Creating a system image?

....

Is there a favorite clone program?
How about an image program?

In article , lid
says...

On 3/22/2015 4:53 PM, W. eWatson wrote:
Quoting a MS web site, "A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By
default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run.
It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files."

This is puzzling. Wouldn't a system image require a huge amount of DVD
disks? When I bought my PC about 5 years ago, I thought I recall
creating a few DVD disks in setting put the PC. (I can't find them at
the moment.) These two ideas seem to conflict with one another. I must
be missing something. What's up?


My PC has two internal hard drives, each divided into two partitions.
Each drive has some unallocated space in case I need to expand any of
the partitions.

One drive is a 100 GB solid-state drive (SSD) with two partitions: C and
J. C contains Windows 7 and only those applications that will not run
unless they too are on C; 47.5GB is actually used. J contains all the
other applications; 30GB is actually used. With some compression, a
full backup of C requires 15.7GB; and a full backup of J requires 14.4GB.

The other hard drive is a 1TB "spinner". It too has two partitions: D
and F. F is a recovery partition (whatever that means); 100MB is
actually used. D contains my data; 156.6GB is actually used. I never
backup F since I would instead restore my system from the backups of C
and J. With some compression, a full backup of D excluding photos
requires 14.8GB; and a full backup of only my photos requires 10.5GB.

Note that the same compression yields much more reduction in backup
sizes for D than for C or J. That is because much of D consists of
documents with significant compressible white space while much of C and
J consists of binary execuables with little compressible content.

When I do backups, the files are written to my D partition, primarily
because I have so much unused space there. I then encrypt the backups
and move the encrypted files to an external 500GB hard drive, which I
keep remotely from my PC. I keep the unencrypted backups on my D
partition in case I foul up a file and need to restore it.


Each week, I do a full backup on one of the C, D (no photos), or J
partitions and incremental backups of the other two. The following
week, it's a full backup of a different partition and incremental
backups of the others. This results in a three-week cycle of backups.
For each partition, I keep two full backups their related incremental
backups, deleting the older full and its two increments when I do a new
full backup.


I have a 250Gb ssd as primary with a 1Tb hd as secondary. OS and as
little else as I could get away with resides on C and takes up about
35Gb total. I do periodic backup of the drive. The 1Tb holds games and
just about all the apps I have installed. All of it can be recovered
from backup and/or install optical disks if need be.

Some specific folders are also copied onto a number of external/portable
hds I also use regularily (pics, My Docs, etc.). I have a 3Tb, 2Tb, 1Tb
(externals) and a 160Gb (portable) always on and connected. They hold
backups (OS and other things also) and/or a large selection of multi-
media that is shared over in-house network (three other networked pcs
all connected to stereos and tvs elsewhere in house). That includes over
10,000 cds, 1000+ movies and over 700+ live music concerts. Besides it
all being backed up on dvd the multi-media folders are also duplicated
on another two portable hard disks I also own. When I visit in a
"sharing" mood I take them along.

If keeping track, just over 9Tb not counting network drives. About 50%
used across all drives.

| Is there a favorite clone program?
| How about an image program?
|

You might want to do some research. Acronis is
popular, but expensive. It seems to be preferred
by people who like a bit more hand holding and
don't care about cost. I've used BootIt for years
and like/trust it very much. $35-40 for that. It's
basic, but very dependable and can do pretty
much anything you might want to do with a hard
disk. Many people will only use free software and
Macrium free is often mentioned. There are also
OSS options.

Personally I don't think disk imaging and hard disk
work is something to cut corners on, but if you
have backup and can afford to risk it -- and you
want free -- then you might try Macrium. Just
test a re-install of your image after making it, to make
sure it works. (Any worthwhile utility should also
provide a way to create a boot disk for copying
partitions and making images. I assume Macrium does.)

