Free Hard Drive Imaging Software?

[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?

[DaViD_BRaNDoN]

Would like to know this too. Can only think of Norton Ghost and Acronis TrueImage but then it's not free...

[+orgitnized Subscriber¹]

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

[+BudMan MVC]

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

[Zoom7000]

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!

[MurkWorks]

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.

[anonymous_user]

DriveImage XML is free.

[kazgor]

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).

[+BudMan MVC]

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 ;)

[kazgor]

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 :)

[dreamz Veteran]

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.

[hack4life]

heres a great easy one click one!? its free to - Mac os X disk Utility yepprs im a mac fanboy

[Farstrider]

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!

[odious_m]

How about Acronis True Image? (Yes, it is free and legal, etc.)

http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=27590

[Zoom7000]

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?

[CoolCatBad]

Macrium Reflect http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

[Zoom7000]

Macrium Reflect http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Looks like a great program, but unfortunately Dual Layer is only supported on Vista, not XP :(

[Zoom7000]

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

[Stonkwell Bogtrotter]

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

[Abhishek kapoor]

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

[Dashel]

I really like ImageX but PING/Reflect are good too.

[Mystiq]

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?

[+BudMan MVC]

Yeah Im sure the people that were reading this thread back in Jun of 08 will appreciate the info ;)