Zoom7000 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Is there any free software that will allow me to create an image of my laptop hard drive and then back it up to DVD. Thus allowing me to boot up from the DVD and restore the HDD back to the image that I created? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 DaViD_BRaNDoN Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Would like to know this too. Can only think of Norton Ghost and Acronis TrueImage but then it's not free... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +orgitnized Subscriber¹ Posted May 5, 2008 Subscriber¹ Share Posted May 5, 2008 (edited) Some of the free software in http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ will allow you to do it. Thought configuring the DVD how you want it will essentially be up to you and your burning software. Is it mandatory that you are backing up to DVD as the backup process occurs or can you back it up to disk, then copy it to a DVD? I saw what you wrote, but it still leaves room for interpretation. http://selfimage.excelcia.org/ is also another awesome app for this. Edited May 5, 2008 by Ghost96 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +BudMan MVC Posted May 5, 2008 MVC Share Posted May 5, 2008 There are many a FREE way to image a disk.. Here is a partial list http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml As to putting it on a DVD.. this one has instructions even retarded monkey could follow ;) http://ping.windowsdream.com/ping/doc-2.01/bootiso.html Storing an image on a LAN computer is nice, but sometimes, you may want to burn this image on a bootable DVD. It can be useful to bring such a media to a remote site, and regenerate a computer. It can also be considered as a practical way to backup a whole system. I have used this method to make a DVD for a buddy who needed to deploy 2k to a bunch of older machines that got donated to his church, all he had to do was the boot the dvd and few minutes later he had a ready to go OS.. Just need to run newsid, give it a new name and it was ready to use for his church network. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb897418.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Zoom7000 Posted May 5, 2008 Author Share Posted May 5, 2008 Is it mandatory that you are backing up to DVD as the backup process occurs or can you back it up to disk, then copy it to a DVD? I saw what you wrote, but it still leaves room for interpretation. I don't mind copying the image to DVD afterwards. But basically the result I am looking for is similar to that of a Factory Restore Disk when you buy a new PC. So, basically, I reinstall Windows, apply all the patches, install the software that I want, then create an image, make a bootable DVD, so then when I want to start again, I just re-image off the DVD and once done, I'm ready to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 MurkWorks Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 I use Microsoft's ImageX. The WIM files can be mounted as Read/Writable in Windows. You can get from the WAIK http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en I made a custom WinPE image for a boot disk and threw the imagex.exe on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 anonymous_user Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 DriveImage XML is free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 kazgor Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 You should check out PING (Ping is not Ghost), it does exactly what you want. Once an image as been created you can then create a ISO of the files, which can be burnt to a DVD (if the image is more than a dvd, you can create a multiboot DVD set). Then you can simply boot of the DVD and it will restore the system. I've just finished Imaging 12 laptops.. each one took an average of 8mins to complete. where the C: drive was about 10gigs in size. You can also get more advance and host the image on the network, or even create a recoverable Partition (although not as elegant yet, although being looked at by the devs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +BudMan MVC Posted May 7, 2008 MVC Share Posted May 7, 2008 You should check out PING (Ping is not Ghost), it does exactly what you want. Exactly which is why I suggested the same thing back in post #4 ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 kazgor Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 and if i remember Budman it was what you told me about in a similar thread a couple months back... so thanks... got it little quirks but does exactly what i was after :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 dreamz Veteran Posted May 7, 2008 Veteran Share Posted May 7, 2008 i just tried ping, and it seems pretty nice. unfortunately, i'm having some problems restoring the image. i created an image and then created a bootable iso, which was then burned to a cd. i made some changes to my desktop (so i could see whether the image was restored or not), booted off the cd, and followed the instructions to restore the image. but when the computer finished rebooting, i saw that the changes were still there, i.e., the computer didn't revert to the earlier state. any ideas? edit: the nfts resizing option was the problem. i disabled that and now it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 hack4life Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 heres a great easy one click one!? its free to - Mac os X disk Utility yepprs im a mac fanboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Farstrider Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 heres a great easy one click one!? its free to - Mac os X disk Utility yepprs im a mac fanboy You are a little troll, as well as a "fanboy!" People are talking about PC's (Windows) not Mac! Back on topic, Ping looks and sounds pretty interesting any further feed back would be