So, I'm looking for a good imaging software. What I need to be able to do is backup an image of an entire drive (including recovery partition, etc...) then restore that image to another drive that may or may not be the same size. We refurbish computers and I'm looking to backup the image for each of the specific systems (i.e. an OptiPlex 745 or an MPC ClientPro 385) so I can eliminate all the time to reinstall them. Thanks for any advice.
I was always a massive fan of Norton Ghost, I was trained using Ghost so I became quite fond if it. Clonezilla is another 1 which I absolutely love. It has saved my butt numerous times, however people are sometimes put off by the function of it as there is no GUI.
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 14 Suite, just came out, all I have used for ages is Paragon. Most good backup/restore programs will allow you to make a backup of an entire drive and restore it to another drive of same size or larger. Obviously you cannot put it on a smaller drive
EFA11. I´m using Acronis True Image 2014 Premium, but have problems with the boot media in some laptops. What do think about the Paragon suite, is it better than Acronis ?
By leaps and bounds better than Acronis, yes. Hard Disk Manager Suite 14 @ ultimate_live. more info in PM
I have used Paragon HDM Suite 2012 and also Paragon HDM Pro intermittently from 2010. I have found it to very reliable and easy to use. However, I still use free Acronis True Image WD 2011 edition which works on 7, 8, 8.1. Acronis gives lower image size (maybe 6-8% less than Paragon) and uses a file rather than a folder type image. The image size for my system is perhaps 1.5-2GB lower with Acronis. That is what keeps me on Acronis (apart from the fact that it is free to me).
I've been modding my WinRE's to add a backup\restore and partition solution so people can have a viable backup solution built into my modded windows. These are the hurdles i faced and what i decided on. Macrium Reflect, AOMEI, Acronis True Image 2014, and Easeus Todo 6.1 are what i use. What i haven't seen anyone address is x64. For mbr bios, the x86 will work for x64, but if you use EFI then you must have an x64 WinPE. The 2 main types of backup software are WinPE based or linux based. Many of the WinPE created are only x86, or are WinPE3. To make an EFI x64 WinPE3\4\5 the only software i found that works is Macrium Reflect. You can even choose a custom wim. I also use AOMEI Partition software for the same reasons. I technically like Acronis True Image 2014, but it will not natively create an x64 wim. I get around this by using Win 8 x64 WinPESE from the Oven and using a custom script that utilizes the SysWow components.
i have used paragon and it works but my prefered backup software is macrium reflect for win 8.1 and the server edition for server2012R2 My os's are now win8.1 on games pc and server2012R2 on the work horse pc and my other pc uses what ever im testing ...lol (currently linux)
Site has only one page. they offering Beta downloads ! for Testing ! Would you trust safety of you data to a untried safe ?