"Mayayana" wrote in message
...
| Is there a favorite clone program?
| How about an image program?
|

You might want to do some research. Acronis is
popular, but expensive. It seems to be preferred
by people who like a bit more hand holding and
don't care about cost. I've used BootIt for years
and like/trust it very much. $35-40 for that. It's
basic, but very dependable and can do pretty
much anything you might want to do with a hard
disk. Many people will only use free software and
Macrium free is often mentioned. There are also
OSS options.

Personally I don't think disk imaging and hard disk
work is something to cut corners on, but if you
have backup and can afford to risk it -- and you
want free -- then you might try Macrium. Just
test a re-install of your image after making it, to make
sure it works. (Any worthwhile utility should also
provide a way to create a boot disk for copying
partitions and making images. I assume Macrium does.)



+1. It works wonderfully.

On 3/23/2015 12:03 PM, Mayayana wrote:
| Is there a favorite clone program?
| How about an image program?
|

You might want to do some research. Acronis is
popular, but expensive. It seems to be preferred
by people who like a bit more hand holding and
don't care about cost. I've used BootIt for years
and like/trust it very much. $35-40 for that. It's
basic, but very dependable and can do pretty
much anything you might want to do with a hard
disk. Many people will only use free software and
Macrium free is often mentioned. There are also
OSS options.

Personally I don't think disk imaging and hard disk
work is something to cut corners on, but if you
have backup and can afford to risk it -- and you
want free -- then you might try Macrium. Just
test a re-install of your image after making it, to make
sure it works. (Any worthwhile utility should also
provide a way to create a boot disk for copying
partitions and making images. I assume Macrium does.)



For what it's worth, there's a free version of Acronis at the Western
Digital website. There may also be other external drive manufacturers
that offer it. When I downloaded it a few years ago, I had to have my WD
external drive attached for the download to work. I had bought two
copies of Acronis already (its license was for only one computer, and at
the time I had two), and I didn't see anything different about the
download at the WD site. It's possible that some features I don't use
weren't included. The download is at

http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...19&wdc_lang=en

--
Jo-Anne

On 3/22/2015 7:53 PM, W. eWatson wrote:
Quoting a MS web site, "A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By
default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run.
It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files."

This is puzzling. Wouldn't a system image require a huge amount of DVD
disks? When I bought my PC about 5 years ago, I thought I recall
creating a few DVD disks in setting put the PC. (I can't find them at
the moment.) These two ideas seem to conflict with one another. I must
be missing something. What's up?



Take a look at Aoemi http://www.backup-utility.com/free-backup-software.html

Free, works flawlessly for me, does all you want

Paul wrote on 3/23/2015 7:34 AM:
W. eWatson wrote:
Quoting a MS web site, "A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By
default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run.
It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files."

This is puzzling. Wouldn't a system image require a huge amount of DVD
disks? When I bought my PC about 5 years ago, I thought I recall
creating a few DVD disks in setting put the PC. (I can't find them at
the moment.) These two ideas seem to conflict with one another. I must
be missing something. What's up?

If you want the equivalent of System Image, the free version
of the "5 stream" of Macrium Reflect Free is available.

The information page has been removed from the macrium.com site,
but the CNET page is still available. Macrium has released the
"6 stream", so is no longer working on version 5. And version 5
is perfectly adequate for imaging purposes.

http://download.cnet.com/Macrium-Ref...-10845728.html

That gives you a file called ReflectDL.exe.

OK, the file is signed, so CNET didn't add something to it.
Macrium doesn't put toolbars in these.

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/5...a4c8/analysis/

So if you need a free imaging tool, that'll do.
And it provides a WAIK-based boot disk for disaster
recovery if your hard drive dies. As long as your
image is stored on the external drive. When you run
the 3,537,360 byte file, remember to adjust the settings
so you get the whole thing. "Reflect Installer and PE Components".

http://i58.tinypic.com/9lbqty.gif

When you eventually get that 3.5MB stub set up and
get it downloading stuff, expect 100MB + 50MB files
to show up. The 50MB one is the backup software, and
the 100MB one is a WAIK kit for making a boot CD.
During installation, the installer stores those to
support the option to make boot media.

