Best Imaging Software Suggestions

JamesJ

Member
Member
Messages
136
I just had a bad experience with Active@ Disk image and have sent them a support ticket.
I'm wondering what good imaging software I can use.
How is the Windows 7 File Recovery that comes with Windows 8.
When trying to restore an image yesterday I booted to Active@ boot disk and after only a few minutes I got the following error:
"Failed to write (number of bytes) to disk at T1048576. Error=0"
Now unless I get a reply soon form them I will go with other imaging software.

James
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
So you haven't tried the Windows 7 File Recovery?
Can I create a boot disk with Macrium Free??

James
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit
I use a combination of windows7 file recovery and windows8 file history. The windows 8 tool is really just a version control system and can't be considered as backup. The bizarrely named Windows 7 file recovery is a true backup facility.

I use it to make regular scheduled system images so I can always restore my C drive. I also use it to make a daily file backup of my data drive (I always have had see rate system and data drives or partitions). I have also used Acronis in the past and trialled it again recently but I think there is no real need for a third party solution as the built in facility works so well.
I used it routinely in Windows 7 and continue to to do I restored an image only the other day.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8
So you haven't tried the Windows 7 File Recovery?
Can I create a boot disk with Macrium Free??

James
Yes, but it's a long process and that's why I use an already made from WHS and put it in a USB stick to boot from.
And no, I haven't tried any backup software from either W7 or W8.
I like the fact that using the 3rd party software, I get one single image and I can mount it to selectively restore any file using explorer with drag & drop, or do a complete restore.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
I installed Reflex and downloaded ADKSetup. That was over an hour ago and it's still installing.
I'm getting a bit frustrated here.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit
How darn long does it take for ADKSetup to install??!! It's been installing for over a half an hour.
It took me less time to install Windows 8 today.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit
I couldn't take this any more. I ended the task and I'll uninstall Reflex. I have software to install and things to do.
I installed Reflex I believe nearly 2 hours ago and it still wasn't done installing the utility.
I'll find another.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64 bit

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
So you haven't tried the Windows 7 File Recovery?
Can I create a boot disk with Macrium Free??

James

Windows 7 file recovery works great and is very simple to set up.

I never have any problems using those images.

You don't even need a boot disk for recovery, but it gives the option to create one. The Windows 8 CD with it's advanced recovery options works fine and takes you straight to the images on your back up drives.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
I have used Windows System Imaging since Windows 7 first came out and now with Windows 8. It works well most of the time, but on occasion I have had an image that I can't restore for one reason or another. That is why I also use Macrium Reflect as a backup imaging program, which I run from a bootable WinPE disk. I have never had an image made with Macrium fail to restore.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    CyberPower
    CPU
    i5 2500K
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gigabytes Corsair PC3-12800 DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 460 superclocked
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 23" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    128 Gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD
    128 Gb Kingston Hyper X SSD
    1 Tb Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
    PSU
    1000 watt Coolermaster modular
    Case
    Coolermaster Haf X full tower
    Cooling
    Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitec M310 USB cordless
    Internet Speed
    1.5 mb/s download 300 kb/s upload
Like topgundcp, I encountered the shell freeze problem in Acronis True Image 2013. But that problem has now been fixed (a replacement for a proxy file is needed) and a new version update is due out any day now.

I've had enormous trouble with just about every version of Acronis imagining software. It is hard to install and harder to clean up.
It can crash your system and leave it unbootable. Getting Acronis support for help may also crash your system and leave it unbootable.

But eventually, I've managed to find a way to get versions to work and they work very well indeed. I can back up and verify my system drive in about 15-20 minutes. A full recovery takes at most 15 minutes. It's great if you can get it to work.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center (64-bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom-build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.3 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (4 banks 4GB DIMM DDR3 8-8-8-24 5-32-12-7 1T 1.5V)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
    Sound Card
    Firewire Focusrite Saffire Pro 14
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG W2353V
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 of Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS (2TB ea.);
    1 of Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 (2TB);
    1 of Hitachi Deskstar HDS722020ALA330 (2TB);
    2 of Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000-1F2168 (4TB)
    PSU
    Corsair AX850 Gold
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
    Cooling
    ThermalTake Silent 1156
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Internet Speed
    7Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky
    Other Info
    Event Studio Precision 6 powered audio monitors;
    Boston Acoustics CS Sub 10 Powered Subwoofer;
    NI Kore controller;
    NI Maschine controller;
    M-Audio Axiom 61 keyboard controller; expression pedal; sustain pedal;

    ... and tons of audio software ...

    I also keep two USB 3 thumb drives (A: and B:) attached with boot recovery and security stuff that I can boot into from BIOS in case of emergency
Like topgundcp, I encountered the shell freeze problem in Acronis True Image 2013. But that problem has now been fixed (a replacement for a proxy file is needed) and a new version update is due out any day now.

I've had enormous trouble with just about every version of Acronis imagining software. It is hard to install and harder to clean up.
It can crash your system and leave it unbootable. Getting Acronis support for help may also crash your system and leave it unbootable.

But eventually, I've managed to find a way to get versions to work and they work very well indeed. I can back up and verify my system drive in about 15-20 minutes. A full recovery takes at most 15 minutes. It's great if you can get it to work.
I was also an Acronis user for number of years and yes it did a decent job but most of the times I only use it offline ie. to boot the PC from CD or USB stick to do backup/restore, in order to browse the image to selectively restore files, I needed to install Acronis, then had problem with the Shell Extension.
Since Macrium Reflect is free, I thought that I tried it and I am completely surprised how well it does the job ie. fast, nice interface, light weight compared to Acronis, allows me to do online backup by taking a snapshot, allows me to selectively restore files by mounting the image as a virtual disk and best of all it took less than 7 minutes to do a 42GB backup of my C Drive and same amount of time to restore. So over all rating, Macrium is No. 1 on my list.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
I'll have to give a look at Macrium.

Thanks for the pointer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center (64-bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom-build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.3 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (4 banks 4GB DIMM DDR3 8-8-8-24 5-32-12-7 1T 1.5V)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
    Sound Card
    Firewire Focusrite Saffire Pro 14
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG W2353V
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 of Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS (2TB ea.);
    1 of Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 (2TB);
    1 of Hitachi Deskstar HDS722020ALA330 (2TB);
    2 of Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000-1F2168 (4TB)
    PSU
    Corsair AX850 Gold
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
    Cooling
    ThermalTake Silent 1156
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Internet Speed
    7Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky
    Other Info
    Event Studio Precision 6 powered audio monitors;
    Boston Acoustics CS Sub 10 Powered Subwoofer;
    NI Kore controller;
    NI Maschine controller;
    M-Audio Axiom 61 keyboard controller; expression pedal; sustain pedal;

    ... and tons of audio software ...

    I also keep two USB 3 thumb drives (A: and B:) attached with boot recovery and security stuff that I can boot into from BIOS in case of emergency
Ever since I had a problem with Acronis True Image and Vista, which Acronis failed to solve. I have been using Paragon Hard Disc Manager. It has never failed me through Vista to Windows 8.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 PRO
I have been using Paragon for a while.

It is the best if you are looking for a paid solution with all the extra functions.

Macrium seems to work fine for most - the free version is well liked.

Aomei backuper is a new free one - I am very impressed with it.

Easeus do a free one as well - it is large and intrusive, many swear by it.

There are several to choose from.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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