I am looking for a better HDD backup app than 'system restore', but confused by the terminology used by Acronis, Aomei, etc. What's the difference between 'bare metal', 'disk backup', 'system backup', 'disk imaging', and 'clone disk'? I had thought it was all the same, but the specs and data sheets from the various software makers suggest otherwise, so I'm confused.
HDD backup terminology
- Thread starter i8DRM
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I can't speak for the first three as those are likely different for each program and frankly I have no clue what they mean.
I can however, speak to the last 2. Disk imaging can describe 2 things. First is taking a hard drive that has data/OS and creating a backup of it that's saved as a single file. Think of an CD's ISO file only much larger in size. The second is taking this backup file and restoring (aka imaging) a hard drive from this backup. Cloning a disk, in my experience, is always going from one source disk directly to one or more destination drives without saving to an intermediate file.
I can however, speak to the last 2. Disk imaging can describe 2 things. First is taking a hard drive that has data/OS and creating a backup of it that's saved as a single file. Think of an CD's ISO file only much larger in size. The second is taking this backup file and restoring (aka imaging) a hard drive from this backup. Cloning a disk, in my experience, is always going from one source disk directly to one or more destination drives without saving to an intermediate file.
connchri
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I haven't looked them up, but I can hazzard a guess that they are all the same thing. Celegorm is right in explaining what they do.
Windows backup is a decent enough peice of software, providing if disaster strikes that you use a HDD of equal size or larger (I've ran into problems with trying to recover an image onto a smaller disk - even when the used space would comfortably have fitted within it).
Norton Ghost (As in, the good old ghost - not the crap they call Norton Ghost now) was brilliant at imaging volumes.
It really boils down to what type of backup are you looking for? A disk image backup will backup the entire disk/volume into a file or regular backups will backup individual files to a location you choose.
Have a look at Paragon Backup - they do a free version that I've used years ago. It was half decent then, and it's free. Backup & Recovery Free Edition - Overview
It's based on their comercial version. The only reason I know about this is a few years ago I had to use a realignment tool for shifting data from a HDD to a SSD and it was provided by paragon. Worth a look.
Windows backup is a decent enough peice of software, providing if disaster strikes that you use a HDD of equal size or larger (I've ran into problems with trying to recover an image onto a smaller disk - even when the used space would comfortably have fitted within it).
Norton Ghost (As in, the good old ghost - not the crap they call Norton Ghost now) was brilliant at imaging volumes.
It really boils down to what type of backup are you looking for? A disk image backup will backup the entire disk/volume into a file or regular backups will backup individual files to a location you choose.
Have a look at Paragon Backup - they do a free version that I've used years ago. It was half decent then, and it's free. Backup & Recovery Free Edition - Overview
It's based on their comercial version. The only reason I know about this is a few years ago I had to use a realignment tool for shifting data from a HDD to a SSD and it was provided by paragon. Worth a look.
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I am looking to replace 'system restore' of XP Pro with something better. I want an app that is easy for a non-techie to use. It must exactly copy, clone, or whatever the entire contents of an HDD to another HDD of the same size...I am not keen on the compression stuff. To be more specific, I will have XP Pro installed on a regular internal 750GB HDD. Every so often I will want to make a total copy of it onto another 750GB (mobile-rack) HDD, which will allow me to remove that hard drive for storage. This is my 'restore-point'. By total copy, I mean everything: OS, registry, drivers, apps, etc. I have no preference between freeware, shareware, or payware. I want the best I can get, but would rather avoid rentware programs. Suggestions welcomed!
Are either of the hard drives made by Seagate? if so, this will do exactly what you want:
DiscWizard | Seagate
I used it a few years ago, free and cloned my drive with no issues.
If none of the drives involved are made by seagate then that's not legal to use per their terms. In which case I'd direct you to the company that made discwizard, acronis.
PC Backup Software - Acronis True Image 2015 for PC
It's been a long, long time since I used acronis by itself so I cannot comment on how easy to use the newest version is but it at least used to be very good.
DiscWizard | Seagate
I used it a few years ago, free and cloned my drive with no issues.
If none of the drives involved are made by seagate then that's not legal to use per their terms. In which case I'd direct you to the company that made discwizard, acronis.
PC Backup Software - Acronis True Image 2015 for PC
It's been a long, long time since I used acronis by itself so I cannot comment on how easy to use the newest version is but it at least used to be very good.
connchri
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If you're still using XP, get a hold of an old version of Ghost. I'm trying to remember what version it was that allowed you to make a bootable USB drive or whatnot, but it's easy enough to make a bootable CD from it.
Just make sure it's the "good" Norton Ghost. I think Norton Ghost 2003 was the last decent, off-line, disk imaging software. Back in my Windows XP Days, I was using this. No doubt it will still work with current versions of Windows - but it's a great imagine software and never let me down - but saved a lot of tears and time.
It is getting old though, and support had severely waned since. For a modern piece of software True Image is probably the Ghost replacement for nowadays. Go with that if you don't fancy using outdated Ghost - although sometimes you get the odd silly bug where it'll hang on the boot screen if you move the mouse before you make a selection using the keyboard (I had this error, it took me ages to find out that it was the mouse input that was causing a crash).
Just make sure it's the "good" Norton Ghost. I think Norton Ghost 2003 was the last decent, off-line, disk imaging software. Back in my Windows XP Days, I was using this. No doubt it will still work with current versions of Windows - but it's a great imagine software and never let me down - but saved a lot of tears and time.
It is getting old though, and support had severely waned since. For a modern piece of software True Image is probably the Ghost replacement for nowadays. Go with that if you don't fancy using outdated Ghost - although sometimes you get the odd silly bug where it'll hang on the boot screen if you move the mouse before you make a selection using the keyboard (I had this error, it took me ages to find out that it was the mouse input that was causing a crash).
Unfortunately the drives are Western Digital Caviar SE16 (750GB). Can anyone here comment on ease of use for Acronis True Image 2015?
I had intended to go for Ghost originally, but found out it requires .NET Framework, so I'm back to looking. Any idea how difficult True Image is to use?
Draygoes
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They are talking about Norton Ghost.
Do you have a drive to image (Backup) to?
Do you have a drive to image (Backup) to?
I'm pretty sure he knows that at this point, and it does require .net in the newer versions. It also sounds like he has the extra drive in a mobile rack.
I did some quick googling on the 2015 version of true image. Overall the reviews seem pretty good
Acronis True Image 2015 review: Easy to use, at last
Acronis True Image 2015 - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com
Worst case, it looks like there might be a free trial of it.
