Acronis True Image at Newegg

[harrkev]

Knoppix is free... Just use the DD command. It requires some knowledge, but free is a lot better than $30.

I doin't mean to threadcrap. I am just pointing out an alternative for people with more time than money.

 

[kcbass]

I'm having some problems with this true image stuff...it won't burn to DVD....it give me the error "Failed to write data to the image archive file. A possible reason might be poor media quality". I don't know what to do about it. The user manual says to format the dvd before burning the image, but I don't know how to do that in win98 or win2k. I'm using an external memorex burner. I tried using CD's and got the same error. I tried burning the image to the hard drive and then burning to a disc, and it said it couldn't complete the image because the partition was in use...I've tried everything I know to try. Any suggestions? 

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: Elixer
I still think the DOS based ghost is the best & is reliable if you do a verify after it is done.

I'm still using Ghost 2003 and it has saved me a few times. Very reliable. So far, all image integrity checks that revealed no errors have worked when I needed them for a restore. I just wish it could do scheduled images. Oh well, maybe you can't have the best of both worlds due to the nature of the process itself.

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: harrkev
Knoppix is free... Just use the DD command. It requires some knowledge, but free is a lot better than $30.
.

Knoppix will image drives containing Windows XP? Surely I am misunderstanding you.

 

[RossMAN]

How soon do I need to download it? I bought it last week but haven't downloaded it yet.

 

[gaidin123]

dd can image almost anything, including the contents of windows' physical memory. What you won't get is the friendly resizing of partitions and by itself the images will not be compressed. Therefore a 40GB hard drive will result in a 40GB image.

So, dd on knoppix should be able to image any FATXX or NTFS formatted windows partition or physical drive, it's just less convenient than ghost, acronis trueimage, etc.

Gaidin

 

[bodhammer]

G4U is freeware and is a very nice program that will allow you to ghost and recover via FTP. I have used it to clone and backup machines. You can run it from a floppy or CD image.

http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/

 

[jrichrds]

Originally posted by: MasterChef

Originally posted by: furballi
Any windows-based imaging software must take a snapshot of the partition prior to imaging. If this is not possible, then the software will require that your reboot the PC so the system can LOCK ON the partition (going back to DOS). Sometimes, the snapshot in windows can go wrong, resulting in a bad image file.

I'm from the old school, which tells me that the partition must be 100% dormant DURING the imaging process. This method should yield the MOST stable image file because NOTHING is changing during the imaging process.

Acronis can make a bootable CD that allows you to image drives without having Windows running. Making the Acronis backup in this manner would yield the stable image file you described. It also works great on non-Windows drives/partitions.

You can get the Acronis Windows program to restart and load the DOS version. One way is to select to restore a previous image to your boot drive, which it obviously can't do in Windows. So it asks to reboot. Once your computer reboots and the Acronis DOS version loads up, then you can select to create an image instead.

 

[jrichrds]

Originally posted by: rvr2k3
I have been a Drive Image user for the past couple of iterations. I like the True Image interface and ease of use, but man does it take a long time to backup and restore.

Yup, DriveImage 6 is very quick (especially with the /IDE=1 flag). TrueImage 8 was very slow with some hardware combinations, but they seem to have resolved most of those issues with updates.

 

[kcbass]

tried my best for 3 days (not counting the weekend) to get trueimage to work...finally had to give up and buy ghost. 

 

[dbleoslow]

Originally posted by: kcbass
tried my best for 3 days (not counting the weekend) to get trueimage to work...finally had to give up and buy ghost. 

They have some very good forums for TrueImage support here

 

[kcbass]

the problem wasn't so much the software that they have, it's what isn't included that was the problem...we couldn't burn the image to a dvd because true image requires a 3rd party packet writing software. Trying to burn an image to DVD from a win98 machine was next to impossible, and we have 98 machines all over, not to mention about 15 win2k machines, and 30 winxp machines. just too much of a hassle to have different solutions for each OS. 

 

[dbleoslow]

Originally posted by: kcbass
the problem wasn't so much the software that they have, it's what isn't included that was the problem...we couldn't burn the image to a dvd because true image requires a 3rd party packet writing software. Trying to burn an image to DVD from a win98 machine was next to impossible, and we have 98 machines all over, not to mention about 15 win2k machines, and 30 winxp machines. just too much of a hassle to have different solutions for each OS. 

