Imaging software

[luce.douglas]

I'm looking for imaging software for my business. I use clonezilla now, but I need more features. I want the software to be able to make a image hardware independent, and so that I can get data from the image if need be. I want also to make these images so that I can use my clients coa key no matter the version installed, which I believe is possible with Vista and 7. What is the most cost effective way to do this?

 

[16k_zx81]

I use a paragon solution with sysprep. Images are for each OS, bung in all the service packs and patches, whack on some software, then once its cooked, run Sysprep. After that boot to Paragon CD, run adaptive tweak on the OS then make an image.

I found best practice to make two images. One with no sysprep or adaptive restore (an 'untouched' image) so that it can be kept up to date with patches and software, and then make the subsequent sysprepped / adaptive restored versions from that.

Paragon kindly provided a free version of the software with a commercial license as a two week trial, so there's the opportunity to test it and to see how it operates. They also followed up with a phone call and provided tech support for the setup, all gratis to get me up and running.

So my take on it is that its a good option that does what it says it will on the box.

 

[luce.douglas]

What version of paragon has these features?

 

[iisjman07]

Three software I know that have this feature:

O&O Disk Image - what I use; very cheap, especially if you use a discount code like I did. Surprisingly feature-rich, nice boot cd
Acronis True Image - has an addon called Universal Restore. Not the cheapest, but renown
Macrium Reflect - has an addon which allows hardware independent restores (Macrium Redeploy)
Paragon Adaptive Restore - Link Here
Norton Ghost - has a feature called 'DeployAnywhere' that I think will do this

Or you can do it yourself using sysprep and imagex, but that requires a bit of work

 

[dbdawn]

I have used Acronis True Image, works really good with the Universal Restore feature.
I have tried to get a universal XP image working with sysprep and imagex but its too much hassle considering that XP is nearing the end of its lifecycle.
Windows 7 works just fine with imagex and sysprep as you don't have to worry about mass storage drivers and the HAL.
O&O Disk Image looks really interesting, might have to check that out.

The nice thing about imagex is that it is a file based imaging solution instead of a sector based imaging solution.

 

[luce.douglas]

Wow O&O disk imaging looks good, especially with the restoration on different hardware and for $30 bucks.

 

[Martyn]

Three software I know that have this feature:

O&O Disk Image - what I use; very cheap, especially if you use a discount code like I did. Surprisingly feature-rich, nice boot cd

So that can be installed on a bench machine and image from there with slaved drives?

 

[Xander]

Anybody got a price on Paragon's Adaptive Restore?

It's marked as free but later is referred to as an evaluative version with no prices anywhere in sight.

 

[iisjman07]

Wow O&O disk imaging looks good, especially with the restoration on different hardware and for $30 bucks.

I believe that's 29.99 GBP, but when I bought it I used the discount code

CUA-VM2-RJU

which took it down to 20.

 

[luce.douglas]

I used a code on retailmenot.com for $15 off and paid $12.95 for O&O disk imaging. Haven't tested it yet.

That's the code I used.

 

[iisjman07]

So that can be installed on a bench machine and image from there with slaved drives?

Yup..................

 

[kevinjhaag]

Three software I know that have this feature:

O&O Disk Image - what I use; very cheap, especially if you use a discount code like I did. Surprisingly feature-rich, nice boot cd
Acronis True Image - has an addon called Universal Restore. Not the cheapest, but renown
Macrium Reflect - has an addon which allows hardware independent restores (Macrium Redeploy)
Paragon Adaptive Restore - Link Here
Norton Ghost - has a feature called 'DeployAnywhere' that I think will do this

Or you can do it yourself using sysprep and imagex, but that requires a bit of work

Have you or anyone else here run into dynamic drives and volumes? Can O&O DiskImage handle them? I know Acronis True Image with Addon Pack can to a certain point. On top of that, can it also handle RAID schemes? Acronis is suppose too also. As for Macruim and Paragon and Ghost; I looked but couldn't find any support for dynamic drives. So I think your best bet is either...
Acronis True Image with Plus Pack
and maybe O&O DiskImage

 

[luce.douglas]

Been using O&O for a couple weeks now and gotta say it's fantastic. All the features I needed (hardware independent restoration) and more. And a phenomenal price. Thanks for the tip!

 

[ubuzz]

I used that discount code as well which brought the price down to US $12.77.

 

[Hayes]

£7.80 seems too good to ignore.

 

[robert152]

O&O Diskimage looks great. I had a quick question. (Sorry for reviving a dead post). After you create an image, when you go to restore the image do you have the option to select what you want to restore?

Most customers come in and only want, say, My documents (pictures, music, yadda yadda). So after making an image of their drive, reloading their computer, can I JUST restore the My Documents folder from the image?

Thanks!

 

[commentator8]

Most i believe don't, not sure abotu O&O. Just thought to mention that easeus is now free and also has universal restore.

 

[Galdorf]

I use acronis backup it has universal restore thing is home version does not support windows 2003 or 2008 also the image is compatible with vmware and other virtual machine software where you can mount an image as a virtual machine.
I have done this for business customers that wanted windows 7 BUT had an app that only ran in xp so i just imaged their original setup in xp and ran it through vmware.
Its only $74 with universal restore its $89 it works with server 2003 on.
For some reason they broke the virtual machine compatibility with true home.

 

[Frick]

I just used the coupon code and it still works for O&O DriveImage. Great price, thanks!

 

[MobileTechie]

I trialled O&O and whilst it mostly worked out fine, I had problems getting it to mount images of dynamic disk mirror sets.

Easeus seems like the best free option but does not appear to have the option to ignore bad sectors whilst producing image files, only when doing a disk-to-disk clone. Could be wrong about that but I couldn't find it.

I used Paragon for a while but had problems restoring whole disk images with multiple partitions - such as a laptop complete with recover partition. it would go through the process but when I went to look at the new drive the partitions were there but they were showing up as RAW.

I've gone for Acronis Backup and Recovery Workstation with the Universal Restore option. I can see why they are market leaders to be honest. It has a more professional, sys admin feel to the UI and options than True Image and does all the tasks one is likely to need pretty well. It's not that expensive that I'd bother shopping around for something else. The server version however is ludicrously expensive, as is Paragon's.