great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 odious_m Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 How about Acronis True Image? (Yes, it is free and legal, etc.) http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=27590 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Zoom7000 Posted June 13, 2008 Author Share Posted June 13, 2008 I've sucessfully created numerous backups using PING. However, I am now trying to create my first "Larger than 4.7Gb" backup. I've managed to create the ISO, but when trying to burn it using 3 different burning programs and at least 3 different types of DVD DL+R disks, I keep getting LBA errors and the image won't burn. I've read around and it seems mkisofs doesn't like images bigger than 4.7Gb. Is there anyway I can burn the images to DVD Dual Layer without having to multispan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CoolCatBad Posted June 13, 2008 Share Posted June 13, 2008 Macrium Reflect http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Zoom7000 Posted June 13, 2008 Author Share Posted June 13, 2008 Macrium Reflect http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp Looks like a great program, but unfortunately Dual Layer is only supported on Vista, not XP :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Zoom7000 Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 I managed to get PING working, I copied the image off my laptop on to another PC and I've managed to burn the image no problem and restore from the image. So, it's my laptop DVD drive, it doesn't seem to want to burn DVD+R DL which is interesting because it says DL on the drive and Nero Info Tool also says it can read and write DVD+R DL (Yes, I'm definately using DVD+R DL) Nero InfoTool 5.2.3.0 Drive Information ------------------ Drive : HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-4080N Type : DVD?R/RW DL Recorder Firmware Version : 0H37 Buffer Size : 2 MB Date : ? Serial Number : K00561M4456 Vendor Specific : Drive Letter : E:\ Location : 0:1 Mechanism : Tray Read Speed : 24 , 20 , 16 , 10 X Write Speed : 24 , 16 , 10 , 4 X Read CD Text : Yes Return C2 Pointers : Yes Read CD-R : Yes Read CD-RW : Yes Read DVD-ROM : Yes Read DVD-RAM : Yes Read DVD-R : Yes Read DVD-RW : Yes Read DVD-R DL : No Read DVD+R : Yes Read DVD+RW : Yes Read DVD+R DL : Yes Read BD-ROM : No Read BD-R : No Read BD-RE : No Read HD DVD-RAM : No Read HD DVD-R : No Read HD DVD-RW : No Read HD DVD-R DL : No Read HD DVD-RW DL : No Read HD-BURN : No Read Digital Audio : Yes Read CD+G : No Read VideoCD : Yes Write CD-R : Yes Write CD-RW : Yes Write DVD-R : Yes Write DVD-RW : Yes Write DVD-R DL : No Write DVD+R : Yes Write DVD+RW : Yes Write DVD+R DL : Yes Write DVD-RAM : Yes Write BD-R : No Write BD-RE : No Write HD DVD-R : No Write HD DVD-RW : No Write HD DVD-R DL : No Write HD DVD-RW DL : No Write HD-BURN-R : No Write HD-BURN-RW : No Buffer Underrun Protection : Yes Mount Rainier : No SolidBurn : No Labelflash : No LightScribe : No Modes : Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96 Region Protection Control : RPC II Region : None Changes User : 5 Changes Vendor : 4 CSS : Yes CPRM : Yes AACS : No VCPS : No Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Stonkwell Bogtrotter Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 (edited) Giveaway of the day are doing free imaging software today. (16 June 2008) "Macrium Reflect is an award winning disk imaging and file backup solution for Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003." http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/macrium-reflect/ Edited June 16, 2008 by artnada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Abhishek kapoor Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 i just tried ping, and it seems pretty nice. unfortunately, i'm having some problems restoring the image.i created an image and then created a bootable iso, which was then burned to a cd. i made some changes to my desktop (so i could see whether the image was restored or not), booted off the cd, and followed the instructions to restore the image. but when the computer finished rebooting, i saw that the changes were still there, i.e., the computer didn't revert to the earlier state. any ideas? edit: the nfts resizing option was the problem. i disabled that and now it works. I can't get what problem he faced while restoring the image ..... and how he made a image an bootable ISO... just like we have an option of bootable data disc and when it prompt for file show the path of image file Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Dashel Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 I really like ImageX but PING/Reflect are good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Mystiq Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 DriveImage XML is free. DriveImage XML "works" but they DO NOT support RAID, sort of. The program fails to mention this fact when you create a backup. Backup is ok etc. but if you want to restore it back to RAID, you can't. Only did i find this after going through their "FAQ" and the last item on the page mentions this. Instead... I suggest that you give a try at Seagate DiscWizard, which is made by Acronis. If you want to get something better they offer 40% off if you upgrade to True Image. I had no problems doing backup and restore on RAID 1 setup. Did i mention DiscWizard is free? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +BudMan MVC Posted June 1, 2009 MVC Share Posted June 1, 2009 Yeah Im sure the people that were reading this thread back in Jun of 08 will appreciate the info ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Zoom7000
Is there any free software that will allow me to create an image of my laptop hard drive and then back it up to DVD. Thus allowing me to boot up from the DVD and restore the HDD back to the image that I created?
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