I don't want to get into too much discussion as this isn't the forum for that, but if you have a ton of machines to do, wouldn't the enterprise version be better? You could push the images over the network to one master image server. If they aren't networked then that obviously won't work. Just an idea. I would assume you're buying a copy for every PC you're imaging, right

 

[kcbass]

we don't have a server capable of holding all the images, but yes, they are networked. Haven't bought a copy for every machine yet...still in the testing phase. good thing we didn't buy them all, cause we can't get them to work.

Finally got it to recognize the burner today, but it gave me the error "partition is in use or contains bad sectors"...probably just what i get for trying to save a win98 machine

 

[lazarus000]

Originally posted by: Tegeril

If you want to upgrade your laptop HD it can flawlessly image your disk to the new drive in a USB enclsure, then correctly reformat its MBR when you swap it in. People have run into many problems trying to do this with Ghost. Ghost is also slower.

I have had no problems with such operations using Ghost.

i do...

i can't get Ghost to restore and image to a new hard drive without corrupting the boot

i get the Hal.dll error or the corrupt NTDLR error


ghost is fine if your going to restore to the same partition ... but i can't get it to ever do the boot part correct to a new/different drive.






i'm still looking for a program that can transfer a window XP pro OS image to a new drive without corrupting the boot.

 

[11thHour]

Originally posted by: kcbass
we don't have a server capable of holding all the images, but yes, they are networked. Haven't bought a copy for every machine yet...still in the testing phase. good thing we didn't buy them all, cause we can't get them to work.

Finally got it to recognize the burner today, but it gave me the error "partition is in use or contains bad sectors"...probably just what i get for trying to save a win98 machine

True Image can't burn images directly to dvd burners.

 

[dbleoslow]

Originally posted by: kcbass
we don't have a server capable of holding all the images, but yes, they are networked. Haven't bought a copy for every machine yet...still in the testing phase. good thing we didn't buy them all, cause we can't get them to work.

Finally got it to recognize the burner today, but it gave me the error "partition is in use or contains bad sectors"...probably just what i get for trying to save a win98 machine

One last thing then I'm done. If you just want to get the things imaged, push the image to a network server, then burn it to DVD. You could do it in bunches so that you don't fill up the server.

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: lazarus000
i'm still looking for a program that can transfer a window XP pro OS image to a new drive without corrupting the boot.

For what it's worth, I use Ghost 2003 and just a few days ago I restored a partition that contained my OS (XP Home) to a new drive. The old drive went down, but I had made a C drive image beforehand on a separate physical drive. Restoration went without a hitch and I gotta tell ya, Ghost 2003 is faster than Acronis 8. But keep in mind that Ghost 2003 does backups and restorations in DOS. I haven't tried across a network yet so I can't vouch for that one.

Oh yeah, Ghost 2003 couldn't be any simpler to use, IMO.

 

[kcbass]

according to the acronis FAQ, true image can burn to DVD drives....bad advertising

 

[KenSr]

It will burn to a DVD, but it has to be a preformated DVD+RW.
I used NERO to format and it burned just fine on my external USB DVD burner.

Ken

 

[RideFree]

Ghost is best, Ghost Enterprise is better. Not a single restriction that I can think of.

 

[dirtrat]

Having said this have you ever used True Image 8.0 and I also thought Ghost didn't work in DOS? All software has some sorts of restrictions!

Originally posted by: RideFree
Ghost is best, Ghost Enterprise is better. Not a single restriction that I can think of.

 

[RideFree]

Never used True Image 8 (that I can remember).

Ghost is first and foremost a DOS program. I don't even use it in Windoz.
Not any restrictions that I can think of, however, you may need to be Symantecally wise in order to sidestep a few of those restrictions, dependent on the version.

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: dirtrat
Having said this have you ever used True Image 8.0 and I also thought Ghost didn't work in DOS?

Ghost 2003 is a DOS program. Ghost 9.0 is a Windows utility.

 

[11thHour]

Originally posted by: KenSr
It will burn to a DVD, but it has to be a preformated DVD+RW.
I used NERO to format and it burned just fine on my external USB DVD burner.

Ken

I forgot about the packet writing. Altho imo that's the equivalent of not writing to dvd's at all, since +rw's are more expensive and more inconvenient, and are contrary to the method of imaging and archiving, since you're paying more for a disk that you'll only use once, and spending extra time pre-formating it as well (not to mention, if I'm not mistaken, that it can't be done during boot process, only in windows).

For GHOST users, does ghost write to blank DVD +/-R's?