Imaging software

[satyre]

I am tired of reinstalling OS and other software one by one over and over again.

Which is the best imaging software to back up full hard drive in Vista? What are the limitations ? Any problem with Raid 0 set up ?

[mnosteele52]

Acronis TrueImage.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Acronis TrueImage.

+1

[Sava700]

yeah i hear its good.. cheapest place to get a copy of it guys?

[satyre]

What is the difference between Recovery disk comes with PCs and an image made with a software like this? I am not talking about the contents but the method of making the image.

[YeOldeStonecat]

What is the difference between Recovery disk comes with PCs and an image made with a software like this? I am not talking about the contents but the method of making the image.

Recovery disks "usually" wipe out everything, end result is a computer that's just like the day you took it out of the cardboard box and set it up. Anything you had done since that day would be "lost". You'd have to reinstall all your programs, run all your windows updates, driver updates, settings, restore any data your hopefully backed up, etc.

With imaging software, you can occasionally make backup images...and if catastrophe strikes...when you restore...you don't have as much work to do to bring your computer back to the point where it was yesterday.

Also makes deploying large networks easier..you can "build" a PC..doing stuff like installing network applications, MS Office, antivirus, etc. Run "sysprep" to wipe the SSIDs, clone it to dozens or hundreds of other PCs..and deploy them rapidly.

[satyre]

Yes, I understand the content part. I was wondering what is the difference in the method of making it.

[CableDude]

I like ghost.

[YeOldeStonecat]

I like ghost.

Symantec lover!

[CableDude]

Symantec lover!

[TonyT]

Yes, I understand the content part. I was wondering what is the difference in the method of making it.

No real difference at all! Most oems use a 3rd party imaging software anyway and put their own label (name) on it, such as HP Recovery. Many oems use Norton Ghost now.

You can use Ghost or similar to make your own restore cds/dvds too, as well as image and save to a separate partition or separate drive.

I still use Ghost 2003 cause I bought in in 2003 and it still works great. I NEVER use it from within Windows, I made my own Ghost boot cd w/ support for usb mice. It also works w/ sata drives using the -noide switch. I boot the cd & it loads win98 dos startup system and then just enter the command:
d:\ghost\ghost or d:\ghost\ghost -noide. I can use this cd on any computer to make & save images to a partition, drive or burn directly to cd or dvd.

[Sava700]

No real difference at all! Most oems use a 3rd party imaging software anyway and put their own label (name) on it, such as HP Recovery. Many oems use Norton Ghost now.

You can use Ghost or similar to make your own restore cds/dvds too, as well as image and save to a separate partition or separate drive.

I still use Ghost 2003 cause I bought in in 2003 and it still works great. I NEVER use it from within Windows, I made my own Ghost boot cd w/ support for usb mice. It also works w/ sata drives using the -noide switch. I boot the cd & it loads win98 dos startup system and then just enter the command:
d:\ghost\ghost or d:\ghost\ghost -noide. I can use this cd on any computer to make & save images to a partition, drive or burn directly to cd or dvd.

We use it at work.. does pretty well, sets me right on the network where the images are. I've been upgrading images for alot of faculty comps and student suggested laptops for the last 3 weeks.