Best Imaging Software

[ToddWelch]

Hello all,

Currently I use Macrium imaging software to make base images that I can then dump onto client computers when they need a reload. Macrium seems to be working worse and worse where the redeploy does not work and the computer BSOD instead of booting up.

What imaging software have you all had the best luck with and what is your success percentage?

 

[OaksLabs]

I introduced my employer to a system similar to what @nlinecomputers does, where we keep a set of VM's on hand that are all setup. We update them regularly, and use ToDo Backup (Advanced Server version, <$300) and we make a backup of the VM, and use universal restore to restore the image onto customer hardware for reload purposes.

I do most of the loads for the refurbished PC's we sell, and the only issues you'll really have is if the boot disk (or PXE boot, like I use) does not have the SATA drivers (or network drivers in my case). I've never really had issues with the restoring of VM images to kosher hardware. ToDo does not like any sort of file system errors on the drive, so I'd avoid it for customer data backups on bad drives. Otherwise, it's slick.

 

[Blackhammer]

I use and sell Aomei backupper and server backupper. Low resource use and easy to schedule.

 

[pcpete]

We use the Windows ADK. You use the command line utility dism to capture and apply images. This works flawlessly. We have never had it fail.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=39982

http://wiki.beyondlogic.org/index.php?title=Imaging_of_Windows_Based_Computers_using_DISM

 

[Altster]

We use the Windows ADK. You use the command line utility dism to capture and apply images. This works flawlessly. We have never had it fail.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=39982

http://wiki.beyondlogic.org/index.php?title=Imaging_of_Windows_Based_Computers_using_DISM

Lucky you. I'm still trying to set this all up on a "non-networking environment" - if it is even possible.

 

[DataMedics]

The best, and believe me we've played with all of them, is ddrescue in Linux. Not to be confused with dd or dd_rescue. It's the one from GNU. It's about the only software option that can reliably handle bad sectors, and often can image drives that other software will hang or fail on. Plus, it's a true block level imaging tool, so the data is exactly the same. Only issue is it doesn't compress the data if you image to files, but you can always archive them after to deflate.

However if you're willing to invest some $$$ get a DeepSpar Disk Imager.

 

[pcpete]

Lucky you. I'm still trying to set this all up on a "non-networking environment" - if it is even possible.

We do not use networking. Our basic procedure is we have all of the images on an external hard drive. We then wrote a batch script to run a few commands. It seems more complex than it is. If you need any help, I am glad to get you going in the right direction.

 

[JJDUB1313]

Use and recommend http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.htm
Options for Windows, Linux, DOS, etc.

Well maintained, good email support, nice price, reliable.

 

[Ashley Hathaway]

Its an old programme but is works wonders. Its called ghost by Symantec. never given me any issues *touches wood

 

[MDD1963]

I did a test image backup/restore using one of Ghost's last commercial versions in late 2010/early 2011...

It was unsuccessful, lost confidence in it at that point. I concluded if it could not handle a simple image/restore for a dual boot WinXP/Linux installation for a 3 year old socket 939 Athlon 3500+, why trust it on other systems... (I know others had lots of success with it from in the late '90's onward...)

 

[Altster]

We do not use networking. Our basic procedure is we have all of the images on an external hard drive. We then wrote a batch script to run a few commands. It seems more complex than it is. If you need any help, I am glad to get you going in the right direction.

This is pretty much what I am doing at the moment - using clonezilla and an external hard drive. Works good for me. But there is at least 1 other person in our shop that just won't do it that way. I think he is afraid to learn something new (to tell you the truth.) And once you've learned clonezilla the rest of the image deployment(s) will take care of themselves. I've even offered to set him up with another external drive with images and he still won't use them.

 

[NJW]

And once you've learned clonezilla the rest of the image deployment(s) will take care of themselves.

Exactly this. But everyone want to drive stuff in a gui with a mouse, so they miss out on some really great nuggets. SystemRescueCD suffers the same prejudice, imo.

Both are well-maintained, with very responsive developers, but few see past the 'Linux ... command-line ...' hurdle.

Regarding failing disks, Clonezilla includes all the usual suspects – ddrescue, smartctl, etc. – so it isn't even necessary to reboot to get a sector image if the disk is found to be in trouble. Additionally, the first few screen of Clonezilla set up networking requirements and mounting of network shares, so the ddrescue image can go straight to a backup server without further configuration, if required.

 

[Ashley Hathaway]

I admit its not perfect but does what i need it to