Support for you name it via VBS scripts or batch files http://www.macrium.com/
Forensic images aren't default, but are available via command line switches, or it defaults to them when it can't read the filesystem on a given disk/partition.
The usual pay extra for more features, & for once the sting for server OS installs isn't so massive as with most commercial software
Restore to dissimilar hardware also available (an at cost option).

I really liked it, but couldn't justify the cost of the server version for home/hobby use so am currently using DriveImageXML, though if I'm ever feeling flush I may treat my server to a copy.

[j3schmidt]

I know this is an old thread (10mos old), but I just added a post on another thread about a similar solution: VMWare vCenter Converter Standalone Client. It turns your already-running system into a VMWare image that you can open in VMWare or free alternatives like Virtual Box and QEMU.