Paul


Might want to look at these:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/drive_cloning_imaging.html

On Sun, 22 Mar 2015 16:53:22 -0700, W. eWatson wrote:

Quoting a MS web site, "A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By
default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run.
It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files."

This is puzzling. Wouldn't a system image require a huge amount of DVD
disks? When I bought my PC about 5 years ago, I thought I recall
creating a few DVD disks in setting put the PC. (I can't find them at
the moment.) These two ideas seem to conflict with one another. I must
be missing something. What's up?

I was feeling left out, so let me add my voice to the anti-DVD clamor.

DVDs are much too cumbersome for backing up a large hard drive. Use an
external USB hard drive (for better speed, use USB 3 if you can).

Much faster, much easier.

There! Now I feel better.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Alek wrote:
Paul wrote on 3/23/2015 7:34 AM:
W. eWatson wrote:
Quoting a MS web site, "A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By
default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run.
It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files."

This is puzzling. Wouldn't a system image require a huge amount of DVD
disks? When I bought my PC about 5 years ago, I thought I recall
creating a few DVD disks in setting put the PC. (I can't find them at
the moment.) These two ideas seem to conflict with one another. I must
be missing something. What's up?
If you want the equivalent of System Image, the free version
of the "5 stream" of Macrium Reflect Free is available.

The information page has been removed from the macrium.com site,
but the CNET page is still available. Macrium has released the
"6 stream", so is no longer working on version 5. And version 5
is perfectly adequate for imaging purposes.

http://download.cnet.com/Macrium-Ref...-10845728.html

That gives you a file called ReflectDL.exe.

OK, the file is signed, so CNET didn't add something to it.
Macrium doesn't put toolbars in these.

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/5...a4c8/analysis/

So if you need a free imaging tool, that'll do.
And it provides a WAIK-based boot disk for disaster
recovery if your hard drive dies. As long as your
image is stored on the external drive. When you run
the 3,537,360 byte file, remember to adjust the settings
so you get the whole thing. "Reflect Installer and PE Components".

http://i58.tinypic.com/9lbqty.gif

When you eventually get that 3.5MB stub set up and
get it downloading stuff, expect 100MB + 50MB files
to show up. The 50MB one is the backup software, and
the 100MB one is a WAIK kit for making a boot CD.
During installation, the installer stores those to
support the option to make boot media.

Paul


Might want to look at these:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/drive_cloning_imaging.html

Wow, you could spend all week testing those...

Paul

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Sun, 22 Mar 2015 16:53:22 -0700, W. eWatson wrote:

Quoting a MS web site, "A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By
default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run.
It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files."

This is puzzling. Wouldn't a system image require a huge amount of DVD
disks? When I bought my PC about 5 years ago, I thought I recall
creating a few DVD disks in setting put the PC. (I can't find them at
the moment.) These two ideas seem to conflict with one another. I must
be missing something. What's up?

I was feeling left out, so let me add my voice to the anti-DVD clamor.

DVDs are much too cumbersome for backing up a large hard drive. Use an
external USB hard drive (for better speed, use USB 3 if you can).

Much faster, much easier.

There! Now I feel better.

World-wide DVD sales just dropped by another 5%...

But some day, they're going to catch up to you.
They're working on a single Blu Ray which is as large as a hard drive.
And they're bound to be $0.99 each :-) In packs of 50.

http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/newsroom/n...uray/page.html

Paul

On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 07:34:38 -0400, Paul wrote:

If you want the equivalent of System Image, the free version
of the "5 stream" of Macrium Reflect Free is available.

+1 on Macrium Reflect Free, but I agree with FredW: don't use c|net to
download the program.

--
s|b

On 3/23/2015 10:03 AM, Mayayana wrote:
| Is there a favorite clone program?
| How about an image program?
|

You might want to do some research. Acronis is
popular, but expensive. It seems to be preferred
by people who like a bit more hand holding and
don't care about cost. I've used BootIt for years
and like/trust it very much. $35-40 for that. It's
basic, but very dependable and can do pretty
much anything you might want to do with a hard
disk. Many people will only use free software and
Macrium free is often mentioned. There are also
OSS options.

Personally I don't think disk imaging and hard disk
work is something to cut corners on, but if you
have backup and can afford to risk it -- and you
want free -- then you might try Macrium. Just
test a re-install of your image after making it, to make
sure it works. (Any worthwhile utility should also
provide a way to create a boot disk for copying
partitions and making images. I assume Macrium does.)


Be careful with older versions of Acronis.
I'd been using acronis 10 for years. When I switched to win7,
the backups worked fine. The restore seemed to restore.
But the system wouldn't boot. And all the fixboot options
didn't help.

Seems that that extra 100mb partition that got added for win7
confuses the Acronis mapping system. System starts to boot,
then decides that it can't find the partition it's been booting from.

Removing that 100MB (partition/format with gparted) partition and
reinstalling windows7 made acronis 10 work.
I assume that later versions of acronis don't have that problem...maybe...

Macrium works great with one click.

s|b wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 07:34:38 -0400, Paul wrote:

If you want the equivalent of System Image, the free version
of the "5 stream" of Macrium Reflect Free is available.

+1 on Macrium Reflect Free, but I agree with FredW: don't use c|net to
download the program.


The file is signed and it's still clean.

I've probably installed Macrium four times here,
using the CNET stub (downloaded at a different point
in time), and the download was clean.

This is one of the few cases where CNET hasn't
done stuff to it. Macrium must be paying for
CDN (content distribution network) services.

Paul

On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:47:03 -0400, Paul wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Sun, 22 Mar 2015 16:53:22 -0700, W. eWatson wrote:

Quoting a MS web site, "A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By
default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run.
It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files."

This is puzzling. Wouldn't a system image require a huge amount of DVD
disks? When I bought my PC about 5 years ago, I thought I recall
creating a few DVD disks in setting put the PC. (I can't find them at
the moment.) These two ideas seem to conflict with one another. I must
be missing something. What's up?

I was feeling left out, so let me add my voice to the anti-DVD clamor.

DVDs are much too cumbersome for backing up a large hard drive. Use an
external USB hard drive (for better speed, use USB 3 if you can).

Much faster, much easier.

There! Now I feel better.

World-wide DVD sales just dropped by another 5%...

But some day, they're going to catch up to you.
They're working on a single Blu Ray which is as large as a hard drive.
And they're bound to be $0.99 each :-) In packs of 50.

http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/newsroom/n...uray/page.html

Paul

Now a 20-disk backup to Blu-ray will take only as long as a 20-disk
backup to Blu-ray. Cool.

Except that you won't have to swap disks 19 times, so, kidding aside, it
is better. Takes up less storage space and it'll be easier to catalog,
too. It also will definitely be harder to get subsets of a backup out of
sequence.

I note that they have a trick to avoid cross-talk between adjacent
layers, but in spite of what they say, it's not clear that my elderly
drive will work.

As for the $0.99 per disk in batches of 50, I'm laughing along with you
:-)

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 3/23/2015 12:48 PM, FredW wrote:
On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 09:52:50 -0700, "W. eWatson"
wrote:

Is there a favorite clone program?
How about an image program?

Already previously mentioned by Paul:

Macrium Reflect Free
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

snip

In Macrium Reflect you can create a bootable Rescue medium.
I have a bootable Macrium Rescue USB stick lying beside my monitor.


I make weekly an image (back-up) of my C:\-partition with Windows and
other software.
I keep a number of images on my hard disc and two external hard discs.

I have restored many times, never a problem after restore.
Proven in practice.


In looking at the website comparison of the various Macrium features in
the free version, the home version, etc., I noticed that the free
version has "fast imaging" but not "file and folder backup." Does that
mean you can make only a full image and do only a full restore? I once
had to restore a single folder from one of my Acronis True Image
"backups," and it was easy to do.

--

Thank you,

Jo-Anne